What the latest (and most traumatic) death on Game of Thrones actually means for the show.

Warning: Many spoilers and tears are ahead. Mostly tears. This is a safe space, right?

Hi, hello. How are you feeling this morning?

Because I am feeling utterly destroyed over last night’s episode of Game of Thrones.

So distraught was I at watching the death of a beloved dragon – who has, let’s face it, kept a lot of us watching for the past seven years – that I spilled an entire cappuccino all over myself this morning.

If that isn’t grief then I don’t know what is.

I’m not normally one to scream at my television. The most you’ll get from me, emotion-wise, is perhaps a hand placed delicately over my mouth.

Or a few big sips of wine during a dramatic moment.

But last night, I was most definitely NOT OKAY with watching this unfold:

via GIPHY

RIP Viserion, you were too pure for this world.

Of course, as senseless as this brutal dragon-slaying was, nothing in Game of Thrones happens without reason, so of course, Viserion’s death means big things for the plot.

But before we go into that, let’s take a moment to mourn.

We all desperately need it.

I didn’t realize how attached I was to that dragon whose name I didn’t know ???? ???? #GameOfThrones

— Smriti Lama (@SmritiLama) August 21, 2017

When you’ve seen at least 100 deaths in 7 whole seasons but the death of a dragon has you inconsolably sobbing #GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/9FbqDJ7o26

— Olivia Caridi (@OliviaCaridi) August 21, 2017

creepy finger is alive and a dragon is dead, why are there no happy endings #GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/FwxVtMm4al

— alexis alicia (@lexi__lemons) August 21, 2017

Me: I’m not coming to office today.
Boss: Why?
Me: Someone Died.
Boss: Oh No. Who?
Me : Viserion#ThronesYall #GameOfThrones #beyondthewall pic.twitter.com/omTOGmLkoW

— Vikas (@Vikas_Tumkur) August 21, 2017

Now, it’s time for us to wipe away our tears and talk about fan theories. It’s what Viserion would have wanted.

First of all, we really should have seen this whole ‘killer ice dragon’ thing coming.

In George R.R. Martin’s third novel in the series, A Storm of Swords, Jon Snow compares walking through a tunnel in the Wall to “walking down the gullet of an ice dragon”.

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In the fifth novel, A Dance with Dragons, it was confirmed that “ice dragons” were most definitely a thing in the past, and Jon and the rest of the Stark kids were told tales of them while they were growing up.

It turns out, ‘ice dragon’ is not just a cool (get it?) metaphor.

It seems like this is exactly what the White Walker army needs to bring down the wall. While we’re not entirely sure how the whole “magical Wall separating the North from the South” thing works, we bet a lot of problems can be solved with a little bit of dragon-fire.

(Wait, does Viserion breathe fire still? Or does he now breathe ice? Ugh. This is all so confusing.)

via GIPHY

But the largest implication of Viserion’s death is the massive curveball it threw at the show’s most popular theory: that of the three-headed dragon.

Fans have long believed that three main characters will ride Dany’s three dragons to victory, and all signs were pointing to Jon Snow and Tyrion Lannister saddling up beside her.

But with Viserion out of the running, it seems the third dragon rider might actually be the Night King himself.

Which promises a horrifying dilemma: that Dany and Jon (riding Drogon and Rhaegal, respectively) will have to come face to face with the re-incarnated Viserion.

It's unlikely that the two remaining dragons will survive: it's been referenced that in the Targaryen civil war, when the dragons were believed to be driven to extinction, most of them died by fighting each other.

Some fans also believe that Bran will be able to warg into a dragon and save the day (or, not, if this theory is to be believed).

It's hard to believe that when he was told by the Three-Eyed-Raven that he would "never walk again, but you will fly" he was talking about hitching a ride on some crows.

This means Bran could take control of Viserion, and turn him against the army of the dead and work with the rest of Westeros to defeat the army of the dead.

Or, maybe we're just way too hopeful about all of this.

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