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This article contains main spoilers for Game of thrones season 8.
For eight seasons, Game of thrones builds the confrontation between the king of the night and the champions of the living. Since the pilot episode, the undead is a slow-burning threat that is less close to eliminating those who can not put aside their small differences and ally themselves against the existential threat of Night King. Now this threat is made thanks to Arya Stark.
Trained under a succession of some of the deadliest murderers in the world, the choice of showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss to make sure that Arya hits the deadly blow makes sense. She trained with the Faceless Men, badbadins recognized around the world for their discretion and their work. According to rumors, the group would even be responsible for the destruction of the old city of Valyria, while their organization began with an uprising of slaves against their masters lords of dragons. Eight years of learning the art of silent death bore fruit when Arya Stark slipped this Valyrian steel knife into the king of the night's chest.
But even such a satisfying narrative conclusion could not please everyone. Almost immediately, sections of the fandom group rose up. Some were badism gardening. But part was a step back since the king of the night was "supposed" to be killed by Azor Ahai, also known as Prince who was promised. For me, this complaint is a fundamental misunderstanding of both the prophecy itself and author George R.R. Martin's relationship with cryptic visions. It is quite possible that Arya be "the prince who has been promised".
First, what prophecy are we talking about? Back in Season 2, Melisandre arrived on Dragonstone convinced (wrongly) that Stannis Baratheon was Azor Ahai, the promised savior sent to defeat the darkness. After a long summer, when a red star bleeds, Azor Ahai will be reborn with smoke and salt to awaken stone dragons. This champion had already risen once before, during the long night, to fend off the forces of evil with his Lightbringer sword. Thoros of Myr later extrapolates what the followers of R'hllor believe:
According to the prophecy, our champion [Azor Ahai] will be reborn to awaken the stone dragons and reform the great Lightbringer sword that overcame the darkness thousands of years ago. If old stories are true, a terrible weapon forged with the heart of a loving wife. Part of me thinks that the man was well rid of it, but a great power requires great sacrifices. At least the Lord of Light is clear.
As usual, the books provide many more clues to the elect who will save the world. The high priest of R'hllor, Benerro, says that even death itself will bend the knee. The prophecy fades with other visions of the "three-headed" dragon as well as legends from as far back as Yi-Ti, where the story is told, but with a woman with the savage monkey's tail of the humanity. The main theme is that the story is cyclical and that it has happened before.
For years, fans have badyzed the meaning of George R. R. Martin's prophecy. The details vary, but the basics seemed well settled: Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen and a third person (often Tyrion Lannister in most theories) with Targaryen blood would be the "three-headed dragon". Jon or Dany would they be Azor? Ahai. But that's the problem of prophecy. Just when you think you understand it, it escapes you. The inferred hypotheses bring people into the universe ofGame of thrones kill. See how the life of Cersei was dominated by the fear that the prophecies of Maggy the Frog would come true. Falling into the trap of self-fulfilling prophecy happens all the time to the characters. Why should the public be different?
From a strictly delicate angle, Arya Stark strikes all the marks. We learned from Maester Aemon in A feast for crows that High Valyrian is neutral with respect to the word "Prince". The prophecy itself is more than 8,000 years old, but the oldest documents of Asshai date back only 5,000 years. The prophecy was then translated into Upper Valyrian, a culture that had no monarchy and therefore no bad-differentiated words for kingship. With this in mind, Arya Stark is a princess of Winterfell since the Starks declared their independence from the Seven Kingdoms.
But what about the rest of the prophecy? One could easily say that Arya Stark was born in the midst of smoke and salt as her journey began as the Lannisters set metaphorical fire to her life before crossing the salt sea to become a murderer. Awakening stone dragons could simply consist of giving priests a glimpse of dragons in fires, without knowing how they played in history since prophecies rarely appear as complete linear narratives. As for Lightbringer, any sword that destroys Death itself could be poetically called, especially now that we know that Beric Dondarrion's sword was no longer special and that R'hllor's priests can fire a weapon. by magic. If R'hllor really came from Asshaï, from which comes the oldest variant of the prophecy, it would make sense to use visual elements that are understandable for this culture.
Again, it is possible Game of thrones has not yet understood the prophecy. The king of the night does not exist in the novels at the time of writing this article. Everyone has badumed the "darkness" of which the prophecy spoke was the King of the Night, but this is never mentioned by name. It is quite possible that the king of the night is only a symptom of the coming battle with the Great Other and not the cause. Could our heroes celebrate prematurely?
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