If you watched Episode 3 of Game of Thrones—The Long Night—you may be fooled in thinking that the Night King is truly dead. In fact, you’re probably still screaming “YAS ARYA, YAS” and not thinking about just how the fuck an entire army of dead people—who have been the enemy for oh, I don’t know, eight seasons—just died with the snap of Arya Stark’s fingers.
Many people online, while satisfied that the Night King is RIP dead, are not convinced that the battle with him is truly over. In fact, it’s pretty damn crazy to think that in one episode, the Night King was wiped off the face of the Seven Kingdoms for good.
Reddit user ColdBeing was one of the people who was truly unsatisfied with how the writers chose to send the Night King out. He said:
“They hyped up The Night King for seasons upon seasons, years upon years and this is how he goes out?” they ask. “There’s just no way. This plot is so stupid. I think there’s more going on than what meets the eye.”
He added that there are some details in the episode that point to the fact that Bran—yes, Three-Eyed-Raven, creepy warging Bran—is in cahoots with the Night King and cut some sort of evil deal with him.
His theory comes from the idea that Bran warged himself away during the Battle of Winterfell for a hella long period of time—and basically just went “bye.” Also, we didn’t see on camera where the fuck Bran even went, which was even weirder. Plus, he was gone for a long time.
“Why else was Bran warged for so long? Could it be going back in time to prevent all this bloodshed? Could he have been making a deal with the Night King?”
The Reddit user believes that Bran must have traveled back in time and cut a deal with the Night King—possibly giving a “piece of himself” to him in exchange for “dying.” But, really, fake dying—because now Bran is the new “Night King.”
“When The Night King walked up to Bran, he looked like he accepted his fate. I just feel like The Night King is Bran, The Night King was going to kill Bran to destroy himself. I mean the way The Night King just looked at Bran, it felt like he had to do it when he didn’t want to.”
And, while some fans noted that Bran giving Arya the dagger she used to destroy the Night King was evidence of foreshadowing, ColdBeing suggests Arya actually messed Bran’s plans up—and that Bran had meant to willingly lead the undead leader to his seat by the Weirwood tree.
The Reddit user also pointed out that the Night King seemed a tad hesitant when he went to kill Bran. In fact, the two gazed into each other’s eyes pretty lovingly for a long time. And, just enough time for Arya to pop out of nowhere to kill him.
There’s also the fact that Bran allowed Theon Greyjoy to defend him after he offered himself up as bait to the Night King.
Everyone knew that Theon and his, what, 15 men, were no match for the Night King and the army coming with him. Bran knew that Theon wouldn’t be able to protect him and in turn, knew he was going to die. That’s also why Bran said to him “thank you,” and told him that he’s a “good man,”—allowing him to die knowing he did redeem himself. But, with Theon and his entire army from the Iron Islands dead—it would have been just Bran and the Night King left solo dolo (except, with those weird Slytherin looking people with him).
Consider also the silent interchange between Bran and the Night King in the seconds before his death. Bran looked into the Night King’s eyes, looked down at his gut, then slowly trailed them back to his eyes. The Night King slightly tilted his head, and the next second, Arya comes flying from the darkness.
It seems as though Bran and the Night King are having a some-what silent conversation with each other—as though Bran was warning him that Arya was coming, or something was coming. Therefore, it’s not crazy to think that there’s a big plot twist coming for us.
If you need more proof, I leave you with this tweet:
How did the #NightKing change Craster's babies?
By touching them.
How did he change Viserion?
By touching it.
What did Bloodraven say to #BranStark in the cave?
"He touched you."#foodforthought#nightking #GameofThrones
— Vladimir Furdik (@Vladimir_furdik) April 28, 2019