Bran vs the Children of the Forest - his true ADVERSARY

Potential Spoilers Below

“Shadows from a returned sun dimmed the cavern mouth around him. Wind tugged at him, his foot warm with his own blood. I will not walk out of this pit alive, he thought.

He no longer cared. Survival was not his goal. It had not been for some time.

He did want to do this right. He had to do this right. Was it the right time? Had he planned well enough?

IT IS TIME. LET THE TASK BE UNDERTAKEN.

“It’s really here, Rand thought. I’m not ready—we’re not ready—but it’s here anyway.”

Rand entering the cavern of the Dark One

This will be in reverse.  The Night King will walk into the Crypts of Winterfell where Bran has been hiding in plain sight for all this time.  I wrote my theory on Bran being the Night King because Old Nan gave us the clues in the books.  I had believed that Bran had become him in the past as the 13^th Lord Commander.  But after he was touched by the Night King my theory has been modified to say that he becomes the Night King in the end by warging him after the Night King destroys Bran’s body the same as he did with the last 3-eyed crow.  

Old Nan I believe is telling Bran the very same stories that he told her when she was just a child

The actor who plays Bran said the following when asked if he and the Night King were the same person: "I think it's less that they're the same person and more that they're two of the ancient beings of Westeros. The Three-Eyed Raven has been around for God knows how long, and White Walkers have been reported since the beginning of time,":

My original theory: The Night's King identity?

“Rand stood in a place that was not.

A place outside of time, outside of the Pattern itself.

All around him spread a vast nothingness. Voracious and hungry, it longed to consume. He could actually see the Pattern. It looked like thousands upon thousands of twisting ribbons of light; they spun around him, above him, undulating and shimmering, twisting together. At least, that was how his mind chose to interpret it.

Anyone who has been keeping up with my theory knows that I believe that the character Rand al’Thor, the Dragon Reborn, has been broken up between 3 character in ASOIAF; Jon Snow, Daenerys and Bran.

Everything that had ever been, everything that could be, everything that could have been ... it all lay right there, before him.

Rand could not comprehend it. The blackness around it sucked on him, pulled him toward it. He reached out to the Pattern and somehow anchored himself in it, lest he be consumed.”

“Rand faced the emptiness. “So,” he said into it. “This is where it will really happen. Moridin would have had me believe that a simple sword fight would decide this all.”

Moridin - shocking blue eyes like the Night King

When all is said and done I don't believe it will all be about killing the Night King in a sword fight

HE IS OF ME. BUT HIS EYES ARE SMALL.

“Yes,” Rand said. “I have noticed the same.”

SMALL TOOLS CAN BE EFFECTIVE. THE THINNEST OF KNIVES CAN STOP A HEART. HE HAS BROUGHT YOU HERE, ADVERSARY.

Rand couldn’t gasp, couldn’t cry out. This attack wasn’t at his body, for he had no true body in this place, just a memory of one.

Rand held himself together. With difficulty. In the face of this awesome attack, any notion of defeating the Dark One—of killing him— vanished. Rand couldn’t defeat anything. He could barely hold on.

Representation of the Dark One

He could not have described the sensation if he’d tried. It was as if the Dark One was shredding him while at the same time trying to crush him entirely, coming at Rand from infinite directions, all at once, in a wave.

Rand fell to his knees. It was a projection of himself that did so, but it felt real to him.

An eternity passed.

Rand suffered it. The crushing pressure, the noise of destruction. He weathered it on his knees, fingers taut like claws, sweat streaming from his brow. He suffered it and looked up.

“That is all you have?” Rand growled.”

The pain Bran experiences while engaged with the COTF will feel worse than this

“I WILL WIN.

“You made me strong,” Rand said, voice ragged. “Each time you or your minions tried to destroy me, your failure was like the blacksmith’s hammer beating against metal. This attempt . . .” Rand took a deep breath. “This attempt of yours is nothing. I will not break.”

YOU MISTAKE. THIS IS NOT AN ATTEMPT TO DESTROY YOU. THIS IS PREPARATION.

“For what?”

TO SHOW YOU TRUTH.”

Is this all about preparing Bran to show him a truth?

“What if they Turned him? This wasn’t real, but it was a version of reality. A mirror world, created by the Dark One. What would it do to Rand if they Turned him here? Had he been trapped that easily?

