This Game of Thrones Theory May Reveal How Daenerys Will Discover Jon Snow’s True Identity

‘To go north, you must journey south. To reach the west, you must go east. To go forward, you must go back. To touch the light you must pass beneath the shadow.’

‘Quaithe?’ Dany called. “Where are you, Quaithe?’

Then she saw. Her mask is made of starlight.

‘Remember who you are, Daenerys,’ the stars whispered in a woman’s voice. ‘The dragons know. Do you?’

There have been many theories about the meaning of this prophecy. While the first parts were generally pretty clear (it’s Dany’s journey), the latter was always interpreted as being about Asshai. Even Daenerys says so in the books:

‘Asshai, Dany thought. She would have me go to Asshai. “Will the Asshai’i give me an army?” she demanded. “Will there be gold for me in Asshai? Will there be ships? What is there in Asshai that I will not find in Qarth?” “Truth,” said the woman in the mask.’

But as we all now know, years later, Asshai will extremely likely never be visited in the show or in the books. It would’ve been cool to see, but likely this mention in the books has been a smart misdirect by George R.R. Martin. By rule, characters never ever predict their own prophecies correctly, so Asshai-by-the-shadow is off the table. So let’s look back at the prophecy with what we know now:

-‘To go north, you must journey south.’ — Clearly her journey to the very southern city of Qarth and back.

-‘To reach the west, you must go east.’ — Dany picked up her army in the east, needing it to invade the west.

-‘To go forward, you must go back.’ — This is where it gets interesting. This was generally interpreted as going back to Westeros or going back to Mereen or the Dorthraki, but it’s likely way more specific and further along [in] her storyline. It’s about going back to Dragonstone, her birthplace. We get a lot more clarification about this in the bonus hint by Quaithe.

-‘”Remember who you are, Daenerys,” the stars whispered in a woman’s voice. “The dragons know. Do you?”‘ — She is a lot of things, but first and above all, she’s Daenerys Stormborn, born during a storm on Dragonstone, favorite hangout of the dragons. But why Dragonstone specifically of all places in Westeros? That’s where the unsolved last hint and the next episode come into play.

-‘To touch the light you must pass beneath the shadow.’ — Now we know there’s an abandoned dragonglass mine on Dragonstone. What will she find when she goes underground, beneath the castle of Stannis the Shadow?

-‘”Truth,” said the woman in the mask.’