After a fast-paced season 7, the Long Night of waiting for Game of Thrones Season eight
is upon us, and according to actor Kit Harrington, the final season is going to be an absolute
bloodbath!
A lot has happened over the course of the last seven seasons, including the deaths of
over 200 named characters… which has me wondering whose neck will end up on the proverbial
chopping block next season.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, it's Jan here and today I'm predicting the characters likely
to die in the epic final season of Game of Thrones.
I'm also starting a new Funko Pop giveaway.
All you have to do is be a subscriber to my channel and leave a comment on this video
for a chance to win.
Quick spoiler warning, I'll be reviewing major character arcs from all seven seasons so far,
so take care if you're not caught up.
Let's kick off with one of the characters many of us love to hate on Game of Thrones:
Cersei Lannister.
Back in season 5, Maggy the Frog made a number of predictions for Cersei which have come
true, including the death of her three children so far.
However, George RR Martin's books include another prophecy by Maggy that Cersei will
be choked to death by the valonqar, which is High Valyrian for 'little brother', or
possibly 'little sister' or 'little sibling.'
So, could this mean that we'll see Tyrion strangle Cersei, just like he did his former
lover Shae?
I don't know if it'll be that simple.
After all, Jaime Lannister may be Cersei's twin, but he's actually slightly younger than
her.
Season 7 has already teased Jaime as a possible valonqar, for example, there's the scene which
showed Cersei and Jaime standing on a huge map of Westeros, with Cersei at the area called
the neck and Jaime by the area known as the fingers.
And the two are now estranged after she accused him of treason when he chose to ride north
after she reneged on her agreement to unite with Dany and Jon against the White Walkers.
And remember Euron Greyjoy's reply to Cersei's accusation that he killed his own brother:
'You should try it,' Euron said, 'it feels wonderful.'
So, to prevent the prophecy or because she feels they've betrayed her, will Cersei attempt
to follow through on her threats to kill her brothers, yet end up hoist by her own petard?
Also, with each passing day, Cersei seems to act more and more like a mix of her father
Tywin and the Mad King Aerys Targaryen.
The thing is: Tywin was killed by Tyrion and Jaime reluctantly killed the Mad King to prevent
him from carrying out his crazy plan of setting the whole of King's Landing on fire, so it
wouldn't be beyond belief if either of them found themselves in a similar position with
Cersei.
Yet, Jaime and Tyrion aren't the only characters who could fulfil the valonqar prophecy.
Among other potential Cersei assassins is Arya, who hasn't had a chance to cross the
Mad Queen off her kill-list yet for her part in Ned Stark's death.
Ok, totally crazy theory time now: What if Arya got hold of the decapitated dwarf head
that looked like Tyrion and which Qyburn took to use for his work in Season 5?
She could then take its face and choke Cersei as a Tyrion look-a-like, in a similar stunt
to the one she pulled on Walder Frey's men at the start of season 7.
Or what if Arya put Jaime to death for trying to kill her brother Bran back in season 1,
and then she used Jaime's face to fulfil the prophecy?
Or Arya could make use of the newly deceased Littlefinger's face to slip back into Cersei's
court under the pretence of providing her with intel on her northern enemies.
Another character that many of us are probably itching to see get his just desserts before
the series is over is Gregor Clegane, aka Ser Robert Strong, the Undead Mountain.
It's been a long time coming, but after the Hound's fighting words to his brother in the
Dragonpit, it certainly looks like they're teasing Cleganebowl for season 8.
For anyone who doesn't know, Cleganebowl is the fan theory that the story arcs for the
two brothers Sandor and Gregor Clegane will culminate in an epic face-off.
Now, on the surface, Gregor would appear to have the upper hand against Sandor, being
larger, stronger and, most importantly now, undead.
But I feel the show has spent time thrusting The Hound into situations where he's confronted
by flames, which he's scared of given his childhood experience with fire.
I think this may be foreshadowing a crucial moment where he overcomes his fear which he'll
need to do to finally defeat the Mountain.
I suspect that an ordinary weapon won't be able to kill Ser Robert Strong, so Sandor
might do it with a dragonglass blade, or how about this for a wild theory: Beric Dondarrion
could light The Hound's blade on fire and the Hound could then use the flaming sword
to slice into his undead brother's face in a moment of sweet symbolic revenge.
Beric Dondarrion's status at the end of season 7 was uncertain as he was on top of the wall
as the ice dragon blasted a huge chunk of the wall down.
The last time we saw him and Tormund, though, it looked like they were on the part of the
wall that was left standing.
But I don't think the Lightning Lord will make it through the whole of next season alive
as his death has been pretty heavily foreshadowed in season seven.
Now that his good friend and chief resurrecter Thoros of Myr is dead, Beric is on his last
life.
And Beric himself pointed out that the reason he's been brought back from the dead is to
help kill the Walkers.
What I think could happen is that Beric goes in to battle expecting to kill the Night King
with a dragonglass or flaming Valyrian steel blade, but it doesn't work on the icy sovereign.
Beric will die heroically, but not completely in vain as Jon Snow could witness the death
and realise that it will take something more to kill the Night King.
I really hope this doesn't happen, but I'm fearful for our Onion Knight Davos Seaworth
next season.
He's one of the few good-natured characters on the show, having been loyal to the men
he's served; he was a friend to Shireen Baratheon; and he was instrumental in saving Gendry from
Melisandre and in bringing him back into the story in season seven.
But, when he said recently that "all [he'd] ever done was live to a ripe old age", I immediately
thought "oh, oh", are the writers planning to brutally kill him off?
I really hope that's not what lies ahead for Davos, but it does feel like his character
arc could be coming to its natural end.
