Note: contains spoilers for Game of Thrones season 8, episode 2
Game of Thrones just solved a big riddle that had been hanging over its final season… and the answer might not have been the one you were expecting.
It all has to do with comments made by Night King actor Vladimír Furdík a little while back, revealing that his character would be pursuing a single “target” in the HBO epic’s final six episodes.
HBO
Related: Game of Thrones season 8, episode 2: The hidden meaning in Podrick’s song, explained
Who is he after? One popular fan theory had it that Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) was his quarry, even suggesting that the Mother of Dragons might perish, only to revive as the undead Night Queen.
But GoT‘s latest, ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’, revealed that the Night King’s target is actually…
Bran!
HBO
Yes, the Three-Eyed Raven (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) reveals the truth as Winterfell prepares for war, with Jon Snow (Kit Harington) despairing that there are “far too many” of the dead advancing on their position. Getting to the Night King, Jon suggests, may be the allies’ “best chance” of securing victory.
“He’ll come for me,” Bran insists – explaining that the Night King has tried many times in the past to execute the various holders of the Three-Eyed Raven mantle.
Why? Well, because the Night’s King’s ultimate goal is to achieve “an endless night” – he wants to not only eradicate mankind, but also every last trace of it ever existing. “He wants to erase this world,” Bran says. “And I am its memory.”
Helen SloanHBO
Like the previous Three-Eyed Raven (Max von Sydow) who was successfully slain by the Night King, Bran is a greenseer – a human with the magical ability to perceive future, past or present-but-distant events in dreams. All of human history exists inside Bran’s head… and that’s why the Night King wants him dead.
“Your memories don’t come from books, your stories aren’t just stories,” scholarly Samwell Tarly (John Bradley) realises. “If I wanted to erase the world of men, I’d start with you.”
Protecting Bran is key to thwarting the Night King’s plan. Unfortunately, Bran was marked by the undead villain back in season six and now they are linked, with the Night King able to track his prey by instinct.
HBO
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This quandary leads Winterfell’s warriors to hatch a plan using Bran as bait to draw out the Night King, with a returned Theon (Alfie Allen) vowing to use the Ironborn to protect him. “I took this castle from you,” Theon says (referring to his seizing Winterfell at his father’s command back in season two). “Let me defend you now.”
The strategy suggested is to use Daenerys’s two surviving dragons to vanquish the Night King, though it’s not entirely clear if this ploy will work – even Bran doesn’t know if dragonfire kills White Walkers. “No-one’s ever tried,” he explains.
Given that both Dragonglass and Beric Dondarrion’s (Richard Dormer) flaming sword have proven to be effective weapons against the wights, it’s a safe enough bet that dragonfire will prove to be equally powerful.
But our heroes luring the Night King into a trap and dealing him a swift execution? Something tells us it’s not going to be that easy…
Game of Thrones season 8 airs on HBO in the US and Sky Atlantic and NOW TV in the UK. Tune in to Digital Spy’s Game of Thrones livestreams on Monday evenings, straight after each episode, on Instagram and Facebook.
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