Is there REALLY any way to top last week’s episode of Game of Thrones? The answer is “Yes!”  If you are a religious week-to-week fan, then you know about the endless theories about Game of Thrones.  These range from the predictions that Cersei Lannister will be picking up where the mad king left off to the theories that the hound will eventually fight his brother, the Mountain.  Oh wait… That could definitely happen!  So let’s jump into what we know and what we think we know about some of the theories and questions that are left on our minds. Warning: if you’re not caught up with Game of Thrones, there will be spoilers below.

We all know what happened to poor Sansa back when she was pretty much a prisoner of Lord Bolton’s.  But what we don’t know is a question that I’m sure everyone has come by already – is Sansa Stark pregnant?  At the ending of “Battle of the Bastards” Sansa’s final verbal skewer to Bolton was that the Bolton family line will end with him.  This would definitely lead us to believe that she isn’t pregnant. But, we also know that Sansa has lied many times before.

 
Let’s hop in our time capsules and go back to Season 5 where Cersei appeared in a flashback as a child and had entered the hut of a fortune teller that lived in the middle of the woods. Cersei had told the fortune teller that her father pretty much owned all of the land, so if she didn’t cooperate and tell her Cersei’s future, then she would have her killed.  Needless to say Cersei wasn’t happy with what she heard.  The prophecy was that she will eventually become the queen – BUT it will be short. The ending of the prophecy foretold that she would be murdered – more specifically that strangled-by the hand of the Valonqar in High Valerian.  Valonqar translates to “little sibling” so we can stretch that and say little brother or sister.  This is the exciting part – Cersei does have a little brother….  Her twin brother Jamie Lannister, which was born just shortly after she was.  Brother, Lover… AND her killer?

The past of the two brothers had been laid out for us very early in the series. It goes a little like this: The Hound was bullied by his older brother, The Mountain, and he was badly scarred with a burn on his face after his older brother pushed his head into a fire when they were children. This lead to The Hound developing a huge phobia of fire and an immeasurable hatred toward his older brother.  At some point though, we thought it was safe to assume that both of the brothers had died.  In the latest season of Game of Thrones, it is very clear that The Hound has been brought back for a purpose possibly involving the Gods. And The Mountain is a zombie in a tin can. Correction: A Gigantic zombie in a tin can that obeys Cersei Lannister’s every command.  So the theory of these two brothers fighting each other kind of ties into the theory that Cersei is going to want to “kill them all” (like always) in King’s Landing.  We know she’s backed into a corner right now with the fact that she can no longer use the trial-by-combat method to get her out of trouble, so instead she will be using plan b – Burn King’s Landing to the ground with the highly flammable liquid that lies where?  Underneath King’s Landing, of course.  Although the brothers are in two separate locations right now, don’t count this out as a theory.  Both brothers should have died but did not.  One brother was brought back for good – other for evil.  And what a heroic end it would be for The Hound if he had to fight his two fears at once; being burned alive and his brother.

Face it… if we knew the answer to this question, then Game of Thrones just wouldn’t be Game of Thrones.  The main theory that you’ve probably heard a hundred times or may even believe yourself is known as “R+L=J,” which states that Jon Snow is actually the offspring of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark. There is no way to confirm what is correct, but this theory is supported by minor details from the television series and the book.  Something we do know is that Jon is planning to lay his late brother Rickon to rest in the family crypts below Winterfell.  These graves are prepared by the family far in advance according to the books, which leads us to believe that if we’re lucky, Jon’s heritage will be revealed in the crypts.  This theory would hope that the tomb would be engraved with something along the lines of “Jon Snow – Rhargar Targaryen – Lyanna Stark.”

Here’s an alternate theory for fun!  Remember the battle that Bran flashed back to involving his father, his men, and three enemy swordsman?  The one where we all lost a little, if not all of the love for Ned Stark that we held so dearly in our hearts?  This is the fight that Ned Stark told many of times before on how he triumphantly beat the greatest swordsman, Ser Arthur Dayne in sword combat.  The truth that was showed to us in Bran’s vision is that Ned clearly was not as skilled as Ser Arthur and had lost the battle. But right before Ser Arthur landed the final blow, a comrade of Ned’s found enough life to pull himself from the ground and stab Ser Arthur in the back.  So what is it we’re looking for in this vision that leads to a new Jon Snow theory?

• Ned Stark arrived at the Tower of Joy to secure his sister.  After the battle, Ned begins climbing the steps of the tower and hears a scream coming from the top; presumably his sister, Lyanna.  She gives birth to her child: Jon. 
• Ned is ACTUALLY as noble and honorable as we were lead to believe all along and after finding his sister at the top of the tower he is informed that the father of the child was actually Ser Arthur Dayne and then shortly after dies after giving birth.
• Coincidence that Jon Snow has black hair and highly skilled in sword combat? Some might say that this is almost irrelevant.  But Game of Thrones really hones in on the mysteriousness of Jon Snow’s real heritage and it’s a little odd that he seems to have so much in common with this swordsman.
• After returning to Winterfell with a child, he never actually admitted to his wife that he had a bastard child.  She hated Jon Snow for this reason.  But really, he never admitted that he had a bastard child because he did not.  It was really his sister’s child all along and by the guilt of Ser Arthur Dayne dying dishonorably, he took Jon Snow as his own.  This all ties into representing that Ned Stark was the incredibly honorable man we all wanted to believe.  We can even stretch the truth and say that this is the reason that Ned Stark would tell lies about the fight with Ser Arthur Dayne – to not sully the memories of his Jon Snow’s real father.

1. Winterfell has successfully been relinquished from the hands of the Bolton’s!  Fantastic news, right?  Maybe not.  Let’s face it; Little Finger saved the day on this one and he knows it.  It’s going to be pretty hard to convince an army twenty times the size of your own that you aren’t going to give them what is pretty much their’s already.  So the real question is… How is Sansa going to manipulate this time to make sure that Winterfell rightfully stays with the Starks? I wouldn’t even put it past Little Finger to issue some executions.  Love is powerful.  But power is so much powerful in his eyes.
2. Cersei Lannister is not in a great position.  She went from intending to use her son as a puppet in the beginning, to her son trying to be a good king and failing miserably.  At this rate, he’s literally going to kill with kindness-including his own mother.  I’d say that it is safe to expect an all-out attack from Cersei in one way or another.  And you better believe that The Mountain is going to keep a death tally on his armor.
3. Family reunion at Winterfell?  It would seem as though it would all happen too fast.  Yet, this isn’t a completely outrageous concept.  Arya Stark is on her way back to Winterfell (convenient. Right?) and she won’t be stopping for anyone’s business.  Bran has recently added his uncle to their party and are North of the wall.  Who is to say they don’t take a trip back to Winterfell also?
4. Deanerys has once again reappeared to “do work” at the end of the season.  I like this side of her, though.  I will admit that she had some weak moments, but she’s finally understanding where she belongs in the world.  And that is as Queen of the Dragons. So what should we expect from this season finale?  Most likely dragons.  Or complete turmoil between the unsullied and dothraki.
5. What we’ve all been waiting for since the beginning:  the identity revealing of Jon Snow’s parents.  There’s a very realistic chance that it could be uncovered during this finale once Snow enters the crypts below Winterfell while laying his brother, Rickon to rest.

Season Finale:  episode 10 “The Winds of Winter”   Sunday at 9/8c.

Happy Watching!