Game of Thrones’ latest reveal may be disproven by a famous prophecy

Game of Thrones revealed an interesting piece of news this week that, if fans have been paying attention to the details, may have left them scratching their heads.

[Warning: The following will contain spoilers for Game of Thrones season 7 episode 5, “Eastwatch.”]

After Jaime has an emotional, intense conversation with his younger brother, Tyrion, the older Lannister rushes off to deliver an update to his sister, Cersei. He wants her to talk to Daenerys about agreeing to an armistice and combining their forces to defend Westeros against the army of undead that threatens all of the Seven Kingdoms. He doesn’t have to do much convincing: Cersei is inclined to agree with her brother-turned-lover, all for one very simple reason.

“I’ve come to believe that an accommodation with the dragon queen may be in our immediate interest,” Cersei says. “Whatever stands in our way, we will defeat it. For ourselves, for our house ... for this.”

As she rubs her stomach, Jaime gets the message: His sister is pregnant with their fourth child. Unlike with Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen, people would know this child as a sinful creation between the two of them. But since Cersei sits upon the Iron Throne, no one can do anything about it.

Here’s where it gets tricky. One of the most iconic prophecies to appear on Game of Thrones is about Cersei and her future.

The king will have 20 children and you will have three. Gold will be their crowns ... gold their shrouds

Cersei has already had three children, and they’ve all perished. Nearly everything else in the prophecy has come true. She married Robert Baratheon and became queen. Did a younger, more beautiful girl arrive in King’s Landing to take her place? Technically, yes. Margaery was married to Tommen, Cersei’s youngest son. Cersei then had Margaery killed, which led to Tommen committing suicide and Cersei taking the throne.

It seems very unlikely that Cersei would have a fourth child, based on the prophecy. There is, however, one final aspect of it that has yet to come true — and which may play into this latest reveal:

And when your tears have drowned you, the Valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you.

Valonqar means “little brother,” and many assumed for quite some time that the phrase was referring to Tyrion. Cersei and Tyrion have always hated one another, and with Tyrion joining forces with Daenerys, that outcome seemed to make sense.

But as the seventh season continues, it’s getting more obvious that Jaime isn’t a fan of the person his sister has become. She’s deceived him on multiple occasions. All it would take is for something to go wrong with his unborn child for Jaime to snap — and perhaps take that painful anger out on Cersei.

Taking all of that into consideration, it seems very unlikely that this child — if it’s real, and not just another one of Cersei’s tricks — will ever be born.

Game of Thrones airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.