‘Harry Potter’ actor Jim Broadbent joins ‘Game of Thrones’ this season and it appears he will play a major role…
‘Game of Thrones’ rarely allows anything about an upcoming season to leak out ahead of the debut but from time to time an actor guest starring on the show will slip up.
This year count Jim Broadbent — best known for his role in the ‘Harry Potter’ films — as that actor after he revealed details about his character in a recent interview.
“I’m a maester, an archmaester. I’m an old professor character,” Broadbent said. “I did five episodes. I did sort of one major scene in each episode.”
Broadbent also revealed that the majority of his scenes are spent with Samwell Tarly, which means his archmaester character will likely be at the Citadel where the brother from the Night’s Watch currently resides while training to replace Maester Aemon, who passed away more than a season ago on ‘Game of Thrones’.
Now this next part is pure speculation based solely on Broadbent’s comments but judging by the characters at the Citadel who we’ve never met, his revelation could point towards one very popular fan theory about the maester’s role in the downfall of the Targaryen dynasty.
There’s long been a rumor in the world of Ice and Fire that the maesters — who are supposed to be men of science — conspired to bring down the Targaryen dynasty because that family’s power was all built around magic. Where else would dragons come from after all? There are theories that tie the maesters to all sorts of plots including the plan to launch Robert’s Rebellion after conspiring to marry Robert Baratheon to Lyanna Stark as well as tying the Starks together with the Tully’s and the Arryn’s to weaken the Targaryen power base away from King’s Landing.
Well if Broadbent is playing a certain archmaester known as Marwyn the Mage, this story may all be confirmed or denied in the next season.
Marwyn the Mage is a famous figure in Westerosi history as the foremost expert on magic and holds a fierce allegiance to the Targaryen family. In fact during one interaction with Samwell at the Citadel in the books, he says this…
“Who do you think killed all the dragons the last time around? Gallant dragonslayers armed with swords? The world the Citadel is building has no place in it for sorcery or prophecy or glass candles, much less for dragons. Ask yourself why Aemon Targaryen was allowed to waste his life upon the Wall, when by rights he should have been raised to archmaester. His blood was why. He could not be trusted. No more than I can.”
Now whether ‘Game of Thrones’ will explore this story or these theories remains to be seen but if Broadbent is playing Marwyn the Mage, he could play a powerful influence over Sam as the battle for life and death looms large on the horizon with the White Walkers bearing down on Westeros and now that winter has arrived, their journey south of the Wall could begin any day now.
Of course this is all speculation at this point but it seems clear that Broadbent will be playing an important character on ‘Game of Thrones’ season 7 and Marwyn the Mage would certainly fit that bill.
‘Game of Thrones’ season 7 will debut this summer on HBO.
H/T: Screen Rant
