Difference between revisions of "Valonqar/Theories"

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{{Theory_Policy}}
 
{{Theory_Policy}}
In her youth, [[Cersei Lannister]] received a prophecy from [[Maggy]] the frog that she would die at the hands of the "valonqar", which is the word for "little brother" in [[High Valyrian]]. No one person has been confirmed to fill this role.
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[[Cersei Lannister]] and [[Melara Hetherspoon]] visited the [[maegi]] [[Maggy]] at [[Lannisport]] in {{Date|276}}, hoping to learn about their futures. To Cersei, Maggy predicted that she would die at the hands of "the valonqar".{{Ref|affc|36}} According to Cersei's septa, Septa [[Saranella]], "valonqar" is [[High Valyrian]] for "little brother".{{Ref|affc|39}}
  
''Female valonqar'': Several of the people hypothesized as the valonqar are females. As [[Maester]] [[Aemon Targaryen (son of Maekar I)|Aemon]] informs [[Samwell Tarly]] that the word used to indicate the Prince that was Promised in the [[Prince that was promised|prophecy]] concerning this prince could have been indicating a "princess" as well, it has been speculated that there might be more gender-neutral words in High Valyrian. As such, it has been speculated that "valonqar" cannot only mean "little brother", but also "little sister", or "little sibling".
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Several possible identities for Cersei's valonqar have been suggested.
 
 
Other, less frequently used arguments, are that possibly, High Valyrian uses the male gender when gender is actually unknown, that Maggy is not fluent enough in High Valyrian to know or to correctly employ the gender differentiation, or that she is actually speaking one of the dialects of the [[Free Cities]] that might not completely agree with High Valyrian regarding this word. Although [[Septa]] [[Saranella]]'s translation of "little brother"{{ref|affc|39}} might have been wrong, a Tyroshi who brings Cersei a dwarf's head claiming it to be [[Tyrion Lannister|Tyrion's]] refers to him as her 'valonqar'.{{ref|affc|36}} Because of this, the valonqar is generally considered to be slightly more likely to be a man than it is to be a woman. It is worth noting that the name "Maggy" is itself suspected to be a misrepresentation of the title of [[Maegi]].
 
 
 
People suspected of being the Valonqar include:
 
  
 
==Tyrion Lannister==
 
==Tyrion Lannister==
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** A solution to the fact that Jaime has only one hand has been proposed. It has been speculated that Jaime will use the chain of the [[Hand of the King]], which is made up of golden hands holding each other and which has been used by both [[Tyrion Lannister]]{{Ref|acok|15}} and [[Tywin Lannister]]{{Ref|acok|65}} in the office of Hand, to choke Cersei, similar to the way [[Tyrion Lannister]] choked [[Shae]] while she was wearing the chain.{{Ref|asos|77}} In further support of this interpretation,<ref>Reddit: [https://www.reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comments/3gofge/spoilers_all_the_valonqar_is/ (Spoilers all) The valonqar is... (Augustus 12, 2015)]</ref> a possible foreshadowing has been identified when Jaime, at [[Riverrun]], thinks to himself that he would happily have strangled [[Sybell Spicer]] with her seashell necklace.{{Ref|affc|44}}
 
** A solution to the fact that Jaime has only one hand has been proposed. It has been speculated that Jaime will use the chain of the [[Hand of the King]], which is made up of golden hands holding each other and which has been used by both [[Tyrion Lannister]]{{Ref|acok|15}} and [[Tywin Lannister]]{{Ref|acok|65}} in the office of Hand, to choke Cersei, similar to the way [[Tyrion Lannister]] choked [[Shae]] while she was wearing the chain.{{Ref|asos|77}} In further support of this interpretation,<ref>Reddit: [https://www.reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comments/3gofge/spoilers_all_the_valonqar_is/ (Spoilers all) The valonqar is... (Augustus 12, 2015)]</ref> a possible foreshadowing has been identified when Jaime, at [[Riverrun]], thinks to himself that he would happily have strangled [[Sybell Spicer]] with her seashell necklace.{{Ref|affc|44}}
  
