Post-Feast for Crows ASoIaF predictions (open spoilers)

Cafe Society
1

OK, I just finished rereading George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series through again and I have some predictions. I have not read or heard any spoilers about future books, so all these are out of my own head, but there will be unboxed spoilers from the books already out.

–The need for the Wall will be ended, either by defeat of the Others or some sort of new understanding with them. Consequently, there will be no further need for The Night’s Watch, and Jon will become Lord of Winterfell. Sam will be with Gilly after all and might even be reinstated as Lord Tarly.

–Stannis Baratheon will be destroyed in doing whatever has to be done to deal with The Others. He’s just a tool of Melisandre and she was feeding him a line about him being Azhor Azai.

–Catelyn Stoneheart will bring down the Freys before she dies for good.

–Sandor Clegane isn’t dead. He can’t be! He has had a conversion and isn’t so angry and miserable anymore. His purpose in staying alive has always been to get his revenge on Gregor, and I think he will.

–There’s a headless zombie Gregor Clegane in the basement, made by Qyburn. He will wear stone armor and will be well-nigh undefeatable… but he will be defeated, I hope by Sandor Clegane.

–Bran Stark will fly on the back of a dragon and will be able to control and see through the eyes of dragons as he can with Summer and Hodor. He is one of the heads of the dragon that Dany seeks.

–Tyrion Lannister will join forces with Daenerys and will help her to gain control of Westeros.

–Sansa Stark will wind up with Sandor Clegane (this isn’t even really a prediction, just my own wish… he’s her real Florian, after all). If not, she’ll be back with Tyrion again, I think. She is still married to him.

–Cersei Lannister is pregnant, which will become apparent right before she is to be executed for treason. Whose baby is it? Maybe Jaime’s…maybe not.

–Arya will become a Sorrowful Man and will exact the revenge she’s been praying for on the last people on her list. Sandor Clegane will exempt because he’s not The Hound anymore but a changed man.

If anyone has any evidence that contradicts my predictions, I’d love to hear them. Also, offer up your own theories too.

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Eh, I don’t think the need for the Wall would go away. It seems like a too cheery ending for Martin’s story. I’d imagine there would either be a victory or an agreement. Actually, I think it is far more likely that Dany’s dragons come to the North and take out the Others, becoming the 2nd Queen to come to the Wall.

3

Yeah, probably too cheery. I do think the Starks will get their comeuppance by the end of the series. I do think Dany will come down through the North, but I’m not sure the thing with the Others is what the Westerosi think it is. Coldhands seemed to be a good guy.

4

Comeuppance?! What more do you think they need to have happen to them??! :eek:

5

I had to look it up, but apparently comeuppance can be used in a positive sense. I assume that’s the meaning used here.

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I’m in agreement with most of the widely accepted predictions.

I believe that Arya will become a faceless man/woman, and I suspect that she’ll be sent to assassinate someone important (possibly Daenerys or Alayne Stone) before finally being killed.

I think the Ironmen will gain control over a large chunk of Westeros and will besiege Casterly Rock, but will eventually be defeated by Daenerys.

I think that Davos did in fact die at White Harbor.

I think that Tyrion will join forces with Daenerys and become one of the dragonriders. Specifically given what happens in a spoiler chapter for A Dance with Dragons:

Drogon, the largest of the three dragons, rebels against Daenerys and runs away.

I think that Dany will need Tyrion’s help to deal with that.

I think that Gregor will be revived as a wight by Qyburn. however, Qyburn seems to have more ambition than common sense, and his magical skill may not be all that great. I picture the wight Gregor slipping out of Qyburn’s control, going insane and rampaging through King’s Landing killing indiscriminately. Then Sandor will be called out of retirement to fight him/it.

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Oh, and I don’t think Sam will become the next Lord Tarly. I think he’ll be a very wise and long lived maester of the Wall.

Though I believe that the mystery of the Others will be revealed. There has to be a leadership up there. Oh, and I believe Coldhands is none other Benjen Stark, who somehow was able to ‘come back’ after being turned into an Other.

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I do wonder about the prophecy concerning Sansa slaying a giant in a castle of snow. I really hope that wasn’t referring to the whole snow castle/doll incident in the Eyrie. Someone suggested that meant Sansa would defeat Littlefinger in Winterfell - now that would be something I would want to see.

