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Reports have emerged that the final season of Game of Thrones may not air until early 2019, but we just can't wait that long.
Join your Westerosi correspondents Dan Miller and Peter Marsh as they test out their greensight and go over six theories, both reasonable and farfetched, on how this is all going to end.
Not caught up? Previous chats:
***SPOILER WARNING***
Just in case it wasn't super obvious, we're going to be talking about seven season plot points below.
It's best you catch up on the entire season BEFORE READING any further.
No sympathy if you head beyond this point and are spoiled for season seven.
All good? Let's put our predicting caps on then
1. Winterfell falls quickly to the undead, fighting moves south
DAN: With all this hurt coming towards them from the North, I can't imagine Winterfell will stay standing long.
Remember, The Wall fell in seconds and the only ballista weapons useful against a dragon (undead or otherwise) are in King's Landing.
Much sooner, rather than later, Jon, Dany and the northern lords will retreat and head south, forcing a confrontation with Cersei, who is still holed up in her castle.
In the end they will have to seek asylum in King's Landing, where the final confrontation with the Night King and his army will happen after they've finished swarming the kingdom and wiping out all inhabitants.
Unless...
2. The Night King dies very early next season. Cersei (and humanity itself) is the ultimate evil
PETE: I think we'll see a very different ending Dan.
There's two quotes from George R. R. Martin I'm basing this on. The first one came from an Entertainment Weekly interview in 2013, where he talked about the decision to kill Robb and Catelyn:
"I killed Ned in the first book and it shocked a lot of people. I killed Ned because everybody thinks he's the hero and that, sure, he's going to get into trouble, but then he'll somehow get out of it. The next predictable thing is to think his eldest son is going to rise up and avenge his father. And everybody is going to expect that. So immediately [killing Robb] became the next thing I had to do."
The second comes from a Rolling Stone interview in 2014, where he talks about his "quibbles" with Tolkien and Lord of the Rings (though he is a self-professed fan):
"The war that Tolkien wrote about was a war for the fate of civilization and the future of humanity, and that's become the template. I'm not sure that it's a good template, though. The Tolkien model led generations of fantasy writers to produce these endless series of dark lords and their evil minions who are all very ugly and wear black clothes. But the vast majority of wars throughout history are not like that."
I think the worst thing that could happen is for Game of Thrones to end like Lord of the Rings did. And I truly believe that Martin isn't planning for his saga to end with the Night King being slain in the final episode, the Wights turning to dust and everyone living happily ever after.
Because that's exactly what you'd expect to happen, right?
I think we'll see the Night King dealt with super early, before Cersei enacts her planned betrayal on our heroes and inflicts a devastating blow in a selfish grab for power.
Just like Martin said, most wars aren't fought against dark lords and evil minions and I don't think that's how this one ends either. Cersei, who by this stage embodies the worst impulses of humanity, will be the final hurdle between Daenerys and the Iron Throne.
DAN: It's true that the Night King is a pretty one-dimensional, predictable 'dark lord' in that he just wants to kill everyone and seemingly has no personality beyond that (probably why he never speaks). The Children of the Forest created him as a weapon to kill men, and that's all he is. So maybe you're right in that he's not the final big bad. If he does go early I think we'd only be looking at episode 4 at the earliest, with chaos, backstabbing and killing among the survivors of the war for the last part.
But alternatively what I could also see is the Night King be almost successful, in that the entire population of Westeros is destroyed except for those holed up in King's Landing. And then when the Night King falls the few survivors left have an entire wasteland as their prize. Grim!
3. That dagger has a big role to play
DAN: This Valyrian steel and dragonbone-hilt dagger (which we like to call the catspaw dagger, but as far as we know it has no official name) has been passed around since the very first season.
Littlefinger gave it to Bran's would-be assassin, Catelyn then brought it to Ned in King's Landing and Littlefinger ends up taking it back, only to give it to Bran in season 7.
Cryptically Sam gets a look at the dagger in an old history tome in the Citadel, but the book merely talks about the use of dragonglass as a weapon and decoration by the Valyrians.
Here's what I think: the dagger now in Arya's possession is the weapon the Lord of Light's champion Azor Ahai used to end The Long Night and defeat the White Walkers the first time.
We know Azor Ahai had a legendary flaming sword called Lightbringer, and so far two people have pretended to own it — Beric and Stannis.
But for so much focus on this amazing weapon that ended the war, we haven't actually seen the original sword.
What if thousands of years ago the Valyrian dagger was part of a much longer blade and hilt, and it is in fact a repurposed Lightbringer?
