As the Stark, Targaryen and Lannister armies vie for war - and ready against the ever-growing threat of the White Walkers - Game of Thrones appears to have been secretly crafting its own meta narrative, suggesting that Samwell Tarly is an in-universe George R.R. Martin and author of novel series A Song of Ice and Fire.

In Season 7 Episode 2 "Stormborn", we rejoined with Sam now an apprentice in the Citadel as he trains to become the Night's Watch's own Maester and research ways to fight against the encroaching long night. He's an assistant to Archmaester Ebrose, who during a library visit reveals that he's writing "A Chronicle of the Wars Following the Death of King Robert I". Sam quips back that he'd call it "possibly something a bit more poetic".

Now those familiar with Westerosi lore will know that another way to frame "the wars after Robert's death" is "the very show we're watching now"; Game of Thrones starts in the final days of Robert's reign, with the never-ending run of deaths and betrayals catalyzed by his murder. The implication is pretty clear: the book Archmaester Ebrose is working on is the show's own version of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, something that many are now expecting for Sam to finish up.

This has been a popular fan theory since the end of Season 6 when Sam first arrived at the Citadel; the reveal of the Maester's home base having a hanging lamp identical to the one seen in the opening sequence teased some bridge between the story we're being told and its method of telling. This latest step furthers that, bringing the book into existence and leaving little doubt to its meaning. At present it appears is that Ebrose is the one writing it, but the framing puts the onus on Tarly finishing (and titling) the tome.

Sam follows Archmaester Ebrose in Oldtown library in Game of Thrones season 7

A major turn like this would be a real justification of Sam's somewhat meandering plot line. Yes, he's recently learned about the presence of dragonglass on Dragonstone (albeit something he already suspected care of Stannis) and started work on curing Jorah Mormont's grayscale, so the thread isn't without merit, but nevertheless, when the show is running apace towards epic confrontation his awkward family politics felt quaint. Having this all be building towards an author reveal earns it such a prominent amount of screen time.

If true, this would be a rather revealing plot point, indicating that Sam not only survives to the end of the show but presumably winds up becoming a Maester himself. That would obviously, in turn, mean the White Walkers' rampage is stopped, although few fan theories suggest anything else; practically it sees the most unlikely of Thrones leads - Sam was first introduced as a pathetic Night's Watch recruit - become its ultimate chronicler.

Of course, at this point it's unclear if this was a solitary mention for fans to pick up on or the indication of a major forward-focusing plot point. However, we definitely have evidence there's more to it - at least in the book mythology. Author George R.R. Martin's adoration of The Lord of the Rings mastermind J.R.R. Tolkien is well-documented - his second middle initial is a direct reference and Thrones is explicitly written as a subversion of fantasy tropes formed by the Middle-earth legendarium - and this may be his most overt homage; The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are both in-universe texts, written by Bilbo and Frodo Baggins respectively recounting their adventures, allowing Tolkien to pass comment on the nature of storytelling in what was initially an experimentation in language.

Presuming that this is something showrunners Benioff and Weiss have lifted from the author's notes for his yet unpublished final two parts, The Winds of Winter and A Song of Spring (something they're still doing despite the show now forging its own course), it would seem Martin is indeed trying to emulate his idol's structure. We even have it involving a character named after a Rings hero, Samwise Gamgee.

More than just a wink-wink nudge-nudge moment, though, this could prove to be one of Game of Thrones' most thematically rich directions that consolidates many threads while resolving long-standing criticisms.

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A Song of Ice and Fire Game of Thrones George R R Martin

How This Can Connect The Book And TV Show

The world of Westeros is dominated by legends and tales: the Long Night when the White Walkers first attacked; Bran the Builder constructing The Wall; Aegon's conquest of the Seven Kingdoms; the tourney at Harrenhal; Robert's Rebellion, including the Battle at the Trident and the Tower of Joy; the Greyjoy rebellion. These aren't just cases of expert world-building - although they are that too - but active history that looms large over and directly influences the current events. Legend, myth, fabrications, and truth; the power of storytelling in developing (and hampering) human culture is the core of Thrones, with Martin using his time-devoid epic as a step into how the best tales form.

Season 7 is explicitly drawing attention to that with Sam's plotline. Ebrose states that "If you're going to write histories, Tarly, you have to do the research. If you want people to read your histories, you need a bit of style.", in reference to his approach to the post-Robert writings; he's essentially praising flair. It could be simply read as a hand-waving excuse from the show's writers to get around any audience complaints of story contradictions. After all, that has been a constant criticism, particularly since it overtook the source text - most recently with the confused geography of the Seven Kingdoms displayed in Dany's plan despite the constant use of maps - and so such a line puts the onus on telling a good story above all else. However, it also seems to be enabling a bigger comment of the permutability of narrative.

We've already seen that happen in other areas, with Bravos boasting street performers presenting their skewed take on Ned Stark's treason and the War of the Five Kings. This shows not only that what we're seeing is becoming a story in its own right, but draws attention to narrator reliability; Ned as a sleazy villain and Joffery a gentile King are mild inaccuracies, to say the least. If we're introducing an in-world account of events, this is played up and may be a fanon way of explaining the increasing distances between the show and Martin's eventual books - Sam is writing A Game of Thrones, A Cast of Kings et al, which is just one account of the show's "truth".

Whatever the case, bringing this into play now, as we enter the big finale, only serves to amplify the gravity of what's unfolding. The danger of such a storied and exciting fictional history - one that's providing so much content several spinoffs are planned - is that the unfolding events themselves can feel slight in the grand scope. Ebrose even alludes to this when he dismisses Sam's White Walker fears, with the Archmaester citing supposed doom comes in cycles measured beyond a single lifespan. We, of course, know he's wrong; the histories he's currently writing are only mid-story and are in fact the account of life reaching a new dawn. The currently untitled book is a major reminder things are about to change.

That said, while this is a neat idea very much in line with the show's wider structure, taking such a meta turn has its potential pitfalls. For every example like The Witcher, which is written by semi-active plot participant the bard Dandelion, there's a Trainspotting 2, which reveals Irvine Welsh's dialect-heavy novels are really the product of recovering addict Spud. Indeed, the breadth of examples beyond Rings alone highlights that this isn't really a unique trope, although we conversely know Martin's approach is more about twisting and subverting what already exists than he is crafting new elements. Much of it comes down to how the showrunners execute any twist - in this case both which "poetic" name they eventually choose for the book (A Song of Ice and Fire would be much more elegant than the show's given title) and how they handle essentially saying HBO's Game of Thrones is the real story and the book a variation of that (rather than the other way round).

Even if the "Stormborn" reference is the end of it, though, it's still an incredibly exciting nod for the series' obsessive fanbase that introduces a whole new consideration of how to interpret the books. Now if only Sam would get back to work and finish them.

Game of Thrones continues Sunday @ 9pm on HBO.

Next: Game of Thrones: Will Jon & Daenerys Be Allies or Enemies?