Did King Robert Predict Every Stark’s Fate In The Very First Episode Of ‘Game Of Thrones’?

Game of Thrones theories are running amok this week, and I’m getting a little exhausted but here’s yet another one for all of you GoT fans out there. In the very first episode of GoT, you may remember King Robert making his grand entrance into Winterfell, after all, it was a pretty iconic scene. Nevertheless, Robert only greets very select members of the Stark family.

The coincidence (or theory) was pointed out by a Reddit user by the name of dnspartan305 was: “I’m not sure if all of this has been pointed out before, but it is worth bringing it up. When Robert greets the Starks, he touches Ned, Cat, Robb, and Rickon. All of them die.”

The theory continues on with: “He calls Sansa a pretty one, and she is later kept and tormented by Joffrey as a trophy. Robert has Bran show him his muscles and later Bran becomes a cripple. He asks Arya’s name and later she becomes No-One. Jon is behind a wall of Starks…”

Nevertheless, this theory isn’t new and is commonly referred to as “King Robert’s curse” amongst ASOIAF and GoT fans alike, similar to the Midas touch but instead of turning it to gold, his touch brings the curse of death.

According to the actor who plays King Robert (Mark Addy), he wasn’t instructed to touch each Stark who eventually dies on purpose. However, Addy did read all the ASOIAF books up until that point and made his decision on who to touch somewhat subconsciously. So, while it wasn’t done on purpose, having knowledge of the fate of the Starks played a role in Addy’s specific acting choices.

While the theory is interesting, I don’t think it should necessarily be considered one of the most amazing things going around. Foreshadowing usually is pre-planned by authors and TV show runners and we do have to remember that GoT is based on a series of novels with established storylines and outcomes. Therefore, every-so-often rewatching from the beginning will make you go “oooohhhh” about a lot of things.

Besides, plenty of actors read the source material from the novel they’re adapting, so Addy’s choice to touch those specific Starks had definitely been inspired by the source material, even if he hadn’t known it. Unintentional foreshadowing is sometimes the best kind.

Photos Credit : HBO

Source : providr.com/did-king-robert-predict-every-stark-death/2/