If This Theory Is True, Theon Is Going to Have to Kill Bran and Turn Him into a White Walker to Defeat the Night King

Yep, you read that right.

According to a new and trending theory about Game of Thrones episode three, Theon Greyjoy will have to kill Bran Stark in the Weirwood forest (where they’ll be waiting for the Night King to take their bait and come searching for Bran the Three-Eyed Raven). And, yes, that’s your cue to throw your head back and curse the heavens.

The theory, posted to Reddit by user cabtx, states that in order for Bran Stark to kill the Night King, Theon (who volunteered to protect the Three-EyedRaven) will have to murder Bran.

But, um, that doesn’t sound like he’d be doing a super good job of protecting him, right? Well, actually, Theon will be helping Bran sacrifice himself for the cause. See, if Bran dies and is reanimated by the Night King’s hand to be a White Walker (with some weird special powers we don’t yet understand, because he’d be a White Walker Three-Eyed Raven combo…), Bran would be unstoppable.

As a White Walker Three-Eyed Raven (stay with us, guys), Bran would be able to finally kill the Night King because it means that BRAN CAN NO LONGER DIE. Since he’s already dead, White Walker Bran can rise up, kill the Night King (or, like, destroy him somehow, since he’s technically already dead, too), end all of the Army of the Dead, and let everyone continue living their lives (and getting sweaty in the haystacks—Arya and Gendry, we’re lookin’ at you).

But why Theon, you ask? Since Theon once pretended to kill Bran and Rickon (by having two innocent farm boys burned alive instead), this act would fulfill Theon’s redemption arc and “will forge Bran into the only weapon capable of beating the NK,” cabtx writes. “Bran is the key to Theon’s redemption. By turning Bran into a New Night King, Theon will finally be fully redeemed.”

This is, of course, all contingent on the fact that the Night King will come knocking at Winterfell’s door during the giant battle of episode three. But that may not be the case...

Another popular theory posits that the Night King isn’t going to just waltz into Winterfell with his Army of the Dead and his ice dragon like we all expect. Daenerys still has two dragons, Winterfell is equipped with loads of dragonglass for weapons and they’ve got (almost) all the armies in the world readying for the big face-off.

The Night King, being a rational (undead) being, isn’t going to risk the loss of ice dragon Viserion and the chance of defeat against TWO dragons (which would probably end badly for him). Instead, he’s going to already be at King’s Landing by the time half of the Army of the Dead reaches Winterfell (the other half will bypass the Stark fortress and continue on their way south). Glaring hint numero uno: Bran’s not freaking out, and he’s supposedly able to see everything (past and present).

So if Bran’s good, we’re good. (But, like, we’ll be watching you veryyyyyy closely, Theon.)

Tune in to episode three on Sunday, April 28, at 9 p.m. on HBO to see it all unfold.