When last we left Daenerys Targaryen in Season 6 of Game of Thrones, she was perched on the bow of a ship headed towards King’s Landing to presumably conquer Westeros and reclaim the Iron Throne as its rightful heir.
So what can we expect from Dany in the upcoming seventh season? As suggested in this thread on Reddit, hints as to what’s coming may lie in a prophecy, specifically a prophecy regarding fire, which as we all know has been a recurring motif with Dany since the show’s first season.
The prophecy goes as follows;
. . . three heads has the dragon . . .
. . . three fires must you light . . . one for life and one for death and one to love . . .
. . . three mounts must you ride . . . one to bed and one to dread and one to love . . .
. . . three treasons will you know . . . once for blood and once for gold and once for love . . .
It’s the second line in the prophecy that has us intrigued. What are the three fires Dany must light?
Which Of These Fires Have Already Been Lit?
Our guess is that the first of the fires Dany was prophesied to light was the fire that hatched her dragon’s eggs, Khal Drogo‘s funeral pyre. While it could also be argued that this was the fire “for death,” we’re choosing to assume that the prophecy should be taken in chronological order. This fire literally gave life to her dragons. So if that’s the first fire, which was the second?
The second fire is more than likely the fire that Dany sets at the Khalar vezhven killing all the Dothraki khals, making her queen of the Dothraki. This would be the fire for death.
So, two fires are accounted for, but there’s still a third yet to be lit.
What Will The Third Fire Be?
With one fire, a fire for love, remaining, what could that possibly be? Who does Dany love? There are some who would argue in favor of Dany and Jon Snow falling in love and marrying, which is honestly fairly disturbing considering they’re possibly related. But it’s not as though ‘Game of Thrones’ hasn’t gone to that well before.
If Jon Snow turns out to be Daenerys’ love, how would fire figure into the situation? In the aforementioned Reddit thread, it’s theorized that Dany will need to kill Jon in order to save him from becoming a wight, however this seems unlikely. The show has positioned Jon in such a way that it’s difficult to imagine he’ll be killed off. He’s cheated death once after all.
And then he did it again during the Battle Of The Bastards…
So we’re guessing Jon makes it to the very end. Yes, of course, this is Game of Thrones, a show infamous for killing off beloved characters (see; Ned Stark, The Red Wedding, so many direwolves), but we’d lay money on Jon living long enough to see a new Westeros, free from Lannister rule.
No, if we had to guess for whom the third fire will be lit, we’d go with one of Dany’s beloved dragons. This, of course, would be utterly heartbreaking both for the audience and most of all Dany herself. But then, heartbreak does tend to be this show’s stock in trade and none other than George R. R. Martin himself said that the series’ ending will be “bittersweet”.
How This Could Happen
Imagine a scenario in which the Night King and his army of White Walkers manage to capture one of the dragons. This could give them the advantage they’d need to completely decimate whatever defense the combined forces of Westeros could muster. And if the Night King did somehow manage to obtain a dragon, it’s entirely possible that he’d transform it into a dragon version of a White Walker, in effect, an ice dragon.
How would one fight a dragon made of ice? With one that breathes fire obviously. After all, the series of books on which the show is based is collectively known as A Song Of Ice And Fire.
We can’t imagine that Dany could bear to see one of her children corrupted and under the control of such a malevolent force as the Night King and his invading hordes of White Walkers. In such a scenario, Dany may be forced into a choice no mother should ever have to face; the decision to sacrifice one of her children. Yet it’s a decision that would be merciful as well as tactical, a decision made from love and for the preservation of Westeros.
Unfortunately, this is also a decision that could very likely drive Daenerys mad, fulfilling her destiny as a Targaryen, ultimately resulting in Jon Snow, also apparently a Targaryen (being the son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen, as suggested in the season 6 episode “The Winds of Winter“) and thus a rightful heir, sitting upon the Iron Throne as the new protector of the realm.
Obviously, we hope that this isn’t the case. We love the dragons. Everyone loves dragons. But this is Game of Thrones we’re talking about here. It’s not exactly known for showing mercy to its audiences and there are few deaths we can think of that would be as impactful or devastating to both viewers and to Daenerys as the death of Drogon, Viserion or Rhaegal.
