Game of Thrones: Longclaw Theory Shot Down by Director

Alan Taylor dismisses the sword wink.

By Matt Fowler

Warning: Full spoilers for all of Game of Thrones up through the episode "Beyond the Wall."

A "blink and you'll miss it" moment from this past weekend's episode of Game of Thrones: Season 7's penultimate episode set the Internet aflame with speculation. In fact, it was a blink that set theorists off: it appeared as though the wolf handle on Jon Snow's Valyrian steel sword, Longclaw (of House Mormont), blinked right when he escaped from the freezing cold lake. In an episode full of stunning visual effects, this supposed Easter egg seemed to slip past most viewers.

Ever since this was spotted, of course, fans have been speculating about what it might mean. Was it a callback to Drogon's eye dilating in the previous episode, "Eastwatch?" Did the new handle somehow contain supernatural elements? Was Bran using the eye to see up into the North? Was it a nod to the fact that, perhaps, Jon too had warging powers? Could this have been a signal from the Lord of Light? Or even something to note that Jon was, perhaps, Azor Ahai, the Prince Who Was Promised, and that Longclaw was the new Lightbringer?

As it turns out, the blinking effect was completely unintentional and wasn't meant to signify anything.

In a recent interview with Insider, "Beyond the Wall" director Alan Taylor, who'd returned to the series years after directing Season 1's final two episodes, said that he hadn't "a clue what [fans were] talking about."

"I'm going to have to go back and watch that moment close up," Taylor added, "and in slow motion to see what's going on there. I can say that there was no intention for that to be the case."

What people saw, apparently, was an unintentional brief marking on the eye that was either shadow or a reflection. In an episode filled with revelations and new twists, this wasn't one of them.

But while this moment may not have panned out on the speculation front, "Beyond the Wall" still had plenty of things to theorize about. One of which is the idea that the Night King may be, in fact, Bran Stark - a long-running theory that got a boost from "Beyond the Wall." It involves Bran, who would have gotten stuck in the past, getting trapped inside the first white walker ever created (the Night King, who he witnessed getting turned), while attempting to actually thwart the creation of white walkers.

It's a dense theory that involves warging, the idea that spending too much time in the past will get you stuck there, and the fact that the Night King and Bran seemed to be connected psychically. Notably, Bran is also able to warg into humans and has powers that not only allow him to see into the past, but change things as well.

There's even an element of the theory that suggest that the voices that drove King Aerys "Mad" came from Bran, who was telling him to "Burn" all the white walkers.

There are holes for sure - namely why the Three-Eyed-Raven before Bran never mentioned anything - but the theory's gotten some new believers this week. Basically, broken down, Bran's attempts to prevent the "Great War" cause him to go back in time in steps, failing at every turn, until eventually he time travels too much and gets trapped.

Hell, it's no more crazy than my personal weird theory that Arya Stark never made it to Winterfell. I know there are some who think Arya never actually made it back to Westeros, and that she's really just been the Waif in Arya skin the whole time. My idea is less extreme than that and just uses the Nymeria reunion in the woods as a turning point to actually send her to King's Landing and "No One" to Winterfell. How would Jaqen have Arya's face without killing her? Welp, that's a hole, now isn't it?

Another Season 7 theory, this one directly involving Sunday's feature-length finale, "The Dragon and the Wolf," involves the subtly hyped-for-years "Cleganebowl" - the inevitable second showdown between The Hound and his vile (now half-dead) brother The Mountain. It would be Round 2 of the fight these two started back in Season 1, with both of them now having been resurrected, in a way, and brought back from certain death.

What appears to be The Hound from the Season 7 finale.

A quick image from the trailer for Season 7's finale seems to show The Hound getting ready to fight (wouldn't it be awesome if he was holding Thoros' flaming sword?) and since we also know that Daenerys and her crew will be heading there to try and form an uneasy alliance with Cersei, it's possible that Ser Sandor and Ser Gregor will clash.

What is your favorite theory about what's to come on Game of Thrones? Let us know in the comments!

Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association (TCA). Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at http://ift.tt/2aJ67FB.

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