Game of Thrones: Was the Azor Ahai at the Battle of Winterfell?
On Game of Thrones, the Battle of Winterfell ended a way very few expected. But was the Azor Ahai there?
There are spoilers from Game of Thrones Season 8, Episode 3 in this post.
There’s been a hero prophecy linked to almost every religion in Game of Thrones. What it all boils down to is that the Gods worshipped in the fictional world of Game of Thrones have been foreshadowing a single person that will be a savior to the realm. The catch is that this story is based on George R.R. Martin’s series and he is an author that is infamous for breaking the rules to make a point. And it is more likely than ever that the singular hero to save the world is going to be the least expected.
The Red God’s prophecy of the Azor Ahai is the most famous prophecy to date, even engaging non-Lord of Light worshippers to the attractive prediction. It’s based on the reincarnation of a hero that fought the White Walkers in the past and Game of Thrones fans have been scouring what we have (which is very little) of the Azor Ahai prophecy for signs as to who it is. There are at most a few vague poetic lines from the prediction and Melisandre’s personal Lord of Light guided intuition to reference.
But the most critical piece of Azor Ahai prophecy after the Battle of Winterfell is that “the darkness shall flee before him.” That has been interpreted by the realm of GoT to mean that this hero will defeat the Night King because he is the one that brings the darkness with him. Now that Arya Stark pulverized the Night King ending the whole White walker and living dead threat, we must consider whether Arya is the long-awaited Azor Ahai.
Lightbringer
"“In this dread hour, a warrior shall draw from the fire a burning sword. And that sword shall be Lightbringer, the Red Sword of Heroes…”"
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One of the things that GoT fans have always predicted is that there will be a trick behind Lightbringer. Some have guessed that Jaime Lannister’s golden hand could burst into flames and others have speculated that Lightbringer will be a sword that we’ve already seen. But the answer to the identity of Lightbringer was in front of us the whole time in plain sight.
The Lightbringer prophecy has always been a feasible idea because Beric Dondarrion has been wielding a flaming sword since he was first resurrected. Not only is Lightbringer possibly Beric’s sword but Lightbringer could be Beric himself. If Arya is the Azor Ahai, then Beric is her Lightbringer since the next lines of the prophecy say that “he who clasps it shall be Azor Ahai come again.”
Beric Dondarrion
Beric’s numerous resurrections proved that the Lord of Light had a purpose with him and he could not die until his task was completed. After safely guiding Arya through the crypts of Winterfell to safety, we can now say with certainty that Beric’s goal was to make sure that Arya survived.
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If you take the story back to shortly after Ned Stark’s death, you’ll remember that Beric captured Arya when he was the leader of the Brothers Without Banners. It could have been an incident that happened so that Beric could warm up to the girl in preparation for the moment that he would risk his life for her. But the more reasonable assumption is that Beric was protecting Arya back then and his mission to save Arya started soon after he began to be resurrected.
Melisandre
"“I see a darkness in you. And in that darkness, eyes staring back at me. Brown eyes, blue eyes, green eyes. Eyes sealed shut forever. We will meet again.”"
At first, Melisandre’s prophecy seemed to be a general observation of the secret no one knew about Arya. Arya has been on an intentional killing spree for a while. She’d killed different people with different eye colors in a revenge mission with the help of the Many-Faced God. But in fact, it is possible the Melisandre was actually pinpointing specific victims of importance. And it seems that the blue-eyed victim isn’t someone with eyes like Tormund. It is the blue undead eyes of Night King.
The prophecy wasn’t only a foreshadowing. When Melisandre said it carefully to Arya for the second time she was breaking down what she wanted Arya to understand. It all seemed to ring bells in Arya’s head when Melisandre utters the words that Arya’s instructor Syrio had asked her every day of her training.
What do we say to the God of Death? The answer is “not today,” but given that Melisandre plucked this phrase she couldn’t know had meaning to Arya from the air, then it obviously was said for an important reason.
Arya’s training has included telling the God of Death that she’s not ready yet. Funny enough, it is the Night King who brings death with him everywhere he goes. It is at this moment she realizes she’s the one that needs to kill the Night King.
Lastly, Melisandre’s whole existence was about finding the Azor Ahai. She risked the lives of innocents and failed everyone after supporting Stannis, who clearly wasn’t the chosen one. But after flaming the Dothraki swords, setting flame to the wood in the moat, and guiding Arya to her destiny, Melisandre went to die. The fact that she felt she had completed what she had set out to do has to signify that Arya is, in fact, the Azor Ahai.
Now, other pieces of the Azor Ahai prophecy are hard to align with Arya. The hero is said to be born again “amid salt and smoke,” and they will “wake dragons out of stone.” It’s unclear how this applies to Arya, but I think that the answer may be complicated.
While the Azor Ahai is also referred to as the Prince That Was Promised interchangeably, it’s possible that the Azor Ahai is actually two people. And that the Prince That Was Promised has yet to come. Unless, of course, they explain how all the prophecies and signs point to Arya in the coming episodes. We’ll have to see how the rest of the series plays out to finally get our answers.
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