Game of Thrones: All the Prophecies You Need to Know About

When is it introduced?

The first time we hear about this prophecy is with the introduction of everyone's favorite princess-burning priestess in season two, Melisandre. She worships the Lord of Light, and followers of the Lord of Light believe that a champion of their god called the Son of Fire or the Prince That Was Promised (also called Azor Ahai) is destined to rise up and fight against the darkness that threatens the world. Melisandre believes that this "darkness" will come in the form of the White Walkers. She tells Stannis in the third season that the War of the Five Kings is nothing compared to the real war at the Wall.

Melisandre has all her chips on Stannis Baratheon being the prince in question for a long time and staunchly believes he will defeat all enemies standing in the way of him becoming the ruler of the Seven Kingdoms. Her fervent faith in him motivates him to do basically all the stuff he does.

However, Stannis's chances of ruling the Seven Kingdoms and fulfilling the prophecy are pretty much destroyed by the end of season five, when his depleted army is decimated by the Boltons. At the beginning of season six, Melisandre believes she's lost her ability to interpret the prophecy, but her resurrection of Jon Snow (woot!) reignites her faith in her Lord and that the Prince That Was Promised wasn't Stannis, but Jon himself.


What does it mean for the future?

After Jon's badassery at Hardhome (and the implications that battle makes about what the White Walkers can do), the idea that Jon Snow could lead the people of Westeros against the darkness in the world is a pretty safe bet — if there's any such thing as a safe bet on this show. Melisandre's current faith in Jon is reminiscent of the faith she had in Stannis, but since Jon has banished her to the South after discovering she was the one who burned Shireen, who knows how their relationship will play out.

NOTE: Jon isn't the only one who might be the Prince That Was Promised — there are quite a few who think the prophecy applies to Daenerys, instead.

When is it introduced?

The season five premiere brings us a juicy flashback of a young Cersei, perhaps 11 or 12, asking (well, demanding) to hear her future told by a witch named Maggy the Frog. This is a demand she probably immediately regrets.

The witch tells her that she will be queen one day, but that's about the last happiness she can expect. The prophecy says Cersei will have three children, but her husband the king will have 20. So far, so true. Cersei has three children with her brother Jaime, and we know that Robert's illegitimate children number so many that Joffrey has to basically order an extermination to get rid of them all.

Then the prophecy gets real dark. The witch tells Cersei that all her children will die and that though she will be queen, it won't be for long and a younger, more beautiful queen will come along and take her crown and everything she loves. Again, so far so true. Joffrey and Myrcella both die after being poisoned (by Lady Olenna Tyrell and Ellaria Sand respectively), and Tommen commits suicide in the sixth season finale after discovering that the love of his life, Margaery Tyrell, has perished in the explosion that destroyed the Great Sept of Baelor (which was orchestrated by Cersei, no less).


What does it mean for the future?

Now that King Tommen is out of the picture, the TV show version of Maggy the Frog's prophecy has come true in its entirety. In the book, there is a final part of the prophecy that has yet to pass: "And when your tears have drowned you, the Valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you." The word "Valonqar" means little brother in Valyrian, meaning Tyrion or Jaime might be the ones to eventually end her life.

When is it introduced?

When Daenerys becomes pregnant by Khal Drogo in season one, it's more than just good news for the happy couple. The dosh khaleen in Vaes Dothrak proclaim that their son will be much more than Dothraki royalty — he will be the Stallion Who Mounts the World, the khal prophesized to bring all the khalasars together into one people. (Dany recounts this prophecy in season six, just before she burns the crap out of those mean khals.)

Tragically, by the end of season one, Daenerys's unborn son is dead, as a result of the witch Mirri Maz Duur's dark magic to "save" Khal Drogo, who ends up comatose. Mirri Maz Duur makes a sort of bitter prophecy of her own, telling Daenerys that her husband would return to her "when the sun rises in the west and sets in the east." Daenerys ends up mercy killing Drogo because, obviously, those words don't suggest that her husband had much hope.


What does it mean for the future?

Dany brings up the topic of bearing children to Khal Moro in season six when he threatens to rape her and get her pregnant, when she claims that she will never bear him or anyone else any sons. While Dany is certainly fierce enough to simply refuse to bear anyone else children after losing her beloved husband, she could also have meant that Mirri Maz Duur's magic did too much physical damage to her womb, which would imply that Daenerys won't be bearing any world-mounting children anytime soon.

However, in the very same episode that her son dies, Daenerys still becomes a mother, in a way: The Mother of Dragons.

When is it introduced?

This one isn't a prophecy explicitly stated by any religious fanatic or witch, but it's included here because it's a possibly prophetic vision by two different people in two different places at two different times. In season two, Daenerys goes to the House of the Undying in Qarth to retrieve her kidnapped dragons and is shown several visions along the way. One of them is a vision of the throne room in the Red Keep, destroyed and in darkness, and the Iron Throne itself covered in a blanket of snow (although it's important to note that some think the snow is actually ash).

Near the end of season four, Bran Stark travels beyond the Wall and comes across a weirwood tree, which he touches and sees several visions, including — that's right — the thrones room of the Red Keep in ruins and the Iron Throne covered in what appears to be snow.


What does it mean for the future?

As we see in the season six finale, the Maesters send a white raven from the Citadel to Jon and Sansa at Winterfell that confirms Winter has come to Westeros, which could mean a lot of things. Will the Prince That Was Promised never appear, leaving darkness and Winter to take over Westeros, even all the way to King's Landing? Does it mean that Jon Snow will play a role in ruling the Seven Kingdoms? With the Night's King on his way towards the Wall, we'll just have to see . . .