CAUTION: WILD THEORIZING AND SPOILER-ISH CONTENT
With the painful dearth of information coming from either George R.R. Martin or HBO, it’s no surprise that Game of Thrones fans have taken to discussing wild theories. Gotta pass the time somehow.
Some of those theories are easier to disprove than others. One that flared up again this past year was the idea that, somehow, the siblings Jojen and Meera Reed are more important than they appear. Jojen has already fulfilled his goal of leading Bran to the Three-Eyed Raven, and as far as the show is concerned, he’s dead. But what about Meera? What is her purpose? With little to go on, and quite a bit of curly hair to stare at, fans started whispering that she and Jon Snow look rather alike. And Meera and Jojen’s father, Howland Reed, was at the Tower of Joy with Ned Stark toward the end of Robert’s Rebellion. If, as another popular fan theory goes, Jon Snow was born at this time and Ned took him home, couldn’t there have been two babies? And couldn’t Howland have taken the other one?
When this theory was put to Ellie Kendrick (Meera) in a new interview with Digital Spy, she all but laughed in the interviewer’s face.
I genuinely don’t have any idea as we don’t get told anything! But, I don’t know. I think people might just be thinking that because we’ve both got curly hair. In the books, our characters are described quite differently.
Kendrick is not wrong, for the record. (It’s also a sign she’s read the books, which is becoming less and less true for the actors on the show, as the ones who did read them before being cast are all killed off.) As the World of Ice and Fire wiki notes, her book description is as follows: “As is typical of crannogmen, Meera is short and slim. She has long brown hair and green eyes.” The fact that Kendrick happens to resemble Kit Harrington because of the round pale face and curly hair is most likely a coincidence of casting.
Not that Kendrick wouldn’t love that sort of upgrade.
Hey, I’d love it to be true because it would mean great things for my character, but I’m holding back on speculation for now. I think what’s been going on in George RR Martin’s brain is so much more a complex wormhole than we could possibly imagine. I think there’s definitely a mystery to Meera and Jojen and their parentage, but I think it’ll unwind itself eventually.
Interesting to hear that she thinks there’s a “mystery” to her character’s parentage. Maybe she’s just talking about how Howland Reed has cast a large shadow over the story but has yet to be seen?
She also points out that her character isn’t really cut out for any sort of rise to power.
To be honest, I don’t think Meera would be all that good on the Iron Throne! She’s a little bit of a socialist at heart, I don’t think she’ll be able to rule with the iron fist that the throne requires.
If only all the characters were this self-aware about their suitability for leadership, so much bloodshed could have been avoided. Kendrick is expected to be back for this coming season of the show. Until then, she can be see trotting the boards in London in an all female version of Cyrano de Bergerac. It opens at the Southwark Playhouse on February 18, and runs through March 19.