Monday, June 20, 2011

Game of Thrones Finale - Important Questions





For the fans of the show, I have compiled three very important questions the audience should be wondering going into next season (that is, if you find yourself not compulsively reading the books already).
  1. Assuming Daenerys rides one dragon (probably the large black Drogon), who will be the riders of the other 2 dragons? 
  2. Now that Ned Stark is dead, how can Jon Snow possibly learn who his mother is? There is one person in the world that was there with Ned when he brought Jon back, a simple Hedge-knight that has remained nameless in the show - though it may be easier to work out than you think (see below).
  3. What kind of power is Bran developing? 

Though I have read the first four books, these questions are still barely touched upon. If you want some potential spoilers (based solely on my theories) please read on.

(1) I think the answer to number 1 has to deal with Daenerys eventual crossing of the narrow sea and claim on the Iron throne, and also how it coincides with the ominous threat from the North. Though many will say "Jorah" is an obvious choice to ride one dragon, I think that there may be other characters, like Jon Snow, who might have a greater chance due to his character being removed from the "Game of Thrones" plots that plague the South.

(2) I feel like Jon Snow's lineage is a bit easier to work out with just the information we have gathered from the show. We all know that Ned Stark was honor-bound to a fault (he got his head removed), so it seems highly implausible that he would sire a bastard so close after marrying his beautiful wife, Catelyn Stark.

However, much has been said about just how much Jon resembles his father (more so than any of his true-born children), so there must be at the very least a close relationship. Ned's brother Brandon was killed by the mad King Aerys, which left his sister Lyanna. We know Lyanna was captured and raped by the dragon knight Rhaegar Targaryen, and that Robert Boratheon was betrothed to her and in his rage slew Rhaegar while Ned freed his sister. Upon finding his sister, she utters the famous line, "promise me" and dies - then after the war Ned returns with a bastard boy and claims him as his own.



"Promise me" takes on more weight when we realize that what Ned could have promised to adopt him as his own, since he and his sister knew that if the child had the blood of a Targaryen, King Robert would want him dead. If this is the origin of Jon Snow, he would have the ancestral kingly blood of the "First Men" from the Starks, and be the true heir to the iron throne by having the fiery "Dragon's Blood" of the Targaryens. In short, Jon Snow, the loner bastard, is actually the one true king (like Aragorn from LOTR) , and even has a greater claim to the throne than his young aunt, Danaerys the "Mother of Dragons." He would have the blood of both Ice and Fire, and the series is called, "A Song of Ice and Fire."   I am going to go out on a limb and say he is the most important character...


(3) With the rebirth of Dragons into the world, the fantastical elements to the story are starting to become more apparent. Bran, the crippled son of Ned Stark, has started having visions of the three-eyed crow. These visions so far have been abstract warnings or direct links to the future, as when he had a dream of seeing his father's ghost before he actually learned the truth from a messenger Raven. It is possible that what Bran could be becoming is sort of the missing-link to the ancient world of the "Children."

A Westerosi Anthropologist's Sketch of the "Children of the Forest"


The "Children" were the indigenous population of Westeros before the coming of the "First Men" from Valerya - who were fleeing a massive calamity only known as "The Doom." The Children were basically half-lings who were extremely gifted in magic, and was the race the carved all the faces in the trees and planted all the "weirwoods," that have mostly been cut down except in the North, where they are prayed at to appease the "Old Gods." The First Men and the Children went to war before coming to a truce; a truce that stated that no more weirwoods would ever be cut down. Oddly, the Children seemed to vanish from Westeros, but rumor has it that they only went into the North, beyond the Wall.

Bran may be able to tap in to the Children's ancient power, becoming a new sort of "Wizard." With the rebirth of Dragons, might we be seeing a rebirth of more traditional forms of magic and archetypes into the world of Westeros as well?

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