HBO
We all want to know how Game of Thrones ends and who will sit on the Iron Throne. Everyone is assuming that the Night King will be defeated (But you could see George RR Martin killing off all of the fans’ most beloved characters), but the question that nobody knows the answer to is who will bring down the mighty king of ice zombies? A new Game of Thrones fan theory suggests that the most unlikely hero will be the one to slay the Night King and end the battle of living versus the dead.
SPOILERS AHEAD.
George RR Martin makes all of the Game of Thrones characters have flaws so there is no true hero. But what if the hero that Westeros deserves in somebody that you would least expect to save the day? A new Game of Thrones theory for Season 8 says that Samwell Tarly could be the valiant savior that saves the Seven Kingdoms from a permanent Long Night.
Redditor u/DLun203 laid out a potential ending to the final season of Game of Thrones where Sam Tarly kills the Night King and the crazy part is that there may have been clues to this unimaginable conclusion all the way back in Season 1.
In Episode 3 of Season 1, King Robert Baratheon talks about his first ever kill. “[It] was some Tarly boy at the Battle of Summerhall,” The Usurper boasts. “He came running at me, this dumb highborn lad, thinking he could end the rebellion with a single swing of his sword. I knocked him down with a hammer. Stupid boy. Now the Tarlys bend the knee like everyone else. He could’ve lingered on the edge of the battle with the smart boys.”
Could this dialogue from Season 1 be foreshadowing the great battle for Westeros in Season 8? Could Samwell Tarly show the same unwise decision to charge at an opponent who is far superior a warrior than he is? Could Sam be the Tarly boy who does end the zombie uprising with a single swing of his very special sword?
While Sam does have the fighting skills, he does have a weapon that only a handful of people in the entire Seven Kingdoms possess. It has been shown that the only weapon that kills White Walkers is swords made of Valyrian steel and dragonglass. There are very few Valyrian steel swords or daggers left in the Seven Kingdoms — Brienne of Tarth has the Oathkeeper, Jaime Lannister has the Widow’s Wail, Jon Snow has the Longclaw, Arya has the Catspaw Dagger (learn more about it HERE), and Samwell has the Heartsbane.
You’ll remember that Sam made a special trip to steal the Heartsbane from his father, Randyll Tarly. Samwell stole the precious sword despite knowing that his father would kill him if he ever found him with the Valyrian sword. There is a storytelling concept called “Chekhov’s gun,” which basically means that if the author or director felt it was necessary to spend valuable time to introduce a weapon such as a gun into the story, then you can be sure that it will be used later down the road.
Of course, Randyll or Dickon Tarly will be able to take the Heartsbane sword back from Samwell since they are literally toast.
Another thing that Samwell has got going for him is that he is one of the few people to have encountered White Walkers and wights before and lived to talk about.
Why the White Walker and wights spared Sam’s life while he was soiling himself in fear is another question.
Another bonus for Sam is that besides Jon Snow, he is the only other person in Westeros to have slain a White Walker.
There is another crazy theory that Samwell Tarly is Azor Ahai. We’ve talked about the fan theory that says Jon Snow is the Prince That Was Promised, but what if it is Samwell Tarly? The original Azor Ahai had to thrust his dragonsteel sword into the chest of his wife, Nissa Nissa. All of her blood, soul, strength, and courage went into the Lightbringer sword, making it powerful to defeat The Others. Could Sam kill Gilly to save the world?
Only about five months until Game of Thrones returns to TV for your entertainment and to reveal or dismiss these GoT theories.
John Bradley, who plays Samwell Tarly, explains Game of Thrones.
[Inverse]