“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.”

So at long last, season 6 of Game Of Thrones is upon us and the wait finally ends. But what about those who loved the books? It’s been yearrrrsss since the last book came out, and the fans have had all the time in the world to come up with all kinds of crazy theories. Here are ten fan theories that explain why the new book needs to release NOW!

1. Tyrion Lannister is Daenerys’ time-travelling son.

First given by redditor u/xyseth, this theory proposes that Tyrion Lannister is actually Daenerys and Khal Drogo’s time travelling son. We know that his mother died during childbirth, something for which he is treated deplorably by his father and elder sister. However, u/xyseth believes that Joanna Lannister was merely a surrogate.  

His reasoning is that Mirri Maz Duur, the witch who helps Daenerys give birth to her son, Rhaego, uses the words twisted, scaled and monstrous to describe him. The same words have been used to describe Tyrion several times over the course of the books. Also, Targaryen women are known to birth dragon-like children.

The best part about this theory is how it also proposes that Daenerys will end up marrying Tyrion in the end.

2. Roose Bolton is immortal and plans to steal Ramsay’s identity.

Everyone who has seen the show and read the books hates the Boltons with unbridled passion. Redditor u/maj312 took it a step further. He believes that Roose Bolton is able to wear other people’s skin and has descended from the White Walkers. The only reason he legitimized Ramsay Snow is because he plans to steal his identity.

3. Mad King Aerys and Tywin are both Tyrion’s fathers.

Anyone who’s read A Song of Ice And Fire is aware of how the Mad King Aerys was said to have a philandering nature. This was further emphasised upon in The World of Ice and Fire. Readers believe that Aerys either raped or seduced Joanna Lannister when she used to work for Aerys’ wife and sister Rhaella. Branching from this belief, arose the theory about how Aerys could actually be Tyrion’s father. Don’t start shaking your head. There’s more. Taking the theory a step further is the speculation that both Aerys and Tywin impregnated Joanna at the same time and Tyrion is actually a set of twins who merged in the womb.

4. Ned Stark isn’t dead but actually warged into his sword.

The thing with death is that it is extremely difficult to accept. Most of us chose to live in denial after losing a loved one. This is what happened to the fandom of ASOIAF when everyone’s favourite character, Ned Stark, died at the end of the first book. To counter what they had seen, reddit came up with this theory that states that Ned stark warged into Ice. Ice was then melted down into two swords: Oathkeeper and Widow’s Wail. The first sword is the one that Brienne of Tarth currently uses while the latter was given to Tommen Baratheon. Believers of this theory hope that Ned will soon come back from the dead. How he does that remains to be seen!

5. Or, he warged into a pigeon and was responsible for Joffrey’s death.

Continuing with the denial about Ned Stark’s death, this theory states that Ned warged into one of the doves at Baelor’s Square, and that he is in fact one of the doves in the pigeon pie that killed Joffrey. Some revenge, eh?

6. Varys and Illyrio aren’t human. They’re merlings and Littlefinger is their King.

The thing that we’ve learnt about Varys in the five books and seasons so far is that we know nothing about him. He is an extremely efficient and resourceful man, but it’s hard to determine the motives behind his actions. This theory suggests that Varys and Illyrio are mer-men and hide their lower halves by wearing long billowy cloaks. The reasoning behind this is that Varys has a slimy smile, and a sound of dripping water is heard whenever he’s around. As ridiculous as this sounds, it gets even worse. The writer also believes that Petyr Baelish is the king of these mer-people. I can’t even…

6. Blood Raven fed Jojen Reed to Bran Stark in order to awaken his powers.

This theory applies only to the books as Jojen Reed dies a very painful death in the show. When Bran and company went to meet the Three-Eyed Raven to learn Old Magic, the Blood Raven and the children of the forest gave Bran a weirwood paste to awaken his powers. The theory claims that the paste contains the blood and body of Jojen Reed. The reason why this theory came up is this quote:

“A paste of weirwood seeds. Something about the look of it made Bran feel ill. The red veins were only weirwood sap, he supposed, but in the torchlight they looked remarkably like blood.”

This theory makes sense because the Northmen are known to make blood sacrifices to the Old Gods. Also, cannibalism is a recurring theme throughout the books.

7. Syrio Forel isn’t dead but is disguised as Jaqen H’ghar.

In case you don’t remember, Syrio Forel was the man who taught Arya sword fighting but is presumed dead after a fight with Meryn Trant. The thing is that no one saw his dead body and shortly after Syrio’s ‘death, Arya meets Jaqen H’ghar. Since Jaqen H’ghar is a master of disguise, redditor u/mcshameless95 thinks that he could actually be Syrio. Now isn’t this something you wish comes true? 

8. High Septon is Howland Reed and the only knows the identity of Jon’s mother.

Fans of both the book and the show remember the High Septon, the man wrecking havoc in King’s Landing. Redditor u/roadsiderose believes that he could actually be Howland Reed. In case you don’t know, Reed was one of Ned Stark’s closes friends and was with him at the Tower of Joy. He is presumed to be dead, but if he’s the High Septon like this theory suggests, then it’ll make him the only person who can confirm the identity of Jon’s mother. 

9. Varys can skin-change into birds.

Despite his resourcefulness, Varys isn’t quite a likeable character. His ability to know things sometimes even before they happen, and his creepy smile make him extremely untrustworthy. Stemming from this is the theory that he skin-changes into birds and can therefore travel to places for information. As much sense as this makes, the idea of Varys being powerful enough to do so is just blech!

10. Meera Reed is Jon’s twin sister.

A branch off from the R+L=J theory, this theory proposes that Lyanna Stark had twins. Since Robert Baratheon had waged a war to get her back from Rhaegar, the safety of her kid(s) was extremely important. As a result, Ned Stark took one of her kids (Jon Snow), while Howland Reed took the other. This theory states that since Jon and Meera are the same age and look similar, they have to be twins. *Slowclap*

Before you complain about how we just wasted 10 minutes of your life, you should know that it’s been five years since A Dance With Dragons. These fans have spent a lot of time waiting. So yeah. Thank you!