HBO has announced the title of the season 7 finale, and it's going to make some fans extremely happy.
"The Dragon and the Wolf" will screen Sunday, August 27 at 9 P.M. (ET/PT). Like Sunday's episode, the episode will be feature-film length, at 79 minutes and 43 seconds.
The title indicates that the episode will focus on two of the series' most popular characters, Daenerys Targaryen (the "dragon," thanks to her Targaryen bloodline) and Jon Snow (the "wolf," if he's the illegitimate son of Ned Stark, as he's been led to believe). Fans have been very excited about the duo as a potential couple, spurred by several very obvious hints in the show—despite the equally heavy hints that the two are actually related by blood. Does the pairing in the title imply that their attraction will come to the fore? Or does it mean that their familial connection will be revealed by Bran Stark, who has observed Jon's birth with his powers as the Three-Eyed Raven? And how will these two leaders react to this revelation, especially given their romantic feelings towards each other? Will it precipitate a showdown between them?
Thanks to some important clues revealed this season, one might decipher the title as a reference to Jon and his family. Fan site Watchers on the Wall brought up the possibility that the title refers to Jon's parents and the L + R = J theory—which may finally be confirmed for the very first time. As Gilly read in one of the dusty Citadel books, Rhaegar Targaryen annulled his marriage to Elia Martell and married someone else at the same time. If that happened before Jon's birth, and his bride was Lyanna Stark, as has been heavily foreshadowed in the show, then Jon himself comes from both dragon and wolf bloodlines.
No matter what the reference promises to reveal, it's sure to be huge, and change the status quo considerably. It's hard not to see a major cliffhanger coming on the tail of what transpires. We'll be finding out what it all means soon enough.
