What should HBO’s new Game of Thrones prequel series be called?

SAN DIEGO, CA – JULY 25: Writer George R.R. Martin attends HBO’s “Game Of Thrones” panel and Q&A during Comic-Con International 2014 at San Diego Convention Center on July 25, 2014 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

The Long Night

The Age of Heroes show isn’t the only Game of Thrones prequel HBO ordered developed. It tapped several writers to work on ideas, and A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin consulted with all of them. As such, he’s invested in how the show turns out, and has already picked out a title he likes best: The Long Night.

That makes perfect sense. If the show is going to be about humanity’s first clash with the White Walkers, why not take the name of the conflict for a title? But if that’s too gloomy for HBO, might we suggest…

War for the Dawn

Like any conflict, the Long Night didn’t have just one name. It was also called the War for the Dawn, which sounds more sweeping and epic and probably easier for HBO to market.

The Last Hero

Let’s say that HBO wants to drill down and focus on one leading character. If you have to choose one person to drive your story about the Long Night, the best contender is probably the Last Hero, a legendary figure who sought out the Children of the Forest in the hopes that they could join forces and defeat the White Walkers. After much hardship and death, he succeeded, and the rest is (made up) history.

Although accounts are foggy, the Last Hero may have been the same person as Azor Ahai, another legendary figure who fought the White Walkers with a magic sword called Lightbringer, which he forged at the cost of the life of his beloved wife Nissa Nissa. HBO’s show could separate the fact from the legend.