‘Game Of Thrones’ Season 7: Burning Questions, Loose Ends, and Ser Pounce

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Warning: This post contains spoilers for Season 6 of Game of Thrones.

Game of Thrones’ carried the show way beyond its source material this season, introducing fans to expanses of George R.R. Martin’s epic tale not previously experienced. The new revelations confirmed some fan theories, ruled out others and left us with a heaping list of questions to be answered over the final 10-15 hours of the series. Before we look at some of the loose ends that still need to be resolved, let’s run through some of the ideas discussed prior to the start of the season and check in on how they turned out.

1) R + L = J
Yes, finally. There was some belief that the whispers in the season finale left the door open for further genealogical chicanery, but HBO later released an infographic confirming the parentage of Jon Snow. (See below.) He is indeed the result of an affair between Rhaegar Targaryen, one-time crown prince of Westeros, and Lyanna Stark, rebellious younger sister of Ned. On her deathbed Lyanna made her brother promise to claim her son as his own, telling no one (including his wife) about Jon’s true lineage. This was to protect Jon from various forces (Tywin Lannister and Robert Baratheon, chiefly) looking to exterminate the Targaryen line so there were no other claims to the throne. Hopefully Jon becomes aware of this information prior to meeting Aunt Daenerys.

2) The Hound Is Alive and Well
You bet. And on top of that, he was reintroduced in a rare cold open and gifted some quality Ian McShane hang time. Now the only question is will he get to exact some revenge on his brother and make CleganeBowl a reality. Long live Sandor.

3) Additional Targaryens
We now have two Targaryens for two dragons with the confirmation of Jon’s real father, but there were very slight hints of a third. Tyrion got along with the dragons quite well in the caverns underneath Mereen, but it’s a long leap from that to “Tyrion’s father is actually King Aerys, who cuckolded Tywin when the Lannister lord was serving as Hand of the King.”

Another two options when it comes to dragon riders: 1) Bran will be so powerful by that point he’ll be able to warg into the third dragon and control it. 2) This is the darkest timeline, but one of the dragons — I don’t even want to type it — could die, so there would only be a need for two Targaryens. Let’s move on before we ponder that incredible sadness.

4) Azor Ahai/The Prince That Was Promised/The Last Hero
Nothing was confirmed about the various legends regarding a savior who will come to help battle the darkness, but there was one really interesting potential clue in the finale. Part of the prophecy is that the prince (or princess —translations and oral histories get a little shaky) will be born under a bleeding star. In the flashback where young Ned enters the Tower of Joy to save his sister, he is carrying Ser Arthur Dayne’s sword, Dawn. A fun fact about Dawn is that it was forged from a meteorite, or shooting star. And it was covered in blood following the melee outside the tower. Therefore, Jon was born right next to a bleeding (shooting) star. A stretch? Yeah, probably, but it might be something.

Also worth noting that nothing happened in Seaspm 6 to rule out Daenerys as the fulfiller of the prophecy, and it wouldn’t be too outlandish if both a prince and princess were needed to save the world.

5) Syrio Forel Will Return
Yes, sure, it would have made the most sense for Forel to return when Arya was bleeding out and in need of a friend, but just because he didn’t, and just because George R. R. Martin implied he was dead, and Maisie Williams said the same doesn’t mean that the former First Sword of Braavos is actually gone. (He’s probably gone.)

6) Ned’s old friend Howland Reed is undercover as the High Sparrow
So while the fact he was nuked by wildfire doesn’t necessarily eliminate the possibility that an old ally of the Starks (and one of the few people who know Jon Snow’s true parentage), it would make zero narrative sense. No, the High Sparrow was just your run-of-the-mill religious zealot, and Reed is still in play. Perhaps now that he knows a certain Stark and Targaryen progeny is King of the North he’ll be making a visit to Winterfell to tell the tale of the Tower of Joy?

7) Roose Bolton Is Immortal
This was sort of tacked on as an acknowledgement of the creativity of fans, but no, considering he was stabbed to death, the former lord of the Dreadfort and Warden of the North is by definition mortal.

