Could Khal Drogo be returning to Game of Thrones?

The theory comes from a cryptic statement made by Mirri Maz Duur, the witch who tricked Daenerys into using blood magic to save Drogo’s life back in the first series, only to leave the Khal a vegetable and Daenerys’ unborn child dead.

When asked by Dany, Mirri said that Drogo would return to her "when the sun rises in the west and sets in the east, when the sea goes dry and mountains blow in the wind like leaves, when your womb quickens and you bear a living child...". In other words, never. Or so we thought.

However, redditor MrMasochist has pointed out that in Game of Thrones’ book series and parts of the TV show several of these conditions have already been met. The sun that “rises in the west and sets in the east” could refer to book character Quentyn Martell, whose family crest was a burning sun and left his home of Dorne (in the West) to die at the hand of Daenerys’ dragons (in the East).

The sea that “goes dry” could also have an analogue, with the grasslands known as the Dothraki sea seemingly suffering a drought in one of Daenerys’ final chapters in the latest A Song of Ice and Fire book (and arguably “going dry” in the TV series as all the Dothraki abandon it to sail to Westeros with Dany).

The mountains that “blow in the wind like leaves” in turn could refer to a Meereenese pyramid destroyed in the books, or relate to Westeros knight Ser Gregor Clegane (aka The Mountain), currently in the service of Cersei Lannister and who could fall foul of Dany’s fire-breathing, flying dragons in the next series of the TV show.

As for the womb quickening, well, that’s simple – all Daenerys needs for that to come true is to have another baby, and while it’s implied by both the books and TV series that her early miscarriage has left her unable to bear children, her last scene in the latest novel (A Dance With Dragons) reveals that her period has returned, suggesting she may be capable of having kids once more. There’s no particular reason this couldn’t happen in the TV incarnation of the story too.

Now we know what you’re thinking. This is all pretty circumstantial stuff, much of which isn’t in the TV show (Quentyn Martell isn’t in it at all, though it could be that the team-up of his sun-bannered relatives with Daenerys might bring about that condition of the prophecy) and it'll probably come to nothing. Where’s the real-world evidence that Khal Drogo could be coming back to the TV series?

And we hear you – which is why it’s worth taking a look at Jason Momoa’s Instagram page, where the Drogo actor has posted several cryptic messages including one to Daenerys actor Emilia Clarke saying“see u soon” (which he’s since deleted). More frequently, the Hawaiian actor’s been using the hashtag #AlohaDrogo, famously a greeting that could mean goodbye OR hello to his old character.

So maybe, just maybe, Drogo could join the others in the “no longer dead” club for season seven. We’re sure they’ll save an iron seat for him.

Game of Thrones will return in 2017