Game Of Thrones: Sam Tarly is the real hero, Benjen Stark is a traitor and more wildling theories

Filming for Game Of Thrones is underway but fan sites are going crazy with ideas for season seven. Here’s seven more of the best.

While filming for season seven of Game of Thrones is in full swing in Belfast, co creators of the show David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have already flagged that the new season will air later in the year than usual. So to keep us all going and our minds active, here are seven more crazy and not-so-crazy theories for season seven.

As usual, we rate them on the Daenerys Dragon Scale of credibility, with one dragon for doubtful, two dragons for possible and three dragons for probable.

Samwell Tarly could be the most important GoT character of all

We all think Sam Tarly is the funny, bumbling fat man we all love but there are signs he may be a more pivotal character than any of us could have imagined.

At the end of season six we see Sam, Gilly and mini-Sam arrive at the Citadel. Sam holds a letter from his best mate and former Lord Commander of Castle Black Jon Snow requesting he be trained as a maester.

Sam Tarly is the real hero?

As with most bureaucratic government departments the inevitable irregularities are discovered and Sam is told to wait in the rather overwhelmingly large library — that incidentally does not look like it uses the helpful Dewey Decimal system — while things get sorted out. Despite the enormity of the library, Sam is tipped to discover something big.

Most fans believe he will stumble across evidence Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryan were in fact married, making their son Jon Snow the last true Dragon.

But there is another more controversial theory.

Some believe Sam may discover a way to end all magic. This would return the White Walkers back to the men they once were before the children of the forest started monkeying around with dragon glass and send the army of the dead back to being … well, dead.

As an unfortunate side affect, however, it would also mean Daenery’s three scaly fire-breathing sidekicks would also cease to exist and our favourite resurrected dead guy, Jon, would also return to the realms of brown bread. Bran would also have to say goodbye to his warging powers, which, let’s face it, might not be such a bad thing if his recent track record is anything to go by.

Could Sam put an end to the dragons?

Up until this point the Game Of Thrones has appeared just that, a game, a deadly and cruel one, but a game nonetheless. This seems especially true when put in perspective of the impending battle with the army of the dead. But if Sam finds a way to head the Night King and his army off at the pass, or even at the wall, the decidedly mortal race for the Iron Throne is back on.

But is there something even bigger we are all missing with Sam?

Did anyone happen to notice the rather unique looking chandelier Sam sees when he enters the Citadel library? It bears an uncanny resemblance to the mechanical sun sphere in the opening credits of the show?

In Greek astronomy it was known as an armillary sphere or astrolabe, which was usually comprised of series of rings with a ball at its centre. The ball would either represent the earth or the sun and was used to determine positions of stars and the changing of the seasons.

It’s likely the maesters used this to determine when to send out the white ravens to notify everyone winter had arrived. They could have also have used it to illuminate sections the library — like the map room perhaps — when the sun hits the central sphere. The Citadel astrolabe also has the telltale battle scenes carved on it’s rings as we see in the opening of the show.

But here is arguably the wildest GoT theory going around at the moment that will surely have you all hunched in a ball, rocking back and forth in the dark.

The theory goes that this whole crazy GoT adventure is Sam’s retelling of the events of Westeros and that the journey over the map in the opening credits is Sam updating it in the library underneath the light of astrolabe as he tells the tale.

Remember the crazy glasses the rather unhelpful citadel maester was wearing. If you watch the opening credits closely you can see we are looking through a pair of these glasses as a new magnifying lense is slipped into place before we focus in on the updating maps. Could we be seeing this through Sam’s eyes as he uses the glasses to help him magnify and update the Westeros map in the Citadel? Does this mean everything we are seeing has already taken place? And does anyone else have a splitting headache?

Daenery’s Dragon Scale: 2

Benjen Stark is a traitor

We all think Bran Stark’s uncle Benjen is a good guy, right? And by saving his nephew and Meera from the pursuing wights after the disaster at the Three-eyed Raven’s cave he certainly seems to live up to that reputation. But where do his allegiances really lie?

We know Benjen went ranging north of the wall in season one and he wasn’t seen again until his dramatic rescue of Bran in season six. We also know he was stabbed in the gut by a White Walker’s ice sword, left for dead and then saved from becoming a wight by the Children of the Forest who shoved a piece of dragon glass into his chest.

Far out, he’s had a rough time of it.

As a result Benjen is not quite alive and not quite dead — kind of like a really bad hangover — but permanent.

And incidentally that’s kind of a long time to be cruising around north of the wall half dead and surrounded by White Walkers.

Is Benjen really working for the White Walkers?

There is a controversial theory that Benjen may have been turned during his long absence and may in fact be working as an agent of the Night King.

If he’d been working for the good guys and was, as he tells Bran working for the Three-eyed Raven, surely the Raven would have at least mentioned it to Bran during his stay in the cave.

When Benjen delivers Bran and Meera to the wall he tells them due to his new undead status, he cannot follow them through as there is strong magic woven into its foundations. But we also know that when Bran is marked by the Night King during a vision it broke similar magic protecting the Raven’s cave.

Perhaps this was the Night King’s plan all along. Mark the inexperienced Bran during one of his visions, kill his enemy the Three-eyed Raven, and then have a friendly face save the young Stark and deliver him to the wall while his army lays in wait.

When the marked Bran passes through the wall he will also break it’s protective magic bringing it down and allowing the White Walkers to march south.

An interesting theory, but in A Storm Of Swords Sam and Gilly are saved by a mysterious man dressed in a Night’s Watch cloak who they call Coldhands because … well … he has cold hands. He also calls Sam “brother”, which would indicate he was a member of the Night’s Watch. We don’t see this scene in the series, but in the book Coldhands tells Sam he has been sent to find someone, which turns out to be Bran. Many believe Benjen Stark is Coldhands, a good-guy wight.

