What is the Valonqar Prophecy?
This particular prophecy details how Cersei Lannister, the current Queen of the Seven Kingdoms and one of the most villainous mothers to ever grace a television screen this side of Norma Bates, will meet her end. In the novel A Storm of Swords, a young Cersei visits Maggy the Frog, a woman who seemingly has the ability to tell the future.
The witch woman tells Cersei many things about her life. She tells the young girl that she won’t marry a prince, but rather a king, and will be queen until she is supplanted by one “younger and more beautiful.” She then informs Cersei that she will have children but that they’ll all perish. Maggy concludes the prophecy with a declaration of the Lannister heiress’ death, stating:
“And when your tears have drowned you, the Valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you.”
Now, “Valonqar” means “little brother” in High Valerian and from the outset, the prevailing idea was that the Valonqar was Tyrion, her youngest brother for whom Cersei has always had an intense hatred for. She blamed him for basically everything bad that happened in her life, from the death of their mother (a preposterous notion because their mother died giving birth to Tyrion, which is nothing he could control) to murdering their father (okay, that one is Tyrion’s fault, though he had a pretty good reason given that Tywin forced Tyrion to give up the whore he was in love with, Shae, only to bed her himself).
This certainly could end up being the case, but given that it’s the most obvious, and therefore the easiest, choice, and Game of Thrones has always been keen on subverting the expectations of its audience, this might not be the direction the prophecy heads.