We misinterpreted a major vision of how 'Game of Thrones' will end

As we've learned throughout Game of Thrones, visions and prophecies in this world are a double-edged sword.

At best, they provide real foreshadowing, but hardly ever for the outcome we initially expected. At worst, knowing these visions only makes characters fulfill their own ill-fated destinies in attempts to avoid it.

All of that seems to be the case for the most vital vision on the show, from all the way back in Season 2. As one Redditor is proposing, we might've misinterpreted a key part of symbolism in the prophecy, which predicted exactly how the upcoming battle between Daenerys and Cersei will end in episode 5 of Season 8.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

While searching for her stolen dragons in the mysterious House of the Undying in the Season 2 finale, Daenerys walks through what people believe is a vision of the future. Primarily, she walks through King's Landings' iconic throne room, empty, burned, and destroyed beyond repair.

The key symbol we misinterpreted, though, was the white debris falling over the destroyed hall. The White Walker threat that loomed in the background at the time made us assume that it was snow coating the throne room, meaning that winter would come for King's Landing.

But after winter came and went without getting anywhere near the capital, we've had to rethink what that all meant. And now that Daenerys' is about to Dracarys King's Landing to shreds, the debris we thought was snow is looking a lot like ash instead.

There's other foreshadowing to support that the vision was actually showing Daenerys' destiny as the Queen of the Ashes.

In Season 7, when she first struggled with whether or not to rain fire down on the capital, she told Tyrion she had no desire to become the Queen of Ashes. But after losing all her friends, the love of her life, and all but one of her dragons, Daenerys seems to have been cornered into truly becoming her father's daughter, as the Mad Queen who will burn them all.

In the book version of the House of the Undying vision, there is no scene where the throne room appears destroyed. But at one point the warlocks call Daenerys "mother of dragons, daughter of death." Some interpreted this to mean she was born out of death, after nearly every one of her family members died.

Increasingly, though, that moniker appears to be literal. Daenerys is not the savior who will use fire and blood to make a better world, but rather the harbinger of death by fire -- just like the father she always feared becoming.

Considering how her vision in the House of the Undying ends in Season 2, it doesn't bode well for her survival or chances at winning the crown either.

In the destroyed throne room, Daenerys doesn't actually get to touch the throne she believed was her birthright. Though the debris falling from the sky is arguably ash, there is definitely still snow already occupying the throne. You know, like Jon Snow.

Daenerys reaches out to touch the throne anyway, but then hears the cries of her dragons, and turns away from the seat of power to save her children instead.

After passing through the gates of Castle Black, she then finds herself beyond the Wall, but standing before the tent where Drogo died. If you'll remember, the witch who killed Drogo in Season 1 also gave Daenerys a prophecy. When asked when they'd be reunited, she said:

"When the sun rises in the west and sets in the east. When the seas go dry and mountains blow in the wind like leaves. When your womb quickens again, and you bear a living child. Then he will return, and not before."

Many have debated that, metaphorically speaking, a lot of this has already happened. But that's not a good thing, since being reunited with her Khal would mean Daenerys needs to die herself for the prophecy to be completed. At least that's what the vision implies. When she finds Drogo and their unborn child Rhaego in the tent, she repeats the prophecy as reason the reason why she cannot stay with them in the Night Lands.

It is a cold comfort, but at least when Daenerys inevitably becomes the Queen of Ashes, it seems she might finally be able to rest with the love that was ripped away from her years ago.