Daenery’s Dragon Scale: 1

There is a Dragon under Winterfell

Could this really be true? Could there really be another dragon hiding below the cavernous crypts of Winterfell.

We know there are hot springs under Winterfell that act as a form of medieval central heating for the cold stone walls of the castle. The Maesters say the hot spring are heated by “the furnaces of the world” and apparently everywhere else the furnaces appear we find… yep, you guessed it … dragons.

And how’s this passage from George RR Martin’s The World Of Ice And Fire, talking about Winterfell.

MORE GREAT THEORIES FOR SEASON SEVEN

“The smallfolk of Winterfell and the winter town have been known to claim that the springs are heated by the breath of a dragon that sleeps beneath the castle.”

Now good ole George isn’t known for throwing up any red herrings is he, so surely we can take this theory to the bank.

And a sleepy dragon under Winterfell makes sense when we combine it with what we now know about Jon’s parentage — he is both a Stark and a Targaryen.

His dragon is of course lying in wait for him under Winterfell until he is ready to embrace his true lineage and destiny. They must be very patient creatures these dragons.

Daenery’s Dragon Scale: 2

Bran is the Night King

Bran has caused plenty of trouble but could he really be the Night King?

OK, this one is pretty out there but of what we’ve seen regarding Bran of late anything is possible. The whole Hodor/hold the door story line has created this confusing time travel/chicken or the egg scenario surrounding the young Stark. He seems to be able to influence the past while existing in the present. But his new Back To The Future-style abilities – which luckily don’t require driving a crappy DeLorean – have spawned a number of mind-bending theories.

Two of the most popular are that Bran went back into the past and turned King Aerys II Targaryen Mad by getting inside his head and that he is the fabled Bran The Builder, who built the Wall in the first place.

If this last one is true, I’m sure past Bran will be pretty pissed off with future Bran if he does cause the Wall to fall. Is anyone else’s headache coming back?

Bran the builder is also said to have founded House Stark and built Winterfell. Seriously, what’s this guy’s number there’s some stuff I need doing around my place.

According to legend, the Night King was also a Stark and a former commander of the Night’s Watch. Could he have once been Bran the Builder?

And then there’s Old Nan the servant at Winterfell who used to tell Bran stories of the Night King also revealing he was once a Stark. It was thought Old Nan had lived so long “all the Brandon Starks had become one person in here head” but maybe she knew they were all the same person.

Daenery’s Dragon Scale: 1

Jorah Mormont will lead an army of Stone Men

When last we saw Jorah, Danaerys had sent him on a seemingly fruitless search to find a cure for his greyscale which he contracted after being attacked by Stone Men travelling with his prisoner Tyrion Lannister through the ruins of Old Valyria — where those afflicted with the disease are dumped.

Jorah Mormont caught greyscale while taking Tyrion Lannister through Old Valyria. Will be return there in season 7 to get an army of Stone Men?

You can tell Daenerys thinks the quest she is giving Jorah is pointless as greyscale is usually a death sentence. In fact the only one on the show to survive was Shireen Baratheon.

At this point you might ask yourself why GoT keeps coming back to greyscale and the Stone Men? One theory is that they will eventually fight on the side of men against the army of the dead as a kind of mindless cannon fodder similar to the Night King’s wights. Could we be in for a war of the Zombies?

The theory goes that Jorah will not be able to cure himself of the disease fully but he may find a way to halt it, a la Shireen, before it affects his mind and speech.

Disfigured, however, he will find himself also banished to Old Valyria where, blessed with speech, he will convince his fellow shunned Stone Men to fight under his leadership for Daenerys. After all, Daenerys has a track record of freeing slaves and the downtrodden.

And what will Jorah arm his stone soldiers with? Well, they are in Old Valyria so why not Valyrian steel. Surely all the the raw materials for forging weapons could still be in plentiful supply.

And what is Valyrian steel good for? That’s right, killing White Walkers.

Daenery’s Dragon Scale: 2

Jorah is Azor Ahai and will kill Daenerys

Another theory about Jorah is that he is in fact Azor Ahai, the prophesised hero who will return to defeat the White Walkers wielding a flaming sword. As the story goes Azor Ahai sacrificed his wife to strengthen the steel of his blade. Upon his return he may need to do this again before taking on the Night King’s army and will be forced kill his true love Daenerys. We haven’t had a shocking death on GoT for a while. Sure there’s been plenty of death and dismemberment, but not a brain exploding death of one of the good guys, like Rob Stark.

And Daenery’s death could open the way for Jon — who is both a Targaryen and a Stark — to unite the North and the South against the White Walkers.

Daenery’s Dragon Scale: 1

Arya will become Lady Stoneheart

IN the books, Lady Stoneheart is the creepy reanimated version of Catelyn Stark who still holds a massive grudge about the whole “Red Wedding” massacre thing and spends her zombie days hunting down and killing members of house Frey with the Brotherhood Without Banners.

But in the show, Arya has begun the Frey-killing free-for-all by slitting the throat of Walder Frey after feeding him his murdered sons in a lovely pie.

Arya Stark may take on the Lady Stoneheart role played by her mother in the books.

The departure of the show from the books in this regard could be make Arya more of a metaphorical Lady Stoneheart while also limiting the growing number of characters running around who have been brought back from the dead.

Although Arya may not have the Zombie cache Lady Stoneheart has in the books, the terrible loss she has seen and the cold way she is knocking off the people on her kill list, shows she has certainly developed a bit of a stone heart, which at the very least is a nice interpretation of the character.

Daenery’s Dragon Scale: 3