Game of Thrones theorycrafting: Will Cersei Lannister marry Euron Greyjoy?

Cersei may be queen, but she’s ruling over a broken realm. The Reach (aka Tyrell country) and Dorne stand firmly against her. The North, too, has rebelled, and elected Jon Snow its king. If Cersei is lucky, the Northerners will be too preoccupied, possibly with White Walkers, to enter the fray, because if they did, they would certainly oppose her.

But Cersei is not without resources. She has the King’s Landing gold cloaks under her command, and the armies of the Westerlands. The Riverlands remain loyal to the crown, although they may be distracted in the wake of Walder Frey’s death. It’s unclear where the Stormlands stand, but it’s plausible that they could join with Cersei. In the books, many of the storm lords who fought with Stannis at the Battle of the Blackwater received pardons afterward. Plus, with all the Baratheons dead, the storm lords might as well follow the wife of the last trueborn Baratheon king, and the mother of the last two iffily born ones.

The Knights of the Vale, currently under Littlefinger’s charge, are a wildcard. The last time Littlefinger and Cersei met, Littlefinger claimed to be on her side. He’s now claimed to be on Sansa’s. You can never tell with that guy. He’s as likely to stay in the North and help Sansa as he is to ride to Cersei’s aid as he is to kill everyone and claim power for himself. I’m taking a wait-and-see approach with him.

The point is that Cersei has some troops under her command. Will it be enough to counter the combined weight of Daenerys, the Tyrells, and Dorne? Probably not, but with Euron’s help, it may not have to be.

Daenerys’ coalition is pretty unstoppable…on land. Dothraki, Unsullied, dragons, Tyrell and Dornish knights…there’s just no fighting that. Her fleet of ships, however, is more vulnerable. The Dothraki’s prowess on horseback and the Unsullied’s nigh-invincibility on the ground count for little at sea. Even her dragons might be neutered. Although the show hasn’t gone into this, it stands to reason that the dragons may not be able to follow the fleet over open water for long periods of time. I’m not sure the ships in the final shot of Season 6 are big enough for Drogon to sleep on, and unless the dragons can fly indefinitely, they may have to retreat to the mainland for the occasional rest, and cross into Westeros where the Narrow Sea is narrowest. (Admittedly, this might not apply to Rhaegal and Viserion, who are smaller.)

The Ironborn, on the other hand, are experts at fighting at sea. If Euron, with his 1000 ships, can meet Daenerys’ fleet on the open water, he could have an advantage, and he may have yet another trick up his sleeve.

Again, the show hasn’t mentioned this and may well not go into it, but in the novels, Euron found something important during his visit to Old Valyria: a dragon horn, an ancient artifact used to control dragons in the days before Valyria fell. The one Euron found is named Dragonbinder.

Does he have it on the show? It’s unknown, but if he does, it’s pretty obvious the kind of damage he could do with it. Dany’s dragons being neutered would be bad; one or more switching sides would be far, far worse. And with Daenerys tied up at sea, Cersei should have enough troops to crush the Tyrell and Dornish rebellions.

The Winds of Winter, George R.R. Martin’s as-yet-unreleased Song of Ice and Fire book, has a horn on the cover. If this is Dragonbinder, it’s bound to play a big role in the story.

But even without his horn, Euron and Cersei stand a chance of stopping Daenerys, or at least dealing a blow to her, if they work together. Personally, I think we’ll see some kind of naval clash in Season 7, in part because of the reasons I’ve outlined above and in part because the show hasn’t depicted a proper naval battle yet, and we know the producers like to try new things.

What do you think will happen? We’ve got months to speculate, so get to it.