Now let’s take a look forward. Here are just a few of the many, many questions relevant to the final two seasons of the series, and some guesses at answers.

Consider what we now know, what should we be calling Jon?

Despite the fact he is a product of two of the most legendary houses in Westeros, Jon is still a bastard, which means he doesn’t inherit the name of either unless he’s legitimized by the crown (like Ramsay Snow becoming a Bolton). Because Jon was raised in the North and his mother was a Northerner, you could make a case that Snow is the proper name. However, since he was born in Dorne, you could also argue that he’s truly a Sand, the surname reserved for bastards from the southern region of Westeros. (All of the Sand Snakes, the Red Viper’s illegitimate children, carry that last name.)

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But considering Jon is half Targaryen, he could also take the last name Blackfyre, used by a line of dragon bastards. If a lip reader’s widely reported guess is correct then Jon’s given name is Jaehaerys (a traditional Targaryen name, and one of the more successful kings of their dynasty), meaning he could upgrade from the super plain Jon Snow and start going by Jaehaerys Blackfyre.

(An additional note on the first Jaehaerys: His wife (and sister) Alysanne was a huge fan of the Night’s Watch, giving them both additional land south of the Wall and funding the construction of a new castle. One of the fortifications along the Wall, Queensgate, is named after her.)

How is the Wall coming down?

There’s no way the Wall doesn’t crumble at some point in the near future, as the end-game of the series is almost certainly going to be a battle against the White Walkers. Crafted thousands of years ago by the First Men — with an assist from the children of the forest and giants, if you believe the legends — the Wall is a mix of rock, ice and magic. Unfortunately for the populace of Westeros, it seems like a good guess that the children of the forest probably used the same spells on the Wall that they did to protect the cave where the Three-Eyed Raven was stationed. Those protection spells were disrupted by the mark the Night’s King left on Bran, who has been left near the Wall and will likely be crossing it soon. If he does so, it seems like the Night King and his friends will be able to make their way south.

According to legend, there is another means of bringing down the Wall: the Horn of Winter/Joramun. According to myth and wildling claims, the Horn will cause the Wall to collapse when blown. It seems unlikely the Night King will need such a tool, but it’s in the lore.

Can we get a quick accounting of Valyrian steel swords?

This is probably wise, considering evil ice monsters with the ability to raise the dead are about to invade Westeros and seem to be invulnerable to everything but obsidian (dragonglass) and Valyrian steel. First we have Longclaw, the family blade of the Mormonts passed from Jeor (The Old Bear and former Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch) to Jon. (Very chill of Lyanna Mormont to not ask for it back.) Brienne is in possession of Oathkeeper, one of two Lannister family blades formed when Tywin melted down Ned’s giant sword, Ice.

On the less useful end of the spectrum, we have the other Lannister sword, Widow’s Wail. That was a wedding gift from Tywin to his grandson, Joffrey, which was then passed on to Tommen following his brother’s death. Following Tommen’s window dive, Wail is presumably in the possession of Cersei. Will she give it to Jaime, or perhaps The Mountain? It seems unlikely that will be useful in the fight until King’s Landing falls and it’s wrested from the Lannister family.

The other dragonsteel sword we’ve seen is Heartsbane, the Tarly family weapon now in the possession of Sam at Oldtown. Presumably Sam will cut his maester training short and return to the north with the blade (and hopefully some additional knowledge of how to take out the White Walkers) in tow. There are a few other swords mentioned in the books that might come into play, but so far those are the only four in the show.

Also, a few people have asked if Arya’s sword is Valyrian. While Needle is one of the few named weapons on the show and was personally crafted for her at Winterfell, it is not Valyrian. Works well enough on Freys, though.

And where do we stand on direwolves?

It was a particularly rough season for the four-legged Stark friends. We lost Summer, Bran’s direwolf, whose pointless sacrifice in the Three-Eyed Raven’s cave bought his master a good, oh, half a second in his escape. We also lost Shaggydog, Rickon’s companion, who was presumably beheaded by the Umbers before being taken to Ramsay.

