History WMG / ASongOfIceAndFirePartI

* Alternate theory: Jon is the son of ROBERT and Lyanna. Rhaegar wanted him dead because he DIDN'T have the Targaryen eyes and hair (but he does have a Baratheon look about him!), and Tywin wanted him dead because, well, Tywin's a power-hungry dickhead. Ned, being the [[LawfulGood awesome friend]] that he is to Robert, pulls a ZeroApprovalGambit and appears to have let his honor slip up, just this once, to preserve the life of his BFF's trueborn son (who WOULD be the rightful heir to Westeros but, again, Targaryen loyalists or the Lannister family's genetic predisposition to [[SophisticatedAsHell dickery]] prevents this).

[[WMG: "Beware the Perfumed Seneschal"]]
So, when Quaithe once again shows up to give Dany her trademark vague warnings, amongst them is the line "beware the perfumed seneschal." Dany assumes him to mean either Reznak or Hizdahr, which are both fair enough assumptions... But as always with these prophercies, she doesn't have all the information.

The warning is actually referring to the Selaesori Qhoran, the ship taking Tyrion and Moqorro toward her. Tyrion translates its Valyrian name as "Stinky Steward" but another way of saying this...

* Alternatively, Varys makes a big deal of serving the Realm and is frequently described as wearing a lot of perfume, so...
* Is there an inverse to OccamsRazor for interpreting prophecies? [[ProphecyTwist The more obscure of two theories almost always turns out to be right.]] Varys pops straight into your head, but the name of the boat requires some lateral thinking. On the other hand, Quaithe's already warned her about Tyrion and Moqorro, and the ship itself sinks before Dany ever has anything to do with it.
** Regular Occams Razor might be applicable here. The first person that Dany thinks of when she hears the prophecy is Reznak, her actual perfumed seneschal. Seeing this as too simple, the reader automatically dismisses Reznak as the answer-- but he does end up betraying her and for all we know may have had a hand in the assassination attempt. Martin may be employing the reader's mistrust of anything appearing straightforward here...

[[WMG: The Rest of the Series According to the Prophecies]]
Note that none of these are particularly wild guesses, they are just interpretations of the various prophecies in the series so they may act as spoilers. Readers be warned.

* Connington’s ‘Aegon’ is false per [[http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/Prophecies/Entry/5435/ Moqorro's vision]] and [[http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/Prophecies/Entry/5437/ Quaithe's warning]]
* Jon is Azor Ahai per [[http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/Prophecies/Entry/5441/ Jon's dream]] and [[http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/Prophecies/Entry/5453/ Melisandre's attempts to see Azor Ahai resulting in visions of Jon]]
* Jon is also the son of Rhaegar and Lyanna and thus the real Aegon per [[http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/Prophecies/Entry/1811/ Daenerys's vision of the Child of Ice and Fire]] and [[http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/Prophecies/Entry/1813/ the vision of the blue rose]]
* Jon will possess Ghost, his direwolf, after dying and then come back to ‘life’ per [[http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/Prophecies/Entry/5453/ the second to last vision on this page]]
* He will come back to life as a creature of ice like Coldhands (possibly by possessing his body which has become a Wight do to being stored away in the meat locker with the captured Wight) per [[http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/Prophecies/Entry/5441/ Jon's Dream]] (specifically the bit about being armored in black ice) and [[http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/Prophecies/Entry/1791/ Bran's dream of Jon]] (third to last on the page)
* Sansa kills Littlefinger per [[http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/Prophecies/Entry/1823/ the crone on the hill]] (the second prediction on the page)
* Jon and Daenerys are going to be two of the three dragonriders per [[http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/Prophecies/Entry/1811/ Daenerys's vision of the Child of Ice and Fire]] (specifically "The dragon has three heads" refers to the fact that there are three dragonriders and "There must be one more" refers to the fact that two of the dragonriders are in the dream and the only two people in the dream that aren't long dead are Jon and Daenerys)
* Daenerys might be restored by the flame currently sustaining Catelyn per [[http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/Prophecies/Entry/1792/ Daenerys's vision of being restored by fire]]

On a non-prophecy related side note: If the dragonriders are to be balanced out since Jon is both fire and ice and Daenerys is fire, then one of the Starks (either Bran, Arya, Rickon, or Sansa) must be the last rider (and Arya or Bran are the most likely). It is likely they will be elementally balanced out simply because balance is a major theme in the book.

Responses to my theories:
** The Sansa prophercy there seems more likely to refer to Rob Arryn to me: he comes into her castle made of snow, pretending to be a giant, and she pushes him over.
*** Most likely that's another foreshadowing this time revealing that the castle 'made of snow' is Winterfell. We need to consider the Ghost of High Heart has a had a strong record with predictions, she has predicted so far some huge events, and it would be out of place for her to waste her powers on something so pointless. It makes more sense for that to be a reinforcing of the prohpecy. After all the Red Wedding, Balon's death, Purple Wedding were foreshadowed many times, for example Melisandre had seen all three, but this one was new to the reader.
** Not 'the real Aegon'. He'd be the real Aegon (who, if Young Griff isn't him, is most likely dead after all)'s bastard half-brother. And he wouldn't technically have any claim to the throne, as in Westeros illegitimate children don't seem to inherit even after all other heirs. However, that wouldn't necessarily stop him from having a go, and if he was successful, possession is 9/10 of the law.
** Dance of Dragons implied with the force of a sledgehammer that Jon's mother is just a captain's daughter that Ned was trapped on a ship with for a time. It's also stated several times that Jon looks very much like Ned Stark, who looks nothing like Rhaegar. Jon has sworn to never leave the Wall until death, and if he didn't leave it for his family I don't see a dragon changing that.
*** The force of a sledgehammer? Some character (I forget who) believed that they'd had sex; even assuming he was right, that he'd got her pregnant and the child was Jon was pure conjecture. Certainly much less compelling than the story - believed by Robert as well as by Edric Dayne - that Jon's mother was Wylla, Edric's wetnurse. As for not looking like Rhaegar, most kids in the series take strongly after one parent, the mother as often as the father. Lyanna had the Stark looks as well as Ned.

[[WMG: Franken Gregor will kill Cersei]]
The prophecy says that Cersei will be strangled by her younger brother's hand. Jaime (who is younger than Cersei by seconds) lost a hand to the Bloody Mummers. What if Qyburn kept it? And, in making a super-strong champion, gave it the right hand of one of the greatest swordsmen of the day- Jaime Lannister? Maggy the Frog never said the valonqar's hand would necessarily be attached to his body...
* While it's a neat idea, and may even happen, the reasoning is unsound. There's no way Jaime's hand would be in a usuable state- it was rotting even when he was being taken to Harrenhal by the Bloody Mummers, it'd be nothing but bones by the time Qyburn got around to making Ser Robert Strong.
** It was rotting, but still intact, and Gregor's body was in pretty bad shape by the time he died, which doesn't seem to have been a problem. And if Qyburn wanted to keep it he'd have pickled it or something. It wouldn't have deteriorated much further.
* Her younger brother's ''hands'', plural. It's interesting that this is how Shae died - Tyrion wrapped his chain of golden hands around her neck and choked the life out of her. And now that Tommen has so few living relatives left, Jaime might well be the next owner of that chain (with all the requisite sick jokes about a Hand without a hand)...
* Or better yet, it's not her ''valonqar'' that kills her, but '''the''' ''valonqar''... as in the little brother of a guy she brought back to life, which the little brother would have a big problem with.
** For that matter ''the'' valongar could also mean Aegon - who's motivation for killing her would stem from her family's involvement in the death of his sister.

