Was There a Prince That Was Promised in 'Game of Thrones'? [SPOILERS]

This story includes spoilers for 'Game of Thrones' Season 8.

One of the biggest prophecies in Game of Thrones was the story of the Prince That Was Promised. This person was the prophesied savior in the Lord of the Light religion, believed to be born from salt and smoke and wielding a sword named Lightbringer to defeat the threat of darkness. Throughout the majority of the series, fans have been speculating who the prince (or princess, since it's a gender neutral word in High Valyrian) could be. Some of the characters were desperate to find out as well. But since the series finale on Sunday, many are still wondering whether or not The One Who Was Promised was revealed. Was there ever one at all?

The first person thought to be this savior in the TV series was Stannis Baratheon, after he proclaimed himself the King of the Seven Kingdoms and Melisandre was totally behind it. But after Stannis was killed in battle and Jon Snow was brought back to life, the priestess then announced that she thought Jon was the prince. Since then, fans had been on board with this theory, especially after Jon seemed to be making heroic leadership decisions up north. We saw him becoming the King in the North, and then his true parentage was revealed—a game changer that confirmed he was the true heir to the Iron Throne.

But the final season might’ve thrown this idea out the window, considering it was Arya who killed the Night King—a feat many fans thought would have been left to the prophesied prince. After that, some began speculating whether or not the trained assassin was actually the Prince That Was Promised. But there were still some who believed Jon could be the ultimate savior.

And since the series finale, which saw Jon kill Daenerys Targaryen, many fans have continued to believe that he was the prince because he killed the darkness that was Dany. And as TIME points out, in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire book series, the Azor Ahai, a.k.a. the Prince That Was Promised, had to kill his wife to create the Lightbringer, which certainly parallels what Jon did to Daenerys.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t explicitly settled whether or not the Prince That Was Promised prophecy was ever fulfilled, so we may never know (unless the showrunners or George R.R. Martin start talking). 

This article also appears on Mental Floss.