Who Will Sit on the Iron Throne?
It is known that at this point in time only five out of the seven books in the song of ice and fire were released by G.R.R Martin. Martin developed a talent over the years to practically torture the ASOIAF fans with his long breaks between every book and revealing nothing about the future of the series. |
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In addition to the individuals that are in the running for the Iron Throne there might be alliances formed in order to eliminate the competition like we have seen with The Lannisters and The Tyrells. So far it is working for them but like all alliances of this sort it is not going to last and will explode somewhere down the line.
Now when we got that out from the way, meet our potential candidates for ruling Westeros after the dust settles:
Be aware contains spoilers
The Lannisters
The Lannisters rule the seven kingdoms right now. The question is, will they manage to sustain their grip on the Iron throne?Cersei looks to be like out of commission after the events of a feast of crows (Although knowing Cersei she will make a comeback).
Jaime Lannister is in a pickle of a sort with Breine and Lady Stonehenge so we don’t really know if he is going to survive it. If Jaime will resolve his misunderstanding with Lady Stonehenge and will manage to survive after all, he may be the best ruler the seven kingdoms can get at this point. In the last few books Jaime proved to be a rational leader who acknowledges his house might and because of it he pushed forward with his negotiations for peace in the Riverlands giving away way too much to the other side. Unfortunately Jaime's chances to survive are slim.
What leaves us with Kevan Lannister. Kevan doesn’t seem very eager to step up after so many years in the shadows behind Tywin. Add the fact that his son Lancel went kuku and turned to be a religious nut, and you will see why Kevan is tired from it all. With all that said the Lannisters are one step away from losing the grip on the Iron Throne.
Possible alliances for the Lannisters:
Currently it’s the Tyrells, it’s working so far and there is no need for the Lannisters to make any changesThe Tyrells
The Tyrells are sitting in the best position out of all the great houses and any other candidates for the Iron Throne. Margaery Tyrell is betroved to Thomen to be the Queen of the seven kingdoms. Margaery has an army of advisers (The female Tyrells including Queen of Thorns).She has her Brother Ser Loras Tyrell protecting her and Mace Tyrell using all possible resources to shift the power so that House Tyrell will rule Westeros. The only thing that the Tyrells need to do is wait for an opportunity to reveal itself and that time seems to be near more than ever.Possible alliances for The Tyrells:
The Tyrells are aligned with the Lannisters and they will tolerate the Lannisters until an opportunity will present itself to rule by themselves.Littlfinger and or Sansa Stark
Littlfinger's plan can go both ways. We know that Littlfinger wants to use Sansa to secure the north by marrying her to Harrold Hardyng the hair of the Vale after Robert Arryn will die from his sickness.Petyr Baelish already controls the Vale, By revealing Sansa to the world in her marriage to Harrold Hardyng he might get the support of the North and he even might get the support of the Riverlands (Sansa is the Grandaughter of Hoster Tully), Baelish himself has a holding in the Riverlands - Harrenhall. Littlfinger might be in control of the Vale, Riverlands and the North what makes Baelish a very strong candidate for the Iron Throne.
Littlfinger is a sort of an enigma he is very sharp and his moves are well planned and unexpected to his enemy's, other than that we dont know much about him or his plans. The only problem in Littlfinge's plan is Sansa.
Sansa is not the scared little girl she was in the beginning of the war, it took her time but she matured and she is starting to figure out Littlfinge's moves. The question is, will she be brave enough to break away from Littlfinger, sacrifice him on the way and take control of her fate into her own hands, and in the process become the strongest woman in Westeros.
Possible alliances for Littlfinger and or Sansa stark:
Littlefinger is hard to read, you do not know what he is planning next and it seems like he aligns himself with the biggest power house around (He works for the Lannisters) but underneath he makes preparations to over through the power house and get more power to himself. Currently the only person that has some sort of a clue about his plan is Sansa and she is his most significant allay but Littlfinger is the one in control of everything.Sansa is alligned with Baelish but for how long? She used to favor the Tyrells but with Littlfinger’s help she saw through their plan and the only one that she can align herself to is Jon Snow just because they grew together but they dont share a close relationship and separated miles from each other. It is most unlikely for them to work together.
