Cersei's Prophecy- Who is the Valonqar?

So this week's post is about Cersei's prophecy that we see in the season premiere episode of Season 5 of Game of Thrones. This is the first time ever we see a character flashback in Game of Thrones. I'm sure a lot of people got curious about the prophecy but there's more to this. So let's see dissect this prophecy!

In the books this theory occurs in the books A Feast For Crows. In the Song of Ice & Fire there exists various different prophecies that foretell the events in the world of Ice and Fire and related to various characters from the book and the show. Some of the theories are the theory of Azor Ahai, The theory of Three Dragons, there's also Quaithe's prophecy about Daenerys and even a Dothraki prophecy about the Stallion who mounts the world. But today we're here to discuss a particular theory foretold by Maggy The Frog in AFFC and the 1st episode of the last season. Cersei's prophecy.

In the beginning of Season 5 , Cersei is coming to terms with the deaths of Joffrey and her father Tywin Lannister and starts to begin overly paranoid about all those who are trying to put her down and harm those who are close to her. Through this theory we learn that a lot of Cersei's insecurities regarding the Tyrells and Tyrion stem from this prophecy told to her as a young girl by Maggy The Frog.

With regards to Maggy herself, very little is known of her. She originally hailed from the East arriving in Westeros as a young woman with her husband. Apart from this we know very little about her even from the books. Even her true name is a mystery and 'Maggy'is probably bastardized name. Maggy was supposedly from Asshai , a land which is well known for its magic (even Melissandre and Quaithe are from Asshai). Despite of her mysterious origins Maggy gained immense notoriety for her psyhic abilities and soon caught the attention of young Cersei. It's important to note that prior to Cerse's meet with Maggy she was already obsessed with Prince Rhaegar Targaryen since Tywin had told her that she will be betrothed to the prince one day. So combining her father's words and her own curiosity she wanted to check if she really will marry the prince one day and visited Maggy with her friend Mellara. Maggy allowed both girls three questions each and Cersei got immediately down to business and asked her what she wanted.

"When will I wed the Prince?" Cersei asked.

"Never, you will wed the King" Maggy replied.

Cersei was obviously confused at the time about her reply and for years she had assumed that she will not marry Rhaegar until he became the king. As we all know this indeed did come true when Cersei married Robert Baratheon after he became the king.

"I will be Queen though" Cersei continued

"Queen you shall be...until there comes another, younger and more beautiful, to cast you down and take all that you hold dear" Maggy replied.

This left Cersei with one last question-

"Will the King and I have children?"

"Oh-aye, Six and ten for him and three for you, Gold shall be their crowns and gold their shrouds"

But Maggy didn't stop at that and the next one is the most interesting part of the prophecy-

"And when your tears have drowned you, the Valonqar shall wrap his hands around your pale white throat and choke the life from you".

Cersei being too young at that time didn't take this too seriously.

So let's dissect the theory and see what it means-

The first one is pretty obvious Robert Baratheon , since we know Prince Rhaegar was killed by Robert at the Battle of the Trident leading to Baratheon becoming the king. Soon after that Cersei wed Robert.

The answer to Cersei's second question, however, is not that obvious. Who is the younger and more beautiful queen and how will she cast Cersei down and take all that she holds dear?

The first candidate is obviously, Margaery Tyrell. For all those who are up to date with the books and the show, we know that Margaery was highly influential in Cersei's trial against the faith. If Cersei's champion was to be defeated in her trial by combat she could face execution for charges like murder, treason, fornication. GRRM mentioned in one of his interviews that prophecies are ambiguous and they might come true but just not in the most obvious ways. So IMO, Margaery isn't really the candidate here. GRRM also mentioned that Cersei in her efforts to prevent the prophecy from coming true might unconciously make it happen which is currently seen happening on the show Joffrey and Myrcella already being dead (she's alive in the books).

The next candidate for the younger queen is- Daenerys Targaryen. Simply because apart from Margaery she's the only acknowledged younger queen in the song of ice and fire so far.It also seems very fitting considering Dany's deep seeded hatred for the Lannisters.But the biggest limitation to this theory is that Cersei's downfall seems imminent and it's highly unlikely that Dany will even reach Westeros by that time.

Next candidate for this prophecy is Sansa Stark. Now Sansa does obviously have a lot of unsettled business with the Lannisters- the murder of her father, mother and brother for starters. Not to mention that Sansa is no longer the timid she once was and we are slowly beginning to see her transformation into someone who's really adept in playing the Game Of Thrones making her a more than worthy adversary for Cersei Lannister and as of now it's very likely that Sansa will become Queen in the North, now that she has escaped the Boltons. And with Queenship comes Bannermen so If Sansa decides to march to King's Landing with her Bannermen it would result in severe consequences.

The last part however is really really ambiguous and interesting- The Valonqar!

Valonqar in High Valyrian means 'Little Brother' so I'm sure now you guys are thinking who are the candidates for being the Valonqar. The first and most obivious being Tyrion. Cersei herself considers Tyrion to be the Valonqar for many years possibly even from the time of his birth. This is likely due to the unfortunate circumstance of her mother's death while giving birth to Tyrion. And we have seen how overl strained and difficult their relationship is in the show as well as in the books. Once again why I feel that it's unlikely is simply because it's just too god damn obvious!

Which leads us to our next option- Kingslayer Jamie Lannister.

Now even though they're twins it's clearly mentioned in the books that Jamie was born few minutes after Cersei making him the younger brother. Now I say Jamie, because unlike the show where they're still pretty tight, in the books their relationship is more than estranged. Although Jamie has done pretty awful things like pushing Bran off the tower, raping Cersei at Joffrey's funeral but he's also shown to have some amount of moral compass like when the time Brienne was thrown into the pit to fight a bear and Jamie jumped in to save her. So maybe at some point where Cersei is planning to burn King's Landing to the ground, Jamie will take up in his hands the tasks to end the suffering of the people of the Kingdom.

The next option is perhaps my favourite it's Sandor Clegane 'The Hound'

So there's a Gravedigger theory that although Arya left The Hound to die, he didn't really die and was rescued by the Faith Brothers and nursed back to health and turned to religion. And he now resides as the Quiet Aisle as the Grave digger, but how does this tie together and make him The Valonqar?

Here's how- So we all know Qyburn has resurrected The Mountain who will probably be Cersei's champion in a trial by combat ("I choose violence") leaving the Faith to choose their own champion. The Hound on being compelled to serve the Faith and learning about Ser Robert Strong might somehow figure out that it's really his brother The Mountain and would fight as the Faith's champion. And the Valonqar means 'little brother'but it doesn't say that it has to be Cersei's own brother. The only problem with this theory is even if he defeats Ser Robert Strong in the trial, it will only result in Cersei's execution by the faith and he won't be directly killing her as mentioned in the prophecy.

So that's it about Cersei's prophecy, what do you guys think will happen this season?

Do let me know!