He began to struggle, panicked, against the bonds of Air. It was useless, of course.”

Bran will think back to how the Night King was turned and since he knows that what happens here also happens in the real world he begins to panic.  Had he been trapped that easily?

Bran begins to think they will do the same to him

“The Blight had extended to every ocean. Seanchan was no more, ruined and scorched until not even rats and crows could survive there. Anyone who could channel was discovered as a youth and Turned. The Dark One did not like the risk that someone would bring hope back to the world.”

The Lands of Always Winter would extend to every ocean.  Valyria was no more, ruined and scorched by the Fourteen Flames.  Everyone who had the potential to bring hope back to the world was discovered and turned as a youth.  Does that mean that there is something special about Craster’s sons?  I have never really thought about that until now but it seems that there is something to this.  Could Maester Aemon be his father?

Lands of Always Winter

Night King turning one of Craster's sons

 

Maester Aemon

“Rand drew breath, deeply, through his teeth and looked up at the darkness beyond the threads. “I will not sit passively and suffer it this time, Shaitan. I will not be captive to your nightmares. I have become something greater than I once was.”

Bran who is something greater than he once was because he has had multiple lifetimes to do so; he begins to fight back.

Bran the Builder crippled like Bran - coincidence?

“The Aiel did what they did best: kill. So long as those armies held the pathway to Rand al’Thor, perhaps that would be enough. Perhaps . . .”

Aiel warriors

The Dothraki did what they did best: kill.  So long as their armies hold the way to Bran in the Crypts, perhaps that will be enough.  Perhaps …

Dothraki killing

“I WILL WIN EVENTUALLY.

Rand stood before the blowing winds, stood strong, though his eyes watered as he stared into the darkness. How long had he been in this place? A thousand years? Ten thousand?

Time within the cave will take on a different time than outside in the real world.  It will basically slow to a crawl.

For the moment, he concerned himself only with defiance. He would not bend before this wind.

He could not give in for a fraction of a heartbeat.

THE TIME HAS COME, FINALLY.

“Time is nothing to you,” Rand said.

It was true, and it was not. Rand could see the threads swirling around him, forming the Pattern. As it formed, he saw the battlefields below him. Those he loved fighting for their lives. These were not possibilities; this was the truth, what was actually happening.

The Dark One wrapped around the Pattern, unable to take it and destroy it, but able to touch it. Tendrils of darkness, spines, touched the world at points all along its length. The Dark One lay like shadow upon the Pattern.

When the Dark One touched the Pattern, time existed for him. And so, while time was nothing to the Dark One, he—or it, as the Dark One had no gender—could only work within its bounds. Like . . . like a sculptor who had marvelous visions and dreams but was still bound by the reality of the materials he worked with.

Is this where Bran gets a clue as to how to defeat the Children of the Forest (COTF)?  They have extremely long lives which is probably extended even more being tied to this place. Beat them at their own game; TIME.

Children of the Forest

Rand stared at the Pattern, resisting the Dark Ones attack. He did not move or breathe. Breath wasn’t needed here.

People died below. Rand heard their screams. So many fell.

I WILL WIN EVENTUALLY, ADVERSARY. WATCH THEM SCREAM. WATCH THEM DIE.

THE DEAD ARE MINE.

“Lies,” Rand said.

NO. I WILL SHOW YOU.

The Dark One spun possibility again, gathering up what could be, and thrust Rand into another vision.”

Bran will also see how people were actually dying while he was tied up with the COTF and the Night King at his doorstep.

  

“Rand folded his arms, noticing with displeasure that the fireplace in the room contained a nothingness beyond it. “What have you done to them?” Rand demanded.

I LET THEM THINK THEY WON.

“Why?”

MANY WHO FOLLOW ME DO NOT UNDERSTAND TYRANNY.”

“MEN WHO THINK THEY ARE OPPRESSED WILL SOMEDAY FIGHT. I WILL REMOVE FROM THEM NOT JUST THEIR WILL TO RESIST, BUT THE VERY SUSPICION THAT SOMETHING IS WRONG.

“So you leave them without compassion?” Rand demanded, looking into Gill’s eyes. The man seemed terrified that Rand would kill him, as did the three thugs. No remorse. Not a bit of it.

COMPASSION IS NOT NEEDED.

