The Game of Thrones Dilemma

[Silvanus]

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Spoiler: Book Spoilers.

I'm in a minority among book-readers, but I put less stock in prophecy (and the vague sayings of Quaithe) than most. The "three heads" is an example of something I think is attributed more meaning than it truly has. This may be because it's a red herring, or it may be because prophecy is shaky and unreliable even in-universe.

Hell, it may even end up being a genuine prophecy that simply goes unfulfilled, like Rhaegar's apparently-mystical belief that his child Aegon is destined for great things. That's how I read it, anyway.

 

[heroofheroin]

I still think it's silly that some people try to say this guy overtook Tolkien as king of fantasy.

 

[Breakdown]

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Spoiler: Book Spoilers.

I'm in a minority among book-readers, but I put less stock in prophecy (and the vague sayings of Quaithe) than most. The "three heads" is an example of something I think is attributed more meaning than it truly has. This may be because it's a red herring, or it may be because prophecy is shaky and unreliable even in-universe.

Hell, it may even end up being a genuine prophecy that simply goes unfulfilled, like Rhaegar's apparently-mystical belief that his child Aegon is destined for great things. That's how I read it, anyway.

Spoiler: speculation

I'm not too keen on the prophecy side of the books, but I did think that maybe Stannis might turn out to be one of the supposed dragon riders. The Baratheons are descended from Valerians and I think they were supposedly related to the Targaryens. And Stannis could probably scowl a dragon into submission.

 

[Silvanus]

I still think it's silly that some people try to say this guy overtook Tolkien as king of fantasy.

Well, they're completely different animals, really; very different kinds of fantasy, incomparable in a lot of ways. Tolkein follows the classic light-versus-dark storyline, while Martin doesn't, for one thing.

Spoiler: speculation

I'm not too keen on the prophecy side of the books, but I did think that maybe Stannis might turn out to be one of the supposed dragon riders. The Baratheons are descended from Valerians and I think they were supposedly related to the Targaryens. And Stannis could probably scowl a dragon into submission.

Spoiler

Baratheons have some tertiary relation to the Targaryens, it's true, which was used to validate Robert's claim when he took the throne. Still, I would very much doubt Stannis as a dragonrider. As far as I can tell, his story is not one of compromise or consolidation with a rival claimant like Daenerys.

 

[L. Declis]

SNIP

SNIP

Spoiler: Book Spoilers.

I'm in a minority among book-readers, but I put less stock in prophecy (and the vague sayings of Quaithe) than most. The "three heads" is an example of something I think is attributed more meaning than it truly has. This may be because it's a red herring, or it may be because prophecy is shaky and unreliable even in-universe.

Hell, it may even end up being a genuine prophecy that simply goes unfulfilled, like Rhaegar's apparently-mystical belief that his child Aegon is destined for great things. That's how I read it, anyway.

Spoiler: Alternate Dragon with 3 Heads Theory

Exact words were a dragon with one body and three heads.

Jon Snow
Jon Stark
Jon Targeryon

Jon the Bastard
Jon the Wildling
Jon the Night's Watch