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The Most Important Game of Thrones Theories

If you’re like us, Sunday nights are fast becoming one of our favorite times of the week because Game of Thrones takes away the usual “OMG it’s almost Monday again” sting of its time slot and actually gives us something to look forward to about the weekends ending: Chatting up all the newest haps in Westeros and how they play into our favorite GoT theories with anyone and everyone with ears.

Season 6 has been a game-changer to say the least, but these nine popular predictions are still going strong, for now:

  1. R+L=J

At this point, R+L=J is Song of Fire and Ice canon, so the fact that the Tower of Joy scene earlier this season didn’t take us all the way up to show us exactly what went down during the final conversation between Lyanna and her bro Ned Stark was angry meme fodder for the ages.

The theory (read: basically fact) is that Jon Snow, who was raised by Ned Stark as his bastard son, was really the son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen, eldest heir to the Mad King. She was being “held captive” by Rhaegar, which caused Robert Baratheon to wage the War of the Usurper/Robert’s Rebellion and oust his way to the throne. Eddard Stark was the one to find Lyanna, lying in a “bed of blood” and asking him to make a promise to her. That promise, everyone assumes, is that he’d protect her newborn as she was dying in childbirth and take his true identity to his own grave so that Robert wouldn’t go and kill the BB boy out of spite.

Assuming this is all true—and it’s gotta be at this point or else millions of GoT fans are gonna stage their own city-wide sack—that makes Jon Snow a Targaryen (and Daenerys’ nephew) and possible contender for the Iron Throne. 

  1. The Three Dragon Riders

Daenerys Targaryen might be the Mother of Dragons (cue the communal Khaleesi bow action), but our fave cold-blooded fire triplets might also have a pair of uncles fated to ride ‘em into that good night at the end of this thing as well. This theory plays into the whole Jon Snow is part dragon, too thing mentioned above, of course, but with a Lannister twist on top. Tyrion, who’s taken it upon himself to babysit Rhaegal and Viserion while mum’s been off scouring up a khalasar to help her take the seven kingdoms, has already proven that he’s got the magic touch when it comes to our scaly pals. And there may be a pretty major reason for his ability to remain unburnt after entering the dragon’s’ lair: He, too, is a Targaryen by blood.

Everyone knows that, at best, Tywin merely tolerated Tyrion, and at worst, secretly wanted to perform a tent-side disembowelment of him instead of that stag he skinned on the field that time. His vitriol for his youngest son was never a secret, and while he outwardly blamed it on his wife dying in childbirth with him and inwardly loathed his dwarfism, maybe the disconnect ran deeper than either of those things. Maybe momma Lannister had a fling with Aerys II aka The Mad King (whom Tywin served as Hand) and begot Tyrion. Which would make him (1) Dany’s brother from another mother, (2) Jon Snow’s uncle, and (3) possibly destined to mount one of his nephew dragons alongside his biological fam. 

  1. Jon Snow Warged Into Ghost

The direwolf situation on Game of Thrones is getting, well, dire. With the recent loss of Bran’s Summer, we’re now down to just two of our four-legged friends: Jon Snow’s Ghost and Arya’s long-lost Nymeria. While Nymeria is M.I.A. (in the books, she’s off starting up her own epic wolfpack), Ghost never left Jon Snow’s side, especially during his temporary death. 

Some fans think that the reason Jon Snow lives (!!) now is that his soul warged into Ghost’s body before his stabby incident at the Wall could fully stop his heart, allowing him to wait it out until the Red Witch could spell his human body back into being suitable for spiritual reoccupation. Hey, stranger things have happened on this show, amiright?

  1. Yeah, So Robb Stark Might Have Died Twice

The sucky thing about this whole direwolf-warging concept is that it could also mean poor Robb Stark died two times at the hands of Walder Frey’s henchman during the gruesome Red Wedding scene. (Sob, Robb.) 

See, just as Jon Snow 1.0 whispered “Ghost” before drawing his final breath, Robb also whispered the name “Grey Wind” before succumbing to his mortal wounds, meaning he too might’ve warged into his wolf after being stabbed to stay “alive.” In his case, though, it didn’t work out so well because poor Grey Wolf was immediately executed after him, so if Robb’s soul was indeed taking up residence in our furry friend, he didn’t last long there either. Bumming hard, guys. (Although some people are still holding out hope he warged into Nymeria and is responsible for all her angry violence out of sight.)