[[WMG: Theories on Cersei's childhood prophecy.]]
* Valonqar: It's Jaime, not Tyrion. She's been giving Jaime a lot of reasons to do so. And for the whole "little brother" thing, it will turn out that Jaime was born a few minutes after Cersei, so the prophecy will be fulfilled on a technicality. Or she has another (half) brother she isn't aware of.
** Jaime being younger than Cersei is canon -- it is described at one point that he "came out of the womb holding Cersei's foot". Ergo, he was born second and is younger than her by the barest margin.
*** Or Cersei was a breech birth.
*** Would have been mentioned. That birth got talked about a lot.
** Jaime is definitely younger--in AFFC, Cersei specifically notes that the only thing keeping her from inheriting Casterly Rock is gender; although she and Jaime are twins, all that would matter otherwise is who came into the world first. It's stated that by Dornish Law, it would have been Cersei, not Jamie, who was Tywin's heir.
** Cersei does indeed have two little brothers. However, it's not as clear-cut as that. Maggy the Frog specifically says "the valonqar", not "your little brother", and there are two points about this phrasing that can be made. The first is that it was specifically mentioned in reference to a different prophecy that the Valyrian "Prince that was Promised" is a mistranslation, and is not specifically male, so it's possible that no Valyrian words are gendered and "younger brother" could similarly just mean "younger sibling". The second is that Maggy says THE valonqar, not YOUR valonqar. So basically it could be any character in the series that has an older sibling, especially if it's a significant part of their character that they do: possibilities include Sandor Clegane, Kevan Lannister, Benjen, Bran, Sansa, Arya, or Rickon Stark (or Jon Snow, even if R+ L=J doesn't turn out to be true), Tommen or Myrcella, Daenarys, Margaery, Loras, or Garlan Tyrell, Brynden Blackfish, Quentyn or Trystane Martell, seven of the eight Sand Snakes, Euron, Victarion, or Aeron Greyjoy, Stannis Baratheon, or potentially even any of the Black Brothers, Silent Sisters, or Brotherhood without Banners.
*** Lets not forget Maggy's own younger relatives: Jeyne Westerling and her brothers, one of whom has a suspicious "never found the body" fate...
*** Question; does "valonqar" translate to "younger sibling" or "little sibling" specifically? If it's younger, then the above holds true. If it's little, then Tyrion is probably still the best option.
** Here's the quote proper, so everyone remembers (young Cersei asks Maggy if she and the king will have any kids): ''"Six-and-ten for him, and three for you. Gold shall be their crowns, and gold their shrouds. And when your tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you."'' Cersei later informs us that valonqar means "little brother". From this, you can probably rule out Jaime, since he doesn't have two hands, and any female possibilities, since even if "valonqar" is gender-neutral, Maggy specifically says "his". I also think we can rule out Tyrion because that's who Cersei thinks it is, and the characters in stories are almost never right when they offer an interpretation of a prophecy. Thus, it has to be someone's younger brother. My personal theory is that it's Stannis, since in the first part of Maggy's answer, she mentions the king ("six-and-ten for him", referring to Robert Baratheon). Robert has two younger brothers, and since Renly is dead, that only leaves Stannis. Adding to this theory, in my opinion, is the fact that Stannis has already shown the ability to long-range murder someone through the use of "shadow-babies" spawned by Melisandre. First he killed his own brother with a sword through the neck and then he managed to push Ser Courtnay Penrose off the battlements of Storm's End. Who's to say he couldn't wrap his shadowy fingers around Cersei's throat? And he also has motive; with Joffrey, Tywin and Kevan dead, Tyrion disappeared and Tommen and Myrcella just children, the Queen Regent is really the only one left posing any kind of Lannister-based resistance to Stannis's claim.
*** I think it has to be Tommen, based off of when this part of the prophecy is voiced. It doesn't seem to make sense that the prophecy of her death would be given to her as a response to her asking how many children she would have, unless it were directly relevant. "Will I have kids?" "Yes, and the little brother will kill you." True, it never says WHOSE little brother, but it seems that it is implying that the valonqar is the little brother among her children, meaning Tommen.
*** But doesn't the prophecy also imply that Cersei will outlive all of her children? Perhaps Tommen will kill Cersei as a wight.
*** If we're banking on a literal interpretation of the choking, it can't be a shadow-baby, because of the 'pale white hands'. If it's to be any kind of monster, pale white suggests Others - though not wights, as their hands are black. My view is it's unlikely to be a literal strangling, just a metaphor for murder. Prophesies tend to speak in metaphors.
*** It's not "pale white hands", it's "pale white throat" (please see quote above), therefore any colour hands, including shadow-hands, are a possibility
*** Also including golden ones, one might think.
*** I do apologise. You know those times when you misread something the first time you see it and then keep on reading it that way until someone points it out? I still think she's likely not to be literally choked, though.
*** What if it refers to Benjen Stark? Depending on what happened to him. He is, after all, Ned's younger brother.
*** [[spoiler: Aegon is also a possibility. Not only is he a "younger brother", but his primary motivation for murdering Cersei (so far) would be in revenge for her family's role in his sister's death. So he would be murdering her ''because'' he is the (royal) valongar.]] Also the "hands" and strangling could be symbolic of military movements resulting in Cersei's deposition and death, perhaps even at the hands of her own people during a protracted siege of King's Landing - and not necessarily a physical strangling.
* Two other ways the prophesy's wording can be interpreted euphemistically, just to muddy the waters:
** If Valonqar literally means 'little (small) brother,' it could mean a physically small person who is know as a Brother- a Sworn Brother of the Night's Watch, a Brother of the Kingsguard, a member of the Brotherhood Without Banners, that little begging brother Brienne was hanging around with, etc.
** If the Valonqar is indeed Tommen, then 'his hands' could refer to the Hand of The King. Mace Tyrell currently holds that position and would love to see Cersei dead, and its been a revolving door position since well before the books anyway, so he could be joined by a past or future Hand to make it Hands, plural, and kill her in some way that can be seen as 'wrapping around her neck' such as sending her to the noose.

