“We will rip her out root and stem,” Daenerys Targaryen says in the trailer for Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 4. She is referring to Cersei Lannister, the diabolical ruling queen of Westeros whom Dany wants to dethrone. But for the fans who remember, this is an ominous sign and may add fuel to the increasingly popular theory of Daenerys going mad and turning into a villain in the upcoming episodes.
But why so? Arya Stark had the same dialogue in the premiere of Season 7. That isn’t ominous, you’d say. But there’s a catch. In that particular scene, she was wearing the face of one of the most hated characters in the show – Walder Frey.
Frey/Arya proclaims that “We have ripped them out root and stem”, referring to the Starks. That’s not it, if you take a look at both the scenes, they have raised their cups in a very similar fashion. It might seem silly to make these comparisons, and at the same time, we can’t just ignore them as this is Game Of Thrones, where anything can happen.
Now, there have been subtle hints in both Season 7 and Season 8 that Daenerys is getting a bit bloodthirsty, and even more brutal than before. By getting her to repeat a line that is associated with Frey, the makers might be pointing towards a negative bent in Dany’s character arc.
Why Lord Frey matters
Walder Frey was the lord of Twins, and one of the perpetrators of the infamous Red Wedding, in which Robb and Catelyn Stark were murdered. It remains one of the most heinous and shameful crimes in the history of the show. In Season 7 Arya wiped out the entire Frey clan in a brutal and elaborately planned revenge. She accomplished this feat by using the face-swapping skill she learned as a Faceless assassin.
The Song of Ice and Fire series (on which Game of Thrones is based) reveals that when one puts on another person’s face, they get access to their entire personality, even thoughts and memories. Hence, it is safe to say that even though it is Arya behind Lord Frey’s face, the words mentioned are precisely what Lord Frey himself would say.
Is Daenerys the Mad Queen?
The fierce and beautiful Dragon Mama might be adored by her followers and is a fan-favourite, but there has always been a streak of brutality in her. She is a Targaryen, and Targaryens have an unfortunate history of madness running in the family. Her father Aerys II, in fact was known as the ‘Mad King’, a ruler so cruel and crazy that most of the realm rose up against him in Robert Baratheon’s rebellion.
Aerys II Targaryen, Daenerys’s father, was known as the Mad King for his extreme cruelty and paranoia.
This fact is time and again brought up throughout Season 7. by her advisers (Tyrion and Varys). She seems to have an almost irrational fixation on getting everybody to bend the knee. She even burns Randyll and Dickon Tarly when they refuse to do so, ignoring Tyrion’s advice.
The foreshadowing continues in Season 8. Randyll’s son and Jon Snow’s best friend Samwell points out that she seems to lack mercy and restraint, crucial characteristics in a good ruler. Her impatience with the North’s resistance towards her rule, her ill-disguised delight when the dragons frighten the Northern people, and her angry reaction when she learns that Jon Snow is the last male Targaryen – all points towards this flaw.
All of this may foreshadow that Daenerys is going a little crazy and may end up a Mad Queen just like her father the Mad King. Her repeating the words of Lord Frey in the episode 4 preview is the latest in this stream of foreshadowing, which can also mean she might try to harm House Stark just like Lord Frey did.
What do you think of the Mad Queen theory? Is the repetition of Lord Frey’s words by Daenerys just a coincidence, or another foreshadowing? Tell us in the comments!
“You will shut many eyes forever – brown eyes, blue eyes, green eyes.” So said Melisandre of Asshai when she met Arya Stark for the first time. This prophecy has played out since then, with both ‘brown eyes’ (Walder Frey) and ‘blue eyes’ (Night King) succumbing to Arya’s blade. Fans have long predicted the green eyes to signify Queen Cersei. But the equation changed with Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 5 ‘The Bells’ when another pair of green eyes became very important – Queen Daenerys Targaryen.
In an unfathomably shocking act of madness, Daenerys Targaryen torched thousands of innocent King’s Landing civilians in Game of Thrones’ penultimate episode, and as such established herself as the most devastating villain of the series ever.
Before Dany’s Mad Queen twist, Cersei was being regarded as the ‘Mad Queen’, mainly for blowing the Sept of Baelor with Wildfire in Season 6, but also for her general ruthlessness and murderous ways. The Lannister Lioness’ green eyes are quite famous and have been referenced multiple times in the books and the show.
Now, Cersei has been on Arya’s kill list since Season 2 and she even came to King’s Landing with the purpose of killing her. Melisandre’s prophecy in Season 3 also included green eyes, so many fans thought Arya will fulfil this target next. That expectation was strengthened when Arya left Winterfell on ‘unfinished business’ in episode 4.