==[[Aegon Targaryen (son of Rhaegar)|Aegon Targaryen]]==
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==Sandor Clegane==
Aegon Targaryen, son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Elia Martell, was the younger brother of his sister [[Rhaenys Targaryen (daughter of Rhaegar)|Rhaenys Targaryen]]. Rhaenys and Elia died at hands of Lannister forces. If the person claiming to be Aegon Targaryen really is Aegon Targaryen, he has plenty of reasons to want to kill Cersei.
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[[Sandor Clegane]], the younger brother of Ser [[Gregor Clegane]] and a long time servant of [[House Lannister]] at [[King's Landing]], has been identified as the most popular choice as Cersei's valonqar besides her two brothers, [[Jaime Lannister|Jaime]] and [[Tyrion Lannister|Tyrion]], in a poll held in 2015.<ref group="N">436 out of 9115 votes (4.78%) during a poll held in 2015 across five platforms (Results: [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1faJx4pvYnKHZu8Wdw9LKEHSuuf4IVnOrVRukWwv1sA4/viewanalytics# Reddit], [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1wwDjAvyKgrOW6PIuFDMHrhaMnNjWbMeyj3fYUoj1E5A/viewanalytics#start=publishanalytics Westeros.org], [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1A77zgkXxVeeU7J7CA1e5h0aF5sJw7UmYa1z2kG13Bpo/viewanalytics#start=publishanalytics Tower of the Hand], [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1PgwBVijTxdyXbQ2z1e4fjI8gchEUI2sVEBol__csumc/viewanalytics#start=publishanalytics Watchers on the Wall], [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1omstJHPpewu-jp6bIeuU5UikzWxWppkU3hqWc1UPiDo/viewanalytics#start=publishanalytics Facebook]).</ref> He served as [[sworn shield]] to Prince [[Joffrey Baratheon]],{{fact}} who named him to the [[Kingsguard]] after his own coronation.{{fact}} Sandor deserted the Lannisters during the [[Battle of the Blackwater]] and left King's Landing for the [[riverlands]]. There, he encountered [[Arya Stark]] until he was severely wounded and left behind.{{fact}} [[Brienne Tarth|Brienne]] of [[Tarth]] later comes to believe that [[Sansa Stark]], who she is searching for, had been carried off by Sandor, and begins to follow his trail. On [[Quiet Isle]], she learns from [[Elder Brother]] that, not only had Sandor been with Arya instead of Sansa, "the man you hunt is dead".{{fact}} However, [[Gravedigger/Theories|fans have since theorized]] that, although his persona of "the Hound" has died, Sandor himself still lives on Quiet Isle and is in fact the [[gravedigger]] seen by Brienne on the isle. The theory that Sandor is Cersei's valonqar assumes that [[Gravedigger/Theories|the gravedigger theory]] is correct.
  
==[[Daenerys Targaryen]]==
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===Supporting evidence===
Daenerys Targaryen was the younger sister to her brothers Rhaegar and Viserys and as one of the contenders for the Iron Throne also has plenty of reasons to kill Cersei.
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The following pieces of information can be considered supporting evidence for the theory:
  
