Does this Game of Thrones fan theory predict the downfall of Cersei and Jaime?
Burn, baby, burn
In recent weeks, things haven’t looked great for Game of Thrones’ Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey). Under house arrest for crimes against God, losing control of her son Tommen and separated from twin/lover/it’s complicated Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), it seems like things could finally be over for Westeros’ most dedicated political player.
This week she even shed a tear or two as she pondered her fate at the hands of the High Sparrow and his crew, and if she hadn’t helped kill Sean Bean once we would have almost felt sorry for her.
However, perhaps we’ve been too quick to write Cersei off – because one very convincing fan theory has suggested that she might have a final move up her sleeve to destroy all her enemies in one fell sweep. As well as possibly herself and the entire capital of Westeros…
As you can see, this theory has been kicking around for a good few months, and since it was first proposed even more evidence has been presented that suggests it could come true. Remember Bran’s vision from a couple of weeks ago, when he saw the Mad King Aerys Targaryen and his command to burn down King’s Landing?
If you forgot, here’s a slowed-down version, which really demonstrates the emphasis the scenes was putting on the wildfire – almost as if the showrunners were reminding us that there’s still an awful lot under King’s Landing after Cersei ordered an immense amount to be made.
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Later in the vision, Bran actually sees King’s landing consumed by Wildfire for a brief moment, and considering that’s not something that ever actually happened in history (Jaime killed the Mad King before he could carry out his plan), it seems likely it’s actually a vision from the immediate future instead.
And let’s not forget, Cersei getting quite fiery with important locations isn’t completely out of nowhere. In the source novels she burns down the Tower of the Hand with wildfire, and even in the show this sort of development has been foreshadowed in her dialogue for the last couple of years.
And then there’s Jaime. Apart from the fact that he’s known to have some issues with monarchs getting trigger-happy with wildfire in King’s Landing (with his murder of the Mad King reiterated to us in Bran’s vision as well, below), his potential killing of Cersei would fulfill a long-running prophecy in the series.
While it hasn’t been emphasised as much in the show, book-Cersei was told as a young girl that she would be killed by the Valonqar, which means little brother in High Valyrian. Naturally Cersei always assumed this referred to her younger and very small brother Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) and always hated him accordingly, but some fans think it could actually be Jaime, who despite being Cersei’s twin was born shortly after her.
And if Jaime was to kill Cersei only to perish in a King’s Landing inferno anyway, it would lead to his final desire – to die with his beloved sister.
So to sum up, the theory is that Cersei will go mad, burn down King’s Landing (taking down the High Sparrow, the Tyrells and everyone else with it) and than be killed by Jaime (who may or may not die afterwards). And if you’re wondering what the result of that would be, well we might have already seen it, when Daenerys had a vision of a blown up and open-to-the-elements throne room back in season 2.
In other words, Daenerys might have an easier run of it than she expected when it comes to taking the Iron Throne – if it hasn’t completely melted, that is.
Game of Thrones continues on Monday on Sky Atlantic at 2am and 9.00pm
