If you’re even a semi-watcher of Game of Thrones, then you’ve probably heard rumblings about Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright) being the Night King. Sure, the Night King is a terrifying ice creature with piercing blue eyes who is thousands of years old and Bran is a kid who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time (ahem, remember when Jaime Lannister pushed him out of the tower?). But thanks to Bran’s nebulous new Three-Eyed Raven greensight/warging powers, things are a little more complicated. In fact, he could be both Bran the Three-Eyed Raven and the Night King. Well, prepare to have your mind blown because now there’s another Game of Thrones theory that argues he isn’t the Night King—he’s actually the Red God.
For those unfamiliar, the Red God is also known as R’hllor or the Lord of the Light. He’s a fire god worshiped in Essos and is thought to be the “one true god” by his followers. Believers of the Lord of the Light also think the “Prince that Was Promised” will ultimately come protect the earth from darkness while wielding the Lightbringer sword.
The Lord of the Light isn’t widely worshiped in Westeros. In fact, some of the only people we know who follow him are Thoros of Myr (Paul Kaye), Beric Dondarrion (Richard Dormer), Melisandre (Carice van Houten) and a couple of the Baratheons. Thoros brought Beric back to life six times by praying to the Lord of the Light and Melissandre brought Jon Snow (Kit Harington) back from the dead using the god’s powers too.
So back to Bran. He and the Red God are both able to travel back to the past and alter reality. The Lord of the Light is also fabled to be in constant struggle with the Great Other (a dead man who could potentially be the Night King) until the “Prince that Was Promised” comes to rescue him. Bran has basically been trying to get away from the Night King for forever.