* It will be Ser Robert Strong/Gregorstein who kills Cersei. Bear with me for a sec: the prophecy ''specifically'' mentioned the valonqar's ''hand''. That can't be a coincidence. Qyburn used to run with Vargo Hoat. Hoat cut off Jaime's sword hand: Qyburn asked for it and got it (or maybe he stole it) because hey, what better sword hand for your corpse warrior than the Kingslayer's? I know the hand itself wouldn't really be able to bestow excellent swordsmanship upon the owner, but since we're talking about a friggin' ''Frankenstein's monster'' here I think we can let this one slide. Anyway, Strong is going to kill Cersei with Jaime's hand.
** Hands ''plural'' were mentioned in the prophesy, and Jaime only lost the one. That being said, it's also theorized above that the strangling in this case could be metaphorical. If both Jaime and Strong contribute in some way to Cersei's death, then it could be said that Jaime's "hands" (albeit on two different people) did her in.
* We assume that she will be killed because of her shiny personality, but what if it’s not the point? The one who kills her will do so out of pity, because “she will be drowned in tears” after losing her children, probably insane. So if she goes all Lady Macbeth, the one who loves her is going to want to end her suffering. So, I guess the valonqar is Jaime, but for a totally different reason.
* Younger queen: Daenerys, most likely. She has the motive and means to do so, and she is stated to be beautiful. Another likely choice is Sansa, who is also said to be beautiful and might become a queen via Littlefinger's manipulations.
** And it's probably not Margaery at this point, since Cersei [[spoiler:has her locked up by the end of the fourth book.]]
*** But Margaery [[spoiler:is likely to be pardoned since she's actually innocent of the charges and is very popular with Tommen and the smallfolk.]] Cersei, on the other hand, is going to get hoist by her own petard in a spectacular fashion.
*** Wait, what? If [[spoiler:she's innocent, how do you explain the Moon Tea?]]
*** [[spoiler: Simple. She jumped the gun with her beloved Joffrey. She was keeping him very happy That Way, unlike his earlier betrothal to the more innocent and naive Sansa. Once Joffrey unexpectedly died, her pregnancy suddenly became a big problem. Yes that's right, Margery aborted Cersei's grandchild, although Cersei doesnt know it.]]
*** Maybe she's innocent, it was for one of her cousins or another, and she was hiding her? Alternatively, she may und up ''proven'' innocent. Or... She is so [[MagnificentBastard Bad]][[LittleMissBadass Ass]], she ordered herself Moon Tea [[UnwittingPawn to lure Cersei into action]], what she'll end up turning to her advantage. Probably she'll finish off (or scare into submission) old septon to remove him as witness against her. Oh yeah.
*** It may be that she was in league with Pycelle (who was given a lot of reasons to hate Cersei in AFFC and is the source for the moon tea information) to manipulate Cersei into making accusations which could be turned against her (with the supposed defector from her retinue to Cersei being a plant who was feeding her all Cersei's plans). However, she didn't take the upsurge in religious fundamentalism and the Church's new militancy (or the fact that most people are apparantly too stupid to realise that regular horse riding could make her physically appear not to be a virgin) into account.
*** Note that Cersei's plan was for her to set the only competent Kingsguard on Margaery's champion in a trial by combat. This worked because the other decent warriors in the Kingsguard were away (Jaime's besieging Riverrun, Balon Swann is delivering Gregor's head to Dorne etc). What nobody knows, however, is that Arys Oakheart is dead, so there's likely to be a vacancy in the Kingsguard soon- possibly for Garlan the Gallant, Margaery's brother and several times stated to be the most deadly sword in Westeros, to fill.
*** While there is an open Kingsguard spot, it probably won't be Garlan filling it. He's HappilyMarried if you recall, and recently was given a large keep with extensive lands, turning him into a great lord in a single stroke. He's unlikely to give all that up.
*** He might do it to save his sister's life. The Tyrells seem to be a lot less dysfunctional than most Westerosi families. His sister is also the queen, her death and the shaming of her reputation could destroy his family's otherwise good position in the Game of Thrones, and lead them to ruin. And for bonus points, it's an extra slap in the face for Cersei; her own brother isn't coming to her aid, since she's burned the hell out of that bridge. The idea that Garlan would give up everything and join the Kingsguard for his sister parallels what Jaime once did for Cersei quite nicely, but without the incest angle. Just another way Mergaery is better than her.
*** While it is certainly traditional, and expected, for a Queen of Westros to have her champion be one of the Kingsguard, is it really necessary that it be so? After all, much of the irony is still intact if Margaery's bother fights on her behalf and Jamie will not do the same for Cersei, regardless of him not being one of the Kingsguard.
*** Whenever Kings' Landing does find out about Arys Oakheart's demise, Qyburn already has someone that he's lined up to be the next member of the Kingsguard (mentioned twice in aFfF, both before and after Cersei's incarceration). But the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard is the one who gets to appoint new members, they've only been appointed by the Regency thus far because Jaime (who was named the new commander after Selmy was relieved) was a prisoner and unreachable.
*** What if the young queen is Margaery, but instead of actively taking action that casts Cersei down and such, she provides the motivation for Cersei to destroy herself? Would that count. Also on the Margaery-as-motivation thing, Cersei loves Joffrey and if Littlefinger is to be believed Olenna killed Joffrey to protect her.
** Perhaps the young queen is Jeyne Westerling -- Robb's wife.
*** There must be some relevance to Maggy (Maegi) being Jeyne's grandmother, after all. Why mention it so often?
*** Despite loving this theory, (Jeyne certainly deserves some good fortune), the prophecy states that the young queen will be more beautiful than Cersei is. Jeyne is stated as being pretty, but compared to Dany, Sansa or Margaery, who are all strikingly gorgeous...
*** Maybe the beauty isn't meant to be aesthetic, but internal? Jeyne is more pretty than beautiful, but it's mentioned over and over and over again how kind she is (Jaime outright tells Lady Westerling that Jeyne is worth ten of her in terms of goodness and honour), and it would be an excellent development for the queen who felt least like a queen (she says to Cat at one point "I don't feel much like a Grace") to bring down the queen who felt most like a queen.
** ...which lead us to the younger queen being Sansa. SHE strarted the plot to remove joffrey and was UNKNOWINGLY a part of it.
** Myrcella. Bear with me: if Myrcella gets married, then[[note]]assuming Westerosi marriage law has a similar family-based aspect to our world's medieval laws, which it does seem to given the whole exchanging the bridecloak thing[[/note]] she will technically no longer be one of Cersei's children, but instead part of her new husband's family. If she's still in Dorne when this happens, or if the new husband has a claim to the throne, then she could very easily end up being the younger/more beautiful queen that supplants Cersei. This might also answer the apparent non sequitor in Maggy's prediction.
*** Now that Myrcella's [[spoiler:face has been scarred]] this seems less likely. Although as of ADwD Cersei's famed beauty does seem to be... diminished.
* Arya, despite being trained against it, will retain her identity, and with it, her quest for revenge. Since there are only a few people left, and Cersei would be the easiest to find, Faceless Man Arya will be the one that strangles her, with or without the use of her abilities to keep the prophecy intact, but deliciously subverted.
* Cersei isn't concerned with her children out of maternal instinct, but because of self-preservation. I cite Stavro Mueller Beta: Cersei cannot die until all three of her children have been crowned and died before her and the younger queen finishes her off. Part of why she's so high and mighty is because she knows until that happens, she's effectively immortal. Joff's death in Storm of Swords shook her, and now she's taking a more proactive role in her kid's wellbeing.
** Well, if that were true, she'd keep him off the Iron Throne. High mortality rate there, and it has the advantage of proving the prophecy wrong.
* On the fate of her children: Joffrey's dead, but Tommen and Myrcella might make it out alive. The series has done enough with fake versions of the nobility (the fake Arya) and feigned deaths (Bran and Rickon) to make sure that, just because you're fated to ''see'' your children die before you, doesn't mean they'll actually ''die''.
** maybe Tyrion/or Jaime will "declare" to Cersei that their kids died of accident. Then she'll fling herself of the wall
* Or her younger cousin might decide the trial
* Am I the only person who thinks that the Younger Brother who will kill her might be Tommen? It'd be figurative, of course, but all they'd need to do would be to stick the piece of paper in front of him that says "Execute Cersei" and he'd place his seal on that without looking at it.
** Tommen seems a bit wimpy for any such thing :/
*** Samwell Tarly seemed pretty wimpy, too. That's no stopper.
** I was wondering about that; Tommen's Hand is Mace Tyrell, whose daughter Cersei is constantly scheming against, maybe one day she'll go too far and Mace will want his revenge
** Examining the wording of the prophecy itself, it seems like it can really ''only'' be unTommen. The Maegi is specifically talking about Cersei's children; she is answering one of the direct questions Cersei was allowed to ask. Even ignoring the obvious question, within that context, of why she would give Cersei extra information about something entirely unrelated, she's already talking about Cersei's children. As in, "These will be your three children, they'll all rule, predecease you, and ''of those children'', the younger brother's going to choke you." As we know, it's about to get colder in King's Landing, and when Tommen has a deadly visit from a few chilly gentlemen, he'll be all too happy to seek out Mommy Dearest and give her a nice big hug. Cersei is just so short-sighted that she fails to notice that anyone else would be a nonsensical non-sequitur. Jaime is a red-herring for the audience, Tyrion is a red-herring for the character. Tommen is going to get killed and shrouded in gold and then his revenant will choke Cersei. It is likely that his sister will quickly (but not immediately, because she has to rule at least for a moment, unless the "crowns" part refers to their hair) follow him into death, since his dead body probably won't be just "lying in state" for very long. The tidiest order of events has unTommen killing Queen Myrcella on his way to Cersei, since it requires the least amount of time for his body to be on display.
* We are all assuming that this prophecy is true. We know "Maggy" was a Meagi, but the last one of those we met turned out to be a nasty little traitor indeed. Could just be that the sour old women was just saying things? After all, Cersei blows things way out of proportion on a regular basis.
** Is there a single other prophecy (or indeed [[DreamingOfThingsToCome ordinary dream]]) in this series that hasn't come true FromACertainPointOfView? It looks very much like YouCantFightFate in this universe. And what reason would she have to lie? Mirri Maz Duur had her city sacked by Dany's husband; Cersei was just rude to Maggy.
*** Dany's child will become the Stallion who mounts the world?...
*** He certainly is! All three of them are! Shit, two of them alone wrought havoc in Meereen once poor Quentyn let them out! And that's not even talking about how all her freed slaves call her "Mother".
*** Maybe this prophecy is doomed now because Myrcella can't wear a crown, lacking an ear as she does...
* All Cercei's children were born crowned with gold -- they're golden-haired Lannisters when they should have been raven-haired Baratheons. Actually getting to sit on the Iron Throne itself may not matter to meet the prophecy. Our dear Maggy was telling Cersei to her face that she was going to be an incestuous adulator, instead. Perhaps.
** In addition: being Lannister-"Baratheon"s -- the odds of being sent of with shrouds of gold would be high, regardless of being rulers. The House colours of Lannister: red and ''gold''(en yellow -- for when you can't go full-on, shiny-shiny gold). The House colours of Baratheon: black and ''gold''(en yellow). Spot the common denominator.
* Maybe the younger and more beautiful queen is [[spoiler: a post-marriage to Aegon VI Arianne Martell]]? I really do hope it's Myrcella [[spoiler: and her inner beauty]], though. Kid's earned it by now, [[spoiler: scarring-be-damned]].

