How will Game of Thrones end? There are so many possibilities, but this one — featuring Jon Snow, Daenerys, and a legendary figure Nissa Nissa — is definitely a favorite.
If we assume that Jon Snow is Azor Ahai — and there really is some good evidence to support this — then he will need a magical, flaming sword “Lightbringer” for the final battle against the Others. That’s where Daenerys and the legendary Nissa Nissa come into play.
Nissa Nissa: How Jon Snow gets Lightbringer
Azor Ahai was chosen by the Lord of Light to fight the darkness, and he was equipped with Lightbringer, a flaming sword, to aid him. As of now, Jon Snow is one of only two characters to be singled out by the Lord of Light (the other being Beric Dondarrion) via resurrection. So he certainly has the “support from the Lord of Light” box checked in this prophecy.
However, Jon Snow does not have a flaming sword. (Dondarrion does, for what it’s worth, but he doesn’t seem central enough to the story to play this big of a role). But how did the original Azor Ahai get their sword? We have to go back to A Clash of Kings for the answer:
“Do you know the tale of the forging of Lightbringer? I shall tell it to you. It was a time when darkness lay heavy on the world. To oppose it, the hero must have a hero’s blade, oh, like none that had ever been. And so for thirty days and thirty nights Azor Ahai labored sleepless in the temple, forging a blade in the sacred fires. Heat and hammer and fold, heat and hammer and fold, oh, yes, until the sword was done. Yet when he plunged it into water to temper the steel it burst asunder.
“Being a hero, it was not for him to shrug and go in search of excellent grapes such as these, so again he began. The second time it took him fifty days and fifty nights, and this sword seemed even finer than the first. Azor Ahai captured a lion, to temper the blade by plunging it through the beast’s red heart, but once more the steel shattered and split. Great was his woe and great was his sorrow then, for he knew what he must do.”
“A hundred days and a hundred nights he labored on the third blade, and as it glowed white-hot in the sacred fires, he summoned his wife. ‘Nissa Nissa,’ he said to her, for that was her name, ‘bare your breast, and know that I love you best of all that is in this world.’ She did this thing, why I cannot say, and Azor Ahai thrust the smoking sword through her living heart. It is said that her cry of anguish and ecstasy left a crack across the face of the moon, but her blood and her soul and her strength and her courage all went into the steel. Such is the tale of the forging of Lightbringer, the Red Sword of Heroes.”
-A Clash of Kings, Davos I
Recap: The forging of Lightbringer with Nissa Nissa
- Azor Ahai spent 30 days building a blade, which broke when he attempted to temper the steel
- He then spent 50 days building another sword, which broke when he slew a lion
- He then spent 100 days building a third sword, which he then thrust through his wife’s heart — Nissa Nissa.
- Nissa Nissa’s “blood and her soul and her strength and her courage all went into the steel,” and Lightbringer was born
Daenerys is Jon Snow’s Nissa Nissa
This theory is predicated on the assumption that Jon Snow and Daenerys will get married. That’s obviously not a guarantee, but both are single, both are rulers, and both need allies. It would probably be just a political marriage — Jon (Ygritte) and Dany (Khal Drogo) have both already loved and lost — although it’s possible they could love each other.
In any event, this Game of Thrones ending theory suggests that Jon Snow will have to drive his sword into his wife’s (Dany’s) chest, killing her, but creating Lightbringer in the process, ultimately aiding him (and the living) in the ultimate final battle against the dead. Dany’s soul (made of fire) would imbue the steel, which would make it the flaming sword from the prophecy.
This would also give us the “bittersweet ending” George R. R. Martin promised. Jon and Dany are both “good guys” in the story, so it would be difficult to see one of them sacrificing themselves at the hand of the other.
My idea how to translate the story of Lightbringer: It was a time when the darkness (wars) lay heavy on the world. To oppose it, the hero must have plunged the sword into water (ice creatures), into a lion (Cersai) and his beloved (Daenerys). The center point is that the sword is then not to stop the “white walkers”, but to stop wars. I believe that war is the real enemy according to Martin.
It looks like these 3 enemies are followed even in TV series. I am looking forward to the books.
It fits the prophecies better if Dany is azor ahai and Jon her Nissa Nissa.
Yes this. Jon should be the Nissa Nissa. Dany fits the Azor Ahai prophecies better. Melisandre also said she saw darkness in Arya. If they wanted a major twist, Arya could turn real dark and Dany needs to sacrifice Jon to reforge Lightbringer so she can defeat dark Arya. That would tie up all the prophecies I think. It’s also make brains explode.
After Dany’s descent into madness, it makes sense that he will have to kill her now and fulfil his duty as protector of the realm.
He probably gets the flaming blade through the actual act of stabbing Dany since the blood of dragon’s runs through her.