The Ice Queen and the Fire Warrior. A Theory.

[Joey Worldweaver]

A bold guess at what will happen in the showdown:

Daenerys will become a white walker, turning into the Ice Queen (so will at least one of her dragons).
She's the ultimate "boss" and Jon will be forced to fight her. 

"A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE" is definitely symbolic in more than one way in this series. There are many ways to apply the dual symbolism and here's yet another one:

Daeny is reborn out of fire but goes away into ice. 
Jon is reborn out of ice but will wield fire to battle her.

So ice and fire symbolisms flip.

This could be the ultimate height of what these symbolic meanings can be. 

From storytelling perspective, it makes sense coz Daeny is sort of the only POV that has stayed away from Westeros from the onset. 
We've been witnessing the growth path of the ultimate "villainess" since the beginning. Makes sense this way.
(Tho if this theory comes true, she'll be way more than just a villainess or any typical heroine. She will likely be both.)

Think about it.
If she succeeds in dominating Westeros, not only it's like "Return of the King", but it also makes all those other struggling POVs seem redundant, since the story will then become hers. 
And if she fails in her attempt and just dies, that's also intolerable to most readers. 
So now you have a standalone POV thread going all the way through 7 books detached from the rest of the POVs, what's the justification? How do you make it so unique that the whole narrative structure proves to be genius?

You make her both the ultimate villainess and the ultimate heroine: She will become Ice Queen (or Night Queen), but she will ultimately also become a force that restores balance to the world.

Coming in from another angle. If the ultimate enemy before the conclusion of the series is just the Night King, then it's no different from Sauron - an enemy without personality. And the heroes must defeat him. No other way.
GRR Martin is unlikely to handle his story this way. This won't leave a mark in history. We've got Tolkien already.

Now, Daeny becoming the Ice Queen and ultimately ruling the rest of the world (or in some way that delivers what Martin believes lies in the heart of the world's conflict that defines war & peace) ... while this could be the result, the process won't come easy. So it takes Jon to fight her.

Likely all the other major (surviving) POVs will need to team up to fight her and her minions and dragon(s). 
The Stark kids especially. Bran with his supernatural ability, Sansa with the command of the Northern army. Arya with her combat capability. And Jon, call him R'hllor or whatever. He's gonna command fire in some way.
Plus Tyrion. Maybe Jaime too. It takes all of them to fight Daeny the ultimate Ice Queen.

 

Alright, this theory comes from the mind of another writer, therefore the angle is mainly derived from creative logics, but there are indeed clues that, with interpretation along this direction, will yield supportive results. (I don't have the books with me so I can't accurately quote, but I'm certain i've come across clues that can be interpreted in this direction. Will look up later)

I do, however, remember something from the HBO series .....

Season 2 Episode 10, House of the Undying. When Daenerys entered the throne room, which was covered with falling snow, her face had been deathly pale. Pay attention to the way she walked up to the throne. Almost like a White Walker. Her face, skin, all pale white. Her eyes almost had a hint of blue. 
And then she heard the sounds of baby (or whatever) cries, which led her away from the iron throne, into the icy land beyond the wall. 

 

Anyway. Guess we will find out in a year's time. 

 

[TheThreeEyedCow]

Hmmm. First of all we're inclined to discredit anything in le show. But I do like your idea.....

It need's propping up. Quotes from the book etc. I'm always fascinated in different ideas in terms of how Jon and Dany's arc converge. 

[Haskelltier]

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A bold guess at what will happen in the showdown:

Daenerys will become a white walker, turning into the Ice Queen (so will at least one of her dragons).
She's the ultimate "boss" and Jon will be forced to fight her. 

In my opinion this is possible but not very likely.

Lets get to your arguments:

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From storytelling perspective, it makes sense coz Daeny is sort of the only POV that has stayed away from Westeros from the onset.

Because she is a queen in exile, who has the dream to reconquer the kingdom of her father. To make this happen, she needs an army. And getting one takes time. I can't see why this fact proves that Daenerys will be a (ice)villain.

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We've been witnessing the growth path of the ultimate "villainess" since the beginning. Makes sense this way.

We saw Jon's, Tyrion's, Arya's and Bran's path from the beginning too. Will that mean that they all will become villains?

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Coming in from another angle. If the ultimate enemy before the conclusion of the series is just the Night King, then it's no different from Sauron - an enemy without personality. And the heroes must defeat him. No other way.

GRR Martin is unlikely to handle his story this way. This won't leave a mark in history. We've got Tolkien already.

Well, if I think about it, we don't know very much about white walkers or the Night King (the leader of the white walkers). Yes, we know stories from 8000 years ago, but we also know that history (and in particular stories) becomes more and more unreliable and incomplete with time. Therefore it wouldn't surprise me if the Night King isn't a villain after all and that there has to be one victor (mankind or White Walkers) and one who will be extinguished. And wouldn't ist me more surprising if the "ultimate villain" isn't a villain after all and that white walkers and mankind treat with each other an part in peace?

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You make her both the ultimate villainess and the ultimate heroine: She will become Ice Queen (or Night Queen), but she will ultimately also become a force that restores balance to the world.

I don't think that ice and fire was out of balance in westeros before A Game of Thrones. The last long night is 8000 years ago. So there was a lot of time for an imbalance to lead to a conflict. I don't know the reason why the white walkers started building up an army. Maybe it was the digging of the wildlings when they searched for Joramund's Horn, maybe it was the hatching of three dragons, maybe it was the accident in Summerhal or maybe there is an unknown reason. I think we will get the reason in the unwritten two books. But I don't think that ice and fire wasn't out of balance for 8000 years and there was no Night Queen in the past 8000 years. So, why do we need one now?