==The surviving Stark-children==
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* Due to his hatred for his brother Gregor, Sandor has dreamt of killing Gregor in combat.{{fact}} According to Elder Brother, it was all Sandor lived for. Though initially, Gregor's death in [[Tyrion Lannister]]'s [[trial by combat]] against Prince [[Oberyn Martell]] after having been stabbed with a poisoned spear robbed Sandor of his "fuel",{{Ref|affc|31}} Gregor's death might not have been final. [[Robert Strong/Theories|It has been theorized]] that Ser [[Robert Strong]], Cersei's champion in her trial by combat against the [[Faith of the Seven]],{{Ref|adwd|epilogue}} is actually the reanimated body of Gregor. It has been suggested that, if Gregor is indeed Robert Strong, Sandor, upon learning of Robert Strong and the man's resemblance to Gregor, might decide to travel south and face Cersei's champion, killing Cersei after defeating Gregor.
After the death of their parents and older brother Robb all of the Stark children ([[Bran Stark|Bran]], [[Sansa Stark|Sansa]], [[Rickon Stark|Rickon]] and [[Arya Stark|Arya]]) have reasons enough to kill Cersei. Arya has gone as far as to include Cersei on a list of people she wishes to kill. [[Jon Snow]] calls Arya "little sis" repeatedly, and they both think of it throughout the series whenever they recall each other. ''If'' "valonqar" can indeed refer to a female younger sibling as well, the repeated use of "little sister" for Arya could point to her as a candidate.
 
  
Though Bran is crippled, his warging ability means he could kill Cersei. Because of his youth Rickon seems unlikely, but it's also possible that he could kill her through his direwolf.
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==Tommen Baratheon==
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[[Tommen Baratheon]] is Cersei's youngest child, and the "little brother" of her two sons.
  
==[[Stannis Baratheon]]==
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===Supporting evidence===
Stannis is the younger brother of Cersei's former husband, King Robert. He is attempting to overthrow Cersei.
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The following pieces of information can be considered supporting evidence for the theory:
 
 
==[[Brynden Rivers]]==
 
Brynden Rivers was a younger brother to a few siblings, the [[Great Bastards]], but unlike the [[House Blackfyre|Blackfyres]] he was a Targaryen loyalist. Still alive beyond the [[Wall]], he could also be the Valonqar.
 
 
 
==[[Tommen Baratheon]]==
 
The valonqar passage was a fragment of Maggy's response to Cersei's third question, regarding her, and king's, children. Thus it could be read as "you will see all your children die, and then the youngest will kill you". That would require Tommen to die, rise from dead and only then strangle someone to death, like Ser [[Waymar Royce]] in the series' prologue.
 
  
==The [[Sand Snakes]] (except Obara)==
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* After repeatedly telling Cersei and Melara to go away, Maggy finally allows each of them three questions. The first two of Maggy's replies are limited to Cersei's questions. Maggy's warning about the valonqar, following Cersei's third question ("will the king and I have children?"), then suggests that the valonqar's identity relates to this question as well. By some, it has been read to imply that the valonqar is one of the children Cersei's question related to. Her own three children are the only ones who fit Maggy's information ("gold shall be their crowns and gold their shrouds") &ndash; [[Joffrey Baratheon]]'s golden shroud was the golden armor he was burried in &ndash; suggesting that her own children are the suspects. Of her own three, only Tommen qualifies as the little brother.
The Sand Snakes are the daughters of [[Oberyn Martell]] and nieces to [[Elia Martell]], both were killed by the hands of the Lannister-man [[Gregor Clegane]]. All Sand Snakes have reasons enough to kill Cersei but because of the circumstance that Obara isn't a younger sibling to anyone she won't fit the prophecy. Her younger sisters Nymeria, Tyene, Sarella or possibly Elia could be candidates, the other three Sand Snakes seem unlikely because of their youth.
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* According to Maggy, Cersei's children will die first, and only they will the valonqar choke her. When discussing Tommen as the valonqar, it is suggested by supporters of the theory that Tommen will rise after his death as a [[wight]] following an invasion of the [[Others]].<ref>http://watchersonthewall.com/theories-valonqar/</ref> The wights have thus far been shown to have strangling their victims as a favored way of killing (e.g., when attacking [[Will]],{{Ref|agot|prologue}} [[Jon Snow]],{{Ref|agot|52}} and [[Samwell Tarly]]{{Ref|asos|46}}).
  
