The Prince that was Promised will, according to the theory: The prophecy was originally written in High Valyrian, where the word prince is actually gender neutral, so more accurately, it should translate as the Prince or Princess that was Promised. Game of Thrones is all about twists - and there couldn't have been a better twist than to spend seven seasons setting fans up for a prophetic figure who never appears.An ancient prophecy which comes from the Lord of Light’s religion and its followers states that Azor Ahai will one day be reborn as the Prince that was Promised, to defeat the White Walkers once more. In terms of ' breaking the wheel' and challenging the idea that people must be who they are ' destined' to be courtesy of royal lineage (or anything else), Arya's latest kill is more satisfying than any appearance of a 'true' Azor Ahai could have been. It was not fate that led her to stab the Night King and save Westeros, it was her own bravery, training, and determination. She saved the day, not because it was her bloodline, her heritage, or her destiny, but because she trained to do so and then followed through. The assumption that prophecy is accurate in the world of Game of Thrones seems like it may turn out to be a fallacious one, and that Melisandre's obsession with finding the Prince that was Promised (and her presumed failure to do so), is more of a commentary on the nature of prophecy than an actual hint about what is going to happen.Īt the end of the day, it doesn't particularly matter if fans can officially title Arya Stark as Azor Ahai - because whether she is a legend reborn or not, she did what she needed to do. Related: What's Next For Game of Thrones? Cersei Must Be The Real Villain

Daenerys, too, was told that she would never again have children, and she has come up against visions and prophecy multiple times.

However, it's worth noting that this part of her fortune telling was actually left out of the show, and if Azor Ahai could be such a shocking departure from expectations, fans can't expect Cersei to meet her end the way that Maggy the Frog foretold either. Game of Thrones is packed with prophecy, and fans have had a field day trying to interpret how those will affect the plot, but perhaps this is the first sign that prophecy in Westeros is not actually going to have that much of an effect on how things end.Īccording to the prophecy of the valonqar, Cersei will die, having the life choked out of her by a ' little sibling', which has led to a huge amount of speculation. What fans can take away from Arya's kill (other than her sheer badassery, of course) is that as much stock as is put in prophecy, they don't actually trump reality. Whether Arya is technically Azor Ahai or not is not the important issue, though. Given that she doesn't actually fit the prophecy in any major meaningful way (unless that prophecy is stretched to its limits), and that Melisandre and Beric (the two main characters connected to the Lord of Light) are now both dead, it seems that this is the last that will be heard of Azor Ahai. Melisandre may have been convinced that Azor Ahai would return and save them all, but there's no way to know that Arya's actions actually make her Azor Ahai and not just a very talented assassin who was able to do what no one else could. From small moments to entire characters (such as Lady Stoneheart), the live-action adaptation is choosing to ignore fairly sizeable chunks of A Song Of Ice And Fire lore. It wouldn't be the first time that the HBO interpretation of A Song Of Ice And Fire has left out elements from the books, after all. Given how far the prophecy must be stretched in order to make Arya fit as Azor Ahai, a more likely scenario is that Arya is not the Prince (or Princess) that was Promised, but that Game of Thrones decided to cut the character of Azor Ahai completely. She didn't even kill the Night King with an actual sword, but with a Valyrian dagger she certainly didn't forge a sword into Lightbringer by using it to kill the one she loved most although Arya has killed her fair share of people (and then some), she has yet to kill anyone that she deeply cares about, and the Valyrian dagger has only been used by her to kill Littlefinger so far. Arya also has no burning sword, although plenty of other characters do (not that it helped the Dothraki). She has not woken any dragons from stone, whether that is meant literally (the way that Daenerys woke hers from the stone dragons eggs), or metaphorically (such as by 'waking' Jon to his true heritage as a Targaryen/Dragon). She was not born around salt and smoke, as she was born in Winterfell salt and smoke is usually assumed to mean Dragonstone or, at the very least, by the sea. Arya, despite being the one to kill the Night King, doesn't actually fit with much of this prophecy, or what is known of Azor Ahai.

Azor ahai prophecy