Rand felt deathly cold. “This is different from the world you showed me before.”

WHAT I SHOWED BEFORE IS WHAT MEN EXPECT. IT IS THE EVIL THEY THINK THEY FIGHT. BUT I WILL MAKE A WORLD WHERE THERE IS NOT GOOD OR EVIL.

THERE IS ONLY ME.”

Will the COTF present a world to Bran that is similar?  A world where they think they have beaten the White Walkers only to be controlled in essence in a world where men are basically sheep and the COTF the shepherds.

“What have you done here?” he shouted into the sky. “Shai’tan! Answer me!”

Elayne cocked her head. She wasn’t afraid. Fear did not exist in this place. “Shai’tan? I swear I remember that name. It has been so long. I get forgetful sometimes.”

“SHAITAN!” Rand bellowed.

I HAVE DONE NOTHING, ADVERSARY. The voice was distant. THIS IS YOUR CREATION.

“Nonsense!” Rand said. “You’ve changed her! You’ve changed them all!”

DID YOU THINK THAT REMOVING ME FROM THEIR LIVES WOULD LEAVE THEM UNALTERED?

The words thundered through Rand. Aghast, he stepped away as Elayne rose, obviously concerned for him. Yes, he saw it now, the thing behind her eyes. She was not herself. . . because Rand had taken from her the ability to be herself.

I TURN MEN TO ME, Shaitan said. IT IS TRUE. THEY CANNOT CHOOSE GOOD ONCE I HAVE MADE THEM MINE IN THAT WAY. HOW IS THIS ANY DIFFERENT, ADVERSARY?

IF YOU DO THIS, WE ARE ONE.

“No!” Rand screamed, holding his head in his hand, falling to his knees. “No! The world would be perfect without you!”

PERFECT. UNCHANGING. RUINED. DO THIS, IF YOU WISH, ADVERSARY. IN KILLING ME, I WOULD WIN.

NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO, I WILL WIN.

Rand screamed, curling up as the Dark One’s next attack washed over him. The nightmare Rand had created exploded outward, ribbons of light spraying away like streaks of smoke.  The darkness around him shook and trembled.

YOU CANNOT SAVE THEM.”

“The Pattern—glowing, vibrant—wrapped around Rand again. The real Pattern. The truth of what was happening. In creating his vision of a world without the Dark One, he had created something horrible. Something awful. Something worse than would have been before.

The Dark One attacked again.”

Does Bran go about creating a world where the COTF never existed?  Will what he envisions turn out to be similar to the world that Rand creates?  I believe he will and that like Rand he will abandon that world as it would be no different than the world the COTF wish to create.

“So many. So very many.

YOU ARE LOSING.

Rand huddled down further. What could he do? His dream of stopping the Dark One ... he would create a nightmare if he did that. His own intentions betrayed him.

GIVE IN, ADVERSARY. WHY KEEP FIGHTING? STOP FIGHTING AND REST.

He was tempted. Oh, how he was tempted. Light. What would Nynaeve think? He could see her, fighting to save Alanna. How ashamed would she and Moiraine be if they knew that in that moment, Rand wanted to just let go?

Pain washed across him, and he screamed again.

“Please, let it end!”

IT CAN.

Rand huddled down, writhing, trembling. But still, their screams assaulted him. Death upon death. He held on, barely. “No,” he whispered.

VERY WELL, the Dark One said. I HAVE ONE MORE THING TO SHOW YOU. ONE MORE PROMISE OF WHAT CAN BE . . .

The Dark One spun threads of possibility one last time.

All became darkness.”

“Nothing.

Rand turned. He tried to turn. He had no form or shape.

Nothing.

He tried to speak, but he had no mouth. Finally, he managed to think the words and make them manifest.

SHAI’TAN, Rand projected, WHAT IS THIS?

OUR COVENANT, the Dark One replied. OUR ACCOMMODATION.

OUR ACCOMMODATION IS NOTHING? Rand demanded.

YES.

He understood. The Dark One was offering a deal. Rand could accept this ... He could accept nothingness. The two of them dueled for the fate of the world. Rand pushed for peace, glory, love. The Dark One sought the opposite. Pain. Suffering.

This was, in a way, a balance between the two. The Dark One would agree not to re-forge the Wheel to suit his grim desires. There would be no enslaving of mankind, no world without love. There would be no world at all.

