My stance on various ASOIAF conspiracy theories, Part 27

Thursday is theory day.

This is the twenty-seventh article of the series. Since there are a lot of theories floating out there and I'm asked often enough what I think of them, I thought I write it down. You can then laugh about me when I am totally proven wrong by "The Winds of Winter" or something like that. Rules are as follows: you put a question about any theory or plot element (really, let's stress "theory" a bit for the sake of interesting questions) either in the comments of any theory post or by mail (stefan_sasse@gmx.de) and I will answer them in an upcoming post. And if you now ask "Stefan, isn't this a shameless rip-off of Sean T. Collin's "Ask me anything"?", I would tell you to shut up, because you are right.

Prepare for part 27. Spoilers for "A Song of Ice and Fire", obviously.  

What will happen to Victarion?
Victarion will die. He's such an idiot, and there are pretty clever men who want him dead - Euron and Moqorro, for starters - so I really don't see him prevailing in any sense.  My best guess is that he will arrive just in time for the battle of Meereen and let someone blow the horn to bind the dragons to his will. That will prevent the dragons from burning up both armies at once, and perhaps even lure Drogon to them (although I doubt the horn has such a range). But of course he won't bind the dragons to him but to Moqorro, so the dragons will eat him afterwards, and Moqorro can do with Dany whatever he came to do - present them to her as a gift from R'hollor, most like. Suppose Victarion does not die in such circumstances, he will propose to Dany. Knowing his pragmatic sense for obstacles, he'll possibly bury his axe in Hizdahr's skull to make her a widow and ask her with his brains still clinging on his hands. I can't really see Dany answering this favorably. It will come to blood between her and and the Ironmen then, most like, reinforcing a tradition of the Iron Throne. But in none of these scenarios is Victarion sailing home alive, having married Dany (or not) and gained the dragons (or not). He will die in Slaver's Bay, and good riddance.

Have you ever covered revenge in the series?
Surprisingly enough, no. I guess I'll do it soon enough, so let's just sketch out some thoughts here. Many characters in the series are motivated by revenge and vengeance, and there's not really coming anything good out of it. Sandor Clegane wants revenge on Gregor. The Martells want revenge on the Lannisters. Victarion wants revenge on Euron. Dany wants revenge on all rebels. Arya wants revenge on everyone who has wronged her or her family. Littlefinger wants revenge on the society that rejected him. Frey wants revenge for the slight he got by Robb. Robb wants revenge for his father and for the murdered Lannister boys. Manderly wants revenge in the Freys. None of these guys gets anything out of this desire. Even if they prevail in the short run - like Doran Martell, for example, who finally gets Gregor's head - what comes of this revenge? Nothing. Robb finds himself in a war with no goal and gets caught up in one revenge scheme after another until he falls prey to one himself. Many and more people die, yet no one is the better for it. It's striking that all those who really get their revenge make up new targets immediately. This is true for Arya, who doesn't get any satisfaction, for Manderly, who turns on other Freys as soon as he disposed of the others, of Doran, who isn't content with the death of every Lannister involved in the slaying of Elia. There's nothing good coming of it, never.

When Jon is Azor Ahai, is Dany Nissa Nissa?

While I firmly believe that Jon and Dany will come together in some way (although I'm not sure if love will play any part), I doubt that we get such a literal reenactment of the saga. First, as I said, it's not likely that Jon will have the real love for Dany like Azor Ahai had with Nissa Nissa, and that seems necessary for such a sacrifice; else it's meaningless. But there is nothing that Jon loves anymore except Arya, and that seems a bit of a stretch. I would put Nissa Nissa more on the metaphorical side: a hero has to make hurting sacrifices, make the hard decisions. He doesn't necessarily have to kill his love (and in a way, Jon and Dany both already did with Ygritte and Drogo, respectively), but to overcome something. Jon leaving or even destroying the Watch would be such an outcome, or Dany killing one of her dragons (not to get lightbringer but because he can't be controlled or whatever).