Game of Thrones season 7 finale: 10 lingering questions we need answered

Game of Thrones’ season seven finale answered a few of the questions we had, but also left us with some new ones.

[Warning: The following contains spoilers for Game of Thrones season seven.]

Now that the biggest question is out of the way — yes, Daenerys and Jon did act upon their deepest desires — a few smaller ones have popped up. Concerns over Cersei and Jaime’s relationship have been mounting all season, and the finale didn’t give us a definitive resolution. Looking at the show’s newest incestuous relationship, how sure are we that Daenerys can’t have children? Perhaps most importantly, it’s evident that Brienne and the Hound respect each other enough to joke around; what does that mean for poor Tormund, who wants nothing more than to whisk Brienne away?

These are just a handful of the questions we have now that Game of Thrones’ seventh season has wrapped. As additional information comes out following interviews with the showrunners and cast, along with behind-the-scenes videos, there are sure to be more. For now, here are the most important questions we can’t stop scratching our heads over as we theorize possible answers.

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Can Daenerys have a child?

Daenerys’ dragons have always been her children. It’s what made watching the Night King’s murder of Viserion so difficult to watch. Daenerys’ inability to have a child goes back to the first season, when she was pregnant with her son, whom she planned to name Rhaego. Dany’s son was supposed to be the chosen one, the “stallion who mounts the world.” But everything changed when she stepped in to stop a group of Dothraki men from raping the Lhazareen priestess Mirri Maz Duur.

Her husband, Khal Drogo, stood behind his wife’s decision, and was forced to kill Mago, one of the Dothraki men who had complained to him. Their fight left him with an infected scar, and the only way Dany could save his life was by sacrificing a life, according to Mirri Maz Duur. Daenerys thought this meant Khal Drogo’s horse, but it was her unborn son who died to save her husband’s life. In the second season, Daenerys tells Jorah that her dragons are the only children she’ll ever have.

But what if that’s not true? Here’s what the prophecy that Mirri Maz Duur gives Dany in the first Song of Ice and Fire book proclaims, referring to Drogo:

When the sun rises in the west and sets in the east. When the seas go dry and mountains blow in the wind like leaves. When your womb quickens again, and you bear a living child. Then he will return, and not before.

Daenerys may have taken the improbabilities associated with the prophecy as gospel, but what if it wasn’t meant to be so literal? “When your womb quickens again, and you bear a living child” signals that Daenerys could and would get pregnant again.

We’ve seen Jon and Dany consummate their love — and now we’ll wait to see if there are consequences that arise from that night on the sea.

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Is Tyrion in love with Daenerys, too?

During Jon and Dany’s intimate moment, Tyrion stands in the hallway leading to Dany’s cabin. He’s looking at the door, concerned, but we never get an explicit reason why he’s so worried.

According to a letter that author George R.R. Martin sent to his publisher in 1993, as reported by Vanity Fair, Tyrion may just be jealous. Martin said his plan was to have Tyrion fall in love with Arya — whom Martin also wanted Jon Snow to fall for. That didn’t happen in the books or the show; instead, Jon fell for Daenerys ... the queen whom Tyrion betrayed his Lannister family to serve.

Here’s what Martin wrote:

Exiled, Tyrion will change sides, making common cause with the surviving Starks to bring his brother down, and falling helplessly in love with Arya Stark while he’s at it. His passion is, alas, unreciprocated, but no less intense for that, and it will lead to a deadly rivalry between Tyrion and Jon Snow.

It sure seems like Tyrion is in love with Daenerys. Which is very disappointing and even more eye-roll-inducing than Dany and Jon’s forbidden love affair.

Where is Jaime going?

After his fight with Cersei, Jaime took off on horseback, heading ... somewhere.

We can make a couple of educated guesses based on the events leading up to Jaime’s turncoat decision. He was furious with his sister when she told him her plan to abandon Jon and Daenerys and use their excursion in the North as an opportunity to reclaim the lands they vacate. Jaime believes in what Jon and Dany are doing, which makes it seem all the more likely that he’s heading North to join them.

It was also snowing when Jaime left King’s Landing. Game of Thrones is a show all about foreshadowing. Having snow fall in the South when the Night King was bringing down the great Wall, unleashing a new wave of terror on the Seven Kingdoms unlike anything they’ve ever seen, is quite the image.

Still, we can’t confirm that Jaime is going North at this point. We don’t know where he’s going or when he’ll get there.

Are Tormund and Beric alive?

The finale’s last scene saw Viserion burn down the Wall, allowing the Night King and his army of wights and White Walkers to march south. The only people who saw this coming, standing atop the Night Watch post at Eastwatch, were Tormund Giantsbane, Beric Dondarrion and the men of the Night’s Watch with them.

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They survived their initial encounter with the Night King and the White Walkers while stuck out in the icy plains beyond the Wall, but we don’t know if they would have survived the Wall crashing down.

Unfortunately, we may have to wait until next season to get this answered.

Is this the beginning of a new day for Theon?

