What's Cersei's Prophecy? It May Reveal Her 'Game of Thrones' Season 8 Fate

As a child, Cersei learned her fate after receiving a prophecy from Maggy the Frog. But it’s the part of the prophecy from George R.R. Martin’s book series that didn’t make it into the show that may reveal her fate in Game of Thrones Season 8. What was Cersei’s prophecy? In case you forgot (or haven’t read the books), here’s everything you need to know.

It’s been two long years since Game of Thrones was last on the air and eight years since it first premiered on HBO. So you might have forgotten a few important details since then. Who is Jon Snow’s actual father? What’s the Golden Company? Let Inverse be your guide to some of the biggest questions as we head into Game of Thrones Season 8.

Potential spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 8 below.

What Was Cersei’s Prophecy?

The fortune teller in a hut in the woods near Casterly Rock appears in a flashback in the Season 5 premiere, sought out by a teenaged Cersei Lannister.

“Everyone wants to know their future, until they know their future,” Maggy says.

Cersei threatens Maggy the Frog if she doesn’t reveal her future, and the fortune teller agrees, allowing the young Lannister daughter to ask three questions.

Cersei asks if she’ll marry the prince to whom she was promised. “You’ll never wed the prince,” Maggy says. “You’ll wed the king.”

That’s exactly what happens when she marries King Robert Baratheon.

Will she be queen? “Oh, yes,” Maggy says. “You’ll be queen, for a time. Then comes another, younger, more beautiful, to cast you down and take all you hold dear.”

Could that be a reference to Daenerys?

Will she and the king have children? “No, the king will have 20 children, and you will have three,” Maggy says. “Gold will be their crowns and gold their shrouds.”

That’s already happened as well. We’ve seen Cersei bury her children. She even speaks about the prophecy in the Season 6 premiere after her daughter Myrcella’s death.

“A witch told me years ago,” she says to Jaime. “She promised me three children. She promised me they’d die. ‘And gold their shrouds.’ Everything she said came true. … It’s prophecy. It’s fate.”

However, in the books, there’s more to the prophecy. “And when your tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you.” Valonqar means “little brother” in High Valyrian.

Who could that be referring to? Well, there are only two options.

Why This Matters for Game of Thrones Season 8

First of all, it’s possible the line about “another … more beautiful” queen to “cast [her] down” could refer to Daenerys conquering Cersei once and for all in the final season. It could also simply mean that she definitely won’t come out on top — and on the Iron Throne — when the series is done, because she’ll rule “for a time.”

However, it’s the line not (yet?) spoken on the HBO series that may be the most important when it comes to what will happen to Cersei in the final season.

The valonqar could be either Jaime or Tyrion. In the books, Cersei thinks it’s the latter. However, it is possible that Jaime could turn on her in this fatal way on the show. (Whatever does happen, does anyone see a happy ending for Cersei and Jaime? No, right?)

Of course, there could always be a twist, such as Arya accomplishing what she has set out to do and killing Cersei while wearing her brother’s face. That would sort of fulfill the last best of the prophecy.

Or maybe that part of the prophecy won’t come into play in the final season of Game of Thrones at all. After all, it has yet to be uttered on the show. The HBO series could go another route entirely, letting some other character like Jon Snow or the Night King kill Cersei. Or, even worse, it’s possible she might just make it through Season 8 alive.

Game of Thrones Season 8 premieres Sunday, April 14 at 9 p.m. on HBO.