Hi, I'm Erik Voss, and now that Game of Thrones season 7 is coming, a ton of you
guys have been hitting me up asking about this new theory about who will
be revealed as the real hero of Westeros when the series ends. And yes, I know I'm
wearing glasses, I'm having issues with contacts, also I want to look smarter for
this video. Anyway, in this video I'm going to get into some potential
spoilers for season seven of Game of Thrones, but really these are all just
theories and predictions based on stuff that has already come up on the show and
in the book so far. Okay, if you've been following the show and the Books closely,
you're probably familiar with the prophecy of Azor Ahai, also sometimes
referred to as the prince that was promised. Now, I'm going to go into the
back story on this prophecy, but if you feel like you already know it pretty
well and just want to get right to the theory, you can skip to this time. So, in
George RR Martin's universe, the prince that was promised was an ancient
prophesied leader who will deliver the world from darkness. According to legend,
he will be born amidst smoke and salt under a bleeding star and he will have a
song, the Song of Ice and Fire. Now, obviously there's a lot of
metaphorical language here and a lot of people over the years have interpreted
this differently. Naturally, pretty much everyone tries to exploit it for power.
So one of the characters believed to be the princess promise was Stannis
Baratheon. In the eyes of Lady Melisandre, he was actually considered the second
coming of Azor Ahai. Now, Azor Ahai is an ancient legendary hero to the
followers of the Lord of Light (Relor.) Azor Ahai wielded a fiery sword called
light bringer, and people of this religion believe Azor Ahai will be reborn as a
new person with his own fiery sword to defeat the darkness brought on by the
others - the White Walkers. So, really Azure Ahai reborn and the
prince that was promised are kind of terms that are just used interchangeably.
Nowadays, people believe that they point to the same prophetic figure. Now,
Melisandre assumed that Stannis was Azor Ahai reborn, interpreting the red
comet that appeared in the sky in season 2 to be the bleeding star. But,
considering the way things ended for Stannis, that's obviously not the case.
Now there was another character who arrived, so to speak, under this bleeding
star around the same time, Daenerys Targaryen. The miraculous birth of her
dragons at the end of season 1 was a key symbolic rebirth
for her character taking place amid smoke and I guess salt? Maybe in that
salty desert sand, or the tears she wept for Khal Drogo? Again guys, this is all
metaphorical, but the other popular candidate for Azor Ahai reborn is Jon
Snow. This guy freakin' resurrected from the dead with the help of Melisandre in
her prayers to the Lord of Light, and really more than anyone else in the show,
Jon seems to be the most heroic leader against the White Walkers. But long
before these two people, many believed that the prince that was promised was
Rhaegar Targaryen, including Rhaegar himself. He was known to be a singer and
an amazing swordsman, and in book three, Daenerys learned that her late brother
found something in a scroll and decided that he must become a warrior. I'm
guessing it was this prophecy. Also, in the books, in Daenerys's vision she
sees her brother holding the baby Aegon Targaryen, cryptically saying he is the
prince that was promised, and his is a Song of Ice and Fire.
Now, of course that baby was horribly murdered by the Mountain, Gregor Clegane, in
the sack of King's Landing, so that wasn't the case, but we also know that
Rhaegar had another baby, Jon Snow, so maybe this is more evidence that Jon is
the prince that was promised. Anyway, there are also just a ton of alternate
theories that Azor Ahai could be someone else like Bran, Arya, Tyrion, Samwell
Tarly... just kidding, no one thinks it's him. But, the newest theory out there is that
Azor Ahai reborn is Jaime Lannister, the Kingslayer, the villainous incestuous
twin brother turned more redemptive... but still kind of incestuous hero. And
here's why this guy could end up saving all of Westeros by the end of the series:
So, according to legend, Azor Ahai created his flaming sword, Lightbringer, in a
three-step forging process. And again, all these details are really meant to be
metaphor that we can interpret and apply to other people who have similar
parallel journeys. So first, Azor Ahai forged for 30 days and 30 nights and
then he tempered the sword in water, but the sword broke, so the second time he
spent 50 days and 50 nights and tempered it by plunging it into the heart of a
lion... lie-on, but again the steel shattered and the third time he spent
100 days and 100 nights, and he called in his wife, Nissa
Nissa, and drove the sword into her heart and her soul merged with the steel to
create Lightbringer. And if you think about it, these three crucial steps
correspond to Jaime's character arc, transitioning him from the detestable
Kingslayer to the more heroic Jaime Lannister. So one of the first big
character moments for Jaime, both in the books and in the show, was right after he
lost his hand. Remember he took a bath with Brienne and breaks down emotionally
as well as physically, revealing his side of the story that led to his famous
nickname of Kingslayer. So, just like when Azor Ahai tempered his first sword in
water it shattered, when Jamie goes into the water he breaks as well. Pay close
attention to how this confession scene ends: "The Kingslayer!
Jaime. My name's Jaime."
So this is Jamie's rebirth, breaking
out of this Kingslayer shell to become a more morally complex hero. Okay, so
another key step for Jaime's growth as a character, was the breaking apart of the
Lannister family structure. So throughout season 4, Jaime rapidly loses his son
Joffrey, followed by his father Tywin, which results in the exile of his
brother Tyrion. In fact, it was Jaime's decision to defy his father and free
Tyrion that led to Tyrion killing Tywin by firing an arrow directly into his
heart. Of course, Tywin was the patriarch of the Lannisters whose sigil is the
lion. And as Cersei coldly told Jaime at Tywin's funeral, it was Jaime's actions
that killed their daddy lion. "Tyrion may be a monster but at least he killed our father on purpose.
