The Nine Most Convincing ‘Game Of Thrones’ Fan Theories

SO MANY SPOILERS ahead (also: lots of speculation that could spoil future episodes).

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Now that Game of Thrones the TV show has deviated from the A Song of Ice And Fire canon, there’s a lot more room to speculate as to what the hell is going to happen. Who will end up on the throne? Does the throne even matter? Is Gendry still rowing??

It seems as though season six has already dispelled some of the juicier rumours (no, Arya and the Waif were not the same person, and no we probably won’t see a re-animated corpse leading the Brotherhood Without Banners). While some of the fan theories on Reddit are convoluted and far-fetched (Ned Stark is not alive. No way.) they can be very persuasive. Isn’t one of the best things about watching Game of Thrones fighting with your friends and co-workers about what’s going to happen?

Note: These theories aren’t based on stuff that has happened in the books that may still happen on the show, or characters who haven’t appeared yet. This is a show-only guessing zone.

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‘Cleganebowl’: The Fight To End Them All

Hey, The Hound is alive! The Mountain is kind of alive! Thus a long-held prediction that the two brothers will meet again and have the mother of all duels, might actually come true (maybe?). This theory has been around since season one but has attracted a lot of hype on Reddit lately. Too bad trials by combat have recently been banned in King’s Landing…

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Dany Is The Baddie

Have you noticed that Daenerys is becoming more vague about her plans to rule Westeros, but more militant and steadfast in what she perceives to be her god-given right to rule? For a couple of years now, book-readers have speculated as to whether Dany will end up just as ruthless and deranged as her father the Mad King. The fact that she loves the act of “conquering” more than sitting on a throne, suggests that like her pops, diplomacy isn’t really her strongest suit.

Even if you’re a Dany fan, the theory does have legs — she does spend a lot of time screaming impassioned speeches to frenzied crowds.

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Jaime Will Kill Cersei

Westeros’ incestuous Jack and Diane may be on solid ground at the moment, but one fan theory suggests that Cersei will eventually die by Jaime’s golden hand. The idea is that now that Cersei is alone and desperate in King’s Landing, she might get a bit mental and use Wildfire to combat her enemies (several times throughout the show, she has threatened to burn shit to the ground to preserve the Lannister dynasty and just this week it seemed like Qyburn was confirming an “old rumour” which could refer to stocks of Wildfire). Jaime will have to kill her before she destroys the kingdom, just like he had to slay the Mad King.

Remember that prophecy at the start of season five? Apparently in the books, Maggy the Frog also casually mentions that Cersei will be murdered by her little brother. Who knows if this will have any bearing on the show, however.

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Meera Reed And Jon Snow Are Brother And Sister

This seems like a long shot but hey, they both have very curly hair! The theory goes that whoever Jon’s real mother is (we’ll get to that later) died while giving birth to twins. Because Meera’s dad was there at the Tower of Joy when Jon was maybe born, it would have been easy to split up Jon and Meera between two great Northern families.

Now, let’s watch the preview for next week’s episode and feel lightly stressed.

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Bran Made The Mad King Mad

Ever since teen Ned Stark seemed to hear Bran in a vision earlier this season, fans have been speculating as to what power Bran actually holds when it comes to affecting the past (as we saw in the tragic demise of Hodor: quite a lot, apparently!). Because Bran means well but regularly cooks it, there have been mutterings that he will go back in time and try to convince the Mad King not to burn his grandfather alive, among other things.

The Mad King of course, just starts hearing disembodied voices and you know, goes mad. On Reddit, a user called NegativeKarmaSniifer argues:

Bran realises that others can hear him during the visions from the past, but doesn’t understand that they cannot fully understand him. He attempts to reason with King Aerys when shown a vision of him. The King only hears whispers, and is driven mad by it. Bran tries to fix this, however makes it worse. Mad King Aerys burns Bran’s grandfather alive while Bran frantically tries to stop him. All he hears is whispers. Bran sets the events of the show in motion.

There have also been theories that maybe Bran somehow possessed Jaime and made him push Bran out the window, but that seems like pro-Jaime propaganda to me.

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Littlefinger Will Screw The Starks And Kill Rickon 

Aw jeez, I really hope that this doesn’t happen. A couple of weeks ago, Sansa was shown writing a mysterious letter which the internet has decoded as a letter to Littlefinger. There’s a good chance that Littlefinger will dog them in the battle for Winterfell because he’s duplicitous like that. But one Reddit user has taken it even further and guessed that he will also kill Rickon for good measure, so that he (with Sansa) can take the North.

Spock_42 says: “My prediction is that after the battle, Ramsay’s forces will be defeated, Rickon will survive but LF will get to Winterfell just ahead of Jon, and personally be the one to kill Rickon. We know he’s capable of taking a life himself to secure control, so it’s not too far fetched. Then when the Northern armies arrive, he can pin it on Ramsay”.

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The Umbers Will Betray Ramsay Bolton 

Remember back in episode three when Lord Jon Umber brought Rickon to Ramsay as a “gift” and we all wanted to die? Well, ever since then Stark Lovers have doggedly looked for even the slightest possibility that Rickon will be okay. One of these people is DanDamspear who lists a 23 point argument outlining why Rickon/everything will be just fine. The jist is that Umber would never follow Ramsay and that his refusal to pledge an oath of allegiance to the Boltons is very telling (also, DanDamspear reckons that that is not Shaggydog’s real head, because it’s much too small).

Why would the Umbers suddenly betray the Starks when Rickon had lived with them for two seasons? Is it perhaps because skeptical Roose Bolton is dead, and Ramsay is more easily fooled because he’s entirely motivated by bloodlust? HERE’S HOPING.

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Tyrion Is A Targaryen

What if the reason that Tywin hated Tryion so much, was that he wasn’t his actual son? The theory goes that Dany’s dad The Mad King had the hots for Tywin’s wife and they actually conceived Tyrion (in the book he is described as having “white-blonde” hair). This season Tyrion also expressed a very deep fascination with dragons, which may be a thing? But then again, who is isn’t in awe of the dragons?

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Jon Snow Is A Targareyn

This is the big obvious one, right? For many years Game of Thrones fans have speculated so much about Jon Snow’s real parentage, that now pretty much everyone accepts that Ned Stark is definitely not his real dad. If you’ve never encountered the theory, the short explanation is that Rhaegar Targeryen eloped with Lyanna Stark (everyone thinks Lyanna was kidnapped and then murdered) and as Robert’s Rebellion was winding down, Lyanna made Ned promise to care for Rhaegar and her newborn son and protect his true identity.

If you didn’t understand why book readers were frothing at the mouth at the Tower of Joy scene earlier in the season, it’s because there’s a strong chance that Lyanna is in that tower giving birth to baby Jon! Maybe!