The Wheel of Time

IT IS WHAT YOU PROMISED ELAN, Rand said. YOU PROMISED HIM AN END TO EXISTENCE.

I OFFER IT TO YOU, TOO, the Dark One replied. AND TO ALL MEN. YOU WANTED PEACE. I GIVE IT TO YOU. THE PEACE OF THE VOID THAT YOU SO OFTEN SEEK. I GIVE YOU NOTHING AND EVERYTHING.”

“Rand did not reject the offer immediately. He grasped the offer and cradled it in his mind. No more pain. No more suffering. No more burdens.

An ending. Was that not what he had desired? A way to end the cycles finally?

NO, Rand said. AN END TO EXISTENCE IS NOT PEACE. I MADE THIS CHOICE BEFORE. WE WILL CONTINUE.

The Dark Ones pressure began to surround him again, threatening to rip him apart.

I WILL NOT OFFER AGAIN, the Dark One said.

“I would not expect you to,” Rand said as his body returned and the threads of possibility faded.

Then the true pain began.”

This is where the 180-degree flip comes in.  In TWOT Moridin wanted an end to existence.  I believe the Night King wants just the opposite – IMMORTALITY.  Bran utters the words that he knows to be true, “Valar Morghulis”.   

Does the Night King believe something similar?

“Egwene died.

Egwene

Rand screamed in denial, in rage, in sorrow.

“Not her! NOT HER!”

THE DEAD ARE MINE.

“Shaitan!” Rand yelled. “Not her!”

I WILL KILL THEM ALL, ADVERSARY.

Rand bent over, squeezing his eyes shut. I will protect you, he thought. Whatever else happens, I will see you safe, I swear it. I swear it.. .

Oh, Light. Egwene’s name joined the list of the dead. That list continued to grow, thundering in his mind. His failures. So many failures.

He should have been able to save them.

The Dark One’s attacks persisted, trying to rip Rand apart and crush him all at once.

Oh, Light. Not Egwene.

Rand closed his eyes and collapsed, barely holding back the next attack.

Darkness enclosed him.”

Bran will experience the same when Meera dies; he will remember being Bran again.  He will remember how he felt about her and everything he said to her in the end.

“The girl caught him staring at her and smiled. Bran blushed and looked away.”

“Meera began to cry.

Bran hated being crippled then. “Don’t cry,” he said. He wanted to put his arms around her, hold her tight the way his mother used to hold him back at Winterfell when he’d hurt himself. She was right there, only a few feet from him, but so far out of reach it might have been a hundred leagues. To touch her he would need to pull himself along the ground with his hands, dragging his legs behind him. The floor was rough and uneven, and it would be slow going, full of scrapes and bumps. I could put on Hodor’s skin, he thought. Hodor could hold her and pat her on the back. The thought made Bran feel strange, but he was still thinking it when Meera bolted from the fire, back out into the darkness of the tunnels. He heard her steps recede until there was nothing but the voices of the singers.”

“The Pattern spun around Rand, forcing him to watch. He looked through eyes streaming with tears. He saw the people struggle. He saw them fall. He saw Elayne, captive and alone, a Dreadlord preparing to rip their children from her womb. He saw Rhuarc, his mind forfeit, now a pawn of one of the Forsaken.

Rhuarc

The Forsaken

Bran will see this happening to Danerys as Rand saw it happening to Elayne:

Ilyena was last. We are reborn, Rand thought, so we can do better the next time.

So do better.

He opened his eyes and placed his hand before him, palm against blackness that felt solid. His self that had fuzzed, becoming indistinct as the Dark One ripped at it, pulled together. He placed his other arm down, then heaved himself to his knees.

And then, Rand al’Thor—the Dragon Reborn—stood up once again to face the Shadow.”

Bran will come to terms with Meera dying and he will get to his feet and stand to face the COTF.

“Rand faced the Dark One in that place that was not, surrounded by all time and nothing at the same time. His body still stood in the cave of Shayol Ghul, locked into that moment of battle against Moridin, but his soul was here.

He existed in this place that was not, this place outside of the Pattern, this place where evil was born. He looked into it, and he knew it. The Dark One was not a being, but a force—an essence as wide as the universe itself, which Rand could now see in complete detail. Planets, stars in their multitudes, like the motes above a bonfire.