* This theory also assumes that Cersei's prophecy?that all her children will be crowned (true) and all of them will die before her (1/3rd true so far)?gets averted. Somehow, I'm not holding my breath. (Which is too bad for Tommen, really. He's a cute kid. "When I'm king I'm going to ''outlaw'' beets!")

[[WMG: The three heads of the dragon are Dany, Quentyn Martell, and Victarion Greyjoy.]]
The prophecy said that Dany would ride three mounts: "One to bed and one to dread and one to love." She's already had the one to love--Khal Drogo. The one to bed would be Quentyn, in order to cement the alliance with the Martells and fulfill Prince Doran's plans. The one to dread would be Victarion, not only because he could potentially betray her to Euron and the dragon horn, but also because he had beaten his previous wife to death.
* [[spoiler: Not Quentyn, though not for a lack of trying on his part.]]
* If we assume "riding" the mounts is a literal reference to sex, then she's already ridden her three. Drogo, obviously. Daario Naharis. Hizdahr zo Loraq. Generally speaking, Drogo is probably the one to love (because she loved him), Daario is the one to bed (because it was more about the physical attraction and sex than love), and Hizdahr was the one to dread, because she only married him to stop the killings, and should have dreaded him as her potential enemy/killer.

[[WMG: The Faceless Men will be instrumental in defeating the Others]]
Their motto, "Valar Morghulis"[=/=]"All Men Must Die" is more than just a BadassCreed used by assassins. We've already seen that they're essentially a cult dedicated to serving the world's various death gods, and their entire philosophy rests on the idea that all men are subordinate to Death. Since the Others bend the rules of Death by resurrecting the dead as wights, they're in direct opposition to everything that the Faceless Men stand for. In the Faceless Men's eyes, the use of dead people as servants doesn't just pose a physical threat to the humans of the world--it violates the sanctity of Death. When the climax of the series comes around, they will prove their motto true by showing the world that even the undead can (and must) die.
* But are the others "[[ExactWords men]]"? (And no, I'm not suggesting [[NoManOfWomanBorn that they're actually women]].)
* The Others themselves might not be, but the wights that serve them definitely are. Stopping them from resurrecting the dead would be an important step in saving Westeros from their invasion.
** I think the point was that wights aren't men. Nobody would consider them to be men, and when one is a wight, they aren't "living". When someone's wight comes back, nobody rejoices that their friend is still alive, even for a moment, the fact that it is still a corpse is unmistakable... These men have, in fact, died.
*** Aren't they? How do we know? We don't really understand how death works in our world (if there are things like souls etc.), let alone in Westeros. The wights are, without question, controlled by unknown forces, and appear to have lost all remnants of their previous life. But how can we really be sure? Maybe they are very much "alive". Maybe their souls, if something like that exists in this universe, are still within them when they become wights. Maybe the unknown force just modifies their bodies and takes control of their minds, and we will find out that there actually is a way to reverse the process (at least to give them back their free will). We were already introduced to Coldhands, who appears to have all characteristics of a wight, but free will.
*** Don't forget, "What is dead can never die."

[[WMG: The Seven was actually a Faceless Man]]
The fact that the Priests of the Seven seem so intent on insisting that they are all the same entity.
* The Seven are the optimal traits of an agrarian, feudal god. While not * impossible* , there's no reason to believe this.
* According to official Faceless Man dogma, at least, it's the other way around - one of the faces of the Many-Faced God is The Stranger of the Seven, who is described in a way that sort of resembles the Grim Reaper. There's a statue of him in their temple.

[[WMG: The Faceless Men will ally with The Others.]]
The Faceless Men will believe that R'hllor and the Great Other are the same, and help the Others invade Westeros.
* This does not seem likely. I don't think the Others have enough reasoning capacity to recognize an ally (or they wouldn't care). What seems more likely is that some Faceless Men would go and try to ally with the Others, and become more wights.
** The Others have their own language; we know this from the prologue to AGoT. They clearly have the intelligence to understand the concept of an alliance (though whether they'd want one is another matter).
* Could the Faceless Men's god of death be the same as the force behind the Others and the antagonist of R'hlorr, Lord of Light? Also, the ice demons may be a lot smarter than the walking corpses. But there's no need to go North of the Wall to help the Others - assassins would be more effective south of the Wall.

[[WMG: GRRM is a Ricardian]]
Making Tyrion (the deformed, snarky {{Evil Uncle}}esque noble with bad publicity) one of the most sympathetic characters in the series was a deliberate invocation of the stereotypes surrounding popular depictions of UsefulNotes/RichardIII in order to subvert them.
** This also seems to be echoed a bit in the character of Renly. Renly is also Joffrey's uncle, and likes his nephew about as much as Tyrion does and in the tv series, is pretty much openly shown plotting to murder him and Cersei, which [[AssholeVictim really isn't all that bad of a decision]]. It's implied that this was the idea of Renly's boyfriend, Ser Loras Tyrell- note that the man who Richard supposedly had kill the "Princes in the Tower" was Sir James ''Tyrrell''.
** Stannis also has some of Richard III in him; Renly is also a bit of a mixture between George, 1st Duke of Clarence and Edmund, Earl of Rutlan.

[[WMG: Syrio Forel is a Faceless Man]]
* After Arya flees the scen of his (supposed) death, he is captured by Ser Meryn and thrown into the Black Cells. There, he changes is identity to that of Jaqen H'ghar, and leaves the King's Landing with the other convicts bound for the Wall. That doesn't work out, and after his business with Arya is concluded, he becomes the Alchemist from the prologue of A Feast for Crows. He then kills Pate, assumes his identity, and greets Sam Tarly in that personality at the end of AFfC.
** Alternatively, In the series verse is Syrio Forel is Jaqen H'ghar. [[spoiler: Syrio Forel's discussion on death sounds a heck of a lot like a faceless man. Alternatively he just knows it well being of Bravvos]]
** Furthermore Syrio/Jaqen is also Arya's new mentor the kindly old man who likes to put on a cadaver face.
*** Sadly, this one doesn't seem likely (and this is coming from a Syrio=Jaqen supporter). The description of the man Jaqen turns into in CoK exactly matches the description of the man who kills Pate in the beginning of AFfC, so Jaqen is almost definitely Pate.

[[WMG: The Iron Bank is a front for/controlled by the Faceless Men]]
The Faceless Men's symbol is an iron coin, they are stated to be ''hideously'' expensive to hire, and they take whatever wealth their "worshippers" bring the House of Black and White. The Iron Bank is said to be ''extremely'' wealthy, and those who default on the loans of the Iron Bank are supposedly not long for this world... It seems logical that the Faceless Men are manipulating the politics of the free cities through the Iron Bank, either for the betterment of Braavos, or towards some other goal.\
* The Faceless Men don't accept money in payment. The Sorrowful Men, on the other hand...
* Actually, per the waif, the Faceless Men do take money as payment, however, money isn't enough of a payment by itself (for example the waif's father had to give up two thirds of his enormous wealth and his daughter).
* Alternately, the Faceless Men are a ChurchOfHappyology with a made-up backstory who perform expensive assassinations to make money for the Iron Bank and also kill people who default on their loans.
* Alternately: the Iron Bank has the Faceless Men on retainer. As the richest bank in the world, even if the faceless men aren't cheap, the bank is good for whatever they want. Meanwhile, no one in the world is safe from not paying the bank, so it works out for the bank in the long run.

