FAN THEORY: The ending of Game of Thrones

Ok, this article will talk about how Game Of Thrones might end. So, take a sip of ale, wipe that bit of grease from your face and start reading.

Ice and Fire

Now, a very big inspiration for George R. R. Martin has been Robert Frost’s poem, Fire and Ice. So much so that he even named the title of his series, after the poem, A Song of Ice and Fire. Let’s first have a look at the poem:

Some say the world will end in fire, 
Some say in ice. 
From what I’ve tasted of desire 
I hold with those who favor fire. 
But if it had to perish twice, 
I think I know enough of hate 
To say that for destruction ice 
Is also great 
And would suffice.

In the poem, as you would’ve noticed, fire stands for desire and ice for hate. So in actuality, it is a analysis between desire and hate, and which of the two would cause the destruction of the world. For clarification, GRRM has also stated that the title of the series ‘A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE’ stands for desire vs. hate.

So, most likely, by the end of ASOIAF – and GoT, since the showrunners, D&D have said that they are just doing the story in broad strokes – the world would face a catastrophe, thus giving the title ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ and the inspiration justice.

Now, what is ‘ice’ and what is ‘fire’ in GRRM’s world? Fire stands for the desire of the Targaryens/Valyrians who think they should rule the whole world and lust after the desire, and ice stands for White Walkers/Others since it is symbolic of hate. Yes, the Others represent hate, as it was hatred for the First Men by the Children of the Forest which led the Children to create the White Walkers. Thus, the end of ASOIAF/GoT would lead up to the ‘Great War’ between the Others and the Targaryens.

But who would win, ice or fire; who would cause the catastrophe?

Some say the world will end in fire, 
Some say in ice. 
From what I’ve tasted of desire 
I hold with those who favor fire. 
But if it had to perish twice, 
I think I know enough of hate 
To say that for destruction ice 
Is also great 
And would suffice.

It is explicitly mentioned that the world is more likely to be destroyed by fire, but if it should happen twice, then ice would do the deed more probably. And in Martin’s series, the world has already been destroyed by fire, i.e., desire once.

The Doom of Valyria, anyone? So it would be via ice, i.e., hate by which the world would be destroyed now.

But then, this being a fantasy, there is the Prince That Was Promised, whose song is of ice and fire. And then, there is Azor Ahai, the champion of desire/fire. Likewise, there is a champion of ice/hate, the legendary Great Other or The Night King.

It would all lead up to the revelation that the reincarnation of The Prince That Was Promised is Jon Snow, half-ice, half-fire (it will be explained below clearly). Azor Ahai would be Daenerys Targaryen, the champion of fire, full of desire for the Iron Throne and exploited further by the Red Priests.

Meanwhile, Bran Stark (who has now arrived in Winterfell, going past the Wall to nullify the magic against White Walkers) would be The Night King (in the show canon, it would be revealed that “The Night King” is not actually the Night King, but one of the leader of the White Walkers, like Melisandre is of fire), the champion of ice, full of hate for the Westerosis to butcher his family and the Children & he would also be further exploited by The Children.

The whole battle of the Children against the White Walkers was a created hoax (like the Wedding of Edmure was for The Red Wedding) as it was a way for the Children to destroy Bran’s mind. Remember we did not see any of the Children actually die and also remember that the Night’s King who was mentioned in the books, was also a Stark (a Night’s Watch Commander who turned evil). We’ve already seen Bran acting weirdly and disconnected to the world, and slowly this will increase, and he’ll turn into the Night’s King.

Thus, both the champions would be on their way to destroy Westeros.

So, till now, we have Bran & the White Walkers at the side of ice, and Daenerys & The Red Priests at the side of fire, representing the two sources of power and magic in Planetos and desire vs. hate. But where does Jon Snow fits into this, you’d ask?

Now, during the whole of the series, we’ve seen various instances where both forces have tried to appeal to him: The scene at Hardhome can easily be interpreted as the White Walkers’/Ice’s invitation, and, the resurrection of him by R’hllor(Red Priests)/Fire can also be seen as fire’s invitation. Plus, there are personal stakes for Jon too: ice has a Stark and fire a Targaryen.

In the end, he chooses ice, and helps Bran/The Night King turn the dragons into ice dragons, thus fulfilling the prophecy of “his is the song of ice and fire.”

And Jon chooses to end his song with ice, ending with a poetic justice that after the world was first destroyed by Fire and now by Ice. The reason why he will choose is that after being himself born again as an “UNDEAD” he will start connecting with them, and this disconnection with FIRE will finally be shown in a battle (that battle in ice that featured prominently in the trailers).

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