That leaves us with Jon’s Ghost, who was spared from the Battle of the Bastards by what I’m assuming are CGI costs. (Which is fine. Save the direwolves.) We also have Nymeria, Arya’s canine that we have not seen since early in the first season. Rumor has it that Nymeria has assembled her own pack and is roaming the Riverlands, hunting assorted Lannisters and Freys when the opportunity presents itself. Considering Arya is now at The Twins, perhaps a reunion is in order.

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Who is going to take care of Ser Pounce?

We will stay on the subject of pets for one moment, because while I’m sure Cersei will take special care of a Valyrian sword, she doesn’t seem like a person interested in the welfare of animals. Ser Pounce is Tommen’s cat, which we meet in season four when Margaery pays a visit to the king’s bedchambers. In the books, he is one of three kittens (along with Lady Whiskers and Boots), but in show canon, the only feline whose presence we can be certain of is Ser Pounce.

So who is going to take care of him? Cersei certainly isn’t, which leaves us with a few options. If Qyburn wants a lab companion, he’s welcome to Pounce as long as he promises not to involve him with experiments. Jaime could use a friend, or perhaps Bronn, pal to everyone who pays him, could step in. The most unlikely pairing, and one that would perhaps be worthy of its own spinoff, is if Ser Gregor adopted the cat. A zombie giant paired with a cat? Sign me up for that webseries.

Does Cersei have a legitimate claim to the throne?

Considering the recent decrease in Westerosi nobles, Cersei has a decent case of just having the throne by default, but her claim is actually stronger than that. In previous times of succession confusion, Great Councils were called where a group of lords would come together to decide on the next king. Considering the fractured nature of the continent, that won’t be happening here. A kindly Redditor did the work of tracing up the Baratheon family tree, and a few generations ago one of King Robert’s ancestors married a Lannister, giving Cersei (or if you want to get patriarchal, Jaime) a legitimate claim to the throne.

Some other potential monarchs include our old friend Gendry, who as far as we know is the only one of Robert’s bastards to survive the sweep through King’s Landing but has been in purgatory rowing for years. If you want to pretend Robert’s Rebellion was illegitimate, then both Daenerys (daughter of King Aerys) and Jon (son of Rhaegar, who was heir to the throne) would have claims.

How will Cersei and the Lannisters stand any chance against Daenerys’ coalition?

On paper, this is an incredibly unfair fight. On one side, you have the Lannisters. Their army has been depleted in the battles against Robb’s forces in the Riverlands. They also have their alliance with the Freys and the Boltons, which should be good for not a lot at this point. At the very least they have the of King’s Landing itself, which is walled. On the other side, you have Daenerys and her forces. She has three dragons, a staggering amount of Dothraki cavalry, the Unsullied, a large portion of the Iron Fleet, whatever sellswords didn’t remain in Mereen, and the Tyrell and Martell armies. This is a huge advantage, as the forces of Dorne and Highgarden were barely involved in the War of the Five Kings (the Tyrells swept in late at the Battle of Blackwater, but are in good shape otherwise) and are rested and ready. On top of all of that, she has the wisdom of Tyrion, Varys and Lady Olenna on her side, three veterans of the high courts of Westeros.

So how does this become even something close to a fair fight? We can see it going a few ways.

1) Euron makes a deal with Cersei. The official leader of the Iron Islands could offer the Iron Throne what remains of his fleet in exchange for Cersei’s hand in marriage, land, independence and/or the murder of his niece and nephew. This could provide just enough of a challenge for Dany to delay the inevitable for an episode or two.

One other potential wild card from Euron that didn’t come up in the series but was a factor in the books: Book Euron — who is more of a cool pirate wizard and less boastful blowhard — has a horn he claims can control dragons. Details of how exactly it works are a little fuzzy, but the horns were originally used by the dragon lords of old Valyria to rein in their mounts. If Euron does have the horn and he can turn the dragons on Dany, that would slow things down and also be so incredibly sad. Here’s hoping Euron tries to use the horn and is immolated for his troubles.