There's one loose thread, though, which needs resolution before we see Davos leave us, and
that's his threat to Melisandre back in Winterfell that he would execute her if he ever saw her
again.
This brings us to the Red Woman herself, who departed Westeros this season in her usual
cryptic manner, but gave a few clues to her future when she spoke to Varys on Dragonstone.
During the conversation, Melisandre said she was leaving for Volantis but that she had
to return to Westeros one last time where, she added mysteriously, that she would die.
The thing with Melisandre, though, is that she's extremely hard to kill – she's over
400 years old and has survived assassination attempts like when Maester Cressen served
her poisoned wine in Season 2.
For a hint at how she might peg it, let's look back at her encounter with Arya in Season
3 where this happened.
"I see a darkness in you."
"And in that darkness eyes staring back at me..."
"We will meet again."
And let's not forget either that Melisandre is still on Arya's kill-list.
Arya now has a Valyrian steel dagger, which could be enough to kill the Red Priestess
in season eight, but I think she'll also have to remove Melisandre's magical choker first
as well.
And remember that during Melisandre's conversation with Varys, she also revealed that he too
had to die in Westeros.
And that wasn't the first encounter we've seen between Varys and a red priestess.
Back in Meereen in season 6, Varys met with Kinvara, who revealed she knew about the time
a sorcerer castrated him and cast his manhood into the fire.
Kinvara also knew about the voice that Varys heard from the flames, which was presumably
the fate that lies ahead for him, and which it looks like Melisandre also knows about.
And there was some possible foreshadowing of the fact that Varys will die, even if it's
not in this way, when Daenerys told him he must stand up to her if he ever thought she
was failing as a ruler and that she would burn him alive if she discovered he was betraying
her.
Moving on to the ironborn, I think Theon could be a Greyjoy casualty in season 8.
After abandoning his sister Yara during Euron's attack in season seven, Theon wants to redeem
himself by launching a raid to rescue her.
I can see the show having Theon successfully free Yara, but there's a chance he might not
survive that final act of redemption.
Alternately, Theon could survive and either he or Yara could kill Euron during the rescue.
That would be an interesting way to go as it would put Yara back in charge of the Iron
Islands.
Now, one character whose death could shock a lot of fans and who I think has a chance
of dying is Sansa Stark.
Sansa's death could be a heart-breaking moment for fans of the lemon-cake-loving Lady of
Winterfell, so what suggests the elder Stark sister could kick the bucket before the series
ends?
Well, in a letter that George R.R.
Martin penned back in 1993, he revealed the five characters he planned to survive the
whole of his book series.
Those lucky five were Daenerys Targaryen, Arya Stark, Jon Snow, Bran Stark, and Tyrion
Lannister.
If this original vision is something showrunners Benioff and Weiss plan to stick to, it seems
that Sansa will not make it to the end.
And something which could foreshadow Sansa's eventual demise is the death of her direwolf
Lady back in season one.
The Starks have all had strong connections to their direwolves with only Jon and Arya's
direwolves still alive.
Although Bran survived his direwolf's death, you could argue that Summer died around the
time Bran lost his personal identity and became the Three-Eyed Raven.
Sansa has been on quite a journey on the show, progressing from a naïve young girl with
dreams of knights and princes to becoming a more politically savvy operator in the North.
To get to this point though she's been played, betrayed and abused by various people from
Joffrey and Cersei to Littlefinger and Ramsay, so you might wonder how on earth could the
TV show kill her off after all that?
Well, her death might not be as a helpless victim, rather it could be heroic or noble
in some way, for example, defending the North or Winterfell against a horde of invading
White Walkers.
Then again, Sansa appeared to be displeased about her brother Jon bending the knee to
Daenerys, so how will she react when he arrives at Winterfell with Dany, and on top of that
what about when she discovers that he's also a secret Targaryen?
Will she still treat Jon as one of the Stark wolf pack?
I know that losing any of the characters I've been talking about would be a big blow depending
on who your favourites are, but there's still one really shocking death the showrunners
might decide to do late in the season.
When talking about the ending he's planned for his Song of Ice and Fire series, George
R.R.
Martin has said that it will be "bittersweet" and that "you can't just fulfil a quest and
then pretend life is perfect".
Which means that the hero or heroes we've favoured are unlikely to get a perfectly happy
ending.
So, although we will get some kind of satisfying resolution, it will also be tinged with sadness.
Which could mean that one of the two main characters many fans have rooted for over
the seasons, Jon Snow or Daenerys Targaryen, may have to sacrifice themselves to defeat
the Night King and his army.
The season 7 finale has just paired up our heroes, but the reveal of Jon's Targaryen
heritage could drive a wedge between the couple if Dany thinks he's a threat to her claim.
Alternately, Jon and Dany could continue to work together to defeat the undead threat,
and either Dany or Jon could be revealed to be Azor Ahai or the Prince or Princess That
Was Promised.
In the legend of Azor Ahai, the sword that could defeat the Darkness could only be forged
when the hero drove it into the chest of his beloved Nissa Nissa.
And to fulfil that prophecy, Dany or Jon could have to forge a new Lightbringer sword by
plunging it into the heart of their new love.
Still, George RR Martin said in the early 90s that Jon and Dany were two of five characters
who would make it to the end of his books, and he also told the crew working on season
1 of the show that bringing Dany and Jon together was the end game.
So, if the showrunners do take the Azor Ahai route, perhaps bringing Dany or Jon back from
the dead could be one of Melisandre's final acts before her own demise.
Now, I'd love to hear who you think will get the chop and who will survive to the end of
Game of Thrones.
And what are your predictions for the final season?
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Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers!