George RR Martin’s Fire & Blood couldn’t have come at a better time when Game of Thrones fans are demanding answers, and thankfully the author appears happy to share plenty – probably to the annoyance of HBO.
After basically confirming Jon Snow is Azor Ahai while opening up about the bombshell that is the King of the North’s true parents, Martin has now revealed Gendry has a much bigger part to play as we steer into the final chapter of the fantasy epic.
The 70-year-old’s latest novel delves deep into the history of the Targaryens, confirming the founder of the Baretheon house, Orys, was a baseborn half-brother to Lord Aegon, it was whispered,’ and thus, sharing blood.
Esquire have dug a little deeper and this theory is probably the most plausible yet.
Fire & Blood also contains the backstory of another key figures in Westori history, Hugh the Hammer – a bastard blacksmith who became a lord.
Martin writes: ‘The son of a common blacksmith, Hammer was a huge man, with hands so strong that he was said to be able to twist steel bars into torcs. Though largely untrained in the art of war, his size and strength made him a fearsome foe. His weapon of choice was the warhammer, with which he delivered crushing, killing blows. In battle he rode Vermithor, once the mount of the Old King himself; of all the dragons in Westeros, only Vhagar was older or larger.
‘For all these reasons, Lord Hammer (as he now styled himself) began to dream of crowns. “Why be a lord when you can be a king?” he told the men who began to gather round him. And talk was heard in camp of a prophecy of ancient days that said, “When the hammer shall fall upon the dragon, a new king shall arise, and none shall stand before him.” Whence came these words remains a mystery (not from Hammer himself, who could neither read nor write), but within a few days every man at Tumbleton had heard them.’
The prophecy indicates one of Hugh’s ancestors will rise to kill a dragon, which in the battle between the living and the dead, it’s certain that should the light defeat the dark The Night King’s new pet beast will have to be destroyed.
But why does this honour appear to fall on Gendry? Let’s continue:
‘Though Hammer’s ambition was unseemly in one born so low, the bastard undeniably possessed some Targaryen blood and had proved himself fierce in battle and open-handed to those who followed him, displaying the sort of largesse that draws men to leaders as a corpse draws flies.
‘They were the worst sort of men, to be sure: sellswords, robber knights, and like rabble, men of tainted blood and uncertain birth who loved battle for its own sake and lived for rapine and plunder. Many had heard the prophecy that the hammer would smash the dragon, and took it to mean that Hard Hugh’s triumph was foreordained.’
The text describes the bastard of Tagargeyn blood rising to conquer a king – enter Gendry, a bastard blacksmith and secretly the last Baratheon standing, who should in theory also boast Taragryen blood and be able to ride a dragon.
What’s more, it’s been widely speculated that Gendry is the key to the battle ahead as the craftsman behind dragonglass weaponry – aka the only ammunition against the White Walkers. So, in season eight, if we see Gendry making a dragonglass hammer, you probably know where this is leading. Gendry will be the one to take down not only Viserion but also the Night King.
All will be revealed when Game of Thrones season 8 comes to HBO and Sky Atlantic in April 2019.
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