This 'Game of Thrones' Fan Theory Explains Why Sam Tarly Is Still Alive
Ever since its first season, Game of Thrones has revelled in getting viewers to root for characters, only to kill them off in dramatic and gruesome ways. This included a number of people who were the ostensible leads of the series, like Ned Stark (Sean Bean) and his son, Robb (Richard Madden). But there is one unlikely person who has managed to survive eight long seasons of bloodshed - Samwell Tarly (John Bradley West).
When Sam was first introduced back in season one, he seemed earmarked for certain death. Unlike his newfound brothers at Castle Black, he was no fighter-in fact, all he wanted was to spend his time reading books. H was somebody for heroic protagonist Jon Snow to befriend and protect, and functioned as comic relief; what could be odder, more out of place, than a portly bookworm among an army of dangerous and disowned soldiers?
Of course, this being Game of Thrones, Sam's character was soon revealed to contain additional layers, with his gentle nature providing a counterpoint to the brutality of the Night's Watch-and while remaining unskilled in combat, he has committed several acts of bravery over the series, even becoming the first on-screen character to kill a White Walker.
But the fact remains that it's extremely unrealistic for Sam to have survived this long, outliving his Night's Watch brothers Pip and Edd, and even making it through the Battle of Winterfell in one piece. Sure, Game of Thrones is all about upending our narrative expectations, but could there be something more to Sam's luck? Plot armour, perhaps?
A popular fan theory speculates that Sam will make it all the way to the end of the show because he is, in fact, its narrator. The theory predicts that a flashforward in this week's series finale will reveal that Sam is writing down the history of everything that has happened over the last eight seasons; the War of the Five Kings, the return of magic to the world with the birth of Dany's dragons, the fight against the army of the dead, and finally, the truth about who will end up sitting on the Iron Throne.
This would fit with everything we know about the character; in "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms," Sam spoke on the importance of recorded history as a kind of collective memory. And last season, during his visit to the Citadel, when speaking with Maester Ebrose, Sam said that if he ever wrote a historical account he would name it something "poetic." A Song of Ice and Fire sounds pretty poetic.
Most tellingly of all, George R.R. Martin has previously remarked that he identifies with the character. Speaking on a panel at Comic Con, he said: "I would probably be Samwell Tarly... Tyrion might be who I want to be, but Sam is probably closer to who I actually am. The fat kid who likes to read books and doesn't like to go up a lot of stairs."
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