I think he's making a B-Line down to Kings Landing to create a second front and possibly make Cersei his Night Queen.
shareThat's possible. Whatever happens, I doubt their initial plan to lure him out is gonna work.
shareI was saying to my friend last night while watching the show--the greatest twist the next episode could do is have the Night King's army march right past Winterfell and head to King's Landing, only to completely annihilate Cersei and her Golden Company.
How amazing would that be?
Interesting theory.
I was thinking, If Bran is so sure the Night King is after him why didnt he get himself transported/sneaked into Kings Landing, that way the army of the dead would head there forcing the Lanister army to fight them. The army of Winterfell could follow them up and flank them when the battle starts. Gives the living more of chance.
That golden company will probably hot foot it out of there when they see the army of the dead. They are mercenaries and will go back to Essos at the first sign of hardship.
They are expecting to roll in with 20,000 and take on a weakened army up North.
I think the Winterfell battle will be a disaster, the Night King will click his fingers and turn half the cast to dust and everyone will be pushed back to South in tatters and the final battle will be at Kings Landing.
We had all the characters play their parts as a goodbye in episode 2. Not many will survive.
The Three Eyed Raven is the Night King's personal John Connor. For some reason he's tried to kill the TER repeatedly over thousands of years, and thanks to pre-Raven Bran's carelessness he's got one tagged. So he's definitely going to take this opportunity, even if he suspects they're trying to lure him in. I don't think their trap is going to work. I think they'll hurt the Night King, do some real damage to his army, maybe even force them to pull back, but lose Bran. The Three Eyed Raven may go into someone else though. Someone who's unprepared and will end up struggling to deal with their new burden. It would be interesting to see what happens if its "host" is unwilling to surrender control and merge with it. You got the distinct impression Bran had to choose to become the Raven.
I can definitely see the Night King and Cersei coming together though. I've been watching you from up north and I'm a big fan. The High Sparrow and the wildfire, impressive piece of work! Be my queen. Just a little dragon glass shard through the heart, no big deal. 😃
Pretty sure you have to be a greenseer/warg to become a TER. Also pretty sure Bran is the last one. They haven't even come close to foreshadowing that any other major character possesses that gift.
shareThat would fit with the idea of an unsuitable host. One that would be either unwilling, unable, or some combination of both, to fully merge with the Raven's consciousness. Perhaps they would be mostly a vessel that would hold it until a proper successor was found. Maybe in the meantime they'd have some partial ability to use the sight, remember fragments of information, that sort of thing. Or it's possible the TER would die for good with Bran. Who knows?
shareThe only one I could see fitting that bill would be Sam.
shareHow interesting would it be that in the Great War the Night King uses the same strategy that Robb Stark used against Tywin and Jamie, then Jamie used it against The Unsullied and Tyrells.
The Battle of Winterfell rages all night. Many casualties on both sides. But come morning it's looking like the living have the advantage and before the day is over all of the dead have been slain. As the living are celebrating their victory, the leaders are surprised they were vanquished so quickly, thinking there would be many more. And where's the body of the Night King, and how come the Ice Dragon didn't show up? Then Bran chimes in with "They're not here." Cut to Cersei rushing to her window as the horns blow over Kings Landing to see a massive army of the dead marching on her gates, and the ice dragon flying toward her above them.
That'd be awesome.
shareAlso, how cool would it be to see an undead/walker-ized version of the old Three Eyed Raven and Hodor confront Bran at the Godswood instead of the Night King?
shareit makes sense because there's 4 episodes to go - unless there is an even bigger showdown after this over king's landing. and the last episode should be close to the first 2 - peeps talking about future plans, the new monarch giving out titles and land to the supporters, etc.
share