Jack Gleeson (Joffrey) has a theory about how the White Walkers will be defeated
For four years, actor Jack Gleeson had the unenviable task of portraying one the most hated villains in all of literature and television: Joffrey Baratheon. While he hasn’t been on Game of Thrones since his parents had extremely inappropriate sex next to his corpse (a scene that he claims to have slept through) in Season 4, he hasn’t been forgotten, and fans turned out to see him on a panel at the recent New York City Comic Con.
As it ends up, Gleeson never watched the show when it was on, and still doesn’t. “There’s too much to catch up on,” he said. “I haven’t a clue what’s going on there. It’s crazy. In my mind, all these characters are still alive, and everyone’s in this place, and those people are in that place, and they have these motivations — and now everything has been screwed around so much. It’s a completely different show.”
“Maybe I should get into it,” he quipped. “I hear it’s good.” Oh, that Jack Gleeson.
But not watching the show doesn’t mean he can’t theorize about it. When asked who should sit on the Iron Throne, he brought up a theory regarding how the White Walkers may eventually be defeated, and it actually kind of makes sense:
The Iron Throne – Image Credit: HBO
"This isn’t a spoiler, because I know zero about the show and I literally know nothing about what will happen. [A fan] came up with this theory that they told me… someone’s going to melt down the Iron Throne because it has the Valyrian steel that will overcome the White Walkers. I think that’s kind of a cool idea — the monarchy is literally dissolved."
MTV News, which reported Gleeson’s comments, notes that this particular theory was first posited on Westeros.org. Assuming the Iron Throne actually contains Valyrian Steel swords, this would be a clever development, as we know from Jon Snow’s adventures at Hardhome that Valyrian steel can kill White Walkers. It also fits perfectly with that bittersweet ending George R.R. Martin has teased in the past. What’s more bittersweet than the thing responsible for all these wars being melted down to save the human race?
The Iron Throne was originally created by Aegon the Conqueror, one of Daenerys’ ancestors. He ordered his dragon, Balerion the Black Dead, to melt down the swords of his defeated foes into one seriously uncomfortable chair. If Daenerys were to reforge the chair into working weapons, it would bring the Targaryen story full circle. I’m definitely adding this to my list of my list of favorite Game of Thrones theories.