Theon came into his own during the finale, taking a page from Jon Snow’s book and standing up for what was right.

Upon deciding that he wasn’t going to let his sister Yara die, Theon faces some backlash from his fellow Ironborn. One in particular stars pounding on Theon, beating him nearly senseless, threatening to kill the tormented man every time he gets back up. It’s only when the aggressor begins to kick Theon in the crotch — an area that no longer means anything of consequence to the literally emasculated Greyjoy — that Theon is able to fight back and win the respect of his tribe.

Standing up proudly, he proclaims that they will save Yara, to the excited cheers of the Greyjoy clan. As Theon stumbles toward the ocean, splashing water on his face, it kind of feels like this is a new day for him. Will Theon be able to lead his men, save his sister from their uncle Euron and redeem himself in the eyes of Jon?

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Are Jaime and Cersei over?

Jaime and Cersei have suffered a few relationship hiccups this season. As Cersei transforms into a sadistic, tyrannical leader that Jaime no longer recognizes, it’s harder for him to continue pledging allegiance to his sister. It’s only after Cersei tells Jaime she’s pregnant that he softens a bit: uneasy with the world knowing about their incestuous relationship, but excited by the prospect of another child.

That all came to a head in the finale. After Cersei told Jaime what she had planned once Jon and Daenerys left, Jaime fought back. He called Cersei out for her cowardice and lies. He also told her she couldn’t prevent him from helping the Dragon and the Wolf, who had just taken off to stop the undead army from destroying the Seven Kingdoms. Cersei, in a moment of panic, threatens to have him killed for treason. She doesn’t need Jaime anymore, she claims. Euron would gladly marry Cersei, and once she gives birth, she’ll secure the Lannisters’ control over the Iron Throne.

Jaime dares Cersei to order the Mountain to strike him down where he stands, and when she nods at the resurrected knight and he takes out his sword, Jaime calls her bluff. He turns his back on his sister, venturing off into the distance without glancing back once. What does this mean for their future? Is their relationship finally over? And what about their unborn child?

Is Cersei lying about the pregnancy?

Speaking of an unborn child, we still don’t know for sure if Cersei is pregnant. We know that she is unlikely to give birth, thanks to a prophecy from her own youth, but there hasn’t been any confirmation that she’s actually with child.

The only hint of an answer we got was Tyrion’s shocked realization that he believed his sister to be pregnant. Cersei probably is carrying a child, but that leads to another question: Will she have a miscarriage? Will something go wrong with the baby once it’s born? Either way, something bad is coming for Cersei and the incestuous baby that lies within her womb (again, if it’s actually there).

Are we ever going to get the Cleganebowl?

How much longer are we going to have to wait for this to happen?

There was an opportune moment for both the Hound and the Mountain to fight in the finale. Gathered in the dragon fighting pits at King’s Landing, in an open area rife with the possibility of battle, the brothers didn’t even flinch at one another’s appearance. It seems far more unlikely with each passing season that we’re going to get this, so don’t get your hopes up.

What is Viserion breathing?

By now, everyone has seen this incredible moment:

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An undead Viserion, unleashing a torrent of blue flame on the Wall, bringing it cascading to the ground.

Does Viserion breathe ice or fire?

Our best guess is that it’s fire infused with some kind of magic. Remember when the Children of the Forest first created the Night King, and his eyes turned blue? It’s the same magic, we assume, that the Night King used to resurrect Viserion, turning his eyes the same shade of electric blue.

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What we know for sure, however, is that Viserion wasn’t breathing ice. He’s not an ice dragon — he’s just undead. Here is the description of ice dragons from the books:

Whereas common dragons (if any dragon can truly be said to be common) breathe flame, ice dragons supposedly breathe cold, a chill so terrible that it can freeze a man solid in half a heartbeat [...] As ice dragons supposedly melt when slain, no actual proof of their existence has ever been found.

Taking this into consideration, it’s far more likely that Viserion is able to unleash a magical, fiery attack on whatever or whomever he wants, not a torrent of lethal ice.

Most important: What are we calling Jon from now on?

As Bran said in the finale (with detective work from Samwell Tarly), Jon isn’t a Snow, Stark or Sand — he’s a Targaryen. To be specific, he’s Aegon Targaryen.

This brings up a host of issues for all fans, but it’s a major pain in the ass for Polygon’s Game of Thrones writers. How do we refer to Jon in our stories? Is he Jon or Aegon? Is he “Aegon, formerly known as Jon Snow?” Is he “Jon Snow, who is actually named Aegon Targaryen?”

To find out, I asked Game of Thrones expert, senior reporter and resident copy editor Samit Sarkar for his take. Here’s what he told me:

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That’s how we’ll be referring to Jon Snow (aka Aegon Targaryen) from now on. Hopefully, we can start referring to him as Aegon — or staying with Jon — once the new season starts.

Game of Thrones will return in either 2018 or 2019. At this time, HBO has not confirmed when the show’s eighth and final season will premiere.