The Dark Trinity

[Annalee]

1. Jon Snow
2. Daenerys Targaryen
3. Bran Stark

George R. R. Martin prefers characters who are neither good nor bad.  The middle of the road people are his kind.  My idea of middle of the road are Jorah, Jaime, Sandor, and Tyrion.  It is what Martin's idea which count.  The listed three are his opinion of grey.  I am more interested in their endings.  I think they will end up alone and carrying the weight of humanity on their shoulders.  Jon's dream of fighting the wights alone, atop the wall.  Dany's visions of eternity alone in the dark.  Bran's future in that cave.  All are suggestive of a future burdened with responsibilities.  Their character arcs also involve running away from a destiny.  And Martin has made clear.  Nobody can run away from their destiny.  Prophecies are fulfilled one way or another.  Jon has tried to run away from the wall.  I do not think he will be able to get away.  His place is on that wall.  Dany ran away from the Dosh Khaleen, an unpleasant future beneath the darkness of the Mother of Mountains.  Bran does not want to stay in the cave.  All three of them will have to face this future at the end of the story. 

I believe Jon Snow will be successful in his battle with the Boltons.  He will do this for his family but eventually will have to return to the wall, to the post he deserted.  He will remain at that wall for the remainder of his days.  Daenerys will be successful in stopping the slave trade.  She might even go to Westeros to fight the White Walkers.  Eventually though she will have to come back and take her place with the Dosh Khaleen and the mountain will forever be known as the Mountain of the Mother.  Bran might get some time with Meera outside but he will have to accept the tree as the new greenseer. 

Martin will leave for us to imagine the future.  Essos and Westeros will be largely depopulated and the great cities will all have been destroyed by the ice.  Matters such as who sits on the throne and the succession will not be answered.  Such things matter little when the world has been taken back to the Stone Age.  We will never know what happened to many of the secondary characters but I believe most of them will be dead.