Please don’t let this “Game of Thrones” theory be true, because it’s very, very bad for ALL our favorite Starks

If you’re a Game of Thrones fan, you know better than to get too attached to any particular character(s). The show’s death toll could wage its ruthlessness on just about anyone — even protagonists who you might *think* are safely out of harm’s way.

But knowing all this doesn’t make the next fan theory any easier, because it specifically targets one of our favorite GoT houses.

The most recent GoT theory predicts that all of the Starks must die for the game to be won, and our hearts are breaking over it.

Yup, we’re talking about Arya, Bran, Sansa, and Jon Snow.

 We know, it’s a lot to take in. And, to be fair, Jon is technically Targaryen (Starkgaryen?), so maybe he’ll be safe from the fate of the rest of his family. But, still, let us break this down for you. Grab the tissues because here we go:

Exhibit A: The book’s title.

Redditor zroberts1207 pointed out that the original title of book 7 — A Time for Wolves —might be a huge hint that the Starks are going to be cleared from the game. (The new, vaguer title is A Dream of Spring.)

Exhibit B: Leaf’s monologue

In the season six episode, “Hold the Door,” one of the Children of the Forest sacrifices herself to save Bran and Meera. Her name is Leaf, and she makes a cryptic speech to Bran before it all goes down:

"The giants are almost gone as well, they who were our bane and our brothers. The great lions of the western hills have been slain, the unicorns are all but gone, the mammoths down to a few hundred. The direwolves will outlast us all, but their time will come as well. In the world that men have made, there is no room for them, or us."

The theory says that the direwolves in question symbolize the Starks, and the prediction that “their time will come” definitely does not sound good. But then again, the monologue can be read literally, and could really have nothing to do with House Stark. Maybe Leaf just IS talking about the extinction of the mythical creatures of Westeros.

But, dear GoT fans, all hope is not lost. As Moviepilot points out, there’s been a LOT of character growth invested into the Starks. Would Martin really just kill them off in the end?

On top of that, would the surprise-loving George R.R. Martin actually put such a huge spoiler in a book title? And what if A Time For Wolves is actually a prediction of good things to come? (Heaven knows that these characters have been dealt more than their fair share of tragedy already.)

All we know is that we can hardly wait for season 7 to find out.