Warning: The following article contains spoilers for the Game of Thrones episode 'Beyond the Wall' and future episodes.
Now that Game of Thrones' Night King has the ultimate weapon on his side, it seems only a matter of time before he makes his move to ignite war between the living and the dead.
The army of the dead are bolstered like never before following this week's episode, which climaxed with The Night King killing Daenerys's dragon, Viserion, and converting it into a member of his zombie army.
[youtube ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxEpB8yooHQ&t=8s[/youtube]
It's now full speed ahead for the White Walkers towards The Wall, but aren't they blocked from crossing over its barriers due to ancient magic? Well, yes and no.
Fans have already speculated about one easy away for the Night King to take the Wall out of the equation: to bypass it entirely, thanks to a frozen ocean on its borders.
But there are other options! For example, that new ice dragon that the Night King has at his disposal can now potentially just burn the Wall to the ground with its blue fire. Easy peasy.
As fan-run Game of Thrones: The Podcast has pointed out, we've also already seen wights survive when physically brought through the Wall by the living — like Dany and her crew did with the wight that they captured in this week's episode.
Conceivably, if a heap of corpses are brought across the threshold of the Wall by the Night's Watch for some reason, they could be reanimated by The Night King from a distance.
Another, more intriguing option, has to do with The Night King marking Bran in his vision last season. We're sure you remember "The Door", in which Bran got too close to The Night King in one of his warging sessions.
Because The Night King was able to ostensibly 'mark' Bran in that vision, he was able to lead his army into the Three-Eyed Raven's sanctum and kill him, while Bran escaped with Meera.
We later saw Bran cross through the Wall on his way back to Winterfell, so it stands to reason that he may have lifted its magical protections against the White Walkers by doing so.
And if that's the case, there'd be nothing stopping the Night King, his White Walkers and wights, and his newfound ice dragon from knocking the Wall down on their way towards Westeros. Scary, isn't it?
It's safe to assume that one of these scenarios will be playing out either in the seventh season finale this weekend, or next season, because the stage has definitely been set for a war between the living and the dead.
Game of Thrones finishes off its seventh season next Sunday (August 27) with a movie-length finale at 9 p.m. on HBO.
Watch a trailer below:
