Despite the fact that "Game of Thrones" Season 8 won't air until some time in 2019, and the fact that the spinoff about the Age of Heroes and its descent into the Long Night is yet to be approved by HBO, some new theories exploring the connection between the two series have already started to emerge. And while most of them can only be described as pure speculation, there are some theories out there that are backed up by some strong evidence from both the books and the show.
One such theory by one of the best "Game of Thrones" and "A Song of Ice and Fire" theorists out there, Talking Thrones, explores House Stark during the Age of Heroes, the Kings of Winter, and their possible connection to the ancient White Walkers, also known as the Others in the "A Song of Ice and Fire" books.
So if you are looking for a well-researched theory that makes sense, you might be in for a treat.
The secrets of the Winterfell's Crypts
According to the video, there are quite a few clues in the "A Song of Ice and Fire" books that might reveal a secret connection between the Starks of legends and the White Walkers. Let's go through some of them.
In one of the Bran's chapters from "A Game of Thrones," Old Nan, everyone's favorite storyteller talks how "a winter fell that was cold and hard and endless beyond the memory of men" while talking about the Long Night. And according to Talking Thrones, the fact that the name of House Stark's ancestral home was used to describe the Long Night may be a proof that there is a connection between the Starks and the White Walkers.
While on the topic of White Walkers, it's worth mentioning that Old Nan describes them as "cold things, dead things, that hated iron and fire and the touch of the sun, and every creature with hot blood in its veins." As you can see, it is said that the White Walkers hated iron, and that's exactly what the old Kings of Winter or any Lord of Winterfell for that matter, have laying across their laps.
According to ancient custom, this is done to keep the vengeful spirits inside the Winterfell's Crypts.
The real question here is who do these vengeful spirits belong to? Are there actual White Walkers trapped at the lowest levels of the Crypts? If so which ones? The ones that fell during the Long Night, or maybe this is where the Night's King and his corpse queen are imprisoned, which is something I already talked about in one of the previous articles.
But Talking Thrones offers a new interesting perspective.
The hidden truth about the Kings of Winter
In one of the Ned Stark's dreams from "A Game of Thrones," there is something quite interesting in a way that the Kings of Winter are described: "He was walking through the crypts beneath Winterfell, as he had walked a thousand times before," it reads, "the Kings of Winter watched him pass with eyes of ice, and the direwolves at their feet turned their great stone heads and snarled."
The description of the Kings of Winter's eyes in this dream is pretty strange. After all, these statues are made out of stone and it's not like the Starks put gemstones or diamonds in their eye sockets. That, according to Talking Thrones, can only mean that the old Kings of Winter were actually White Walkers (whose eyes are described as "blue that burned like ice" in "A Game of Thrones" prologue) or even the Night Kings if you believe the multiple Night Kings theory.
Watch Talking Thrones' video attached down below for more mindblowing details about this theory.
Another theory about the Kings of Winter and their role in 'Game of Thrones' Season 8
While on the topic of the Kings of Winter, it's worth mentioning that another theory surfaced about their possible role in the final season. As reported by the Daily Express, Reddit user RBlomax38 points out in his theory that the dead Kings of Winter could very well rise from the dead when the White Walkers come. As such, they could attack with their iron swords and help the mankind fight off this ancient enemy.