‘Game of Thrones’: Melisandre’s ‘Green Eyes’ Prophecy Sparks Theory About Who Arya Kills Next
Zack Sharf
[Editor’s note: The following post contains spoilers for “Game of Thrones.”]
Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) and Melisandre (Carice van Houten) had their long-awaited reunion during the Battle of Winterfell, and a crucial line of dialogue the latter told the former has caught wind with fans in the hours after the final season’s third episode, “The Long Night,” aired on HBO. Melisandre is the one who urges Arya to confront the Night King when she tells her the prophetic line: “Brown eyes, green eyes, blue eyes…eyes you’ll shut forever.”
Melisandre’s prophecy speaks to three of Arya’s major kills. “Blue eyes” references the Night King, who Arya ends up killing with her Valyrian steel dagger. The Night King’s death resulted in the entire white walker army collapsing to the ground, meaning Arya is the one who effectively won the battle between the living and the dead. The epic plot twist was set into motion after Melisandre asked Arya, “What do we say to the God of Death?” The question is the same one Arya’s fight instructor Syrio Forel used to ask her back in the show’s first season. Arya answered: “Not today.”
With “blue eyes” crossed off Melisandre’s prophecy for Arya, fans are now wondering what “brown eyes” and “green eyes” could signify for the young Stark assassin. Many see “brown eyes” as a reference to Walder Frey. Arya murdered Walder at the end of the sixth season when she slit his throat. The murder was Arya’s revenge for the Red Wedding, in which Walder turned his back on the Stark family and helped orchestrate the murders of Arya’s brother and mother, Rob and Catelyn.
The big question mark about Melisandre’s prophecy is which character Arya kills that has green eyes. There’s a chance that Arya has already fulfilled this part of the prophecy, as Arya executed Littlefinger at the end of the seventh season. Per Esquire, Littlefinger is described as having green-grey eyes in the book, although actor Aiden Gillan has blue eyes. One of the more popular theories emerging after the Battle of Winterfell is that Arya will kill Cersei, who famously has green eyes. Cersei has been on Arya’s kill list for several seasons, so it wouldn’t be totally unexpected for Arya to take the queen’s life.
One potential complication to Melisandre’s prophecy is another prophecy from Maggy the Frog. As seen in the first moments of Season 5, a young Cersei visited the mystical fortune teller to find out answers about her future. Maggy predicted Cersei would marry the King and that all of her children would die, both of which turned out to be true. In George R.R. Martin’s books, Maggy tells Cersei that her death will be at the hands of her brother, meaning either Tyrion or Jaime.
Fans have predicted for years that Jaime would be the one to kill Cersei, bringing their twisted love story to a dark end, but don’t forget that Arya has the power to wear the faces of men. Arya might need to go undercover in order to get close to Cersei, and whose better face to wear than Jaime’s? It should be stressed that Maggy’s prophecy detailing Cersei’s death was not written into the show, so only in Martin’s book is that fate technically sealed. This bodes well for Melisandre’s prophecy ultimately predicting Cersei’s death at the hands of Arya.
Now that the Night King and his army have been defeated, “Thrones” will spend its final three episodes focused entirely on the final battle for the Iron Throne. The series continues Sunday nights at 9pm ET on HBO.
