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Game of Thrones fans are a committed bunch. Not only have we been keeping up with the series for the past six years - yes it really aired in 2011 - but we'll forever agonise over the most obscure and subtle plot points and production choices.
To help fill in the unbearable gaps between episodes and seasons - fans will regularly pour over the books and previous episodes to find hidden clues to possible endings, and twists in the upcoming final episode of the current season and final season in 2018.
Most fans will have already read up on the three headed dragon theory, seemingly shattered by the events of the latest episode - but this new hypothesis feels like it has truly leapt out from the left field.
Some people are speculating that Bran Stark, child of Eddard Stark and now a cross between an emo stoner and Jaden Smith's Twitter feed - is none other than the Night King himself.
The evidence - that you may have spotted on TV at least - is in the outfit choices of both the Night King and Bran (specifically Bran's outfits in his vision.)
The two outfits were compared in gif format the hyper-observant Trivial-Savoir-Faire.
'Seven hells', I hear you cry as you fling a flagon of Dornish wine across the room, 'that's not proof'.
Well, bear with me.
A slightly longer reddit thread posits an explanation as to how this twist might come about.
In the upcoming war against the dead - and if enough people survive, the follow up war for the Iron Throne - numerous people are going to die.
Bran, being the Three Eyed Raven, may attempt to re-write history to prevent this from happening, or alter the results. After that business with Hodor he's already proven that he can affect the past - so Back to the Future-ing the GOT universe doesn't feel like too much of a stretch.
User turm0il26 writes:
Bran believes he is eventually (with more knowledge) going to be able to rewrite history and that's why he decides to go back and stop the Night king several times, but fails every time, ending up fulfilling the timeline-circle and taking the identity of the Night king himself.
turm0il26 believes bran will attempt this three times: The first time will be back to the mad king Targaryen's time, where he will whisper to make him prepare wildfire for the coming battle - the whispers will make the mad king go bad however, and burn the city.
The second will be to go back even further, to see if he can discover how the others and the walkers were defeated when they first showed up in Westeros.
He'll fail again and instead become Bran the Builder, building the Wall and securing his birth by building Winterfell and creating the words “There must always be a Stark in Winterfell”.
Picture: HBO
The third time however, turm0il26 thinks Bran will go back to the creation of Night King, by the Children of the Forest and somehow try to stop it from happening. He fails in this task, becomes trapped in the past and gets turned into the Night King by the children, becoming the villain of the story.
You can actually see in the scene where young Bran goes back to the creation of the Night king. When the children push the dragonglass into his heart, we see Bran tighten his grip on the veins, just as it is himself experiencing the pain. Also, in the end of the flashback, Bran is laying in the exact same position in the cave, as the human pushed up to the tree is.
This theory also parts with Jon snow being the prince that was promised, who eventually has to kill his little brother Bran.
The Prince that was Promised is a prophesy from the Lord of Light, who will used a sword named Lightbringer to combat an impending darkness.
Picture: HBO
It's certainly a compelling theory, and would leave us with a bittersweet ending that Game of Thrones has become famous for - Jon Snow killing his last remaining brother.
The final episode of this season of Game of Thrones airs 27 August on HBO.
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