Does anyone think Jaime will last the series? I have the sorrowful suspicion that he will be executed by Dany.

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You’re right, this is probably what will happen. I was thinking if the Wall became unnecessary, he’d be freed of his vows, but maesters make similar vows to those of the Night’s Watch.

This may be true. I also think that the Others may not be this 100% evil race either. We shall see.

What do folks think is going to happen with the Greyjoy’s? Will Euron’s horn work on Dany’s dragons? What will become of our beloved Theon?

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I think it’s highly possible that if Qyburn has animated The Mountain’s corpse, Cersei might try to name it as her champion for Trial by Combat now that Jaime has refused her (or at least appeared to refuse her). There is the small issue of Gregor Clegane’s zombified, quite-possibly headless body not being an official member of the Kingsguard, but Cersei seems like she could scheme her way out of that one. The Kingsguard have been certainly reduced as well, since Arys Oakheart died in Dorne and I suspect that the other one being sent there will meet a similar fate.

Dorne, I think it is clear, would be a prime candidate for allying with Dany. They would make a good base of operations if Dany’s army ever arrives in Westeros. I can’t really predict what they will be doing in the meantime.

In Oldtown, we have the new Pate, the Sphinx, and the Mage. I’ve heard talk that the new Pate is Jaqen H’gar, the faceless man who gave Arya the silver coin, but I’m not totally sure I believe it. H’gar had what seemed like a code of honor when he served Arya in Harrenhal. In the introduction to A Feast for Crows, the Alchemist betrays Pate, kills him, then appears to steal his shape. I mean, clearly there are some hidden motivations at work here, but just looking at what we know right now I don’t see H’gar as being the Alchemist/Pate.

What I do see happening down there is Oldtown being sacked by Ironmen and the aforementioned trio fleeing the chaos with Sam. I don’t think they’ll go to Dany. Meanwhile, Euron will loot the Citadel for more items and artifacts that will strengthen him and his magic for an inevitable showdown with Dany’s dragons.

I don’t have any idea what will happen with Arya, but it is likely to me that Brienne shouted her name to save herself from hanging. Podrick, I predict, will not be so lucky.

Although my hopes of someone attempting to besiege the Eryie were dashed when Littlefinger and Sansa and everyone else left for the winter, I predict that sometime before the series ends it will happen. I’ve been waiting for this since the first book.

That’s all I have for right now.

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I don’t see Jon as Lord of Winterfell. Maybe king of Westeros (possibly in some kind of joint agreement with Dany) if speculation about his parentage is true though. But I see either Rickon or maybe Sansa ending up as Winterfell’s ruler. I agree about the Wall coming down though. There’s been so many references to the Horn of Winter it almost has to show up at some point.

Yeah, I can’t see him surviving. He’s too invested in an idea that we know is false, and which will place him in conflict with Dany whenever she shows up.

Maybe. Certainly there’s no coming back from her situation, IMO. She’ll never be the “real” Catelyn again.

I’ve seen this discussed a lot. The consensus is that he’s alive and there’s hints of it in AFfC. There’s a big monk with a limp on Quiet Island (or whatever that place was called) that Brienne sees but, she doesn’t see his face (not that she’d recognize Sandor anyway, as far as we know). This is apparently Sandor. It’s one of those “the Hound is dead, but Sandor lives” things.

Agreed. Some people seem to think Gregor is still alive, but I don’t think he’s alive in any meaningful sense. And I do think his head was sent to Dorne (they couldn’t have sent just any old skull, it would have had to have been a very big one). I think he’s parts for some wierd frankenstein monster.

Sansa certainly thinks of Sandor enough. Including remembering that he kissed her in King’s Landing, when, if you look at the scene again, he never actually did.

You mean a Faceless Man (I assume). The Sorrowful Men are the ones in Quarth.

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Heh. I always wondered if that was a brain fart of Martin’s, or if Sansa is just another Unreliable Narrator.

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It’s intentional. From here:

So, IMO, it’s meant to show her (probably unconscious) romantic feelings for him.

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The only prediction I have to add is that the ships being sent after Dany to bring her back to the Ironmen will instead become the ships that she needs to bring over her army.

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That is the one of the most interesting questions, I think. Euron has a horn, which supposedly seduces dragons, but kills the horn blower. I wonder if the horn has a specified time that it works for, which would mean people would have to continue blowing the dragon horn.