==[[Sandor Clegane]]==
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==Female valonqar==
Sandor Clegane is the younger brother to his sibling [[Gregor Clegane|Gregor]] and was for a very long time in service for House Lannister, at least as [[Joffrey Baratheon]]'s sworn shield and member of the [[Kingsguard]]. During the [[Battle of the Blackwater]] he deserted and encountered [[Arya Stark]]. He travelled together with her through the devastated [[Riverlands]] until he was left behind by Arya after he was badly wounded. His fate is unknown until now.  Some believe that he is still alive. If he is, he could also be the Valonquar because of his despise for the Lannisters.
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Although the translation given for valonqar by Cersei's septa is "little brother",{{Ref|affc|39}} and the word has been known to have been used by a [[Tyrosh]]i with the meaning of "little brother",{{Ref|affc|36}} there are readers who have hypothesized that the valonqar could be a female.
  
==[[Trystane Martell]]==
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As supporting evidence, a translation error discussed in ''[[A Feast for Crows]]'' is often cited. According to [[Maester]] [[Aemon Targaryen (son of Maekar I)|Aemon]],  
Trystane is the younger brother to [[Arianne Martell|Arianne]] and [[Quentyn Martell]]. As part of a marriage pact orchestrated by Tyrion Lannister, he was betrothed to [[Myrcella Baratheon]]. Cersei planned to kill him as part of a plot to get her daughter back to King's Landing. If Trystane would get knowledge of this he has another reason for revenge besides the fact that his uncle and aunt died by the hands of the Lannisters.
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the prophecy about the [[prince that was promised]], which thus far had been interpreted to indicate a man, could have been incorrectly translated. Aemon, because of this, comes to believe that the prophecy could refer to a woman, stating "''The error crept in from the translation. Dragons are neither male nor female, Barth saw the truth of that, but now one and now the other, as changeable as flame. The language misled us all for a thousand years.''".{{fact}} Readers have taken this to indicate that the word used in the prophecy concerning the prince that was promised is gender-neutral, and thus, that there might be more gender-neutral words in the old Valyrian language, with "valonqar" being their candidate.
  
==[[Brienne Tarth]]==
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David Peterson, who created the High Valyrian used on HBO's ''[[Game of Thrones]]'', has commented on the assumption, claiming that "''[Aemon's quote] says nothing whatever about the gender system of High Valyrian''". He stressed that Aemon, in ''A Feast for Crows'', was speaking about biological gender (i.e., dragons being able to change their gender from male to female, or vice versa), not grammatical gender, and that grammatical and biological gender need not be tied to one another. To explain further, Peterson stated "''English is a gender neutral language. We have gendered third person singular pronouns, but outside of that, English has no grammatical genders the way Spanish, French and Italian do. “Prince” is grammatically gender neutral. Semantically, though, it’s male, just as the words “man”, “bachelor”, “father” and “son” are. That these words exist says nothing about the grammatical gender system of English.''" According to Peterson, the High Valyrian word originally used in the prophecy that was translated as "prince" in the [[Common Tongue]] (i.e. English) can refer to both men and women, with Aemon's comment referring to the assumption, given the context, that the person prophesied must be male.<ref>http://www.dothraki.com/2013/04/qilonario-geron/</ref>
Brienne was the younger sister to her brother [[Galladon of Tarth|Galladon]] and in the service of [[Renly Baratheon]], who challenged the Lannisters, and [[Catelyn Stark]] who was murdered in an [[Red Wedding|assassination]] orchestrated by Tywin Lannister. Tasked to find the daughters of Lady Catelyn and to protect them she could decide to kill Cersei as a kind of protection.  
 