Could the cave drawing actually be a depiction of Bran seeing the universe like Rand?

The Dark One still strove to destroy him. Rand felt strong despite the attacks. Relaxed, complete. With his burdens gone, he could fight again. He held himself together. It was difficult, but he was victorious.

Rand stepped forward.

The Darkness shuddered. It quivered, vibrated, as if disbelieving.

I DESTROY THEM.

The Dark One was not a being. It was the darkness between. Between lights, between moments, between eye blinks.

ALL IS MINE THIS TIME. IT WAS EVER MEANT TO BE. IT WILL EVER BE.

Rand saluted those who died. The blood running across rocks. The weeping of those who witnessed others fall. The Shadow threw all of it at Rand, intent on Rand's destruction. But it did not destroy him.

“We will never give in,” Rand whispered. “I will never give in.”

The vast Shadow thundered and shook. It sent jolts through and across the world. The ground rent, the laws of nature fractured. Swords turned against their owners, food spoiled, rock turned to mud.

It came upon Rand again, the force of nothingness itself trying to pull him apart. The strength of the attack did not lessen. And yet, suddenly, it felt like an idle buzzing.

They would not give up. It wasn’t just about Rand. All of them would keep fighting. The Dark One’s attacks lost meaning. If they could not make him yield, if they could not make him relent, then what were they?

Within the tempest, Rand sought the void as Tam had taught him. All emotion, all worry, all pain. He took it and fed it into the flame of a single candle.

Tam finding Rand in the snow; metaphorically the same as Ned find Jon at the Tower of Joy

He felt peace. The peace of a single drop of water hitting a pond. The peace of moments, the peace between eye blinks, the peace of the void.

“I will not give up,” he repeated, and the words seemed a wonder to him.

I CONTROL THEM ALL. I BREAK THEM BEFORE ME. YOU HAVE LOST, CHILD OF HUMANKIND.”

“If you think that,” Rand whispered into the darkness, “then it is because you cannot see.”

Bran will come to realize the truth of what is really happening.  He will see the Night King about to strike his body as if frozen in time.  He will feel the fear that now exists in the COTF.  They will also make boasts of being able to kill everyone that he loves and cares about.  Bran will become himself again and feel for those who have fallen and those weeping for those who have died.  The attack of the COTF will lessen.  A calm settles over Bran… 

“YOU CANNOT FATHOM IT, CAN YOU? Rand demanded of the darkness. IT IS BEYOND YOU. YOU BREAK US, AND STILL WE FIGHT! WHY? HAVEN’T YOU KILLED US? HAVEN’T YOU RUINED US?

YOU, the Dark One replied. I HAVE YOU.

Rand stepped forward. In this place of nothing, the Pattern seemed to swirl around him like a tapestry. HERE IS YOUR FLAW, SHAITAN— LORD OF THE DARK, LORD OF ENVY! LORD OF NOTHING! HERE IS WHY YOU FAIL! IT WAS NOT ABOUT ME. IT’S NEVER BEEN ABOUT ME!

Bran will come to the same conclusion as Rand.  He will finally see that the Lord of Light aka the Children of the Forest (COTF) IMO could have killed any of them at any moment but, why hadn’t they?

The Night King had Jon and crew trapped why not just kill them?

It was about a woman, torn and beaten down, cast from her throne and made a puppet—a woman who had crawled when she had to. That woman still fought. – In TWOT this was Morgase Trakand.  The Queen of Andor who lost everything that made her queen, who was presumed dead, but yet she still fought. 

In ASOIAF I believe this will be Margaery Tyrell.  I never believed her to be dead in the TV show either but that wasn’t the case.  In the books, I believe that she will make herself known again in the dragonpit meeting.  For more details see:  Is there a small chance Margaery could have survived?

From Queen...

To this

It was about a man that love repeatedly forsook, a man who found relevance in a world that others would have let pass them by. A man who remembered stories, and who took fool boys under his wing when the smarter move would have been to keep on walking. That man still fought. – In TWOT this was Thom Merrilin.  

In ASOIAF this will be none other than Davos.  He took both Gendry and Jon Snow under his wing when he knew that getting himself involved with these two would most likely get him killed.  I believe that he will disregard his own advice and get himself killed as a result of it.