Though I think it’ll be a fun book when Dany meets Quentyn Dorne, Victarion, and Tyrion (though who knows if Tyrion will actually meet up with Dany… maybe he takes Arya back to Westeros instead).

As much as everyone thinks it is obvious that Stannis is a goner, I think it’d be delicious if he ended up being a great hero after Dany lands (and Jon convinces her not to kill Stannis) and becomes the head of Dany’s Kingsguard. But Stannis seems too preoccupied with his place as King of Westeros to ever do such a thing.

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I wonder about that horn. Will Euron actually blow it if it’ll kill him? I doubt it, but doesn’t the blower have to be the one who controls the dragons? I’m a little confused. Maybe it kills the wielder unless that person is a Targaryen, which would be interesting if it revealed Jon Snow’s ancestry.

Tyrion is one of the few people who would actually recognize Arya at this point, right? It seems likely they will run into each other.

Will the Dornish embrace Dany just because they hate the Lannisters? Rhaegar was very likely unfaithful to Elia… would they hold that against the Targaryens, or do they not know about Lyanna Stark?

I think this is an interesting idea. Stannis is so honor-bound that he might bend the knee to a righteous claim like Dany’s, considering that he barely seems interested in being king because he wants to rule. He’s motivated much more by pride, by feeling slighted by being passed over, so if he could find an honorable, face-saving way to back out of his claim and throw his support behind a more legitimate claim, he just might do it.

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Oh, hey, I forgot I’ve been meaning to ask…what does everyone think about Arya’s blindness? Any other series, I’d feel certain that it was a purely temporary thing played up for shock value. But with Martin doing the writing…well…

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Tyrion? I wouldn’t think so. I mean, sure, Tyrion was there when the court visited Winterfell, but that was just a few weeks about one and a half to two years ago by the time of AFfC. I’m sure Tyrion saw Ayra, and sat relatively near her during dinners, but I don’t remember any specific interaction between them. And unlike, say, Jaime, Cersei, Tommen, or Myrcella, Tyrion didn’t travel back to King’s Landing with the court, nor did he spend any time there while Arya was there.

When Jaime met the fake Arya in ASoS he thinks that the real Arya was younger. Tyrion is more observent about that type of thing, it seems to me, so I’m sure he’d recognize the fake Arya is fake, if he ever met her, but I’m not sure he’d recognize the real Arya several years after he briefly met her. But I suppose it’s possible. She is supposed to look like Jon, who he spent more time with, but then, Sam has spent a lot of time with Jon, and he didn’t seem to pick up on any resemblence.

Outside of her remaining family, I think Cersei, Tommen, and Myrcella might recognize her. Obviously the Hound would. Maybe some of the Kingsguard. Harwyn and several other men of the brotherhood, Theon in whatever cell he’s sitting in, and maybe some other survivors of Winterfell. I don’t know if any of the lords of the North, or anyone else from around King’s Landing would.

I’m sure they know about Lyanna Stark; it seems public knowledge that she was “kidnapped” by Rhaegar, and Robert, at least, mentions rape. That could have been seen as a slight against Elia, but I’d think it pales in comparison to what the Lannisters did. If I remember correctly, a contigent of Dornishmen fought for Rhaegar at the Trident, so I assume it wasn’t seen as a deal breaker at the time. Now, will they embrace Dany? I don’t know, Doran Martell seems pretty sold on the idea, if he was going to marry his daughter to Viserys. That doesn’t necessarily mean everyone in Dorne will support Dany though, I suppose.

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I think it’s probably temporary. Either a punishment for killing the deserter (I forget his name) for personal reasons, or part of her training. If it’s part of her training, I’m sure it’s temporary, since the faceless men don’t normally seen to be blind (though Ayra does mention a blind acolyte somewhere in her chapters in AFfC). But if it’s a punishment, maybe it could be permenent… If what she did was considered so bad that she’s basically done at the temple, and they’re going to throw her out, well, that might be a parting gift.

Obviously Martin is willing to cripple his characters when it adds to the story, but I’m leaning towards it being a temporary condition.

20

Is Theon still alive? I know people have been saying he’s alive and rotting in a prison, but I was under the impression that he was killed at Winterfell, and the northmen were just claiming to have him as a hostage for their own nefarious purposes. I’d have to go back and reread that chapter.