[[WMG: Daenerys will refuse the Iron Throne.]]
There's plenty of evidence to be found here. For one, she is infertile, meaning that if she were to win the throne, she'd just bring back all the trouble that the lack of a certain heirs has caused already. She's been a queen too, meaning she knows the horrors of the feudal system better than anyone. Also, the Iron Throne was forged by dragonfire, and so it shall be destroyed. She'll probably start Westeros on the road to democracy.
* Well, she might try, anyway. Danaerys' plans tend not to go that well.
* Come to think of it, Dany accepting the Iron Throne, with no chance of an heir, could be an interesting way to end [=ASoIaF=]. Leaving us with the knowledge that history is doomed to repeat itself once she dies would fit in well with the general cynicism of the series.
* You don't need a biological child to be heir: Dany could always adopt.
** Perhaps but adopting is not nearly as strong a guarantee as a biological child in this kind of system.
*** Only if people knew her heir was adopted. She could concoct an elaborate charade where she pretends to be pregnant for about 9 months, then "gives birth" and passes off some low-born bastard child as her own. Or, she could adopt an infant before invading Westeros. Without DNA testing to prove the parentage, what basis could the Lords of Westeros possibly use to challenge her "heir's" claim to the throne?
*** ....Don't Esoss or Asshai have ''maegi'' to fix that?
* There are hints that she might not actually be infertile: at the end of aDwD, she notes that her period is unusually heavy. An early-term miscarriage could easily be mistaken as an extra-heavy flow. You have to be pregnant in the first place to have a miscarriage...
** She might be able to become pregnant, but if she can't carry it to term, then that's pretty much the same deal.
*** There's no evidence she can't carry to term yet. A lot of women have early-term miscarriages without any severe damage to their bodies, and simply miscarrying one baby doesn't mean she can't successfully have another.

[[WMG: Daenerys will confront Jaime]]
It's only fair that Dany gets a chance to confront one of the people who brought down her family. Especially the one who killed her father.
* "It's only fair"? Please remember where we are. Nothing "fair" ever happens in ASOIAF . . .
** Exactly. Of COURSE there'll be a confrontation: just as soon as there's finally a chance for a lasting peace, they'll run into each other at precisely the right moment to send events spiralling off in the worst direction possible.
* Alternatively, circumstances could allow Dany and Jaime to meet, and for Jaime to give a thorough explanation of her father's true nature to her once and for all. And unlike Sir Barristan, [[BrutalHonesty he wouldn't attempt to spare her feelings about it.]]
* Imagine this confrontation between the two:
-->'''Daenerys:''' Kingslayer, for the punishment of killing my father, you shall be put to death.
-->'''Jaime:''' A wise ruler might treat injustice with mercy.
-->'''Daenerys:''' I choose to treat injustice with justice.
-->'''Jaime:''' And what justice would you give to a man who ordered the death of thousands?

[[WMG: Daenerys Targaryen is not Daenerys Targaryen.]]
She's [[spoiler: Jon Snow's sister from Rhaegar and Lyanna.]]
[[spoiler: We still don't know the secret between Lyanna and Ned (although it's accepted that it's Ned looks after her son, Jon) but what if it were more than that? Lyanna might have had two children from Rhaegar, one who took after her, Jon, and another that took after Rhaegar, Dany. Ned took in Jon, being able to realistically pass off that Jon was his son, but could not take in Dany without it being obvious of her Targaryen parentage.]]
Facts:

1. [[spoiler: Lyanna was found in the Tower of Joy, in the Kingdom of Dorne.]]

2. [[spoiler: The events in the Tower of Joy took place less than a year before Daenerys' birth at sea, so the two children would be similar in age.]]

3. [[spoiler: While staying at the house with the red door, Willem Darry was visited by an accompaniment including Oberyn Martell at an undeterminable amount of time after their arrival in Braavos.]]

[[spoiler: The real Daenerys died shortly after her birth. Ned went to Oberyn Martell and Doran Martell with Lyanna's child (maybe claiming it as Elia's) and requested she be placed in protection overseas with the other Targaryen children to prevent Robert's wrath. When she was taken to Braavos and it was learned that the real Daenerys died, he and Willem arranged to pass her off as the real Daenerys in the event of Viserys' death as a bastard could not inherit the throne. This also explains Ned's adamancy that Robert not kill Daenerys, as she was actually his bastard niece. This may help or hinder Jon/Dany shippers, as they would be full siblings.]]

[[WMG: Daenerys won't survive the series.]]
* If you're about to say "[[LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt like he would really do it]]," please take a moment to remember [[AnyoneCanDie where we are]]. Raise your hands if you thought the same regarding Ned and Robb Stark. There have already been subtle hints that Daenerys, despite having [[TakeALevelInBadass Taken Several Levels In Badass]], still [[WideEyedIdealist isn't quite nasty enough]] for [[WorldHalfEmpty this world]]. I grant, she has thus far [[LittleMissBadass proven to be a very difficult person to dispose of]], but none of the [[MagnificentBastard majors players in Westeros]] are actively seeking her death; she's not important enough. Once she tries to actually invade Westeros, she's in for a nasty shock. After managing to [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere cause a healthy dose of mayhem, confusion, and consternation]], she'll [[ShootTheShaggyDog end up being demolished]] the minute someone [[DespairEventHorizon sends her dragons to the Void]].
** The released chapter of her shows her getting rather used to Assassination attacks and learning to be a good fair ruler while still being rather ruthless. She also has Tyrion, Quentyn Martell, Victarion Greyjoy all heading toward her. Tyrion is his father's son to the point of shooting his father in the crotch with a crossbow...
** I think Dany may die before the end of the series, because she was prophesized to have three betrayals in her life. What kind of monarch is only betrayed three times? ...A monarch with a short life. Wildly guessing here, but it seems possible the third betrayal will kill her.
** I've been assuming this almost has to be the case, if only because of the constant emphasis on how she's barren. A queen who returned to Westeros, conquered, and reestablished the ancient dynasty only to die childless because she cannot produce an heir would only plunge the kingdom back into anarchy and civil war a generation later. The mythological overtones of the story almost require a new king who can found a new, stronger dynasty that will be able to thrive for hundreds (if not thousands) of years.
*** Plus, to throw in the "Martin started writing this series based off the Wars of the Roses" angle, as the exiled and returning spawn of the old kings, she doesn't really fit the role of Henry Tudor. Jon is a far better fit, (likely) being the fusion of both the ancient blood of the Kings of the North and the ruling blood of the dragon kings.

[[WMG: Tyrion will join Dany.]]
* Related to the above, he's smart enough to keep her alive. I could even imagine them being married (whether or not they have sex is something else entirely, but as a co-ruler, she could do a lot worse).

[[WMG: Daenerys will be tricked by the Martells into destroying their enemies.]]
* Fact, The Martells support Dany. Fact, they're sending an suitor to treat with her. Fact, the Lannisters killed Dany's family. Opinion, Dany being duped into killing (mostly) innocent people is a great way for her to get into mega-mad queen mode, also it would teach her the Targaryens weren't great people, and that people will use her.

[[WMG: Daenerys' return to Westeros will be an AntiClimax]]
* This strikes me as the kind of thing GRRM would do. I'm probably wrong (I've not read book four yet), but I can't say I'd be surprised if Daenerys gets home either to find it's an absolute wreck and there'll be no fighting involved, the people reject her outright for some reason, her dragons die of magic swine flu or something like that.
** The most likely way this will happen is probably this: when she meets up with Euron Crow's-Eye, he uses his magic dragon horn, but instead of putting the dragons under his control, it causes them to go mad, and they kill him and Dany.