Davos

Gendry

It was about a woman with a secret, a hope for the future. A woman who had hunted the truth before others could. A woman who had given her life, then had it returned. That woman still fought. – In TWOT this was Moiraine Damodred. 

In ASOIAF this will be Melisandre.  Like Moiraine who spent her life searching for the prophesied savior she did the same with “The Prince That Was Promised”.  In TWOT Moiraine lived but since I believe that she will willingly give her life and trigger the prophecy that makes Jon Snow Azor Ahai; her life will not be returned.  The only way it could is if Beric gives her the kiss of life at the expense of his own.

It was about a man whose family was taken from him, but who stood tall in his sorrow and protected those he could. – In TWOT this was Perrin Aybara. 

In ASOIAF this will be Jon Snow.  Jon’s entire life was taken from him but when it came down to it, despite it all, he fought and protected all that he could.

It was about a woman who refused to believe that she could not help, could not Heal those who had been harmed. – In TWOT this was Nynaeve al’Meara. 

In ASOIAF this will be Daenerys.  I believe that she and Jon will have a falling out over how the war should be run and most flock to his side.  I don’t know if she will go completely to the dark side but if she does Bran will still remember her fight to do what she thought was right to help others.

It was about a hero who insisted with every breath that he was anything but a hero. – In TWOT this was Mat Cauthon. 

In ASOIAF it will be his counterpart Tyrion.  Tyrion the unlikeliest of heroes will risk everything to save them all.

Tyrion will once more do something heroic but he won't die

It was about a woman who would not bend her back while she was beaten, and who shone with the Light for all who watched. Including Rand. – In TWOT this was Egwene al’Vere. 

In ASOIAF this will be her counterpart Sansa.  Sansa was beaten and mistreated at the hands of Joffrey, in the TV show by Ramsay, but she didn’t break.  She will shine when the moment comes and in the end, she will become the next Queen with the Hound at her side as long as the monarchy still remains.  When all is said and done I believe there will be a new form of government in place.

Sansa beaten

But she never broke

It was about them all.

He saw this, over and over, in the Pattern arrayed about him. Rand walked through eons and ages, his hand passing through ribbons of the Patterns light.

HERE IS THE TRUTH, SHAITAN, Rand said, taking another step forward, arms out, woven Pattern spreading around them. YOU CANNOT WIN UNLESS WE GIVE UP. THAT’S IT, ISN’T IT? THIS FIGHT ISN’T ABOUT A VICTORY IN BATTLE. TAKING ME . . . IT WAS NEVER ABOUT BEATING ME. IT WAS ABOUT BREAKING ME.

THAT’S WHAT YOU’VE TRIED TO DO WITH ALL OF US. IT’S WHY AT TIMES YOU TRIED TO HAVE US KILLED, WHILE OTHER TIMES YOU DIDN’T SEEM TO CARE. YOU WIN WHEN YOU BREAK US. BUT YOU HAVEN’T. YOU CAN’T.

The darkness trembled. The nothingness shook, as if the arches of the heavens themselves were cracking. The Dark One’s shout was defiant.”

“Within the void, Rand continued forward, and the darkness trembled.

I CAN STILL KILL, the Dark One bellowed. I CAN STILL TAKE THEM ALL! I AM LORD OF THE GRAVE. THE BATTLE LORD, HE IS MINE. ALL ARE MINE EVENTUALLY!

Rand stepped forward, hand stretched out. In his palm sat the world, and upon that world a continent, and upon that continent a battlefield, and upon that battlefield two bodies on the ground.”

I believe that they want to break Bran not only because he is stronger than they are but they want to turn him over to their way of thinking and make him one of them.

“THE SON OF BATTLES. I WILL TAKE HIM. I WILL TAKE THEM ALL, ADVERSARY. AS I TOOK THE KING OF NOTHING.”

“Rand stood above the Pattern and looked down at the fallen men in a land where hope seemed to have died. “You have not been watching closely enough. About one thing, you are wrong. So very wrong . . .”

Cornered and alone, a boy huddled in a cleft in the rock. Horrors with knives and fangs—the Shadow itself made flesh—dug at his hiding place, reaching with nails like knives and ripping his skin.

Terrified, crying, bloodied, the boy raised a golden horn to his lips.”

Horn of Valere

Unknown to the COTF Sam has rediscovered the greatest secret that history had long forgotten.  The Horn of Winter will sound and the “Old Kings of Winter” will be summoned along with the hero’s that it has claimed over the ages.

