Warning: This article contains major spoilers (both confirmed and unverified) for Game of Thrones’ upcoming seventh season.
At this point in the game, Game of Thrones is such a massive production that it’s nearly impossible to pull off without some details getting out through daily set reports. But what some fans didn’t expect was the plot for the entire seventh season to reportedly leak online.
The leaks came courtesy of redditor awayforthelads, who posted the information to r/freefolk, a subreddit where subscribers can freely share spoilers without having to mark them (which isn’t the case in other Game of Thrones-related subreddits such as r/gameofthrones or r/asoiaf). The subreddit gained notoriety during season 6 when one member made and shared videos of what he called “predictions” that HBO tried to take down. The information from awayforthelads’ post, which has been deleted along with the account, have been going around online for a few weeks, resurfacing as more information comes from the set.
When the post was first shared, some doubted the validity of it. One person claimed to have a source in one of the show’s major characters. Some remembered the 4chan leak that supposedly revealed details from season 6 last year, which became highly inaccurate once season 6 actually played out. Some complained that the information contained in the leaks was bad writing or wish-fulfillment by fans. There is also the argument that even if the thread is true, the seventh season itself hasn’t really been leaked.
https://twitter.com/SueTheFury/status/792498976310255616
In recent weeks, Entertainment Weekly, which is well-connected with Game of Thrones (and knew about Jon Snow’s resurrection before it played out on TV), put out a post warning fans they shouldn’t believe everything they read about Game of Thrones’ seventh season. It pointed out that the show has misled fans before, such as having actress Sibel Kekilli (Shae) on-set during season 6. She ultimately did not appear. That explaination doesn’t work as well when to trying to explain Kit Harington running around the Belfast set in Stark armor. One of the bigger set reports suggests Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen finally meeting.
“Going into season 7, a big question is who will meet whom now that all the main characters are arriving in Westeros,” EW’s James Hibberd wrote. “So having actors dressed up meeting each other on set could mean they’re in scenes together … or it might not.”
Some commenters dismissed the article as Game of Thrones’ attempt at damage control.
But as the Reddit leaks aged, some fans started to notice that reports from Game of Thrones fansites such as Watchers on the Wall—which has been on top of cast sightings and set reports—started to corroborate leaked details, not just the parts that we already knew.
The leaks are viewable below in full (or pasted from other posts), but we’ll dive into a few highlights.
If you really don’t want to see spoilers, turn away now.
1) Dany and Jon meet
The meeting between these two Targaryens—one open, one secret and most likely still unaware of his heritage—has been seasons in the making and easily one of the bigger spoilers to already come out of the Game of Thrones set. They’ve each got their trusted advisors with them (Jon with Davos, Dany with Tyrion, Varys, Missandei, and Grey Worm), and they’re meeting in Dragonstone. According to the leaks, Jon eventually pledges loyalty to Dany (with some convincing from Tyrion) after she pledges to help him with the real war: the one in the North.
At some point during the season—the leak points to the finale—they grow closer and eventually sleep together. However, it’s still unclear if they’re aware of the incest taking place with that encounter; the leaks claim that Bran Stark and Samwell Tarly put it together, but Jon will remain unaware. It also notes that they sleep together as the Wall comes down, however, that claim is fairly dubious.
2) A dragon will fall
And not the one you were expecting.
Daenerys’ favorite dragon is Drogon, and to date he’s the only one she’s ridden. But if the leaks are any indication, Viserion (named for her brother Viserys) could fall at the hands of the Night’s King—and come back to life as his own steed.
It would be a major blow to Dany, whose dragons have pretty much been untouchable since they were kept in Qarth’s House of the Undying in season 2.
3) A wight comes to King’s Landing
We already know that Cersei Lannister, now Queen of the Seven Kingdoms (and possibly pregnant), will make an alliance with Euron Greyjoy. And a big sequence will bring more than a dozen characters together at King’s Landing. But it’s what else is there that could prove to be intriguing.
Jon already has an uphill battle convincing the rest of Westeros that the White Walkers are the true threat. King’s Landing probably wouldn’t believe the bastard son of Ned Stark (though we now know he’s not who anyone thinks he is). So they brought some proof. (Watchers on the Wall has confirmed a scene in which a wight is brought forth as evidence of the White Walker threat at the King’s Landing dragonpit.) The wight was caught by a group of people, including Gendry, who hasn’t been seen since season 3.
But will it work? While Cersei initially pledges knights to fight the White Walkers, she will allegedly betray them—and lose Jaime’s loyalty in the process.
4) The kid detectives of Westeros
At the end of season 6, Sam is about to start training to become a proper maester while Bran is still north of the Wall. But during the season they come together and piece together the mystery of Jon’s parentage.
According to the leaks, Sam first cures Ser Jorah Mormont (son of former Lord Commander Jeor Mormont) of greyscale, which he found in a forbidden book in the Citadel’s library and did in secret. Then Gilly, who’s learning to read, finds records that Rhaegar annulled his first marriage to Elia Martell and then remarried, which would make Jon a legitimate Targaryen, but it takes awhile for Sam to comprehend that Gilly means Rhaegar by “Ragger” and the significance of it. (We may even see a flashback to Rhaegar and Lyanna’s wedding, according to the leak.)
And Jon’s true name? Aegon, like his half-brother. (A character who is allegedly alive in the books, though his legitimacy is doubted by fans—and all but ignored in the show.)
5) Another Stark reunion
While the actresses who play them are best friends off the Game of Thrones set, it’s been a very long time since Sansa and Arya have seen each other. And it probably won’t be all happy when they reunite.
Arya goes north after some unfinished business (in the form of killing more Freys) and briefly reunites with her direwolf, Nymeria, who she set free in the show’s second episode, before making it to Winterfell. Sansa is appointed the Lady of Winterfell while Jon travels across Westeros as King in the North. Littlefinger tries to turn the two sisters against each other, using an old letter Sansa wrote Robb while she was prisoner of the Lannisters as a way for Arya to distrust Sansa. But they realize that Littlefinger is poisonous and Sansa calls for Littlefinger’s execution, which Arya does with a blade we haven’t seen in years.
Again, we’d caution readers that much of this could turn out to be false. But if even if a fraction of it pans out, we do know one thing. It’s gonna be a hell of a season.
Game of Thrones season 7 release date
The exact release date for season 7 has not been announced yet, but it will premiere later than usual, likely in mid-2017, and will consist of seven episodes.
Editor’s note: This article is regularly updated for relevance.
H/T The Concourse
