WMG / A Song Of Ice And Fire Jossed

These are Wild Mass Guesses for A Song of Ice and Fire which have been jossed by the series.

Please add new jossed entries to the bottom of the page.

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Theon will die in A Dance With Dragons

George has said he will kill off some POV characters in ADWD, and we do know that HBO is planning to fuse AFFC with ADWD for the tv series (which will cover one book per season with AFFC and ADWD merged together). Alfie Allen (Theon's portrayer) will apparently only be in four seasons.

• To be fair, so far we only have enough books completely written for 4 seasons, if they plan to merge AFFC and ADWD. And the show has been renewed for a second season, but no more so far. Unless GRRM shared with the scriptwriters plans about a book not yet written, this idea doesn't seem to have much credence behind it.
• The producers and writers have expressed their desire to split A Storm of Swords into two seasons because of the book's length. This further suggests the contract length of 4 seasons is based on factors unrelated to Theon's death since he wouldn't die in the show until the 5th or 6th season anyway.
• Survives ADWD, mostly intact (if you can consider being tortured to insanity and possibly castrated "mostly intact"). Besides, that George would kill a character off because of the TV series's contracts is a little out there, even for this page.
  • Um... contracts get renewed all the time, guys. Just because it's a four-year contract now does not preclude a re-up.
• I have a proposal that, admittedly, lacks any more traction than the Theon theory did, but Poison Oak Epileptic Trees are so fun. .
  • Peter Dinklage said, very recently at that, that his contract covers the first six seasons of the series, the first three of which have been made/are guaranteed to be made. Since the fifth season will be AFFC/ADWD combined because of the time setting, that means the sixth season will cover events during The Winds of Winter that don't bleed into previous seasons. Based on this and the fact that the series' writers/producers were informed of major plot developments from the last two books by GRRM in case he dies before they're published, I predict that Tyrion will die in The Winds of Winter. And it will piss off ALL of the fans.

Cersei will demand Trial of Seven

• At the end of A Feast for Crows, Cersei is locked up and facing charges of adultery, treason, and possibly even the incest that everyone in the know apparently knew about but pretended not to. Qyburn mentions that 'it' is complete and ready, and 'it' will be useful if she demands trial by combat. Unfortunately, as a result of her gambit-backfire, she's forced to use her Kingsguard to champion her. However, by the end of the book, half of the Kingsguard is dead, and the other half is abroad: the 'Soiled Knight' was killed in the Dornish ambush, Kettleblack is going to be executed, and Loras is dying at worse, or in hiding at the best (since he's still a potential POV for book 5). Jaime and Ser Ilyn Payne are away, and may or may not show up leaving two men on the guard. By demanding trial of seven, she could possibly finagle five more champions (note that there's a veritable wall of badass lords on the way at the end of the book) that are more capable that the Kingsgaurd, allowing Qyburn's creation to see battle, and bail her ass out.
  • The It that Qyburn is referanceing, is of course, the Mountain that Rides, Preserved from death by the strange magic that Qyburn knew (which works now because of the return of the dragons. or works better, whatever). this also allows his brother to finally kill him, in the end. the mountain that rides, rendered into an undead monster... scary thought, considering he was too ugly to die already.
    • I was thinking less "preserved from death" and more along the lines of "reconstructed after death" for some Frankenstein's monster-style antics.
• Averted, in ADWD. She's still having a trial by combat - Zombie Gregor of the Kingsguard versus unknown champion.

Coldhands is a robot, make by lost technology before the Doom of Valaryia

How would a metallic robot feel when left out in the cold North? Cold. Very Cold. He is unable to cross under the Wall not because he is undead, but because his ancient programming forbids him from leaving the old boundaries of the civilisation that built him. A large flock of crows follow him not due to warging abilities, but because he has a radio transmitter capable of broadcasting at a high enough frequency to disrupt the natural navigational instincts of birds. It will later be revealed that he is constructed of 'dragonsteel' and thus the perfect weapon to be used in melee comabat against the Others.

• Jossed in Dw D.
  • Thank God

Brienne screamed "Stannis!"

Zombie!Cat will be convinced to let Brienne live to go after Stannis who was undoubtedly somehow behind the Red Wedding.

• Even if this isn't right, whatever word Brienne screamed saved her life (which is why we weren't told what word she screamed.) I'm willing to bet it wasn't "Sapphires."
• It was almost definitely Stannis, or Stannis-related. From "A Clash of Kings",
  Brienne: "... And I think, when the time comes, you will not try to hold me back. Promise me that. That you will not hold me back from Stannis."
  Catelyn: "When the time comes, I will not hold you back."
  • If reminding Catelyn of her oath to not hold Brienne back from Stannis is the purpose of Brienne's last word being "Stannis," it won't work. Catelyn is not present during the scene where Brinne is being hanged, and the Brothers that are hanging her would not understand the importance of saying "Stannis."
• Side theory: Brienne yelled something to the effect that signaled that she chose Cat over Jaime. We know that right after they let her down she goes off to find Jaime, telling him that she's found Sansa (a lie) and wants him to come- alone. Sketchy much? Brienne is going to betray Jaime (sobs) and hand him over to Lady Stoneheart.
  • I guess it was my own personal bias, but I had assumed it was obvious that the word she screamed was "Arya". Since not long before she had found out Arya was, in fact alive, so Caitlin would be desperate to learn what Brienne knew.
• Thanks to a recent interview at a convention, this has finally been Jossed. The word that Brienne shouted, according to George R.R. Martin, was sword! As in, they had just asked her to "make the choice: the sword or the noose" and she had refused to make it up until that point.
  • Wait, doesn't that mean that Jaimie is walking into a trap? And really, Arya makes so much more sense.
    • It does indeed mean that. However, the simple fact is that neither wants to hurt the other, and they've learned to communicate at least somewhat. There's honestly a realistic chance they'll be able to Take a Third Option. (Before everything goes wrong anyhow, of course.)