[[WMG: Daenerys will marry Tommen]]
Assuming Martin plans on ending the series on a stable note, this is the only possible outcome. Jon is the natural candidate of course, seeing as he and Dany are GRRM's pet characters, but at this point Winterfell is practically nonexistent, and holds no political power. This rules out Bran, too. Marrying Tommen is the only peaceful solution that will satisfy Dany and her army (which by this point could crush Westeros without breaking a sweat) and not involve murdering every other protagonist in the book.
** That's far from the only "stable" outcome. In fact, one could actually argue that it wouldn't be a stable outcome at all, since it would leave a queen who cannot bear heirs on the throne, while failing to resolve any number of other pretty significant issues (Tommen isn't truly of the blood of kings, he's supposed to die soon anyway according to Cersei's prophecy, simply having Daenerys come back doesn't actually work in the narrative context because it's a reimposition of the old order, rather than the birth of a new one, etc). Jon's ass is pretty much destined to wind up on that throne, with huge odds that neither Tommen or Daenerys survive the next two books. It can go multiple ways (Daenerys discovers Jon is her nephew and they marry, or conversely, Jon is revealed to be Rhaegar's heir and the kingdom acknowledges him, and then he either takes Dany's place (and her dragons) when she dies, or actively becomes a rival to her). Jon is almost certainly the fusion of old and new blood, and is pretty much poetically destined to eventually rule.
*** Side-note - even his oath doesn't necessarily preclude becoming king - if he dies and is reborn, his death would end his oath.
* Dany's army could certainly not 'crush Westeros without breaking a sweat'. She has Dothraki calvalry, a load of sellswords and the elite Unsullied Legion(s), but without a significant alliance with ''at least one'' of the Great Houses (and preferably more than one), her forces would probably be bled to the bone during her first siege attempt - which by itself would tie up a third to half her forces while she waits for whichever castle it is to fall. The warriors that make up Dany's army are very good at what they do, but there are many different facets of warfare, and the Westerosi use of heavy armor and fortifications could toss a spanner in the works of any plans she has for complete conquest. At this point, her dragons are as likely to kill her own men as they are the other side.
** TV!Robert explained the true threat Dany poses; her army can't successfully besiege a castle, but if she leaves the castles alone and goes on a scorched earth campaign against everyone who can't hide behind stone walls, it's only a matter of time until the people decide they'd rather have her as their leader than the nobles who abandoned them to hide in their fortresses. Better to be at the devil's side than in her path, as it were. Whether or not Dany would be smart enough to come up with this plan, or have the will to go through with it if she did are different questions, however.
*** Correction, on the show it is talked about how a Dothraki army do not lay effective siege and that no sane commander would engage them in the field, but that the counter point to this argument was that they would start a scorched earth campaign that would force the king and his nobles to engage them for political reasons. that has nothing to do with an army of unsullied, the men-at-arms Selmy is training, and the mercenary companies in her employ. on top of that, the golden company, one of, if not the most, highly trained and respected mercenary company has landed and has sacked at least one castle and i think we can agree that they would be receptive of Dany, giving her an influx of elite troops and a staging area. So assuming she isn't raped and enslaved by the khalasar that finds her at the end of ADWD and she some how ends up leading them she should have a very good sized army and a great chance to really make a dent if she ever leaves Essos.

[[WMG: Daenerys has the pale mare]]
In her last chapter in ADWD, [[spoiler: it's described that she has massive, painful diarrhea, and she wakes up with blood on her thighs, which she interprets as being her period. Some theories state that she was pregnant but miscarried, but I think that's just a red herring, being that diarrhea and bloody feces are repeatedly stated to be symptoms of the bloody flux, which she could easily have caught while visiting Meereen's plague slums. The supposed Targaryen immunity to disease could easily have been a mistaken boast she heard from Viserys. Either the Dothraki have an easy cure for the pale mare, or she'll die early in The Winds of Winter.]]
* More likely she was that she was pregnant and accidently aborted Daario's child by eating certain berries. Mirri pointed out that Dany wouldn't be pregnant again until certain conditions were met. Of course, Dany thought that the conditions were impossible to meet, but the sun did rise in the west and set in the east (Quentyn dying in Meereen), the mountains did crumble (the dragons burning the pyramids of Meereen), and the seas did dry up (the Dothraki sea is undergoing a drought).
* Wouldn't that mean that Drogo is going to come back to life?
** Unless it just means that she's going to find love again with someone capable of filling Drogo's shoes (i.e. not Daario.)
** Lets go with Drogo coming back to life as that would be more awesome.
** Drogo reborn = Victarion?
** [[WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged No! None of THAT! SHAME ON YOU!]] Drogo would materialize out of smoke and salt made of pure badasstanium.
* Bloody feces wouldn't lead to blood on her thighs. It would be mixed with, well, feces, and she'd have to be laying on her stomach for it to be on her thighs well enough to mistake it for a period. A lot of blood doesn't necessarily mean she miscarried/aborted, either; the first day of a period can be VERY heavy, and they tend to do weird things when a woman's diet is bad (like living solely on charred, half-cooked meat). Sometimes, a period is just a period.
** I took it to mean that she had her period, but that she was now CAPABLE of bearing a child. She says she can't remember the last time she had her period, and if all of the above fufillments of the prophecy are true, she can get pregnant.
* Looks more like a miscarriage. Dany says she doesn't remember exactly, but thinks its been a couple of moons (ie months). Also her last periods were synched with the full moon, but this current heavy flow occurs at the crescent moon. All this is consistent with a miscarriage somewhere in the first trimester.
* [[spoiler: 'Bloody flux' is the name of a historical illness and a real world symptom. Specifically, it refers to the purging of the body when someone is in the last stage of dying of extreme starvation. It was assumed it was an actual illness that died out until it was seen again in areas like the Sudan. So, for Dany, she probably is not about to drop dead from starvation.]]
** "Flux" is an old-timey term for dysentery: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysentery. The "pale mare" is similar to real diseases like cholera, typhus, etc. many of which have bloody diarrhea as a symptom. Starvation can cause similar symptoms but is not all that relevant here except that malnutrition weakens the immune system. The original theory is plausible.
* She doesn't just wake up with blood on her thighs. It keeps coming, and she's surprised by how heavy the flow is. She repeatedly identifies it as her period. Do you really think she can't tell which body orifice the blood is coming from?

[[WMG: R'hllor is not the force of good, but neither is whatever entity that's commanding the Others.]]
They are just two cosmic forces that are fighting for supremacy, giving no thought as to who's hurt or lives are ruined in the crossfire. Lords, Kings, Red Priests, Dragons, Others, Wights, Children of the Forest, etc are all just their pawns in their planetary scale dick-waving contest. In the end, it'll become clear that all the factions in the Game of Thrones are just as disposable and helpless to those two forces as the peasants caught in the middle of their civil war are to them. Its a delightfully nasty parallel that seems right up GRRM alley.

[[WMG: R'hllor is the Other]]
Or at least the power behind them, and not even his followers realize this. Melisandre makes a point of talking about how R'hllor controls shadows as well as light, which means that its not too much of a leap to think he rules ice as well as fire. Add to that the fact that he gains power from human sacrifice, all its clergy are slaves, the fact that it can bring back the dead into something akin to a Coldhands-style wight, and that his priestess gains power from the enchantments of the Wall (possibly by draining their power) and R'hllor seems much closer to the Other than the Seven or the Old Gods do. It doesn't help that his priests actively suppresses the other religions, up and including burning Godswoods. One can only guess what its plan is, but its playing both sides of the field to get there.

[[WMG: R'hllor and the Great Other are the same God.]]
The Faceless men are right about all the Gods in Westeros being the same God of Many Faces. The Others are the Many Faced God's servants coming to take away humanity's pain and suffering. Leads to...

The Faceless Men will believe the last WMG, and help the Others invade Westeros.

