Game of Thrones theory: Will the Night King be at the Battle of Winterfell?

The Battle of Winterfell has arrived, but where is the Night King?

The long-anticipated Battle of Winterfell is finally upon us, and judging by promo footage for next week’s episode of Game of Thrones, fans are in for an intense episode. One person who is notably missing from the teaser, however, is the Night King. At the end of the last episode, we see his White Walkers reaching Winterfell, and we see plenty of wights attacking the castle during the preview—but the leader of the dead and his ice dragon are nowhere to be found.

Of course, it’s possible that the showrunners are just building the tension by keeping the Night King’s whereabouts unknown. Villains always seem more threatening when you don’t know what they’re up to. But a fan theory that has surfaced suggests another explanation for the Night King’s absence during the battle: that he’s bypassing Winterfell entirely and heading straight to King’s Landing.

According to this theory, the attack on Winterfell would merely serve as a distraction while the Night King and Viserion take the capitol. We’ve heard from many characters that King’s Landing would easily fall to a dragon, and even with the Golden Company, Cersei doesn’t seem equipped for such an attack.

Not only could this strategy put the Night King on the Iron Throne, but it’ll give him a bigger army than any of our characters could have imagined. His current forces at Winterfell are large, but they could be matched. If he kills the millions of people residing in King’s Landing and then raises them from the dead, however, he’ll be almost undefeatable. And it’ll enable him to hit Winterfell from the other direction—a tactic once used against the Lannister armies by Robb Stark, during a battle that Jaime mentions more than once during “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.”

As Mashable points out, this theory would also make sense of several of the characters’ visions we’ve witnessed throughout the series. At the House of the Undying, Daenerys sees the Iron Throne with snow and ash around it—two things that will definitely be present if the Night King rides Viserion through the gates. What’s more, in her vision, Daenerys turns her back on the Iron Throne—something that could clearly be a reference to her deciding to travel North at the last moment.

Bran also foresees a dragon flying over King’s Landing during season 4, a vision that most fans dismissed as alluding to Daenerys’ arrival. It’s possible that Bran was seeing the Night King flying overhead, however, a far more menacing threat to the city than Daenerys would ever be.

The only hole in this theory involves Bran, but the Night King can easily go after the Three Eyed Raven once he takes King’s Landing. And while Bran believes the Night King will come after him first, this wouldn’t be the first time a character’s visions were misinterpreted or even flat out incorrect. Some would argue it makes more sense for the Night King to strike when he’s least expected to, and it’ll help if his army is double the size.

Game of Thrones continues next Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.

Watch Game of Thrones for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels.