One Redditor just made a startling “Game of Thrones” connection between Sam…and Ned Stark
Fair warning in advance: This post contains spoilers for Season 7 of Game of Thrones, as well as *many* callbacks to previous seasons. If you’re that far behind on the series — what are you waiting for? It’s never too late to begin!
Now that we’re full swing into Game of Thrones season, it’s almost impossible to do anything other than talk about the incredible series. Fans all over the world have been coming up with the zaniest and sometimes most plausible theories — from Gendry’s *real* mother to Sam being *the* author of GoT — while some are simply taking a deep dive into the world of GoT to make some stunning parallels.
Recently, a Redditor made a pretty interesting connection between Samwell Tarly…Ned Stark.
That’s right, the honorable warrior Ned Stark…
…and lovable bookworm Samwell Tarly. The two are actually kind of similar.
Redditor Lucky129 is pretty clear in saying they’re not theorizing anything, but are rather just noting some incredible similarities, which they think could imply Lord Sam could become, if given the chance to recover House Tarly from the grave, the second coming of Ned Stark. The Redditor begins their similarities with their upbringings as second sons — in Ned’s case, he’s literally the second born, whereas Sam, despite being first born, is considered useless by his father in favor of his brother Dickon. The two are both sent away from home — Ned to the Eyrie and Sam to the Wall — where the meet their respective best friends, Robert Baratheon and Jon Snow.
Additionally, the two have generally been seen as noble and just, each raising a son who wasn’t theirs, and inherently trying to do the right thing. Lucky129 also points out that after the deaths of their father and brother at the hands of a Targaryan — remember, Ned’s father, Rickard, and brother, Brandon, were killed by the Mad King Aerys, and we *just* saw Randyll and Dickon Tarly burnt to a crisp by Drogon — they each inherited their land and House titles. This is certainly true for Ned, but as Sam is still *technically* a member of the Night’s Watch, he’s renounced his claims to his house. Now, that seems likely to change, given the events as of late, and we have a feeling that Sam will reclaim House Tarly and save it from extinction. We hope.
Naturally, Sam and Ned aren’t exactly alike. Ned was a powerful, skilled fighter from the North, whereas Sam is better with books than a sword, as demonstrated in Season 1. Still, when he needed to fight back against the White Walker, Sam did what he had to to kill it.
We honestly really like this concept. While not a far-reaching, mind-bending fan theory, it’s a nice reminder that there are others on Game of Throne (beyond Jon Snow) that still possess the honor of the late Ned Stark.