I predict Arya may die (perhaps by the dagger itself) and Jon will take it up and stab the Night King and end the war.
BUT....
4. After Jon kills the Night King, he also dies
Photo:
No happy ending for Jon Snow, AKA Aegon Targaryen, AKA Warrior of Light, AKA Azor Ahai. (HBO)
DAN: This is Game of Thrones, we can't possibly have a happy ending can we?
Everything is pointing to Jon being 'The Prince Who Was Promised', the reincarnated form of Azor Ahai. He is the true prince of Westeros and the Lord of Light has already favoured him by returning him to life.
It makes sense that Jon will kill the Night King.
This would wipe out the entire undead army and all the White Walkers, as they were turned by the Night King in the first place.
But fate will surely be cruel and Jon will have to sacrifice his life to end the war (but not before Dany is pregnant of course).
5. Jaime will kill Cersei and their unborn child
PETE: There's some more Valryian steel that I think is going to be crucial to the endgame Dan — Jaime's sword.
Like I said in our final recap of the year, I am all about Jaime finally moving back to his character's arc in the books and leaving Cersei to her madness.
Jaime is truly one of the most compelling characters in the book. The scars he carries from his decision to kill King Aerys Targaryen (he ain't called the Kingslayer for nothin') run deep, and Jaime is a man desperate to forge his own legacy and break the shackles of his past and the expectations that come with the name Lannister. Case in point, his decision to send Brienne to protect the Stark girls and the mercy he offered Olenna Tyrell.
With some time spent out of King's Landing, I think his guilt will build and he'll demand to be the one to lead Grey Worm and the Unsullied into King's Landing (because he knows the city well...obvs) for a final confrontation.
In trying to shed himself of the legacy he bought by killing one king, Jaime will have to kill a queen, and with her, his child. I wouldn't be surprised if he has to sacrifice himself to do it.
Which means if your prediction is right Dan, we might get two noble sacrifices to end the season.
But I don't think Jon goes out without my next prediction happening...
6. Jon will saddle up on a Dragon
PETE: I'm not exactly going out on a limb here, that's true.
But given we've just had another season where Jon's true identity was withheld from him, I think we can count on it being a pretty central theme next year. I'm backing this up with two things:
- In Jon's little pep talk with Theon in the finale of season seven he spoke about being allowed to be both a Greyjoy and a Stark;
- It's also been hinted that the dragons respond to Dany embracing the "Fire and Blood" words of House Targaryen. After deserting her, Drogon didn't return to Daenerys until she torched all the Khals and united the Dothraki behind her.
Here's how I think this'll go down. We'll see Jon learn his identity early on and wrestle with it for a few episodes. He'll be forced into a rescue mission, perhaps to save his sisters at Winterfell, and there'll be no choice but to reconcile his Stark and Targaryen blood. Of course, he'll be flying on Rhaegal, the dragon named for his father.
Bonus points here if we're treated to an epic shot of Jon saddled atop Rheagal, with Ghost at his side.
If that's not A Song of Ice and Fire then I don't' know what is.
DAN: If we actually saw Ghost again I think that'd be a minor miracle. I think it is likely the direwolf will never reappear. It would be too jarring after having not seen Ghost (who would have been SUPER helpful in the battle of the bastards) since season six. I think the showrunners have written him out. You'll be right about Jon riding Rhaegal though!
Pete's wishful thinking prediction:
When he was still young (and not mopey all the time) Bran sure had some awesome warging powers! We saw him warg into Summer and Hodor before he spent time with the Three-Eyed Raven. After? Just a bunch of crows.
I refuse to believe that's all we'll see of Bran now he's become all powerful. As Viserion bears down on Winterfell, I want to see Bran slip into the Dragon to try and take control. This might create the opening needed for Jon/Arya/SAM THE SLAYER to finally kill the Night King for good.
Dan's wishful thinking prediction:
For Tormund to win over Brienne and rule the Iron Throne together as King and Queen, repopulating Westeros with their giant children.
Alternatively, White Walkers win. There's no happy ending. They wipe out life in Westeros and we then see them freezing the Narrow Sea to make their way across to Essos. What an ending that would be!
Who's (probably) alive at the end?
- Daenerys
- Arya
- Brienne
- Tyrion
- Sam
- Tormund
- The Hound
- Grey Worm
- Missandei
- Theon
- Yara
Who's dead?
- Jon
- Varys
- Melisandre
- Jorah
- Cersei
- Jaime
- Sansa
- Bran
- The Mountain (again)
- Night King
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