After an intense episode that opened up a huge new avenue of possibilities for Game of Thrones, we’ve got a lot to discuss, theory-wise. One of the great joys of this show is all the speculating as we try to guess what will happen next or how the various disjointed characters and pieces of narrative will fit together. So let’s update our Thrones theories, now that we know new things about Bran and Meera Reed, in particular. We’re getting into SPOILER territory, so tap out now if you’re trying to remain pure.
But if you want to get into the mystery muck with me, I would like to now talk about what the ever-loving F*CK Bran is going to do next. I see two possibilities here: 1) Bran is going to start warging and time travelling like crazy to try and fix the horrendous state of his family, or 2) Bran realizes that the consequences of such action is devastating and never does it again, despite temptation.
Since I think the Stark men are f*cking useless—except for Jon Snow, who is going to end up being more important for belonging to a family other than the Starks— I expect Bran is going to be screwing around with the timeline. Hopefully he doesn’t Hodor anyone else, but Bran’s defining trait when we met him was foolishness, and the defining trait of his father and eldest brother was foolishness—you see where I’m going.
Of course everyone now thinks Bran has been behind these events all along, but I don’t like that theory and I hope it’s not true. Time Travelling Bran makes the world of Westeros too small. The whole point of Game of Thrones thus far has been what happens when so many different agendas and willful people get in the way of each other. Making it all Bran’s time-meddling fault is a cop-out. If Bran is going to use this power, I hope it’s selective and only to do something of massive import. Hodor was an accident. If he does this again, it ought to be a deliberate, drastic choice that feels loaded with consequence.
Now, Meera Reed. She killed a White Walker! We know of two things that can kill a White Walker: dragonglass and Valyrian steel, but that spear doesn’t seem to be dragonglass, since it didn’t do sh*t when that elf tried to use it. But maybe the weapon doesn’t matter. Jon Snow, Meera Reed, Samwell Tarly—what do they have in common? They’re good. They’re not perfect and they have self-doubt—a LOT of self-doubt—but they’re each defined by the sacrifices they’re willing to make for others. Maybe that’s the secret to killing White Walkers. Maybe only truly good people can do it.
And Meera may not be who she seems. We’ve long assumed that R+L=J, but what if it’s really R+L=J&M? What if Meera is a displaced Targaryen, too? Howland Reed and Ned Stark were the only people who survived the fight with Arthur Dayne at the Tower of Joy. We all assume Ned took Lyanna Stark’s child with Rhaegar Targaryen to raise as his own, but what if Lyanna had children? We know twins run in the Targaryen family—remember Viserys?—and looking at her now, Meera does bear a resemblance to Jon Snow.
Most of us are working on the assumption that Daenerys will bring her dragons to Westeros and there will be three dragon riders, and my money is on Daenerys, Tyrion, and Jon Snow. Or it was, until this “Meera is a secret Targaryen, too” thing popped up, because now there’s a whole new possibility here. We’ve all been rooting for the Stark children to reunite and start f*cking up their enemies, and while I still want to see that—f*ck the Boltons and Freys forever—the real war in Westeros is with the White Walkers. Everything else is a distraction. So when it comes time for that final fight, maybe what we should be anticipating is the reunion of the missing Targaryens. What do you think?
Here’s a trailer for the next episode that’s mostly about Lannisters and who even cares about them right now?
Attached - Emilia Clarke making the promotional rounds for Me Before You in New York yesterday.