But Sandor Clegane turned Arya back from that path and she went on to survive the burning of the city by just an inch. With Cersei now dead and Arya witnessing Daenerys’ carnage first-hand, it is all too possible that the significance of ‘green eyes’ has changed for Arya.
Interestingly, Daenerys’ eyes were not even supposed to be green. In the books, they are purple, and in keeping with the unusual physiological traits of Valyrian Dragonlords from whom Daenerys is descended. But Emilia Clarke, the actor who plays Daenerys in the show, has green eyes. Although she wore purple contacts in the unaired pilot of Game of Thrones, that idea was discarded in the main show and Clarke stuck to her natural eye colour.
If the show follows the books in terms of major plot points (and Daenerys’ death should be a major plot point) then the Arya-killing-Daenerys-because-of-prophecy scenario is unlikely, because book Daenerys does not even have green eyes. But the show has introduced many plot twists – so this is not totally implausible either.
What do you think of this theory? Will Arya fulfil the ‘green eyes’ prophecy by killing Daenerys or some completely different end awaits the ‘Queen of Ashes’? Tell us in the comments!
Game of Thrones Season 8 episode 5 “The Bells” had a lot going for it. So many happenings and so many deaths in just one episode, but it ended with a scene that baffled quite a lot of users. We saw Arya make her way through the destruction in King’s Landing, and find a white horse, whom she rides out of the city. Here’s what it could mean for the show, and the series finale.
White Horses have been used as a symbol in storytelling for a long time now, for both good and bad things. However, fans are speculating that this particular bit might be pointing towards a Bible verse that talks about the four horsemen of the apocalypse. The passage says:
“And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.”
Arya and death have danced for a long time in the show, and it seems like the show is hinting that Arya will have a final battle with death in the series finale. We saw who brought death in “The Bells” — Daenerys Targaryen, and it feels like could be the second bit of foreshadowing that Arya could be responsible for Daenerys’ death, after the ‘green eyes’ clue.
It also connects to both Arya and Daenerys, as Ned Stark used to ride a white horse, and so did Daenerys, at the beginning of the show. Maybe it’s things coming together for Arya and Daenerys, both of whose fathers were murdered in King’s Landing.
Either that, our we will get our expectations subverted again. What do you guys think? Talk to us in the comments, down below!
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Fans have been waiting for the Clegane brothers to clash for so many seasons now that it would be heartbreaking if they passed that up completely. But fret not fandom. There are several hints that Cleganebowl is well and truly coming, and might actually happen Game of Thrones Season 8 episode 5. Read on!
The last time we have seen Gregor ‘The Mountain’ Clegane and Sandor ‘The Hound’ Clegane come face to face was the Season 7 finale. Hound did not miss the opportunity to remind Mountain that the fight is still on. The Mountain didn’t respond except glowering menacingly but then he hasn’t been very talkative for some time, has he? But that scene was the first time the makers openly acknowledged and gave credence to what up till then have just been theories.
Hints galore in episode 4
The first three episodes of Season 8 had been preoccupied with the Dead. But Sandor Clegane is right back on track with episode 4. He says “there is only one thing that will make me happy” when Sansa talks to him, which is a clear indication to facing his brother. The next time we see the Hound he is striking out alone on a horse. Arya catches up with him and they share some good old warm and fuzzy insults.
Arya and Sandor leave together for King’s Landing
Sandor then again says, “I have unfinished business in King’s Landing.” He is not interested in the war; he would have left with Jon Snow’s army then. So why is he going to King’s Landing? Obviously, to face his no. 1 nemesis and elder brother Gregor.
It’s even by supported narrative logic. The Mountain protects Cersei, and it would be necessary to eliminate him before anyone gets to her. Now Arya is obviously going to King’s Landing, and both Cersei and Mountain are on her List. It makes sense for Arya and Hound to team up again to execute their revenge.
What is Cleganebowl theory?
The Cleganebowl theory goes back beyond the show, it started with the book series fans. Sandor and Gregor’s enmity begun back into their childhood, Gregor would bully his little brother endlessly and once pressed his face onto a hot brazier over a small fight about a toy.
Sandor and Gregor Clegane fight in Game of Thrones Season 1
The fire burned away one whole side of Sandor’s face, made him a complete cynic, and gave him a deep-seated fear of fire that made him defect from the Battle of Blackwater and would have done the same in Battle of Winterfell except for Arya and Beric. Hound has repeatedly said that he considers killing the Mountain to be his destiny. It was the one thing that kept him standing through all injuries and hardships. He is not the cold-hearted cynic he once was, but the hate still burns.
Right from Season 1, we are told that Sandor has vowed to kill his brother one day and by Season 7 it has almost become a destiny. Even the actors Rory McCann (Hound) and Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson (Mountain) have been hyping about it off-screen. As Game of Thrones completes its journey in just two more episodes, Cleganebowl seems imminent.
