This 'Game of Thrones' fan theory could mean our heroes won't be facing the Night King

While we may have 90 minutes of the "largest, longest battle sequence in TV history" to look forward to, it may just transpire that our Game of Thrones heroes won't be facing the ultimate villain in this weekend's episode - at least according to a popular fan theory.

As people were quick to point out, the Night King and Viserion were noticeably absent from the shot of the White Walker army approaching Winterfell. And accordingly, people began to speculate that they may be heading down to King's Landing instead to wrest the Iron Throne from Cersei Lannister and her cronies.

"When the night king shows up to kings landing with the dragon and takes out Cersei while his army take out the north," wrote one Twitter user, while another added "The living win The Battle of Winterfell. Night King isn't there. Why, you ask? He took Viserion south to torch Kings Landing. Bronn sees him on his way north and tells everyone. Fulfilling Brans vision of dragon shadow over KL/destroyed throne room and Danys HOU visions."

"What if the Night King doesn’t even show up to the battle at Winterfell? What if he’s on his way to Kings Landing as we speak to get started on turning them into Wights?! He should make me his hand," wrote a third.

If this theory is to be believed, it means that Bran's plan will prove futile.

To recap, when Winterfell's leaders were discussing the battle during Sunday's episode, Jon Snow said their best chance at victory was to defeat the Night King to wipe out the entire army. While Jaime counteracted this by saying the leader of the dead wouldn't risk exposing himself in battle, Bran interrupted, saying he was willing to be used as a pawn to lure him out.

"He'll come for me," he asserted. "He's tried before, many times with many Three-Eyed Ravens."

His plan is to sit in the Godswood and wait for the Night King to come for him, with Theon standing guard with the Ironborn soldiers.

But obviously, if Twitter has got it right, using Bran in this manner will all be in vain, as well as Jon's hope of ending the battle as quickly as possible.

See if you can spot the clues in the teaser for episode three: 

In other, perhaps more distressing news, the people of the internet are convinced that one of our favourite characters - Brienne of Tarth - is going to die in next week's episode.

Last week, we saw Brienne finally become a Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and her joy was just palpable. But as many on Twitter highlighted, the characters on GoT pay a heavy price for even the most meagre moments of joy, and so have been speculating that her great victory may culminate in an untimely demise.

"I’m so happy for my shooter Brienne for finally getting the Knight ranking she deserves. It’s all she ever wanted. The smile on her face was so pure and joyous. She’s definitely bout to die," asserted one social media user, while another corroborated "It’s almost like her character arc is complete...You know what happens next right?"

Well, it looks like it's all about to kick off...