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Likely all the other major (surviving) POVs will need to team up to fight her and her minions and dragon(s). 
The Stark kids especially. Bran with his supernatural ability, Sansa with the command of the Northern army. Arya with her combat capability. And Jon, call him R'hllor or whatever. He's gonna command fire in some way.
Plus Tyrion. Maybe Jaime too. It takes all of them to fight Daeny the ultimate Ice Queen.

We don't need a villain-Dany for this plot. We have the White Walkers already. I don't think that GRRM need another super-villain in the story if he decides to write the lame good vs evil plot.

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Season 2 Episode 10, House of the Undying. When Daenerys entered the throne room, which was covered with falling snow, her face had been deathly pale. Pay attention to the way she walked up to the throne. Almost like a White Walker. Her face, skin, all pale white. Her eyes almost had a hint of blue. 
And then she heard the sounds of baby (or whatever) cries, which led her away from the iron throne, into the icy land beyond the wall.

Well the House of the Undying from the Books and whatever the Show did in its place differs a lot. So I wouldn't interpret too much into the color of Dany's skin. But there is a reasonable explanation: The scene in the throne room was cold. The light was cold (blue), so its only natural, that the skin of a person looks paler (because of the blue light) or cooler than it would in bright sunlight. The pale skin fits into the scene perfectly. A brighter skin color wouldn't fit and would imply in my opinion that Daenerys "radiates" warmth oder light herself (and therefore could be Azor Ahai or whatever).

So you see, I'm very sceptical.

[Joey Worldweaver]

21 hours ago, Haskelltier said:

Because she is a queen in exile, who has the dream to reconquer the kingdom of her father. To make this happen, she needs an army. And getting one takes time. I can't see why this fact proves that Daenerys will be a (ice)villain.

That's what I mean, nothing to do with the actual story but the plotting structure Martin as a writer employed. 
What i mean is that out of all POVs, Daenerys is the only one that is "detached" from the other POVs (which have weaved a story web that sustains the entire series). Martin could've employed Viserys' POV, or Drago's, and have them killed like he did Ned.
But none. Just Daenys. That symbolizes significance.
Not just a typical heroine but something way more iconic. 

21 hours ago, Haskelltier said:

We don't need a villain-Dany for this plot. We have the White Walkers already. I don't think that GRRM need another super-villain in the story if he decides to write the lame good vs evil plot.

As aforementioned Daeny won't be a typical villain even if she turns. 

 

Again, the whole post mainly comes from structural perspective and the positioning Martin perhaps hopes to achieve, given what he's been reiterating throughout all interviews regarding his beliefs that there's no true good vs. evil. And that a song of ice and fire may very well by a song of fire and ice. 

We'll find out next year. 

[MakeThemBurn]

Yes, I've come to believe that Daenerys will become the Night Queen. Her entire story arc started with her being married off to a barbarian. But I disagree that this will make her a foe to Westeros. Most likely it will end the war. The big difference between Dany and Sansa is that Dany tamed her barbarian. And that I believe is foreshadowing how Dany will tame the Night King and prevent him from killing all the people. And I strongly believe that the threat from North is something that can not be killed. A peace has to be made with a marriage, like all great Houses have done in the story.

 

First, let us see how Yi Ti explain the Long Night. The people of Yi Ti believe that there are two gods: Lion of Night (aka Night King) and his wife Maiden made of light. They had a child together who ruled over Yi Ti over thousands of years and after he died his children took over and it continued so for thousands of years. Until one day the ruler was killed by his little brother. Maiden made of light was so shocked about this betrayal that she turned her back on mankind and her husband unleashed his wrath on them, thus bringing the Long Night.

 

This I believe is almost word to word how Dany's story will end. Dany tamed Khal Drogo and she did it with a child. As a matter of fact, children are a massive plot element in her story. She got pregnant right in the beginning, was given the barren prophecy by Mirri Maz Duur and ever since she has been the Mother of dragons and the Breaker of chains who calls her slaves children who call her a mother in return (Mhysa Mhysa / Nissa Nissa). I also believe she represents the Mother in the Faith of the seven. That's a lot of mother tags! It's very evident she will have a child at the end of her story and that child will be special since it's been hyped since the beginning of her journey.

 

So we have Dany with all these "child" references. But what makes me think that the Yi Ti prophecy holds so true is the way Dany behaves with her ex-slaves aka children. Daenerys has a kind heart but she is brutal to those who hurt her children. She has no issues with crucifying and burning people who have hurt them which plays well with her role as Maiden made of light and her future persona as a Night's Queen. She will keep you safe but if you hurt her children she will kill you.

 

Now it looks like Jon Snow is the one to impregnate Dany which means that together they will have a Targ child. This pretty much cemented it to me. The story in the song of ice and fire seems to go in circles with the same things happening over and over again. So we're looking at the restoration of House Targaryen and their rule in Westeros. Actually, the whole story of asoiaf seems to have begun with Robert's Rebellion. And now we are facing the Long Night just like in the Yi Ti story.

 

I also believe that Dany is Nissa Nissa (Mhysa Mhysa) and her child is the Lightbringer and the one to end the war. Her child will be left in the world of men while she is turned to the Night's Queen and protects him and his heirs from the Lands of always winter. So in the end the Targs rule over Westeros for hundreds of years until the day comes when Night's King and Queen have become myths and the Targs are yet again killed off thus bringing the winter back. The story is in a constant repeat. And Daenerys the Conqueror who not only took Essos and Westeros, becomes the Queen of the far North and holds her rule over men as a constant threat, ensuring the safety of all her children (ex-slaves and her very own). But such power will obviously come with a price.