[[WMG: All red-haired people in Westeros share a hive mind by way of R'hllor.]]
* Released chapters from Dance with Dragons show Melisandre knows the catchphrase "You know nothing, Jon Snow." But the woman who said this [[spoiler: died before Melisandre ever arrived on the Wall]], so there is no way that she could have known the phrase would be pertinent. However, Melisandre and the aforementioned Ygritte both have red hair, a fact which is specifically remarked upon several times ? Ygritte is outright referred to as "kissed by fire," while Melisandre is a priestess of a god of fire. Clearly, R'hllor gives mystical telepathy to all those in the world with red hair ? possibly also including Beric Dondarrion [[spoiler: (at least, until he finally kicked the bucket for good)]], the Tullys and those Starks with Tully features (debatable, as they have auburn hair, but it's fairly close to red), and maybe several others, as redheads are not massively uncommon.
** Melisandre probably has some psychic powers, that doesn't necessarily mean it has anything to do with hair colour. She could have taken the phrase from Jon's own head, not Ygritte's.
* The first time Mel said the phrase, it was very "OH hoho?" but then Val and others continued to say it multiple times with no special effect, leading me to think "You know nothing" is actually just a common wildling phrase.

[[WMG: The god that revives Beric Dondarrion and Catelyn Stark is the Great Other, not the Lord of Light.]]
Catelyn has gone noticeably crazier since being slain and reborn. One might attribute this to her desire to get revenge on the Freys, but I believe that the influence of the god that granted her life once again might be behind this. The Brotherhood Without Banners might be actually serving the Great Other. The reasoning behind this? The resurrection itself. Melisandre might have been protected from forces that would have otherwise killed her, but she hasn't actually died and been revived like Beric and Catelyn, which leads me to believe that resurrection may not be a part of the Lord of Light's powers. Also, what else do we know of that dies and comes back to life? The Wights, which are typically people killed by the Others.
* Also, the wights have blue eyes. Catelyn & Beric have blue eyes. Sure, they had blue eyes before they were raised from the dead, but...
** Actually, wights have glowing blue eyes, while Cat's glow red (see her description in AFfC). I think we can rule out that they are wights - that they still might not be revived by anything even remotely considered good, is another thing. On the other hand, the Freys did break some very important rules, rules that - at least according to the story of the rat king - might justify the gods taking a direct hand. I'd rather consider her resurrection divine retribution on the Freys.
* Alternatively, The Lord of Light is one of the others. After all, 'Night' is just Shadow, and Shadow is another side of light. Perhaps there are two factions that go to war, and that's what destroys everything.

[[WMG: R'hllor and Balerion are the same god under different names and his wrath was responsible for the Doom of Valyria.]]
Way back when, Balerion was the head of the Valyrian pantheon. Worshipping him helped the Valyrians subdue almost the entire continent of Essos. But after time, the Valyrians, like the Romans they're based on, grew bored of their gods and began embracing other religions. Balerion was MAD and as punishment, decided to destroy their capital WITH FIRE AND FLAMES, MWAHAHAHAHA. He also helped cause the extinction of the Targaryens' dragons and has been driving many of the Targaryens mad just ForTheEvulz.

[[WMG: The world of ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' has a regular orbit around its sun.]]
The long and irregular seasons are not caused by the irregularity of the planet's orbit and its tilted axis. Instead, its sun varies in its radiance much more radically than ours, so while, for us, a decade of high solar radiance might mean ten summers and ten mild winters, for them, it might mean ten years of summer. This is a much simpler explanation for the strange seasons than the idea of a planet with a highly variable orbit and axial shift. Evidence: if this theory were correct, it would be the same season on both sides of the equator, instead of being opposite seasons as is the case in the real world. But if it were summer on one side of the equator whenever it were winter on the other side, there would be massive migrations during the long and brutal winters. That's not to say that there would be no settled populations whatsoever, but there would also be a lot of migration. The fact that we don't hear of any such migration suggests that it doesn't occur, because it's the same season on both sides of the equator.
* WMG EXTREME, brace yerself! This is the lynchpin of the whole series. The world was originally an iceworld with a dim sun. The "human" species that evolved there was cold adapted, with at least 2 forms. This accounts for why the wildings all expect to turn into wights if not burned, no zombie bites or infections needed. Its their "normal" biology. Much later a new species of "man" arrived and heated up the sun, with magical dragonfire. (Might be be just a small nearby iron asteroid, if heating up a star is too much to swallow.) Later still the magically heated sun began to become unstable. Thus the secret conspiracy to control the dragons (the same people who made Varys) Ultimately they will be used to reheat the Westeros sun. Of course they will need riders. Being "dead" is very handy for working in the cold and airlessness of space...
** OP here: I don't know about the whole second sun idea, or some of the rest, but I do like the idea of the Others or the Wights being the natural second stage of human life in this world. I don't buy it, but it sure would be interesting.

[[WMG: The Valar Dohareis reply to Valar Morghulis is a figurative way of saying "All Men Must Live"]]
Props to people on the Westeros forums for this brilliant theory. Valar Dohareis is literally translated as "All Men Must Serve", which doesn't seem like an obvious counterpoint to Valar Morghulis, which literally means "All Men Must Die". However, when you remember that the original Braavosi were slaves, this makes a lot of sense. Living meant service, which only ended at death (note the origin story of the Faceless Men involves someone mercy killing a slave). Thus, the idea is that someone is acknowledging that death is certainly eventual, but at the moment, the speaker is still serving. Consequently, saying Valar Dohareis to a Faceless Man probably loosely translates as something like "I'm still serving, please don't kill me yet."

To support this (this is my own idea here), in ''Series/GameOfThrones'', the Braavosi Syrio is given a line like "All men must die. But not today." The "not today" part is original to the series, but might reflect a (still to come) book explanation of Valar Dohareis, and it's a good way of simplifying the phrases to young Arya.
* The "not today" part is not original to the show. Part of Syrio's training includes teaching Arya that "There is no god but Death. And what do we say to Death?", and the response she gives is, "Not today." Which could be not–so–thinly veiled reference to the beliefs of the Faceless Men. (Whether this implies that Syrio is ''affiliated'' with the Faceless Men, or simply familiar with their philosophy because both are from Braavos, is up for debate. Certainly, this troper always assumed that Syrio was purposefully laying the groundwork Arya's Faceless Man training even then.)

