‘Game of Thrones’ Ending Figured Out by Some Fans

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One of the biggest concerns for fans of Game of Thrones and the book series from which it’s adapted, A Song of Ice and Fire, is whether or not author George R. R. Martin will complete the series before the show catches up. Currently, Martin has only completed five of the seven projected novels – A Dance with Dragons was released in 2011 – though that number could increase to eight. Martin has said that he knows where the series is heading, and has shared the broad strokes of what will happen with showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss, but that he doesn’t know the exact future of the minor characters.

In terms of the ending though, plenty of fans have speculated and constructed well-thought out  theories as to how Martin will wrap up the series. At the Edinburgh International Literary Festival this week, the author confirmed that at least some fans have already guessed the ending correctly.

The AV Club reported that Martin told the crowd of festival attendees that he stopped reading message boards dedicated to his book series after he discovered some fans had sussed out the ending he had planned for the novels all along, even though the clues he left were â€œsubtle and obscure.†After learning that some readers had figured out the ending, Martin said he struggled with whether or not he should change his plans, but eventually decided against it.

Read Martin’s full quote:

“So many readers were reading the books with so much attention that they were throwing up some theories and while some of those theories were amusing bullshit and creative, some of the theories are right. At least one or two readers had put together the extremely subtle and obscure clues that I’d planted in the books and came to the right solution.

“So what do I do then? Do I change it? I wrestled with that issue and I came to the conclusion that changing it would be a disaster, because the clues were there. You can’t do that, so I’m just going to go ahead. Some of my readers who don’t read the boards – which thankfully there are hundreds of thousands of them – will still be surprised and other readers will say: ‘See, I said that four years ago, I’m smarter than you guys’.â€

Although the finale of Game of Thrones is still years away, it will likely be a television phenomenon, if the ratings of season 4 are any indication. The only comparable event in recent TV history is the finale of How I Met Your Mother, which offered a twist that many fans had predicted. However, the ending to the show became highly contentious among viewers that had stuck with the story for all 10 seasons.

Although the creators of How I Met Your Mother had planned the ending of the series since very early on, there was still a backlash from fans. Whether Game of Thrones will see a similar backlash – or if fans will react more kindly as Martin suspects – is difficult to predict. For now, fans can focus their speculation on which of their theories is correct.

 

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Although there are plenty of theories devised by fans as to how A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones will end, many are speculating that Martin is referring to the exact lineage of Jon Snow (played by Kit Harington). Known as Ned Stark’s bastard, Jon’s mother has yet to be revealed, but fans may have an idea.

The prevailing theory in regard to Jon’s parentage is that he isn’t the son of Ned, but of Ned’s sister Lyanna, who asked her brother to care for the child. Prior to Robert Baratheon’s rebellion – which ended with him on the Iron Throne and the Targaryens either dead or exiled from Westeros – Lyanna Stark was betrothed to wed Robert. However, Prince Rhaegar Targaryen (Daenerys’ oldest brother) kidnapped (or ran away with) Lyanna, prompting Robert and Ned’s war with the Targaryens.

Before Lyanna died, Ned found her in the tower she shared with Rhaegar, which is where fans presume she told Ned about Jon and asked her brother to raise the boy. Clues to back up this theory can be found in the very first book of the series. In a flashback scene, Ned remembers Lyanna’s final words to him:

‘Promise me,’ she had cried in a room that smelled of blood and roses. ‘Promise me, Ned.’ The fever had taken her strength and her voice had been faint as a whisper, but when he gave her his word, the fear had gone out of his sister’s eyes.

The scene is certainly vague, but it’s clear Lyanna is asking something very important of Ned in her last moments of life – and following Robert’s Rebellion, Ned brings Jon with him back to Winterfell. In a later passage, Catelyn Stark, Ned’s wife, remembers what Ned said to her about Jon upon returning and his refusal to offer any extra explanation:

“Never ask me about Jon,†he said cold as ice. “He is my blood, and that is all you need know.†. . . Whoever Jon’s mother had been, Ned must have loved her fiercely, for nothing Catelyn said would persuade him to send the boy away.

Whether Ned kept Jon’s parentage a secret for the sake of Lyanna’s reputation – which would have been ruined by bearing a child to the married prince – or the sake of the boy’s safety is unclear. If Jon is the son of Lyanna and Rhaegar (and if Lyanna and Rhaegar had actually been married), then he has a rightful claim to the Iron Throne, which would have put him in as much danger as Daenerys, who Robert tried to kill in the first book/season.

So what does this mean for the ending of the series? Well, it’s called A Song of Ice and Fire â€“ ice referring to Jon, a member of the Night’s Watch, and fire referring to Daenerys, the Mother of Dragons. The prevailing idea is that the pair will end the series ruling Westeros together. Fans are split on whether this means Jon and Daenerys will be married by the end of the series (the Targaryen’s weren’t exactly unfamiliar with incest) or if they’ll simply rule side by side platonically.

Then again, the above clues are hardly “extremely subtle†or “obscure,†as George R.R. Martin said of the supposedly correct theory about the ending to his books, so it’s entirely possible that he’s referring to something else.

What do you think, Screen Rant readers? Was Martin referring to R + L = J? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Game of Thrones returns to HBO in Spring 2015.

 

http://screenrant.com/game-thrones-ending/2/