Horn of Winter

“Tuon frowned. The explosions reflected in her dark eyes. “I’m with child,” she said. “The Doomseer has confirmed it.”

Mat felt a jolt, as sure as if a firework had gone off inside of his stomach. An heir. A son, no doubt! What odds that it was a boy? Mat forced a grin. “Well, I guess I’m off the hook, now. You have an heir.”

“I have an heir,” Tuon said, “but I am the one off that hook. Now I can kill you, if I want.”

Mat felt his grin widen. “Well, we’ll have to see what we can work out. Tell me, do you ever play dice?”

I believe Dany will get pregnant in the books by Tyrion and in the end where Tuon was joking with Mat; Prior to watching season 7 I thought it would be Tyrion who would kill Daenerys.  But I have adopted my theory to fit the current facts of the TV show.  For more details see:  Daenerys Targaryen and Tyrion Lannister; the ties that bind

“Mellar knelt beside Elayne, pressing the medallion against her head to stop her from channeling. This could have gone in a very different way, my Queen,” he said. “You should have been more accommodating.”

Light. That leer was an awful thing. He had gagged her, of course, but she did not give him the satisfaction of crying.

She would find a way to escape this. She had to shake free of the medallion. Of course, if she did, there was still the channeler. But if she could evade the medallion, then strike quickly . . .

Pity that your little Captain-General isn’t alive to watch,” Mellar said. “Fool that she was, I really do think she believed that she was Birgitte from the legends.” Elayne heard a soft sound in the distance. The ground vibrated. An earthquake.

She tried to concentrate, but she could only think that Birgitte had been right all along. It was fully possible for the babes to be safe, as Min had foretold, while Elayne herself was left dead.

White mist climbed up from the ground around them, like the souls of the dead, curling.  Mellar stiffened, suddenly.

Elayne blinked, looking up at him. Something silvery jutted from the front of Mellar’s chest. It looked like ... an arrowhead.

Mellar turned, knife dropping from his fingers. Behind him, Birgitte Silverbow stood over her corpse, one foot to either side of the headless body. She raised a bow, bright as newly polished silver, and released another arrow, which seemed to trail light as it struck Mellar in the head and pitched him to the ground. Her next shot took Mellar’s channeler, killing the Dreadlord with a silver arrow before the man could respond.

All around them, Mellar’s men stood as if paralyzed, gaping at Birgitte. The clothing she now wore seemed to glow. A short white coat, a voluminous pair of pale yellow trousers and a dark cloak. Her long golden hair hung in an intricate braid, down to her waist.

“I am Birgitte Silverbow,” Birgitte announced, as if to dispel doubt. “The Horn of Valere has sounded, calling all to the Last Battle. The heroes have returned!”

What happens to Elayne will happen to Daenerys.  Cersei takes the place of the Black Ajah and Euron becomes Mellar.  He will attempt to take control of the future heir to the Iron Throne and make himself regent or “Protector of the Realm” to seize power for himself.  The Horn of Winter will be blown and those tied to it will return to fight.  Among them will be Ygritte who will take the place of Birgitte.  She will kill Euron and save the baby but Daenerys will not make it.  In the TV show it will probably be Theon that gets to shoot the arrow that kills his uncle Euron completing his redemption.  For more details see:  Why "There must always be a Stark in Winterfell" and why "Winter is Coming"

Cersei

Euron

Ygritte

Theon in killing Euron, in a similar fashion as he saved Bran, will complete his redemption arc

“YOU THINK I WILL RETREAT? the Dark One asked.

The thing that spoke those words was something that Rand could never truly comprehend. Even seeing the universe in its entirety did not allow him to understand Evil itself.

I NEVER EXPECT YOU TO RETREAT, Rand said.”

“I BELIEVE YOU INCAPABLE OF IT. I WISH YOU COULD SEE, COULD KNOW, WHY IT IS YOU CONTINUE TO LOSE.

Beneath them, on the battlefield, the Trollocs had fallen, beaten by a young gambler from the Two Rivers. The Shadow shouldn’t have lost. It made no sense. The Trollocs had the greater force.

However, Trollocs fought only because the Myrddraal forced them—on its own, a Trolloc would no more fight something stronger than a fox would attempt to kill a lion.

