There’s a whole lot of theories floating around regarding Game of Thrones, so here’s another one! Reddit is a hotbed for these flights of fancy, and Redditor glass_table_girl has one that seems to be pretty well thought out. According to her, Daenerys is destined to kick the bucket soon. *cue suspense music*
This is what she had to say –
Most likely. GRRM made direct references to Hamlet, Othello and King Lear in one of her AGOT chapters. All three of them were tragic heroes who by some fault of theirs ended up dying before the end of the story, though they were the titular characters/protagonists of their story. Daenerys is set up to play the literary role of the “tragic hero.”
Her point is better understood in regard to this excerpt from the book –
And when the bleak dawn broke over an empty horizon, Dany knew that he was truly lost to her. “When the sun rises in the west and sets in the east,” she said sadly. “When the seas go dry and mountains blow in the wind like leaves. When my womb quickens again, and I bear a living child. Then you will return, my sun-and-stars, and not before.”
Never, the darkness cried, *never never never.*
Inside the tent Dany found a cushion, soft silk stuffed with feathers. She clutched it to her breasts as she walked back out to Drogo, to her sun-and-stars. If I look back I am lost. It hurt even to walk, and she wanted to sleep, to sleep and not to dream.
She knelt, kissed Drogo on the lips, and pressed the cushion down across his face.
There’s a lot of similarities between this scene and Shakespeare’s own style of prose.
The line “Never never never never never” is trochaic pentameter and comes from Lear, as he is holding Cordelia in his arms when she has died. He laments that his mistakes mean that he has lost the only daughter who truly loved him and that she will never return, similar to what is occurring to Daenerys in this scene.
Clearly, this is a pretty in-depth postulation from someone who has her literary theory down pat. No one can predict the future though, so we don’t really know who’s going to pop sooner or later. One thing’s for sure, GRRM really digs Shakespeare!