The Official Song of Ice and Fire Thread [UNMARKED SPOILERS FOR ALL BOOKS]

[Kantor]

haxxiy said:

Kantor said:
I only picked up the series after Dance with Dragons came out, so for long-time readers: have there been any big fan theories in the past that have either been confirmed or destroyed by novels that came out? I know Aegon being alive has been a theory for a while, and I'm sure R+L=J has been around for ages too, but neither of those is confirmed yet.

One long-timer here, know the books since 2004. As far as I remember, the pretty old theories besides these ones include:

Syrio being alive;

Jeyne Westerling being pregnant of Robb's child and swapped for a double;

Tyrion being a half-Targaryen;

The great Tyrell conspiracy;

And that's about it. As you can see most of the stuff people like to predict hasn't been answered yet; GRRM seems to be reserving too much for the ending like Robert Jordan and I don't think all of these are going to see some closure.

Oh yeah I can think of two that were proven to be right: the identity of the one guiding Bran; instead of being Benjen, some correctly guessed about Bloodraven; and Theon being kept alive by Reek, though I don't think that one came as a surprise.

I think Syrio is almost certainly dead. Meryn Trant escaped alive and made no comment on the events, and Syrio was never one to run from a battle.

Westerling could well be pregnant, but that doesn't necessarily mean she was swapped.

I think Tyrion is far too similar to Tywin (his extraordinary intelligence, his skill with money, his ruthlessness, his penchant for whores) to possibly not be his son.

The Grand Tyrell Conspiracy seems very likely indeed. Olenna Redwyne is known to be a masterful player of the Game, and she's passed her skills on to Margaery (Mace being too dim to really understand them). They certainly had a hand in Joffrey's death. They are no fans at all of the Lannisters (opposed them during the Rebellion, and Renly despised them). Tywin, Kevan and Pycelle's deaths were happy coincidences, but I don't doubt that they had a hand in Cersei's arrest.