Warning: This post contains spoilers for Game of Thrones.
The season seven finale of Game of Thrones saw the Night King cross into Westeros on the back of the undead Viserion with his army of wights following close behind. But although he has finally breached the Wall, the Night King’s ultimate plan of attack remains unclear.
Luckily, one perceptive Thrones fan has come up with a pretty convincing theory about how the leader of the White Walkers will attempt to destroy the Seven Kingdoms and all those who live there. Banking off the idea that Jaime Lannister is headed north now that he has severed ties with his sister Cersei, Reddit user thetripleb speculates that the Night King will send his army to battle Jon Snow and company as a diversion while he takes Viserion south to sack King’s Landing.
“I think that Jaime will convince at least a contingent, if not the entire Lannister Army to join him in going North,” the Redditor wrote. “The combined armies go north and fight the army of the dead, defeating it but at great cost. However, the Night King and his dragon are not there. Why? They flew south [to] destroy King’s Landing, trading his army of 100,000 for the 1,000,000 in King’s Landing including Cersei. They foreshadowed it too much in the last episode. Euron and the Golden Company arrive at King’s Landing to a trap, where they are also killed and join the Night’s King army.”
Look no further for supporting evidence than visions both Daenerys and Bran have had of the Red Keep throne room destroyed and covered in snow, as well as Bran seeing a dragon flying over King’s Landing.
The diversionary tactic of sacrificing an army to achieve a greater goal has also already proven to be a successful maneuver twice in the show—once in season one by Robb Stark at the Battle of the Whispering Wood and again in season seven by the Lannisters at the Battle of Casterly Rock. The Night King now using this tactic against the living would be a very Game of Thrones full circle moment.