Will multiple people fulfil the prophecy?

[HoboJed]

There is obviously a lot of debate about who AAR will be, and who will meet the prophecy. What if the whole point is that multiple people will meet the prophecy, and each of them is part of AAR?

Dany clearly met the prophecy at the end of aGoT, but since then many characters have partially (or potentially fully) fulfilled it in their own ways. This has led many to think that Dany was a red herring for the readers in the same way that Stannis was a red herring for Melisandre, and that the real AAR will be [insert favourite theory here].

But what if Dany was simply one of many?

People who have possibly met or partially met the prophecy:

Before the comet:

• Stannis (born on Dragonstone... apparently that is enough for Melisandre)
  

Whilst comet (bleeding red star) was in the sky (or shortly before/after):

• Dany (obvious)
  
• Davos (almost died at the Battle of the Blackwater, where the river was on fire, and then was washed out to sea)
  
• Bran (emerged from the smoking ruins of Winterfall shortly after the ironmen had been there... not to mention Summer supposedly seeing a dragon)
  

After the comet:

• Sandor (was effectively reborn on a small island right next to SALTpans that was burnt to the ground... probably not long after his brother killed Prince Oberyn (bleeding red star))
  
• Jon (the whole smoke from wound/tears thing)
  

I'm sure there are more that I'm forgetting, and there will probably be more to come...

But wait I hear you say, what about waking dragons? None of them apart from Dany (and possibly Bran) woke dragons, so they didn't fulfil the prophecy, right? Well... whilst the prophecy does say that Azor Ahai will be reborn to wake dragons from stone, it doesn't say he will wake dragons from stone the moment he is reborn (seriously, check the wording). Now, what is important is that there are a lot of things/people currently being called or compared to stone... greyscale (stonemen), unGregor (stone in Bran's dream), Lady STONEheart, Casterly ROCK... the list seems to be getting bigger all the time... and most of these "stones" are obvious end game goals for some of our heroes (Lady Stoneheart is clearly on Jaime & Brienne's hit list, unGregor on Sandor's, and Tyrion really wants Casterly Rock).

Also, seeing as there is already a trend for the prophecy not always being "literal", then I don't see why the waking of dragons would have to be either. For example, if Brienne thrusts Oathkeeper through Lady Stoneheart's heart and it bursts into flame and making it into the new Lightbringer (not saying that is going to happen, just an example), then I think that could be said to be waking a dragon (in sword form) from stone (Stoneheart's heart... get it?).

So... are these all meant to be red herrings? Possibly, but I don't think so, mainly because more layers of the web are still being added, way after the need for red herrings. I think the whole point is that there isn't one true hero who will come and save the day.

And to be honest, I think having only a single "hero reborn" type character in this story would be anti-climatic, but maybe that is just me...

[DraculaAD1972]

I hope GRRM makes AAR someone unexpected. I hope it's Tyrion, as GRRM's favourite character he must stand a chance. If Oberyn is the red star that bleeds (red star= martell red sun), Tyrion might be our man. Brienne or Jaime would be ok. Just not Jon or Dany.

[Bittertea]

Well, you can eliminate nearly everyone, Red Herrings the lot of them. Shall we look at the exact prophecy?

"There will come a day after a long summer when the stars bleed and the cold breath of darkness falls heavy on the world. In this dread hour a warrior shall draw from the fire a burning sword. And that sword shall be Lightbringer, the Red Sword of Heroes, and he who clasps it shall be Azor Ahai come again, and the darkness shall flee before him."

Notice the first section. After the Long Summer. Everyone's been dead before winter has set in. The only real possibility out of those mentioned currently is Jon, who, depending on the speed of ravens, could have been stabbed between the time the Maesters sent out the white ravens and the KL one arrived. So it might be Jon, or else it's up in the air now and could be anyone else.

[WinterWarrior]

It is almost too big a task for one person.

Actually I am beginning to wonder if it is Tyrion. This may sound weird but I have a number of the maps from the Lands of Ice and Fire up on my wall at work and the map of Westeros really has the shape of a dwarf facing east. Dorne looks like a foot, there are the fingers and the neck and even a bulging forehead, a large head and small body.....It looks like a dwarf.

So maybe AA is Tyrion. Or maybe I am just seeing things. I agree that it is probably Jon but GRRM loves surprises.

[HoboJed]

Well, you can eliminate nearly everyone, Red Herrings the lot of them. Shall we look at the exact prophecy?

Notice the first section. After the Long Summer. Everyone's been dead before winter has set in. The only real possibility out of those mentioned currently is Jon, who, depending on the speed of ravens, could have been stabbed between the time the Maesters sent out the white ravens and the KL one arrived. So it might be Jon, or else it's up in the air now and could be anyone else.

It says "after a long Summer", not "during Winter". Summer has ended before the start of aCoK (we are told during its prologue that Summer has ended). So that still covers basically all of them (except Stannis).

[Pearlthegirl]

It is almost too big a task for one person.

Actually I am beginning to wonder if it is Tyrion. This may sound weird but I have a number of the maps from the Lands of Ice and Fire up on my wall at work and the map of Westeros really has the shape of a dwarf facing east. Dorne looks like a foot, there are the fingers and the neck and even a bulging forehead, a large head and small body.....It looks like a dwarf.

So maybe AA is Tyrion. Or maybe I am just seeing things. I agree that it is probably Jon but GRRM loves surprises.

But I see a nose on the dwarf/map!

[TheMysteriousOne]

If AA/PTWP is real, then I hope that GRRM makes it a group of people, not just one person. I doubt that he's going to make a single savior, it doesn't seem like his style.