TV shows always like to throw in little bits that you only realised had bigger repercussions when you watch it again. Game of Thrones is no different, so let’s take a look at all the times they told us what was coming, but not in as many words.
1. What Littlefinger tells Robin Arryn in GoT season 4 foreshadows future deaths.
He says, “People die at their dinner tables. They die in their beds. They die squatting over their chamber pots.”
As you probably remember, Joffrey was poisoned at his dinner table, Shae was strangled in bed, and Tywin was shot while sitting on the toilet.
2. Ned Stark’s fight with Jaime In GoT season 1 foreshadows the Tower of Joy scene.
Ned Stark is stabbed by a soldier while fighting with Jaime Lannister in season 1. In season 6, during the Tower of Joy flashback, Ser Arthur Dayne (who was Jamie Lannister’s teacher) is stabbed while fighting a young Ned Stark. Foreshadowing in multiple timelines is hard.
3. Bran’s story about the Rat Cook in season 3 foreshadows the Frey pies.
Bran tells Hodor and the Reeds about a Night’s Watchman who got revenge by killing a king’s son, baking him into a pie, and feeding it to the king. In season 6, Arya bakes Walder Frey’s sons into a pie, and feeds them to him without his knowledge, avenging her own family’s death.
4. The dead direwolf in season 1 foreshadows Ned Stark’s death.
At the start of season 1, Ned and his sons come across a direwolf that’s been killed by a stag. The direwolf is the symbol of House Stark and the stag is the symbol of House Baratheon, foreshadowing Ned’s eventual baheading by Joffrey Baratheon.
5. Melisandre predicts Arya’s future in season 3
When she looks into Arya’s eyes, she sees darkness and eyes of all different colors
“Eyes you’ll shut forever.”
This predicts that Arya’s going to take on other appearances, and is also going to kill a lot of people.
6. Margaery foreshadowed her own torture at the hands of the Sparrows.
When picking out a necklace for her wedding to Joffrey, Margaery Tyrell jokes she’ll end up with a “string of sparrows” around her neck if Joffrey has any say in the matter. Later on, the religious fundamentalist Sparrows imprison her and torture her.
7. Sam predicts that Jon Snow will return from the dead.
When little Olly is worried about Jon being lost beyond the wall, Sam reassures him by telling him that Jon always comes back. Jon is later stabbed by the same kid, only to come back to life.
8. Theon foreshadows he’s going to lose his genitals.
In season 2, Theon is unable to locate the Stark children, and tells Maester Luwin, “I’m looking at spending the rest of my life being treated like a fool and a eunuch by my own people!”
Well the eunuch part certainly came painfully true.
9. Daenerys’s imperviousness to heat is foreshadowed early on.
In season 1, she is seen getting into a tub full of almost boiling hot water without even flinching. Her attendant even warns her about it. This of course predicts her stepping out of the fires of Khal Drogo’s funeral.
10. The story of Tyrion’s first marriage foreshadows his future.
In season 1, Tyrion tells Shae and Bronn about his first marriage to a woman he didn’t know was a prostitute. Tywin had paid her to ‘make him a man’. When Tyrion justifies it by saying he was young and stupid, shae answers, “You’re still young and stupid.”
This basically implies he’s in the exact same situation yet again.
11. A conversation between Varys and Tyrion foreshadows the Red Wedding.
In Season 2, Varys and Tyrion Lannister talk about how they hate the city bells. Varys says, “I’ve always hated the bells. They ring for horror. A dead king. The city under siege.” Tyrion adds, “A wedding.”
This could be a fleeting prediction of the Red Wedding.
12. Aemon predicts Jon Snow being a Targaryen.
When Aemon is talking about Daenerys to Sam, he says, “A Targaryen alone in the world. It’s a terrible thing.”
The camera pans to Jon as soon as he says this, predicting Jon’s own lineage.
13. The camera pans to Jon when Ned says, “King of the Andals and the First Men,” which could foreshadow Jon’s future.
In season 1, when Ned Stark is about to do some good ol’ beheading, he says a few words. The camera pans to Jon just as he says the ‘King of the Andals’ bit. It may just be coincidence, or it may be a prediction of Jon’s royal future.
They were trying to tell us all along!