  
==[[Loras Tyrell]]==
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Despite this, and despite the fact that Maggy stated that the valonqar shall wrap "his" hands around Cersei's throat, several females have been suggested as the valonqar, with [[Arya Stark]] being mentioned the most frequently.<ref group="N">428 out of 9115 votes (4.70%) during a poll held in 2015 across five platforms (Results: [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1faJx4pvYnKHZu8Wdw9LKEHSuuf4IVnOrVRukWwv1sA4/viewanalytics# Reddit], [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1wwDjAvyKgrOW6PIuFDMHrhaMnNjWbMeyj3fYUoj1E5A/viewanalytics#start=publishanalytics Westeros.org], [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1A77zgkXxVeeU7J7CA1e5h0aF5sJw7UmYa1z2kG13Bpo/viewanalytics#start=publishanalytics Tower of the Hand], [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1PgwBVijTxdyXbQ2z1e4fjI8gchEUI2sVEBol__csumc/viewanalytics#start=publishanalytics Watchers on the Wall], [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1omstJHPpewu-jp6bIeuU5UikzWxWppkU3hqWc1UPiDo/viewanalytics#start=publishanalytics Facebook]).</ref>
Loras is the younger brother to his siblings [[Willas Tyrell|Willas]] and [[Garlan Tyrell|Garlan]]. He and Cersei have a rivalry at court, as he is a champion of Queen Margaery, a likely candidate for the "young queen" mentioned earlier in Maggy's prophecy, and Tommen's favourite among the Kingsguard. Cersei sent him to lead the battle for Dragonstone, hoping he would die in the attempt; he is reported to be alive but badly burned.
 
  
==[[Garlan Tyrell]]==
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Supporting evidence includes:
Garlan is the younger brother to [[Willas Tyrell|Willas]], the heir to [[Highgarden]], and the older one to Margaery and Loras. Because of the mistreatment of his sister (humiliated by the [[Faith Militant]]) and younger brother (badly injured during a attack on [[Dragonstone]]), both events caused by Cersei, he has good reasons to kill her.
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* Cersei is on Arya's "list" of people she wants dead.
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* Arya is training at the [[House of Black and White]] to become a [[Faceless Man]], an assassin.
 +
** Tyrion states that "''I used to dream that one day I'd be rich enough to send a Faceless Man after my sweet sister.''"{{Ref|Acok|44}}
 +
* Some fans who believe that Sansa may be the "younger and more beautiful" queen believe that the valonqar may refer to the valonqar of the queen, rather than of Cersei herself, with Arya being the younger sibling of Sansa.<ref>A Forum of Ice and Fire: https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/110341-sansa-and-arya-both-cerseis-bane/</ref>
  
==[[Gendry]]/[[Edric Storm]]==
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==See also==
Gendy and Edric Storm are the bastard-children of Robert Baratheon and younger siblings to others, for example [[Mya Stone]], who was the first bastard Robert sired. They both survived the purge of Roberts several bastards in King's Landing because they were not present. But as long Cersei is alive, she could pose a danger to them, so killing her could be a goal for both of them to protect themselves.
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The following links are a selection of the many places online where fans have discussed or outlined the theory and given detailed argumentation:
 +
* Asoiaftheories.com: [http://www.asoiaf-theories.com/jaime-is-the-valonqar-cersei-lannister/ Jaime Lannister is Cersei's valonqar], in favor of Jaime Lannister
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* Reddit.com: [https://www.reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comments/3gofge/spoilers_all_the_valonqar_is/ (Spoilers all) The Valonqar is...], in favor of Jaime Lannister
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* Watchers on the Wall: [http://watchersonthewall.com/theories-valonqar/ Theories of Ice and Fire: Cersei’s prophecy and the Valonqar], giving arguments for Tyrion Lannister, Jaime Lannister, Stannis Baratheon, and Tommen Baratheon
  
==See Also==
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==Notes==
* [[Dreams and prophecies]]
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{{Notes}}
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
{{References}}
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{{References|2}}
  
 
[[Category:Theories]]
 
[[Category:Theories]]

Revision as of 22:27, 24 January 2019

 Theories may be removed if ... 
  1. Stated as questions or possibilities.
  2. More appropriate for another article.
  3. Illogical or previously disproven.
  4. Proven by canon source, and moved to main page.
  5. Speculative and lacking any evidence to support arguments.
  6. Responding to another theory (use discussion page instead).
  • This does not include responses that are also standalone theories.
  • Usage of an indented bullet does not imply the statement is a response.

Cersei Lannister and Melara Hetherspoon visited the maegi Maggy at Lannisport in 276 AC, hoping to learn about their futures. To Cersei, Maggy predicted that she would die at the hands of "the valonqar".[1] According to Cersei's septa, Septa Saranella, "valonqar" is High Valyrian for "little brother".[2]

Several possible identities for Cersei's valonqar have been suggested.

Tyrion Lannister

Cersei Lannister has become convinced that her youngest brother, Tyrion Lannister, is her valonqar.[2] She has blamed him for the death of her mother, Joanna,[3] who died giving birth to Tyrion in 273 AC.[4][5] Maggy's prophecy, made three years after Tyrion's birth, has served to make Cersei despise and mistrust Tyrion even more.

Jaime Lannister

Jaime Lannister, Cersei's twin brother, is most often identified as Cersei's valonqar by the fandom, based on a poll held in 2015.[N 1]

Supporting evidence

The following pieces of information can be considered supporting evidence for the theory:

  • Jaime was born after Cersei, making him her younger brother.[6]
  • Jaime's relationship with Cersei deteriorates severely after he returns from captivity to King's Landing. By the end of A Feast for Crows, he refuses her request for his aid after she has been arrested by the Faith of the Seven, and commands her letter to be burned while at Riverrun.[7]
  • When Bran Stark discovers Cersei and Jaime in their incestuous affair, he thinks they are wrestling and that Jaime is hurting Cersei.[8] Fans has suggested this to be foreshadowing of Jaime eventually "hurting" (killing) Cersei.[9]
  • Both Jaime and Cersei have often stated their believes that their deaths are linked, claiming that, because they came into the world together, they will leave the world together.[10] Examples include:
    • "I cannot die while Cersei lives, he told himself. We will die together as we were born together."[11]
    • "We will leave this world together, as we once came into it."[12]
    • "If he were dead, I would know it. We came into this world together, Uncle. He would not go without me."[13]
  • The Stranger, one of the seven aspects of the Faith of the Seven, represents death.[citation needed] Cersei has come to consider Jaime a stranger ("He was your twin, your shadow, your other half, another voice whispered. Once, perhaps, she thought. No longer. He has become a stranger to me.",[14] while Jaime comes to identify Cersei as the actual Stranger ("I thought that I was the Warrior and Cersei was the Maid, but all the time she was the Stranger, hiding her true face from my gaze."[15]

Counter-arguments

The following pieces of information can be considered supporting evidence for the theory:

  • The prophecy states that the valonqar shall wrap his "hands" around Cersei's neck.[2] Jaime's right hand has been cut off by the Bloody Mummers,[16] making him unable to wrap both his hands around Cersei's neck. He subsequently makes use of a prosthetic hand, and it has been suggested that Jaime uses this hand to choke Cersei. However, the golden hand is shaped to fit around the stem of a wine cup, with only a small opening between the fingers and the thumb.[citation needed]
    • A solution to the fact that Jaime has only one hand has been proposed. It has been speculated that Jaime will use the chain of the Hand of the King, which is made up of golden hands holding each other and which has been used by both Tyrion Lannister[17] and Tywin Lannister[18] in the office of Hand, to choke Cersei, similar to the way Tyrion Lannister choked Shae while she was wearing the chain.[19] In further support of this interpretation,[20] a possible foreshadowing has been identified when Jaime, at Riverrun, thinks to himself that he would happily have strangled Sybell Spicer with her seashell necklace.[7]

