Game of Thrones Season 7 spoilers below!!!!!
Oh Game of Thrones, do you ever really leave us?
First we’re waiting for you, obsessively pouring over every trailer and poster looking for meaning and clues. Then we’re watching you, going episode by episode and freaking out about what it all means and where it could be going. Then your season ends, and we’re left empty and naked in the fetal position, trying to talk theories with the dust mites under our stoves.
Anyway, there’s another weird fan theory floating around that’s pretty interesting. It supposes that Jaime — Westeros’ greatest redemption story — might be the one who kills the Night King.
Check out the reasoning, which is actually pretty interesting. From Reddit user Adjace-esque:
I apologize if this has been theorized before, but it’s a thought that just occurred to me.
In both the books and the show, Jaime has the ultimate redemption arc. He begins as a disgraced knight–feared for his prowess and his family’s power, but considered dishonorable because he killed Aerys.As of the season 7 finale, he’s riding north.
Key piece of evidence #1 — Jaime tries to run Daenerys through
What an interesting scene that was. Interesting because it didn’t really accomplish anything. It didn’t forward the plot anymore than showing Bronn & Jaime escaping the fray. You could argue its purpose was a shock moment, to make people think Jaime would drown, but it wasn’t very convincing.
I think it was intentionally planted. The scene established a character trait — Jaime is willing to ride into harm’s way (literally into the dragon’s maw) if he thinks he has a shot at taking out the enemy leader and ending the war in one stroke. Killing the Night King is the literal adaptation of that.
There’s no way he thought he was getting out of that situation alive. Even if he ran Daenerys through with his spear, the dragon was right there and would have killed him. Yet he was willing to do it, because he thought killing Dany and ending the insurrection was worth his life. He was seeking a noble, heroic death.
EDIT: As pointed out by u/NameThatHasDerpInIt , at the Battle of the Whispering Wood, Jaime is said to have cut down a dozen men in an attempt to get directly at Robb, to try to end the war right there on the spot. So this whole sacrifice yourself to try to take out the enemy leader thing is an established Jaime trait. And conveniently our story now has an enemy leader whose death would quite literally end the war…
Key piece of evidence #2 — Kingslayer
Martin loves clever wordplay and unexpected foreshadowing. Imagine if Jaime slays the Night King. He is, again, the Kingslayer–but this time he’s the hero. Martin could joke “I told you he was the Kingslayer in Book One, and you’re shocked he killed the King at the end?!” (I mean, he’s technically a hero for stopping Aerys from blowing up King’s Landing, but no one acknowledges that as such.)
Wouldn’t killing another evil king, except this time everyone thinks it’s heroic, be the ultimate end to his story? His honor was destroyed and then redeemed by killing kings.
He can still get mortally wounded and die in the arms of the woman he loves, as he foretold in the show.
And as for the valonqar — maybe it’s not a literal death, but the fact that Jaime’s noble sacrifice ends the White Walker threat and catapults the Dany/Jon alliance to power, overthrowing Cersei and taking away the last things she held dear (Jaimie who is now dead, and her political power in one move). I do admit though that the valonqar is the weakest aspect of this theory.
I dunno, I think it kind of makes sense.
If it’s a TL;DR you want, here it is:
Jaime’s arc is defined by redemption and putting his life and reputation on the line to do the right thing. He wanted to kill Daenerys in one fell swoop so he could end the war, just like he slayed Aerys for going mad and threatening to burn everyone.
So maybe, just maybe, he’ll realize that the way to win the great war is to kill the Night King. Plus, his sword’s name is Kingslayer. PLUS, it’s not like some rando is gonna kill the Night King. It’d have to be one of the main characters.
Think it’s a possibility? Fight it out in the comments! Or just hold onto your butts and wait until the next season comes.
Just kidding we literally can’t do that.