Coldhands is the Stranger

• Think about it. Right after Sam mentions the Stranger, the god of death, a dead-ish rider rescues him from wights. Another possible spin off of this is that the Stranger is disgusted by the Others/wights evading his domain, and will help Westeros defeat them. Also could lead to Sam becoming a priest for him-probably one of the only ones, as he says that the Stranger is never talked about.
  • Alternatively, Coldhands is an avatar of the old gods of the North.
  • wrong. Coldhands is a Nights Watch wight.

Coldhands is Benjen Stark

• He has a Night Watch cloak, and is most likely undead due to not being able to pass the gates in The Wall (not to mention how he has his name). Benjen hasn't been confirmed dead or alive since his appearance in the prologue of the first book. Most likely he is a Wight that managed to keep sentience and memories of his past, making him something like The Skull Knight.
  • Gah, I was going to post this one, thinking no one else had thought of it.
  • He's a Night's Watch man, and it would be kinda silly and anticlimactic to make him just some old joe. There isn't anyone else it could be.
  • As for how he maintained sentience, he didn't necessarily do so. We know the Starks are generally Wargs, that when a Warg dies they possess their animal (per various wildling Wargs) and that wargs can possess humans as well as animals (and thus likely can possess other creatures as well). So if Benjen's body became a Wight, he (while in animal form) could then possess that body becoming the creature known as Coldhands. Thus he didn't actually go through the Wight transformation, only his body did.
  • It's reasonable to assume that only wargs who harnessed their powers in life can live on in their beasts (otherwise the North would be crawling with sentient animals possessed by the spirits of every latent warg who ever lived) and Benjen's never been suggested to have done so. On the other hand, it could well be the Three Eyed Crow possessing the body of a dead Watchman. Or alternatively he might have been the one to teach the wight how to hold on to its humanity.
  • If Benjen is Coldhands, wouldn't Bran recognise him?
    • I believe that Coldhands keeps his face covered behind a scarf, it's mentioned that they never see any breath steaming in front of the scarf over his face, which begs the question why he's wearing it; he's not going to get frostbite so maybe it's to protect his identity.
    • Why would Benjen hide his identity from his nephew if he wants to help him? He's rather uses scarf to hide some deformity, like missing nose. Also Bran would recognize Benjen's voice.
    • Not necessarily. At this point it's likely been a couple of years since they last met, Bran is pretty young and may not remember his uncle's voice well (visits were rare even before Benjen went missing, him being a man of the Watch and all), Coldhands' body is now dead, which could have who knows what effect on his vocal cords, and he's covering his mouth, which might muffle his speech.
    • The bit about it not being so because otherwise there would be a lot of sentient animals is not true. We know that the longer a warg remains in animal form after death, the more they lose their intelligence until they eventually become slightly clever animals.
  • Don't forget: the Starks have the blood of the First Men in them. Perhaps that blood interacts with the wighting process differently than southron blood.
  • That would be the case with most of the wights, then. The wights we have seen are either turned Wildlings or Watchmen, often from the North. Wildlings are descendents of the First Men, and so are most people in the North. In the North, there hasn't been much intermarrying with Andals, either. And remember, the Long Night was during the days of the First Men, so a turned First Man would be the basic wight known from legend.
  • Leaf states "They killed him long ago." Benjen is missing for about 2 years, someone who is 200 years old would not consider 2 years a long time.
• He is not.
  • Although this is already in the jossed page, this troper would like to point out that GRRM carefully describes Catelyn Stark and Lady Stoneheart as not the same person. It wouldn't be far-fetched for him to use the same ideology in describing Benjen and Coldhands.

The release of "The Winds of Winter" will coincide with the fourth season of Game of Thrones.

• While promoting season 3, Martin has states numerous times that he's writing the sixth book exceptionally fast. With season 3 being one of the most talked about single seasons in TV history, HBO will be pushing for all the Westeros it can get, and George needs to catch up with the TV series by season 6 (the Winds of Winter season according to the pace the series is going at) or else HBO could finish the saga before the author. Gods know we don't need two seasons for "A Feast for Cersei" and "A Dance with Filler POVs."
  • HBO may find themselves in the lead anyway if Martin continues his famous trend for book 7, since Game of Thrones would only have three more season/years to go after the fourth season wraps up.
  • Sadly, the show is done, and we're still waiting on those Winds of Winter.