Gird your loins folks, everyone’s favourite Drogo could be making a reappearance in the next and final series of Game of Thrones.
Despite the character (spoiler alert!) dying, then being resurrected, then dying again in the first series, there are a few fan theories and plenty of speculation kicking about that has got the rumour mill swinging like a bored married couple in the 1970s.
So how can killer Khal make another appearance in the saga after dying twice? ‘Cos this is television! And furthermore it’s fantasy television, and everyone’s fantasy is for Khal Drogo to return to their screens.
Also, it could totally happen within Game of Thrones‘ realm of possibility, not least because he’s already been brought back once before.
So how can this be? Is third time a charm for ol’ Khal Drogo?
Well, as the battle between good and evil gets ever nearer, and with the Army of the Dead making short work of the Wall, the final showdown is primed to be monstrously epic.
And though we don’t know exactly know what’s going to happen, we do know that the good guys (Daenerys Targaryen, Jon Snow, the Starks et al.) are massively outnumbered by the bad guys (the White Walkers and their army).
If books and their movie adaptations have taught us anything (thanks Tolkien and J.K.), when you’re up against an army of the dead, get yourself an army of the dead too! Only this time, bring back the dead good guys, you follow?
I’ll let Reddit user u/cadiacman explain, via Metro:
All characters that have been burned to death/after death by fire will be reincarnated by R’hllor (god of fire/light/red god).
You fight an army with an army, an army of burned dead people that you resurrect.
Duh!
This means that key individuals and sorely missed characters, like Khal Drogo, Loras Tyrell, Khal Drogo, Shireen Baratheon, Khal Drogo, Ned Stark’s dad Richard and most importantly Khal Drogo, could well rise from their ashes and fight those wretched White Walkers.
The question is, would Khal be fighting with his beloved Khaleesi, or – like one of her dragons before him – will the once-dead Dothraki be turned to the dark and cold side by the Night King and join the Army of the Dead?
I guess it’s down to whoever finds the resurrection stone, joins up the horcruxes and kills Darth Vader by throwing him into the fires of Mordor first, right?
The fearless theorist even went on to suggest that Bran Stark, much like other fantasy franchises, could use his special abilities and his links with the Three-Eyed Raven crew to go back in time and convince the Mad King (f.k.a. Aerys Targaryen) to bump off a load of people for the sole purpose of resurrecting them for the upcoming battle. Which is kind of dark…
Said upcoming battle, by the way, apparently ‘makes the Battle of the Bastards look like a theme park’ according to Peter Dinklage. So, y’know, army of the dead versus theoretical army of the dead with some light time travelling thrown in or not, this thing is going to be huge.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.