2) Bad weather. Martin is not opposed to using historic analogs in his world of ice and fire. The similarities to the War of the Roses have been mentioned at length, and the Red Wedding was based on two actual horrific events in Scottish history. The historical card Martin could play with Dany’s fleet might reference two failed invasions of Japan by the Mongols in the 13th century, when their fleets were hit by typhoons. Words cannot describe how lame it would be for it take six seasons for Dany to finally begin to head back to Westeros, only to have her forces diminished by some storms, but it’s not impossible.

Where is the Dragon Fleet going to land?

Dany has a few options, so let’s take a quick look at the map:

She could in theory sail directly to King’s Landing. This was the path Stannis took when he attempted his invasion, a plan that would have likely succeeded if not for Tyrion’s use of wildfire to mitigate the Baratheon naval advantage and Tywin brokering a deal with the Tyrells to provide ground support. She could also stop at Dragonstone as a rallying point. The ancestral home of the Targaryens was last occupied by Stannis, which means there’s a good chance the meager force left defending it will be happy to hand it over.

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While that’s possible, I think she might want to get the Dothraki and their horses on land as soon as possible. That entire area south of King’s Landing should be lightly protected, since it’s Baratheon land and most of their military might was vanquished at the Battle of Blackwater or attempting to wrest Winterfell from Ramsay. The Tyrell and Martell armies would have little trouble established a safe landing zone to get everyone on land before marching to King’s Landing. Considering the sorry state of the Lannister force, they could also attempt to come ashore north of King’s Landing, but they’d open themselves up to some naval entanglements in Blackwater Bay. Dany has some options.

Who is Daenerys going to marry?

Considering she dumped Daario to stay available for an alliance via matrimony, our dragon queen doesn’t really have all that many options. There are no male heirs in the Martell and Tyrell houses. The alliance with Yara and general good sense would preclude her from marrying Euron. Edmure Tully is already married and in a dungeon. She’s probably not going to marry her Hand and Cersei would die before she let Jaime shack up with Dany, meaning the Lannisters are off the table. What does that even leave?

You have Littlefinger and Robin Arryn, which would help bring The Vale into the fold, but both of those options are rather unappealing. The easiest option would be to pair her with Jon. “Gross,” you might say, “isn’t that her nephew?” Well, yes, but there is a long Targaryen tradition of kings taking sister-wives, so a queen marrying a nephew is actually comparatively normal. Considering we don’t know whether Dany is capable of having children following her interaction with the Dothraki witch, she could conceivably just rule alone and designate a successor.

Who is left from Arya’s list?

Let’s run through the eleven she recited while traveling with The Hound (which were also put on a shirt by HBO):

• Joffrey: Dead, courtesy of some poison at his wedding.

• Cersei: Alive, sitting on the Iron Throne.

• Meryn Trant: Dead, courtesy of Arya in season five.

• Walder Frey: Dead, courtesy of Arya in the season six finale.

• Tywin Lannister: Dead, courtesy of Tyrion (and perhaps some poison from The Red Viper prior to taking a crossbow bolt to the torso).

• The Red Woman: Alive, heading south after getting booted from Winterfell. Melisanre promised Arya they would see each other again when she took Gendry from the Brotherhood Without Banners, and that seems very, very likely.

• Beric Dondarrion and Thoros of Myr: Alive, also traveling north. It’s unfortunate Beric found his way onto Arya’s list, as he was originally dispatched by Ned to counter Gregor Clegane’s raiding parties in the Riverlands.

• Ilyn Payne: Alive, in King’s Landing. We haven’t seen Ned’s executioner recently, but there’s been no news of his demise.

• The Mountain: Alive (well, kind of) and in King’s Landing. We hope there’s a Zombie course at Faceless Men school.

• The Hound: Alive, traveling with Beric and Thoros. Arya is not going to kill Sandor.

Okay, Thrones fans — what questions did we miss? What theories are you buying, and which are just bunk? Let us know in the comments below.

Game of Thrones will return on HBO in 2017.