Game of Thrones is a truly remarkable show that combines politics and history with magic and fantasy in one grand complicated world. Over the first six seasons, the show posed a lot of big questions, and we're still waiting on a lot of the answers and explanations. Fans are stuck with long waits between seasons, and those waits inevitably lead to speculating about what could possibly happen to resolve all the conflicts in the Seven Kingdoms by the end of the final season. Now, in honor of the arrival of Season 7, we've picked out nine of the wildest fan theories about Game of Thrones that might actually come true by the end. Take a look!
Jaime Will Kill Cersei
Why It Might Be True: The prophecy from Maggy the Frog states that Cersei will die at the hands of her younger brother. Given that Maggy's prophecy about the deaths of Cersei's children has come true, we can bet that the prophecy about Cersei's death will as well. The obvious murderer would be Tyrion, who has plenty of reasons to want his sister dead. That said, Jaime is the yonger of the Lannister twins, and something could happen that he'd be pushed to kill his sister. Yes, he loves her, but he also hasn't been driven half-mad by power the way that she has, and he has shown that he can prioritize the bigger picture in certain cases. After all, the Mad King Aerys would have burnt King's Landing to a crisp if not for Jaime taking action. Maybe a Mad Queen Cersei could do the same.
Why It Might Not: Tyrion really seems to want revenge on Cersei, and Cersei has always been Jaime's weak spot. At the end of the day, he might not have it in him to kill his beloved sister.
Bran Built The Wall
Why It Might Be True: Thanks to his lessons with the Three-Eyed Raven during his time beyond the Wall, Bran has gained the ability to travel his consciousness through time and impact events in eras long gone by. We saw in Season 6 that he managed to warp poor Hodor's mind when he was just a boy at Winterfell, and he even managed to kinda sorta communicate with his father after Ned arrived at the Tower of Joy to try and rescue Lyanna. Now that Bran has become the new Three-Eyed Raven, he'll have to take an even greater interest in protecting the Seven Kingdoms from the White Walkers. Using his abilities, he could serve as the Bran the Builder of ages past who built the Wall and protected the North from White Walkers and wights for generations.
Why It Might Not Be: Yes, Bran was able to affect Hodor, and yes, he did kinda sorta reach out to his father, but could Bran really serve as a legendary architect as the Three-Eyed Raven? If even possible, it would likely take a long time and a lot of practice for Bran to get it right.
Arya And Gendry Will Unite Houses Stark And Baratheon
Why It Might Be True: Way back in the first episode of Season 1, Robert Baratheon and Ned Stark made a plan to marry two of their children and unite their houses. Obviously the intended union of Joffrey and Sansa is no longer possible, but it may be possible with Arya and Gendry. Arya is finally back in Westeros, and Gendry will likely return to the show in Season 7. The two became good friends before they were separated; now that Arya has grown up, maybe they'll look at each other differently if they meet again. While Gendry is a bastard, there are living people -- namely, Melisandre and Varys -- who know that he is Robert's son. If he is acknowledged and legitimized, he and Arya could fulfill Robert and Ned's wish to unite their houses.
Why It Might Not Be: Arya has vengeance on her mind, not marriage, and a lot has happened since last she and Gendry met. Also, Gendry might not live for too long if he's acknowledged as a Baratheon. Cersei and Dany at the very least would have reason to want him dead. For all we know, Gendry and Arya will never even meet again.
Howland Reed Is The Key To Everything
Why It Might Be True: Howland Reed is a character who has never appeared in the present in either Game of Thrones or the A Song of Ice and Fire novel saga, but viewers and readers alike have to admit that he could be very important to the grand scheme of things. He is the only confirmed current survivor of the Tower of Joy confrontation that ended with the death of Lyanna and the transfer of baby Jon to Ned. The odds are good that Howland Reed is the only living character who could verify Bran's hypothetical claims that Jon is actually the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark. We've also yet to see the seat of House Reed in Greywater Watch, and Meera's return from beyond the Wall makes it even more likely that Howland will appear in the present.
Why It Might Not Be: Could a character we've never seen before in the present really pop out of the swamp in the final seasons and assert himself as the key to everything? He might well appear; he won't necessarily be an especially big deal.
Tyrion Is A Secret Targaryen
Why It Might Be True: We're going to need to borrow from the books a little bit for this one. In the A Song of Ice and Fire saga, we learned that the Mad King Aerys was infatuated with Joanna Lannister, a.k.a. Tyrion, Jaime, and Cersei's mom. There were hints that Aerys may have taken some liberties with Joanna that ultimately led Tywin to take his wife and leave King's Landing to live at Casterly Rock. If Aerys managed to impregnate Joanna, it would explain why Tywin hated Tyrion so much as well as why Tyrion has been fascinated by dragons all his life. A prophecy has also said that "The dragon must have three heads." If Dany and Jon are both Targaryens with the blood of the dragon, that leaves one vacancy, and Tyrion fits the bill.
