In the scene where Bran says the Night King wants to eliminate memory, it occurred to me the earlier conversation between Dany and Tyrion about breaking the wheel. What better way to break the wheel than to destroy everyone’s knowledge of how the world was set up, who were lords and who were not, and then killing everyone that was a lord or served one. It’s pretty clear that Dany doesn’t really believe her own words given how much she bristles at the thought of not being in power. I think they’re pretty clearly setting her up to be a villain that does something to unintentionally help the Night King’s goal. I’m not quite sure how that will work though (maybe she ends up fighting with John on dragons once she fully realizes what he told her was true).
I found it kind of funny that everyone just sort of accepted putting Theon in charge of protecting Bran, given the last time he was in a hopeless situation, he bailed and let his own sister get captured. Either the characters on this show are pretty dumb, or they sort of don’t like having Bran around now that he makes everyone uncomfortable.
As for the drinking theory, I think Brienne did drink something sitting with everyone else. At least I kind of remember Tyrion handing her a cup after overfilling Pod’s. Did John and Dany drink? I think they’re probably killing Grey Worm after his conversation with Missandei, might let her survive though just to show her reaction to it. Tyrion’s speech about how many battles Tormund, Davos, Pod, and Jaime survived was ominous for those characters. I’ve enjoyed Tormund’s antics the last couple of episodes, but feel like the story is making him too creepy toward Brienne, guessing he sacrifices himself for her in some way.
The Golden Company has never broken a contract. Per that statement the original contract that created the Golden Company was to put a Blackfyre on the Iron Throne or their legitimate heir. With all the Blackfyres gone (in the show at least) Jon is the legitimate heir to both the Targaryen and Blackfyre claims now.
Also, Aegon the Conqueror’s sword Blackfyre is with the Golden Company, the symbol of their first contract. Jon shall wield Blackfyre .
fairly certain that the little girl that gets a bowl of brown from Davos, looks like Shireen, and promises to guard the crypts, is… Melissandre. Call it a hunch. If it’s not her, it’s because they are saving her and the Fist of Light for the next big battle. She is going to die in Westeros though. She said herself that she had to come back one more time to do so.
all of the fortifications plus a few nasty surprised, are covered in dragonglass spikes. Even the ramparts. It’s also obvious that the plan is to set the trench on fire.
None of this is going to be enough
the plan to lure the NK to the Godswood with Bran, and then have Dany & Jon ambush him on Dragons, is painfully bad. The NK will never fall for it. Instead, I think he is going to attack from the crypts, and Jon will have to meet him on foot, probably inside. After he has killed and raised some key characters.
Speaking of Bran - I don’t 100% trust him. At this point, he is somewhat like the architect from the Matrix meets Dr Strange from Infinity War. I don’t think he cares who lives and dies, only that the outcome he wants is achieved. He will sacrifice anyone and anything in the process. He has been manipulating events since he got to Winterfell, whether it was Jaime, or instigating the conflict between Jon and Dany (why did she have to know right now?)
And that leads me to my revised idea of the endgame.
See, I don’t think the NK wants to kill Bran, I think he wants to capture him. And he will.
Why? Because he wants a warg powerful enough to go back in time and stop the CotF. And to do so, he is going to destroy all magic in the world.
Doing that will completely alter the timeline of the world. No magic means no dragons means no rise of Valyria, no Aegon Targaryen, and many of our favorite characters may not even exist.
And here’s the bittersweet part: Jon is going to figure this out… And he is going to let it happen, though maybe not exactly how the Night King wants.
But but but… Can’t they just prevent the NK from being made? Nope. The CotF would just choose someone else. The only way to stop it is to destroy any capacity to create the NK in the past. So it will all burn. And history will be rewritten.
Will close with a song by The National, inspired by GoT. It’s no Exile, Vilify , but it’s enjoyable:
I forgot to say earlier that it occurred to me that the Valonqar prophecy doesn’t say that the little brother has to be ALIVE when he chokes the life out of Cersei…
Notable confirmed deaths: Lady and Jorah Mormont, Berric Dondarrion, Melisandre (‘natural’ causes), Theon Greyjoy and Eddison Tollett. Not remotely the bloodbath I expected (key character-wise).
