'Game of Thrones' Reddit Theory Sacrifices Jon Snow in a Dramatic New Way
We’re all in the Long Night while waiting on Game of Thrones Season 8. Now, possibly out of desperation, one fan has cooked up a horribly tragic theory about how Jon Snow will have to become the Night King to stop his undead army. If true, this would reshape everything we know about the Night King, Azor Ahai, and how the series will end.
On Monday, Elite Daily spotted an excellent theory that emerged from redditor AnghkoR_ on the Fan Theories subreddit. They call it the “Davy Jones Theory” because it totally apes the ending to Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.
In At World’s End, the only way to kill Davey Jones is to stab his heart, but doing so essentially transforms whoever does the stabbing into the new immortal Davey Jones. When Will Turner lay dying, Jack Sparrow forced his limp hand to stab the heart, which saved Will by making him immortal and dooming him to an eternity aboard The Flying Dutchman as its captain.
This is a pretty accurate comparison to redditor AnghkoR_’s theory about how Game of Thrones could have Jon Snow make an identical sacrifice:
The creation of the original Night King.
“The only way to “defeat” [the Night King] is that … someone has to “pull out” the dragonglass in his chest which was used to create him in the first place. By doing this the Night King would “die”, but unlike what happens when someone kills a “normal” white walker, none of the creatures the Night king “created” or turned would die. Instead they would lose the mind controlling effect the Night King has on them and they would start doing whatever the fuck they want, i.e. rampaging around the country.”
Because Jon Snow and the rest of Team Westeros couldn’t let a horde of mindless undead lay waste to the land, someone would have to stab themselves to become the new Night King and drag the army of the dead back north. Jon Snow being the noble lad he is would probably be the one to volunteer.
Kit Harrington as Jon Snow in 'Game of Thrones' Season 6.
How This Relates Back to the Prince That Was Promised and Azor Ahai
Melisandre has preached quite a bit throughout Game of Thrones about the Prince That Was Promised, and in Season 7 her prophecy came up against the similar Azor Ahai legend, hinting that the chosen one could be male or female.
In most versions, these legends say that to save the world, the hero has to stab their loved one in the heart with a flaming sword. The imagery presented in all of these legends closely resembles that of the Night King’s creation, especially when you know that the Old Valyrian word for dragonglass translates literally to “frozen fire.” It’s effective against White Walkers and wights because it’s volcanic fire made solid.
What if Daenerys is the Princess That Was Promised, and she has to stab her beloved Jon Snow in the heart with that piece of dragonglass? So not only would Dany be stabbing Jon in the heart with a sword made of fire, but her being a fiery Targaryen and him being both that and an icy Stark would make it a culminating moment fitting of the whole A Song of Ice and Fire series title.
By now, it seems pretty obvious that these two are the "song of ice and fire," but how might that translate in the end?
How the Chosen One and Night King Creates a Cycle
One further complication to this theory would be that this whole “kill the Night King by becoming the Night King” creates a cyclical process that’s probably happened at least once before. The current Night King on Game of Thrones would probably be Azor Ahai himself. In the first War for the Dawn, the original Azor Ahai would’ve had to sacrifice himself by becoming the new Night King and dragging the army of the dead north, allowing enough time for the Children of the Forest and the First Men to build the Wall.
But then, over time, the corrupting power transformed that Night King back into a wholly evil being in a process that might eventually consume even Jon Snow’s version of the Night King.
One huge wrinkle for this theory is that, as revealed in Season 7, whenever a White Walker is killed, the wights following it immediately fall. In theory, that would mean that simply killing the Night King should destroy the entire army of the dead. But that would make for lackluster drama in the big finale.
What could be more badass and bleak than a grand finale that reveals that all of this misery and death has happened before and that all of it will happen again? By this time next year, we should know for sure.
Game of Thrones Season 8 will begin airing sometime in 2019.