Why It Might Not: The books and the show have already pulled one twist with the Lannister line, what with that whole incestuous union and trio of royal bastards thing. Would it really be wise to try for another twist, this time with Tyrion?
Dany's Vision Will Come True
Why It Might Be True: Visions and prophecies tend to come to pass in Game of Thrones, and Dany had a doozy of a vision in the House of the Undying back in Season 2. No, not the tear-jerking scene in which Dany saw a life in which Drogo and baby Rhaego were still alive. The scene in which Dany walked through the throne room in King's Landing to find it destroyed, with the Iron Throne frozen and snow falling through the shattered roof, is the important one. Now that winter has come and war is coming to King's Landing on more than one front, devastation could conceivably make its way all the way into the throne room, especially if Cersei goes full-on Mad Queen. Dany's decision to quest for the Iron Throne could result in its destruction.
Why It Might Not Be: Dany had this vision way back in Season 2, and it might have been more of a metaphor than a glimpse into the future. If it was a glimpse into the future, her actions from Season 2 onward may have changed what was going to happen. Prophecies and visions do tend to be tricky
Jon And Dany Will Marry
Why It Might Be True: While incest is taboo with most of the families in Westeros, it's not such a big deal when it comes to Targaryens. Assuming that Jon is Rhaegar's son, he and Dany would technically be nephew and aunt, which... is either more or less skeevy than brother and sister, depending on your point of view. Still, it's not like they've known each other all their lives, and a certain book prophecy about Dany indicates that she'll never bear a living child, so they could simply have a political marriage to bring the North on board with the rest of the (presumably conquered via dragon) Seven Kingdoms. After all, this is the song of ice and fire. Wouldn't a marriage between Jon Snow of the North and the Mother of Dragons be such a song? Besides, Jon's original name might be Jaehaerys, and book Jaehaerys was historically all-in on the incest.
Why It Might Not Be: Incest has always resulted in bad things happening in both the show and the books. Jaime and Cersei's affair hasn't exactly been good for Westeros, and all the Targaryen incest led to folks like Aerys and Viserys. Game of Thrones trying to play incest as totally cool with Dany and Jon might fall flat.
Bran Drove Aerys Mad
Why It Might Be True: While Bran's abilities as the Three-Eyed Raven might not necessarily be enough for him to become the architect known as Bran the Builder, we already know that he's perfectly capable of literally driving people crazy by intruding into their minds. After what he did to Hodor -- accidentally or not -- to save his and Meera's lives, couldn't he try to prevent the War of the Five Kings from ever happening by using his abilities to go back and influence Aerys? By all accounts, the Mad King king got even madder during his final weeks, and his repeated utterance of "Burn them all!" could have been his version of "Hodor!" If Bran was trying to give the message of "Don't burn them all!" to stop Aerys before he escalated the war of Robert's rebellion, he could accidentally set the whole catastrophe in motion.
Why It Might Not: The Mad King was mad well before Robert's rebellion started, and book Rhaegar was considering unseating his father from the Iron Throne. He didn't need Bran in his brain to make him go even crazier by the end. It's not like he was wrong to be paranoid; people in his inner circle were plotting against him.
Nobody Will Win The Iron Throne
Why It Might Be True: The majority of the bloodshed in Game of Thrones to date has resulted from factions and families warring over the person sitting on the Iron Throne. With the Great War against the White Walkers coming, the factions will likely need to either perish or band together to fight as one. Dany from the east and Jon from the North at least might be agreeable; roping in Cersei could be a bit trickier. If working together proves to the living leaders that a monarchy simply doesn't work in the Seven Kingdoms, perhaps they'll give up on the Iron Throne and move to a different form of government. Who knows? Maybe the birth of Westerosi democracy will come out of the Great War. That, or everybody will die and the Iron Throne will literally be destroyed, preventing anybody from sitting on it.
Why it Might Not Be: Getting rid of the Iron Throne -- either figuratively or literally -- might be too... well, neat and clean for Game of Thrones. The show may end as it began and has continued for 6+ years so far: bloody and devastating.
What do you think? Are these theories likely to come true in Season 7 and beyond? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to tune in to HBO on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET to finally see new episodes of Game of Thrones.