Sandor Clegane

Sandor Clegane, the younger brother of Ser Gregor Clegane and a long time servant of House Lannister at King's Landing, has been identified as the most popular choice as Cersei's valonqar besides her two brothers, Jaime and Tyrion, in a poll held in 2015.[N 2] He served as sworn shield to Prince Joffrey Baratheon,[citation needed] who named him to the Kingsguard after his own coronation.[citation needed] Sandor deserted the Lannisters during the Battle of the Blackwater and left King's Landing for the riverlands. There, he encountered Arya Stark until he was severely wounded and left behind.[citation needed] Brienne of Tarth later comes to believe that Sansa Stark, who she is searching for, had been carried off by Sandor, and begins to follow his trail. On Quiet Isle, she learns from Elder Brother that, not only had Sandor been with Arya instead of Sansa, "the man you hunt is dead".[citation needed] However, fans have since theorized that, although his persona of "the Hound" has died, Sandor himself still lives on Quiet Isle and is in fact the gravedigger seen by Brienne on the isle. The theory that Sandor is Cersei's valonqar assumes that the gravedigger theory is correct.

Supporting evidence

The following pieces of information can be considered supporting evidence for the theory:

  • Due to his hatred for his brother Gregor, Sandor has dreamt of killing Gregor in combat.[citation needed] According to Elder Brother, it was all Sandor lived for. Though initially, Gregor's death in Tyrion Lannister's trial by combat against Prince Oberyn Martell after having been stabbed with a poisoned spear robbed Sandor of his "fuel",[21] Gregor's death might not have been final. It has been theorized that Ser Robert Strong, Cersei's champion in her trial by combat against the Faith of the Seven,[13] is actually the reanimated body of Gregor. It has been suggested that, if Gregor is indeed Robert Strong, Sandor, upon learning of Robert Strong and the man's resemblance to Gregor, might decide to travel south and face Cersei's champion, killing Cersei after defeating Gregor.

Tommen Baratheon

Tommen Baratheon is Cersei's youngest child, and the "little brother" of her two sons.

Supporting evidence

The following pieces of information can be considered supporting evidence for the theory:

  • After repeatedly telling Cersei and Melara to go away, Maggy finally allows each of them three questions. The first two of Maggy's replies are limited to Cersei's questions. Maggy's warning about the valonqar, following Cersei's third question ("will the king and I have children?"), then suggests that the valonqar's identity relates to this question as well. By some, it has been read to imply that the valonqar is one of the children Cersei's question related to. Her own three children are the only ones who fit Maggy's information ("gold shall be their crowns and gold their shrouds") – Joffrey Baratheon's golden shroud was the golden armor he was burried in – suggesting that her own children are the suspects. Of her own three, only Tommen qualifies as the little brother.
  • According to Maggy, Cersei's children will die first, and only they will the valonqar choke her. When discussing Tommen as the valonqar, it is suggested by supporters of the theory that Tommen will rise after his death as a wight following an invasion of the Others.[22] The wights have thus far been shown to have strangling their victims as a favored way of killing (e.g., when attacking Will,[23] Jon Snow,[24] and Samwell Tarly[25]).

Female valonqar

Although the translation given for valonqar by Cersei's septa is "little brother",[2] and the word has been known to have been used by a Tyroshi with the meaning of "little brother",[1] there are readers who have hypothesized that the valonqar could be a female.

As supporting evidence, a translation error discussed in A Feast for Crows is often cited. According to Maester Aemon, the prophecy about the prince that was promised, which thus far had been interpreted to indicate a man, could have been incorrectly translated. Aemon, because of this, comes to believe that the prophecy could refer to a woman, stating "The error crept in from the translation. Dragons are neither male nor female, Barth saw the truth of that, but now one and now the other, as changeable as flame. The language misled us all for a thousand years.".[citation needed] Readers have taken this to indicate that the word used in the prophecy concerning the prince that was promised is gender-neutral, and thus, that there might be more gender-neutral words in the old Valyrian language, with "valonqar" being their candidate.

