Prophecies, visions, and dreams

Prophecies, visions, and dreams – either of the past, present, or future – form an important part of the narrative in the ‘’A Song of Ice and Fire’’ novels. Many of them were omitted from the ‘’Game of Thrones’’ TV series, though several have been introduced.

Prophecies are often made by those descended from the First Men who are gifted with Greensight, such as Bran Stark. In the novels, members of House Targaryen are famous for having prophetic dreams – indeed, the reason that the Targaryens are the only family of Valyrian nobility that survived the Doom of Valyria (along with the world’s only living dragons), is because the daughter of the head of House Targaryen had prophetic dreams that the Doom was coming a few years before it occurred. Believing the prophecy to be true, the Targaryens relocated to Dragonstone island just off the coast of Westeros, and only a dozen years later Valyria was indeed destroyed in a single day by a massive volcanic explosion. Various other religious figures and alleged practitioners of magic claim to possess powers of prophecy, from Red Priests such as Melisandre to woods-witches such as Maggy.