He Who Wanders

First and foremost, SPOILERS!

Before we look at how things were left off at the end of Season 6, we need to establish the two main focuses of Game of Thrones: the Iron Throne and the White Walkers. The Iron Throne is the driving force throughout Game of Thrones. As Daenerys describes it, every house is a spoke on a wheel, each one trying to make it on top to sit on the Iron Throne.

Currently, Cersei Lannister holds the throne, but she has established her rule on the brutal murder of her enemies. She may be feared and respected, but she is not loved. When Season 6 ends, we see Lady Olenna Tyrell meeting with the Dornish to discuss dethroning Cersei. Once Lord Varys appears in the meeting, we realize that the Dornish scheme is to replace Cersei with Daenerys Targaryen, who is currently sailing to Westeros with Yara and Theon Greyjoy’s fleet at their back.

Meanwhile, Jon Snow has defeated the Lannister-aligned Boltons with the help of the Wildlings and the Knights of the Vale. Following this victory, the northmen have named him the next King in the North. So now we have a resistance rising in the North and an alliance of the Dornish, the Tyrells, the Greyjoys, and Daenerys, who already has the Dothraki, Unsullied, and three dragons in her army, all zeroing in on Cersei.

While this is all happening, Euron Greyjoy is building an army. Last we saw him, he planned on wedding Daenerys to take over Westeros with her dragons. In the books, Euron Greyjoy has a magical horn that supposedly controls dragons. It’s uncertain whether that horn will appear in the show, but still Euron is a curveball thrown into the plot. Will he join a side or fight on his own? Well, he killed his brother and wants his niece and nephew Yara and Theon dead, so I’d say he’s not much of a team player.

Also, let’s not forget that Arya has returned from Braavos with her new assassin skills picked up from the Faceless Men. She’s out for blood, too. Much earlier in the show, she had a list of people she wanted to kill:

• Ser Meryn Trant for killing Syrio Forel
• Walder Frey for killing her brother and mother
• King Joffrey for condemning her father to death
• Ilyn Payne for executing her father
• The Mountain for torturing and killing people at Harrenhal where she was imprisoned
• The Hound for killing her friend Mycah
• Beric Dondarrion and Thoros of Myr for selling Gendry to Melisandre
• Melisandre for taking Gendry
• Cersei for involvement in her father’s death

Arya killed Ser Meryn and Walder Frey. King Joffrey was poisoned and killed at his wedding.We haven’t heard from Ilyn Payne for ages, so let’s forget about him. The Mountain is basically a zombie, so good luck with that Arya. She believes the Hound is dead, but he’s alive and well with Beric Dondarrion and Thoros of Myr. That means there’s three people on the list in one place. Additionally, Melisandre was banished from Winterfell by Jon Snow, so she may meet up with Thoros and Beric as she did in Season 3. Potentially, Arya could kill all four at once. Even so, she’s had a strange, but beautiful friendship with the Hound, so maybe she’ll leave him be. And at last there’s Cersei. That’s just one more person who wants Cersei dead. Put simply, she’s fucked.

In summation, there’s a giant war coming for Cersei and also Arya, who might murder her while the war rages on. But the greatest threat is coming from beyond the Wall: the White Walkers. It will take all of Westeros to fight off their army of the dead. Not to mention, the only things that can kill the White Walkers are dragon glass, which was basically all lost in the Battle of Hardhome and Valyrian Steel, which is in low supply and no one knows how to make.

So how is the final war against the White Walkers going to play out? Well, what’s the cooling thing that could possibly happen? Our three favorite characters, Tyrion, Daenerys, and Jon team together to fight the frozen zombie army on the back of fire-breathing dragons. It sounds too good to be true, but there’s evidence for it.

The book series is called A Song of Ice and Fire. Ice as in White Walkers and fire as in dragons. It’s a binary that’s been set up since this beginning. What’s more, the Song of Ice and Fire alludes to the prophecy of a man of Targaryen blood that will defeat the White Walkers. That could be Daenerys, Jon Snow who was revealed to be the son of Rhaegar Targaryen in Season 6, or even Tyrion who some theorize is actually the son of the Mad King Aerys Targaryen.

But why not all three? In the books, Rhaegar Targaryen told Daenerys in a vision “the dragon has three heads,” Daenerys has three dragons, the Targaryen sigil is a three headed dragon, and there are three main characters that potentially fit the prophecy. Tyrion and Daenerys are already together. We just need Jon to join the crew. Daenerys can’t conquer Westeros without acknowledging the King in the North, so they will meet at some time. Perhaps this is when the White Walkers come.