Aegon Targaryen
In a Dance with Dragons we discovered that Aegon Ttargaryen is still alive. During the sacking of Kings Landing he was swapped with an orphan and all this time he was living in hiding, raised by Jon Connington and had the backing of Illyrio Mopatis. We are introduced to young Aegon when he is about to invade westeros with the Golden Company. He is successful in taking over most of the Baratheon lands but will it be enough to conquer Westeros? Probably not.Possible alliances for Aegon Ttargaryen:
The only ally Aegon Ttargaryen can get in order to sit on the Iron Throne is Daenerys, and that is only because they share the blood of the Targaryens, nothing more. Daenerys has her own plans for the Iron Throne, so even if both Targaryens find a common ground to conquer Westeros together. In the end Aegon's chances for getting the crown for himself seem to be slim.Stannis Baratheon
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Granted that his chances are slim at this point, losing the majority of his army in the battle of the Black Water. Having only 5000 men reinforced by the wildings, Stannis is not going into the confrontation with Ramsy Bolton with an upper hand. He is losing men like flies to the cold North and the ones that will survive the difficult journey will not be 100% for the confrontation with Bolton.
If by some miracle Stannis will prevail over the Boltons he will be able to round the north around himself, Rickon or Jon Snow (if Jon will accept Stannis's offer). But even without the Stark boys the north remembers what the Freys and the Boltons did; they only need an excuse to gather behind someone (In this case Stannis) to crush the two torturous houses. That excuse can be the defeat of Ramsy Bolton.
Let's go with wishful thinking and say Stannis will overcome both the Boltons and the Freys (which is a very hard task for Stannis’s army at his current position). The next task is defeating both the Lannisters and the Tyrells together or one of the two depends who will be last standing. There is a slim chance of Stannis defeating the Lannisters or the Tyrells, it is mission impossible for him to defeat both army's.
Possible alliances for Stannis Baratheon:
The only person Stannis can work with and shares a similar agenda is Jon Snow because nobody else likes Stannis or wants to work with him.Jon Snow
This entire theory revolves around the fact that Jon is not dead like everyone thinks after reading Jons last chapter in A Dance with Dragons. So let's presume that he is not dead and take it from here. In his current position Jon cannot keep on being a black crow anymore and he can proceed to become something great. The means to achieve his greatness is something a lot harder to speculate. We know that the wildings can follow him but they are not enough. There is a chance that the north can back him up but it seems not likely, him being a bastard and a "Desertor". Jon needs to align himself with another power house contender for the throne in order to have a chance to remain for the running.Possible alliances for Jon Snow
Stannis Baratheon is the natural choice but he can align himself with Daenerys because ... well you know why, we don’t have a clue how that is going to happen, nobody knows.Daenerys Targaryen
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| Daenerys Targaryen Game of Thrones Season 3 Poster |
Possible alliances for Daenerys Targaryen
Daenerys has a lot of options and in the same time doesn’t really has to align herself with anyone.She can work with Aegon but she will have to give away the Iron Throne, not likely to happen.
She could align herself with Dorne but it seems like she passed that opportunity.
The Tyrels can be an Ally for her when the deal with the Lannisters will go the wrong way and they will see that they cannot take control of Westeros by themselves
There is a possibility of working with Jon Snow and Tirion but it’s hard to see how that develops at this stage of the story.
The White Walkers
While everyone in Westeros is fighting each other it can be a great opportunity for The White Walkers to breach through the wall and practically kill everyone in sight.Possible alliances for The White Walkers
The White Walkers don’t work with nobody.A Song of Ice and Fire book set and HBO's Game of Thrones TV Seasons on DVD
Tales of Dunk and Egg Amazon short stories Collection
The Hedge Knight: The Graphic Novel
The Sworn Sword: The Graphic Novel
Warriors 1
(contains The Mystery Knight)A Song of Ice and Fire Amazon Boxed Set
ASOIAF Book set
HBO's Game of Thrones DVD Set (all Seasons)
Game of Thrones: The Complete First Season (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy)
Game of Thrones: The Complete Second Season (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy)
Game of Thrones: The Complete Third Season (Blu-ray)
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