David Peterson, who created the High Valyrian used on HBO's Game of Thrones, has commented on the assumption, claiming that "[Aemon's quote] says nothing whatever about the gender system of High Valyrian". He stressed that Aemon, in A Feast for Crows, was speaking about biological gender (i.e., dragons being able to change their gender from male to female, or vice versa), not grammatical gender, and that grammatical and biological gender need not be tied to one another. To explain further, Peterson stated "English is a gender neutral language. We have gendered third person singular pronouns, but outside of that, English has no grammatical genders the way Spanish, French and Italian do. “Prince” is grammatically gender neutral. Semantically, though, it’s male, just as the words “man”, “bachelor”, “father” and “son” are. That these words exist says nothing about the grammatical gender system of English." According to Peterson, the High Valyrian word originally used in the prophecy that was translated as "prince" in the Common Tongue (i.e. English) can refer to both men and women, with Aemon's comment referring to the assumption, given the context, that the person prophesied must be male.[26]

Despite this, and despite the fact that Maggy stated that the valonqar shall wrap "his" hands around Cersei's throat, several females have been suggested as the valonqar, with Arya Stark being mentioned the most frequently.[N 3]

Supporting evidence includes:

  • Cersei is on Arya's "list" of people she wants dead.
  • Arya is training at the House of Black and White to become a Faceless Man, an assassin.
    • Tyrion states that "I used to dream that one day I'd be rich enough to send a Faceless Man after my sweet sister."[27]
  • Some fans who believe that Sansa may be the "younger and more beautiful" queen believe that the valonqar may refer to the valonqar of the queen, rather than of Cersei herself, with Arya being the younger sibling of Sansa.[28]

See also

The following links are a selection of the many places online where fans have discussed or outlined the theory and given detailed argumentation:

Notes

  1. 6599 out of 9115 votes (72.4%) during a poll held in 2015 across five platforms (Results: Reddit, Westeros.org, Tower of the Hand, Watchers on the Wall, Facebook).
  2. 436 out of 9115 votes (4.78%) during a poll held in 2015 across five platforms (Results: Reddit, Westeros.org, Tower of the Hand, Watchers on the Wall, Facebook).
  3. 428 out of 9115 votes (4.70%) during a poll held in 2015 across five platforms (Results: Reddit, Westeros.org, Tower of the Hand, Watchers on the Wall, Facebook).

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 36, Cersei VIII.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 39, Cersei IX.
  3. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 3, Cersei I.
  4. The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II.
  5. The World of Ice & Fire, The Westerlands: House Lannister Under the Dragons.
  6. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 66, Tyrion IX.
  7. 7.0 7.1 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 44, Jaime VII.
  8. A Game of Thrones, Chapter 8, Bran II.
  9. Tumblr: nobodysuspectsthebutterfly (August 17, 2014)
  10. Watchers on the Wall: Theories of Ice and Fire: Cersei’s prophecy and the Valonqar (December 19, 2014)
  11. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 31, Jaime IV.
  12. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 43, Cersei X.
  13. 13.0 13.1 A Dance with Dragons, Epilogue.
  14. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 12, Cersei III.
  15. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 30, Jaime IV.
  16. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 21, Jaime III.
  17. A Clash of Kings, Chapter 15, Tyrion III.
  18. A Clash of Kings, Chapter 65, Sansa VIII.
  19. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 77, Tyrion XI.
  20. Reddit: (Spoilers all) The valonqar is... (Augustus 12, 2015)
  21. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 31, Brienne VI.
  22. http://watchersonthewall.com/theories-valonqar/
  23. A Game of Thrones, Prologue.
  24. A Game of Thrones, Chapter 52, Jon VII.
  25. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 46, Samwell III.
  26. http://www.dothraki.com/2013/04/qilonario-geron/
  27. A Clash of Kings, Chapter 44, Tyrion X.
  28. A Forum of Ice and Fire: https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/110341-sansa-and-arya-both-cerseis-bane/