It was one of the most basic rules among predators. Eat that which was weaker than you. Flee from that stronger than you.

The Dark One seethed with a boiling anger that Rand felt in this place as a physical force.

YOU SHOULD NOT BE SURPRISED, Rand said. WHEN HAVE YOU EVER INSPIRED THE BEST IN MEN? YOU CANNOT. IT IS OUTSIDE YOUR POWER, SHAITAN. YOUR MINIONS WILL NEVER FIGHT ON WHEN HOPE IS LOST. THEY WILL NEVER STAND BECAUSE DOING SO IS RIGHT. IT IS NOT STRENGTH THAT BEATS YOU. IT IS NOBILITY.

I WILL DESTROY! I WILL REND AND BURN! I WILL BRING DARKNESS TO ALL, AND DEATH WILL BE THE TRUMPET I SOUND BEFORE MY ARRIVAL! AND YOU, ADVERSARY . . . OTHERS MAY ESCAPE, BUT YOU WILL DIE. YOU MUST KNOW THIS.

OH, I DO, SHAITAN, Rand said softly. I EMBRACE IT, FOR DEATH IS—AND ALWAYS HAS BEEN—LIGHTER THAN A FEATHER. DEATH ARRIVES IN A HEARTBEAT, NO MORE TANGIBLE THAN A FLICKER OF LIGHT. IT HAS NO WEIGHT, NO SUBSTANCE____

Rand strode forward, speaking louder. DEATH CANNOT KEEP ME AT BAY, AND IT CANNOT RULE ME. IT COMES DOWN TO THIS, FATHER OF LIES. WHEN HAVE YOU INSPIRED A PERSON TO GIVE THEIR LIFE FOR YOU? NOT FOR THE PROMISES YOU GIVE, NOT FOR THE RICHES THEY SEEK OR THE POSITIONS THEY WOULD HOLD, BUT FOR YOU. HAS IT EVER HAPPENED?

The darkness grew still.

BRING MY DEATH, SHAI’TAN, Rand growled, throwing himself into the blackness. FOR I BRING YOURS!”

Bran realizes he is about to die but in that instant he sends an image to the Heroes of the Horn.  He shows them where they COTF exist in the real world.

“As Hodor he explored the caves. He found chambers full of bones, shafts that plunged deep into the earth, a place where the skeletons of gigantic bats hung upside down from the ceiling. He even crossed the slender stone bridge that arched over the abyss and discovered more passages and chambers on the far side. One was full of singers, enthroned like Brynden in nests of weirwood roots that wove under and through and around their bodies. Most of them looked dead to him, but as he crossed in front of them their eyes would open and follow the light of his torch, and one of them opened and closed a wrinkled mouth as if he were trying to speak. “Hodor,” Bran said to him, and he felt the real Hodor stir down in his pit.”

Brynden Rivers

Bran sees the destruction of the COTF hiding in their caves by the Heroes of the Horn and then he does what comes to him as easily as breathing.  He reached out with his mind and wargs the thing closest to him; THE NIGHT KING.  Bran’s body dies as the Night King slashes it with a fatal blow but the following is the story that explains this story:  What it means that Bran was touched by the Night King

“On the other wall, the windows looked at the great cities of the world. Rand passed Tear, where the Stone was now a museum to the days of the Third Age, with the Defenders as its curators. None of this generation had ever carried a weapon, and were baffled by the stories of their grandparents having fought. Another showed the Seven Towers of Malkier, built strong again—but as a monument, not a fortification. The Blight had vanished upon the Dark One’s death, and the Shadowspawn had fallen dead immediately. As if the Dark One had been linked to them all, like a Fade leading a fist of Trollocs.”

The Stone of Tear

Fade leading a fist of Trollocs

The series ends showing a book called “A Song of Ice and Fire” in a museum that used to be the Castle Black.  It will switch to the merchant handing the book to a child mentioning that this is the most popular book in the history of their world.  It pans to the cover and shows the words written by Samwell Tarly.  Imagine his father never thought he would amount to anything:

Castle Black

Comments encouraged.  Love to hear the ideas of others.  Most believe that since I present my idea’s as “fact like” I’m not open to change my viewpoints which is far from the truth.  I simply look at the information presented and go from there.  If you can shine a light on another way of thinking that opens the door to debate.