George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire Saga has one of the most dedicated fan bases. Readers have come together to try and figure out Martin’s plot twists before he relieves them. However, some of the theories are really freaking weird. We’re not talking about R+L=J. We’re talking about skin-changing immortals and spies that are mermaids. In honor of the upcoming Game of Thrones season 6 premiere, we thought it would be fun to explore some outrageous fan theories. Keep in mind most of these theories are related to Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire saga and not the HBO series. Some of these are way too complicated to summarize, so we've included videos to help connect the dots. Also, this goes without saying but SPOILERS. MAD SPOILERS AHEAD. Learn more about the craziness of A Song of Ice and Fire ’s readership below.
Roose Bolton is a Skin Stealer
We have to give it up to YouTuber Alt Shift X for trying to piece together one of the strangest Game of Thrones fan theories. It all started with Martin’s poetic description of Roose. His eyes are described as having strange eyes and pale skin. Roose has no scars despite fighting in battles and looks much younger than his age. Martin never specifies his age, but Roose’s oldest son, whom many believe was murdered by Ramsay, was the same age as Lyanna Stark when she died. Roose must be well into his 40s and may be even older.
On their own, these things don’t appear out of the ordinary. Yeah, the dude’s creepy but so are many Game of Thrones characters. Then you get to Roose’s obsession with blood-letting. He believes a man must constantly purge himself of “bad blood” to stay healthy and uses leeches to do so. Many believe that’s why he remains youthful in appearance, but some fans believe it goes deeper than that. They believe Roose is a skin-changer, similar to the Faceless Men. He’s an immortal man who steals people’s bodies once they are no use to him. He uses the leeches to keep his body from decaying and giving away his true identity. Watch the video below to learn more about the Bolton theory.
High Sparrow = Howland Reed
Here’s another great theory put together by YouTuber Alt Shift X about the High Sparrow’s true identity. The High Sparrow is one of the more interesting characters in Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire Saga. As of the A Dance with Dragons , the only thing we really know about the High Sparrow is he has a strong vendetta against the Lannisters and it might stem from Ned Stark’s death. The High Sparrow is outraged someone was killed at the Great Sept of Baelor, and the fact it was honorable man who was promised mercy made Ned’s death worse. Of course, the High Sparrow also doesn’t like the fact Cersei laid with her cousin and potentially her brother, but I digress.
Many book readers believe the High Sparrow’s vendetta against the Lannisters might be personal. No one knows where the High Sparrow came from. In the process of searching for context clues about the High Sparrow, some fans believe he matches the description of a man Brienne and Podrick run into while traveling to around the Riverlands on the hunt for Sansa. This man is traveling south and looks like he comes from the Neck. Who lives in the Neck? The Reeds. Howleen Reed is the father to Jojen and Meera, the two kids traveling with Bran to find the Three Eyed Raven. Howleen was with Ned when he found Lyanna in the Tower of Joy. Howleen is the last person alive who knows what happen and could confirm R+L=J.
It sounds plausible, but High Sparrow = Howland Reed is a bit more complicated than that. It’s a huge stretch to believe they are the same person. Check out the video below for more details about the High Sparrow theory.
Varys is a Merman
This theory sounds like one of Martin’s readers wanted to troll everyone on forums, but it’s pretty entertaining. Basically, Varys was magically turned into a merman when he was castrated. That’s about as deep as this one goes. Watch the video to learn more about the Varys theory.
Rhaegar is Mance Rayder
Keep in mind Mance Rayder is alive in the Martin’s a Song of Ice and Fire saga. Unfortunately, this theory doesn’t have a great explainer video to go along with it so bear with me. This theory has made its way across forums for years, but there’s one archived on Reddit that has some of the details for the argument about Mance’s “true” identity.
Basically, one fan (or many fans) believed there was a case that Rhaegar didn’t die in the Battle of the Trident. This fan believed Rhaegar had someone else wear his fancy armor to fool Robert Baratheon into believing he killed him. Rhaegar then somehow retreated up to The Wall and eventually made his way farther North to earn the respect of the Wildlings and become their king.
The evidence for this is pretty shaky, if you can even call it evidence. The fan theory points to the descriptions of Mance and Rhaegar. Both play the harp, both are naturally gifted at everything they do and both are great fighters. Both are great leaders.
This theory falls apart when you factor in appearance. Mance looks nothing like Rhaegar! Mance has dark eyes and hair, Rhaegar has the iconic purple Targaryen eyes with silver hair. That there blows this theory out of the water. You’d have to assume Rhaegar magically manipulated his appearance somehow. Truthfully, you can file this under the bullshit category, but it’s an interesting theory nonetheless. Some people really believe Mance is Rhaegar. Check out the Reddit thread here to see if you can piece this one together.
Bonus video: Ser Pounce is Azor Ahai. This one needs no introduction. Just enjoy!