  1. Bran’s A Really BFD

Bran’s ongoing time-traveling adventures may have had a hand in the downfall of House Targaryen, guys. (WHAT.) Remember how when he went back in time and shouted at his then-young daddio and he seemed to actually hear him? Then the whole Hodor/”hold the door” moment happened, so yeah, some people think that he could’ve been/could be the one who was putting words in the Mad King’s ears, too, since it was all those voices telling him to commit all that crazy (namely, “burn them all” on broken record-style repeat, which could be an instruction on destroying White Walkers, no?). 

There’s also the possibility that Bran’s “Bran the Builder,” who built The Wall (For. The. Watch.), based upon his shared name, time-travel abilities, and motive for instilling the principle that Starks must remain at Winterfell. It would make sense, since he now knows the Children of the Forest invented the White Walkers and that they can only be stopped by strong door-holdage, right?

Some people even believe Bran might be Azor Ahai, the Prince Who Was Promised which Melisandre the Priestess has been searching for so long, but that’s a little flimsier than the other suppositions.

  1. Ramsay’s Playing Into A Deadly Long Con

We’ll just pretend that thing about Ramsay Snow Bolton maybe being Azor Ahai doesn’t exist (because nooooooes, he cannot win) and focus instead on the one that says Ramsay’s about to get played for a fool. The idea is that the Umbers, who’ve just delivered young Rickon into the hands of the devil himself, are actually still loyal to House Stark and are pulling some kind of Trojan Horse maneuver to take down House Bolton once and for all. Points for wishful thinking, if nothing else. 

  1. The Starks Are “The Seven”

If you don’t count Jon Snow and Theon Greyjoy among the Stark kiddos (‘cause they’re not), there were a total of seven Starks, and one popular theory says that they’re “The Seven.” As in, the seven faces of the one god who is celebrated by The Faith.

Ned would be the Father, who judges right from wrong (and nobody was a more honorable soul than Eddard Stark, for sure), Catelyn would be The Mother for obvious reasons, Rob would be The Warrior (check), Sansa would be The Maiden, Arya would be The Stranger (which makes sense, since “a girl” is desperately trying to become one of the faceless), and Rickon would be The Smith for some reason (maybe he’s crafty with tools?), and Bran would be The Crone, who watches everything through a wise eye (a la his Three-Eyed Raven trickery). Makes total sense, yeah?

Problem is, if this is true, they’re all fated to have hideous ends related to those exact qualities that make them the Seven, like Catelyn having all her kids taken away from her and watching one of them murdered right in front of her, or Sansa being brutalized by Ramsay, and what have you. Stay tuned!

  1. Tommen Will Kill Cersei

If you’re waiting on Tommen to bite it based that prophecy that all three of Cersei’s children would be shrouded in gold (and we are two kids deep into that fulfillment already), not so fast. Tommen, sitting King of course, will die eventually, ‘cause he is human, but it might not be until after he does away with the Queen Mother herself. As detailed by the clever hive minds at Reddit, the old prophecy that foretold Cersei’s demise said that she’d be choked by a “valonqar.” BUT WHOOOO?

Tommen, for one, has plenty of reason to hate his mom—not the least of which is her new plan to destroy The Sparrows, which Tommen has now weirdly aligned with—so maybe he’ll shed that oh-so-nice guy image and do her in… possibly after he’s died in front of her and been raised up from the dead, as is apparently possible in this series now. 

  1. This Song Of Fire And Ice Will End With Dragons Vs. White Walkers

Assuming a lot of the stuff above is true, and Daenerys, Jon, and Tyrion are going to eventually be the dragon-riding saviors of Westeros, their biggest threat, really, is the consummate army of White Walkers that will continue to grow and make its move to destroy everyone else—namely, when winter finally does come. Will our heroic threesome and their fire-breathing friends take down the Night King and his lethal army once and for all? That, dear sparklers, is what we’ll all be waiting to find out!