'Game of Thrones' Theory Explains Why Sansa Stark Must Die [SPOILERS]

This story includes spoilers for 'Game of Thrones' Season 8, Episode 4, "The Last of the Starks."

The latest episode of Game of Thrones' final season, "The Last of the Starks," angered many fans for a handful of reasons. For one, how Daenerys Targaryen just forgot about the Iron Fleet is ridiculous, and let's not even get into Jon Snow's terrible excuse for a goodbye to his beloved direwolf, Ghost. A few fans are also pretty annoyed at Sansa Stark right now, after she promised Jon that she wouldn't tell anyone about his true identity and claim to the Iron Throne—then immediately revealed his secret to Tyrion Lannister, knowing that Tyrion would spread the news to Lord Varys and beyond. A new fan theory believes her actions will be met with severe consequences and uses Thrones history to back this up.

Redditor Gnargiela recalls how nearly every time a Stark has broken a promise or sacrificed their honor in the series, they were killed for it. The most memorable example would likely be Ned Stark, who, despite his intention to serve the realm and tell the truth, "sacrifice[d] his honor" by falsely admitting to treason and was publicly executed. Oldest brother Robb Stark broke his vow to marry one of Walder Frey's daughters. Instead, against all counsel to not betray Frey, he married Talisa, a healer he met after one of his army's battles; he, his mother Catelyn (who negotiated the agreement with Frey), and his newly pregnant wife became the primary targets during the infamous Red Wedding. Additionally, Lyanna Stark broke her betrothal to Robert Baratheon in order to elope with Rhaegar Targaryen, and later died in childbirth. Seeing a pattern here?

The theory argues that Sansa will have to die in the remaining two episodes, one way or another, strictly because she went against her word on something pretty major. Fans in the comments section were quick to agree with this idea, adding a few other examples of Starks meeting a cruel fate after breaking promises. Reddit user ostrich1607 remembered that Bran Stark promised his mother that he'd stop climbing the castle walls, and he ended up a cripple at the hands of Jaime Lannister following his next climb. And user rewardinghand pointed out that after Jon Snow broke a number of his Night's Watch vows, he was murdered by his own men (though Jon may be a Targaryen, his mother was a Stark).

While Sansa is doing what she believes is best for Jon and the Seven Kingdoms as a whole, her decisions might lead to her demise. We'd hate to see it happen, but we can't discount this pretty consistent pattern.

This article also appears on Mental Floss.