You killed him by mistake, with stupidity." So, by breaking away from this pride of
lions, Jaime parallels the second step of Azor Ahai's forging, plunging the sword
into the heart of the lion. And that brings us to the final step: Azor Ahai's
sacrifice of his wife and companion Nissa Nissa, and here's where
things get interesting. So, besides Azor Ahai and the prince
that was promised, another key prophecy in Game of Thrones was the one that
Cersei received as a young girl from the wood witch, who's Maggie the frog in the
books. So, even though this doesn't happen in the show, in the books, Cersei is also
told that she will die by the hand of her valonqar, and that's the
Valyrian word for younger brother. Now, Cersei has always interpreted that
younger brother to be Tyrion, which is one of the reasons she's always been so
suspicious of him. Remember in season 2, Tyrion threatens her with this line:
"The day would come when you think you're safe and happy, and your joy will turn to
ashes in your mouth." And that threat has always haunted her, but now it appears
that Valonqar could be a different younger brother - her twin brother, Jaime
Lannister, who was born a few minutes after her. So remember, Cersei just blew
up a huge piece of King's Landing using the same jars of wildfire that the Mad
King stored beneath the city. The same war crime that Jaime slew that King to
prevent. So now that Cersei has become a bit of a mad queen, it's possible that
Jaime might repeat history, fulfilling his destiny both as the valonqar and
Azor Ahai, sacrificing his longtime companion, to create light bringer. Now,
what would this fiery sword look like? So in my breakdown of the season 7 trailer,
I talked about how Jaime's new sword, widow's wail, was one of the twin
Valyrian steel swords that Tywin melted down from the Stark sword, Ice. And yeah,
maybe the moment that Jaime drives this sword into Cersei's heart, it'll burst
into flames. And maybe, at the same time, Brienne's sword Oathkeeper will also burst
into flames, since they were forged from the same steel, ice. A song of ice on fire.
But, I think that there's another equally awesome way this could go. Also, in that
season 7 breakdown I pointed out how in that shot of the large floor map in the
red keep, Cersei is standing on the neck of Westeros, but what I didn't point out
is that Jaime is standing right beside the east coast of Westeros, and these
narrow peninsulas are called the fingers. So this shot could be foreshadowing
Jaime using his literal fingers to strangle Cersei around her neck. But then
again, remember that threat from Tyrion "And your joy will turn to ashes in
your mouth." So it could be that light bringer doesn't refer to a literal sword,
but Jamie's golden hand, bursting into flames as he chokes Cersei, causing
literal ashes to form in her mouth. So yeah, it's a pretty gruesome,
but pretty epic and poetically justified way for Cersei to die,
considering the masses she burned at the end of last season. And yeah, I know this
sounds crazy, but when you look back, this visual has been foreshadowed
throughout the series. So first in book 3, right after Jamie's
hand is cut off, there's this passage: "His hand burned, and his fingers twisting in
the flames, the fingers can no longer had." Also in the show, in that key moment I
talked about when Jamie freed Tyrion Jamie holds a fiery torch, and it flashes
in front of the camera. And sure, that one could be stretching, but there was also
this pivotal moment in the first episode, when Bran caught Jaime and Cersei in
the act and Jaime's hand is around Cersei's throat, so Jaime's iconic line of
"the things I do for love" could come full circle later, when he's now turned on Cersei.
And speaking of Bran, in season four there's an interesting scene where Bran, Meera
and Jojen Reed speculate on their journey, specifically how it would end.
"This isn't the end. How... will we know the end?
You'll know."
So remember, Jojen Reed would dream visions of the future, and maybe this is
Jojen's way of saying that they'll know it's the end when Azor Ahai returns to
vanquish the White Walkers with his light bringer being a hand of fire. Also,
here's a fun detail that could connect Jamie to the Lord of Light prophecy: the
Valyrian words for Lord and light - Aeskio and Onos, are weirdly similar to Aeskion
and Ondos, which translates to gold hand. So it could be that over
thousands of years, this prophecy just got lost in translation, and the Lord of
light's champion was always destined to be the man with the golden hand. Now, just
to be clear I still think Game of Thrones seems way more focused on Jon and
Daenerys as the heroes of the story. Like, the two of them have both experienced
classic hero's journeys: highborn children in exile traveling to the far
corners of the world, coming back from death to become leaders of men. But, I
would argue that Jamie has experienced the most personal growth. Remember, we
hated this guy in that first episode. But then over time, he completely transformed
into a hero that we kind of like. But, what are your thoughts? Does Jamie
being Azor Ahai reborn sound like a satisfying conclusion for this whole
series? Or does that idea take away significance from other characters? Like,
guys, that would mean the prince that was promised can't be Sam. I know, hearts are
breaking. But do you think that there's any other unexpected character that you
predict will be revealed as Azor Ahai reborn? Or do you think the show can get
away with not even resolving this mystery at all. I'm curious to hear any theories that
you have. Let me know down in the comments, and again, make sure to check
out my season 7 trailer breakdown for more predictions and missable clues
about this new season. And if you like this video, please hit like and subscribe
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