[[WMG: There is no [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westermarck_effect Westermarck effect]] in the world of ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''.]]
They have powerful legal and religious prohibitions against incest, but no instinctive revulsion at it. The Targaryens, for example, did not force themselves against their natural inclinations to marry brother to sister solely to preserve their Valyrian bloodline; they positively lusted after their own siblings. Baelor the Blessed, for instance, had to lock his sisters away in the Maidenvault so he wouldn't be tempted by them, and Aemon the Dragonknight is rumored to have been Queen Naerys' lover. Or look at Jaime and Cersei Lannister. Not only did they lust after one another, they appear never to have felt any guilt or conflict over that fact. For that matter, look at Eddard's reaction when he found out: he was certainly very unhappy about it, but he showed no signs, even in his private thoughts, of being instinctively or viscerally revulsed or disgusted by it. He clearly regards it as a terrible crime, but not an unnatural one.
* But this raises the question, if humans in this universe do not have a biological aversion to incest, then why WOULD it be prohibited by faith or law? I seriously doubt that they know about things like genetic diversity, and even if they do (or suspect), incest would be considered a, let's say, "suboptimal mating arrangement", not a straight crime against nature. The reason we perceive incest as unnatural is because it feels, y'know unnatural to most. That's what the Westermarck effect describes in the first place. Keep in mind that the whole incest thing was started by Aegon I, the first Targaryen king, and an important role model for all Targaryens to follow. It's not hard to see that his successors would also marry their sisters, if their great ancestor did it to 'keep the blood pure'. Also, don't forget that only a few of them actually married their siblings - many married into other houses of Valyrian descent, like Velaryon, who would only be distant relatives (completely acceptable even by real world medieval standards), or even 'outsiders' (like Rhaegar and Elia of Dorne). And aside from the Targaryans, that pretty much only leaves Cersei and Jaime - well, and it can't be denied that incest DOES happen in real life, so these two were probably just attracted to each other despite the Westermarck effect. As for why Ned didn't care that much... he was mostly concerned with making sure that Robert's true heir (Stannis) would be crowned, so he just didn't care much for whose children they were - not Robert's, that was the important part. And maybe he really doesn't care about their incestous relationship in itself.
* Averting the Westermarck effect is easy, and was achieved by many RealLife royal houses by simply not having the siblings live together until they were to be wed. It's also unconnected to one's opinion of ''other'' people's relationships, which is all cultural. As far as reasons for prohibition go, in RealLife marrying-out has a solid history of being encouraged because it builds links across communities, and encourages more trade and economic activity, bringing life to the whole town; it long pre-dates any solid concept of genetic diversity.
* Plus, remember, the only family who regularly practised incest were the Targaryens, who in the early years of their reign could get away with just about anything and no doubt felt entitled to indulge themselves in any way they wanted. If that included keeping it in the family from preference rather than apparent necessity, so be it; the children were probably so conditioned to see their siblings as prospective future spouses that it became natural to them. Otherwise people in Westeros see incest as a sin; Catelyn, for example, is clearly disgusted and appalled when she learns the truth in the second book, and in the past, Joanna Lannister is horrified when she learns what her children have been doing and takes steps to prevent it.
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fosterage Fosterage]] is clearly very common among Westerosi nobility, and that could counteract the effect. On the other hand, it seems to begin around the age of 8-10, too late to affect the WE, and in the particular case of C+J they seem to have had a close childhood relationship. No word on how the Targs raised their kids though, so they could well have split them up in early childhood.
* The Targaryens probably had their own deal, but the thing going on between Cersei and Jaime always kind of reminded me of one episode of Criminal Minds (yes, I know it's a fictional show, but they usually try to base it on real psychological theory) where these two siblings became intensely attracted to one another because they lost their whole family at a very young age and spent years with no one else TO love, to the point where they sort of weren't capable of even figuring out HOW to love anybody else. Jaime and Cersei didn't fall in love because it felt normal -- they fell in love because they were very alone, and very damaged.
** Consider: they lost their mother (and, in many ways, their father) when they were eight. They started sleeping together (as opposed to just fooling around) when they were nine.
* Or, possibly, ''Valyrians'' are immune to the Westermarck effect. If they had a cultural bias towards sibling marriage, then anyone without a natural disinclination to incest would be more likely to have more children, passing on the trait, and thus over the five thousand years of Valyria's history whatever causes the Westermarck effect was bred out of them. (This could also tie in with the theory that Jaime and Cersei are Aerys' children and not Tywin's, as they also seem immune to the effect.)

*** Do you remember Tywin's FamousLastWords? Supposedly Tysha'd been sent to a whorehouse.

In this series of BlackAndGreyMorality, the only possible way to make things grayer than they already are is to make the AlwaysChaoticEvil demons not AlwaysChaoticEvil, and knowing Martin, be given the [[DeconstructedTrope the treatment]].

The Faceless Men's symbol is an iron coin, they are stated to be ''hideously'' expensive to hire, and they take whatever wealth their "worshippers" bring the the House of Black and White. The Iron Bank is said to be ''extremely'' wealthy, and those who default on the loans of the Iron Bank are supposedly not long for this world... It seems logical that the Faceless Men are manipulating the politics of the free cities through the Iron Bank, either for the betterment of Braavos, or towards some other goal.\

Despite the evidence, and his own personal hope, that he is the son of a highborn lady (Lyanna Stark or Ashara Dayne), it will be revealed that Jon Snow's mother was a commoner, and his conception was simply the result of a moment of infidelity by the otherwise noble Eddard Stark. Alternatively, his true parentage will never be revealed, a la Taran of the Literature/ChroniclesOfPrydain.

* [[WordofGod Hodor]]

* If the true Aegon was swapped with Ashara's baby (perhaps even significantly earlier in the Rebellion, since Ashara was one of Elia's ladies–in–waiting), then it's possible that Ashara heard about Elia's "son" being killed by Gregor Clegane and that's why she committed suicide. Which would mean that Young Griff is Ashara's son (and, therefore, potentially Ned Stark's as well), and that Rhaegar's actual son was secreted at Starfall. I thought he might even be Edric Dayne, but Ned II should be about four years too young.

* Varys is [[Discworld/MenAtArms Edward D'Eath.]] Not literally, but they have the same goal- they want to restore a good king for the realm and make a good romantic story of it. He backed Joff (at least, stopped Ned from deposing him) so the story would have a good villain. Then he rounds up a "rightful heir" type, whether actually rightful or not, to take the place. He's opposed by Littlefinger, who's only interested in stirring up chaos.

* Word of God, [[Hodor]]

** To me, a HeroicSacrifice doesn't really sound fitting for Stannis. It's unclear how much he himself believes in Melisandre's prophecy, but in any case, he appears to be determined to be king, seeing it as both his right and his duty (and rights and duty are things Stannis is obsessed with). So I don't think he would give his life for any cause short of gaining the Iron Throne. On the other hand, this could be his InUniverse CrowningMomentOfAwesome, finally elevating him above Robert and Renly, as that seems to be what he always wanted. Renly has already failed and died, and Robert may have won the throne from Aerys, but only twenty years have passed since then (compare that to the several hundred years the Targaryans have ruled), there are two members of the old ruling family laying claim on the throne right now, and one has already invaded. So Robert probably won't go down in history as that great of a king, especially if the truth about his children is exposed. However, if Stannis manages to delay or even repel the invasion from the north and gives his live in the process, he will be a hero and martyr, and outshine his brothers.

She's shown affection for Robert Arryn and knows of Littlefinger's plot to have him killed, so that Sansa's presumable fiancee Harry becomes heir to the Eyrie. Littlefinger has been schooling her in the game of thrones for a while now. It would be a fitting graduation for this apprentice to betray her master, reveal his plot and her identity, and in doing so earn the loyalty of the knighthood of the Vale and Robin as an eventual husband - in effect, taking the Eyrie and Winterfell just as Littlefinger had hoped to. It is also the only likely way for Littlefinger to get his comeuppance, as Sansa (like her mother before her) is the only weak point in Littlefinger's plots and emotional aloofness. The resulting CrowningMomentOfAwesome would also be fitting of Martin. Note that it is possible that Sansa would not plan this act but end up performing it on impulse anyways.

** To me, a HeroicSacrifice doesn't really sound fitting for Stannis. It's unclear how much he himself believes in Melisandre's prophecy, but in any case, he appears to be determined to be king, seeing it as both his right and his duty (and rights and duty are things Stannis is obsessed with). So I don't think he would give his life for any cause short of gaining the Iron Throne. On the other hand, this could be his in-universe CrowningMomentOfAwesome, finally elevating him above Robert and Renly, as that seems to be what he always wanted. Renly has already failed and died, and Robert may have won the throne from Aerys, but only twenty years have passed since then (compare that to the several hundred years the Targaryans have ruled), there are two members of the old ruling family laying claim on the throne right now, and one has already invaded. So Robert probably won't go down in history as that great of a king, especially if the truth about his children is exposed. However, if Stannis manages to delay or even repel the invasion from the north and gives his live in the process, he will be a hero and martyr, and outshine his brothers.

* All Cercei's children were born crowned with gold -- they're golden-haired Lannisters when they should have been raven-haired Baratheons. Actually getting to sit on the Iron Throne itself may not matter to meet the prophecy. Our dear Maggy was telling her to her face she was going to be an incestuous adulator, instead, perhaps.
** In addition: being Lannister-"Baratheon"s -- the odds of being sent of with shrouds of gold would be high, regardless of being rulers. The House colours of Lannister: red and ''gold''. The House colours of Baratheon: black and ''gold''. Spot the common denominator.

** Lyanna's age doesn't match. Lyanna would be in her early 30's if she were still alive, Lenore is over 40.