This Reddit theory explains how Daenerys Targaryen will defeat Cersei, and we should have seen that coming
Now that we’re inching toward the end of Game of Thrones, it’s more important than ever to look back at earlier seasons for long-forgotten clues as to who will end up sitting on the Iron Throne. Thanks to Reddit, this throwaway comment from Robert Baratheon back in Season 1 may hold the key to Daenerys’s eventual defeat of Cersei.
Way back in Season 1, King Robert (and literally nobody else) expressed concerns about Dany’s marriage to Khal Drogo and what that would mean to have an army of Dothraki behind her.
So Reddit user pnr32 recently brought this conversation back to our attention. While Cersei certainly didn’t take the concern seriously, a few of the points the King raised are incredibly relevant in the current season.
Robert Baratheon: I don't know. But I do know this: If the Targaryen girl convinces her horselord husband to invade and the Dothraki horde crosses the Narrow Sea... we won't be able to stop them. Cersei Lannister: The Dothraki don't sail. Every child knows that. They don't have discipline, they don't have armor, they don't have siege weapons.
At the time, Cersei was confident that the Dothraki would never make it to Westeros. But even though Khal Drogo is gone (and never forgotten), Dany’s Dothraki army sits comfortably at Dragonstone, awaiting her command to fight. Definitely her father’s daughter, Cersei contended that the armies of the Seven Kingdoms could take the smaller Dothraki army, but her warrior-king husband disproved in an impassioned speech.
Robert Baratheon: Let's say Viserys Targaryen lands with 40,000 Dothraki screamers at his back. We hole up in our castles. A wise move. Only a fool would meet the Dothraki in an open field. They leave us in our castles. They go from town to town, looting and burning, killing every man who can't hide behind a stone wall, stealing all our crops and livestock, enslaving all our women and children. How long do the people of the Seven Kingdoms stand behind their absentee king, their cowardly king hiding behind high walls? When do the people decide that Viserys Targaryen is the rightful monarch after all? Cersei Lannister: We still outnumber them. Robert Baratheon: Which is the bigger number, five or one? Cersei Lannister: Five. Robert Baratheon: [holds up his left fingers] Five... Robert Baratheon: [clutches his right fist] ... one. One army, a real army, united behind one leader with one purpose. Our purpose died with the Mad King.
While Dany has been hesitant to use her Dothraki army, her dwindling allies are leaving her with no options left. Thanks to the trailers, we know that the Dothraki do end up fighting and we think Robert’s prediction may actually prove true. Cersei is incredibly unpopular as a queen as it is, and keeping herself safe in the Red Keep while leaving her people in harm’s way may prove to be the final straw.
Cersei’s been incredibly strong-willed, and it’s gotten her this far, but we think Robert’s words may be the ones that come back to bite her in the end.
