Time for some GoT season 8 speculation :p. At least we now know the ‘Last Battle’ with the armies of the dead will be at Winterfell, aptly named like Hodor, which again shows GRRM knew what he was doing when he started publishing the whole shebang 27 years ago.

As to my speculative bona fides (and some of you may remember this 😉 ) … After book 5’s release in 2011 (and then when Jon Snow’s stabbing was filmed in season 5 (2015)), I predicted he’d be back, unlike Ned and Robb before him, which would be GRRM’s signal that Act 3 was underway …

So, without further ado, how might GoT end?

** SPOILER ALERTS **

THE ENDING: 99% probability that “good” prevails over “evil” … A nihilistic deconstruction of the epic fantasy genre where everyone dies is not where GRRM was heading. “When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die” was only the hook, contrasting with the then-conventional Tolkienesque hook of innocent young rubes who uncover a mystery and get caught up in a grand adventure. Here, “good” winning means both the living defeat the supernaturally dead, and the human villains (e.g. Cersei) get their comeuppance, though it will be at great cost and sacrifice, even on top of what has already been paid …

THE IRON THRONE: Non-zero chance that it will be scrapped (or incinerated), and the Seven Kingdoms will be replaced by the United States of Westeros or something along those lines (though maybe not as far advanced, e.g. a constitutional monarchy?) If so, I’d love to see a President Tyrion ;). Granted, it would not be in keeping with GRRM’s historical Wars of the Roses inspiration, but imho it would be more fun than keeping it around (do we really care about which combo of Jon, Dany, Sansa etc. ends up seated on the rusty thing?)

JON SNOW (aka Aegon Targaryen): 80% likelihood of dying, e.g. sacrificing himself to defeat the Night King. If he does survive, and he gets married, he clearly needs to wait 10 years to wed fiery Lyanna Mormont when she’s of age. Dany’s got nothing on her (not to mention she’s his aunt – ewww – yep, modern sensibilities, sorry, not sorry)

SANSA STARK: Will likely survive as the matriarch of House Stark. In book 1 / season 1, Ned Stark was presented as the naïve noble who lost his head by not being ruthless enough. By the end of the series, his reputation will be rehabilitated: it will be the Starks who will rule for another thousand years (not the Lannisters (of whom it was Tywin’s dream), Baratheons, Targaryens etc.), and his nobility and sacrifice was necessary for the greater good. And by taking Jon’s secret to the grave, he outfoxed the other wily players of the game, even Varys.

ARYA STARK: 50% chance of dying but while taking down a major villain (e.g. Cersei, or Dany (if she turns bad) or on the outside, the Night King). She’s made it too far not to do something epic on the way out. It would be disappointing if her fate only involved a minor baddie, like a Greyjoy or some such. And if she survives, she clearly won’t be Sansa’s handmaiden at Winterfell, wed to a local lord, but will instead roam the world. Maybe she could wind up as the next leader of the obviously misnamed Faceless Men? (That’d be cool, though unlikely)

BRAN STARK: High likelihood of surviving, but no longer as a normal human, taking the mystical place of the Three-Eyed Raven for the coming millennia (until the next time). He and Sam/Gilly’s upcoming plot assignment (after convincing Jon and whoever wants to listen that he’s the legitimate rightful heir) will be to figure out the Night King’s back story and vulnerability. (Sam also has as much plot armor as anyone, as he has to write A Song Of Ice And Fire)

NIGHT KING: 99% chance of losing, though perhaps cannot be truly killed. We’ll learn more about the mystery of his origins, and therefore how he can be defeated, etc. It would resonate if it were confirmed that he was a previous Stark/Snow Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch who fell in love with a White Walker: not the first time a Stark fell for the wrong person and thereby put the world at risk (e.g. Lyanna and Rhaegar, etc.)

DAENERYS TARGARYEN: 50/50 survival odds, crossed with 50/50 chance of turning out to be villainous. When she discovers that Jon has precedence over her for the Iron Throne, will the famous Targaryen streak of power-mad entitlement overwhelm the rest of her personality? Borrowing a Dracula plotline, perhaps she joins up with the Night King as his long-lost lover reborn? Or, if she survives and is not villainous, maybe it’s Dany who “breaks the wheel” of the game of thrones, and starts moving Westeros toward democracy, a la Russell Crowe’s Gladiator?

CERSEI LANNISTER: 99% chance of dying. The only real question, is at whose hands, since it will be highly unsatisfactory story-wise if she were to fall in battle against the undead hordes. 50% chance it’s Jaime, 25% chance it’s Arya in the guise of Jaime (thus killing two birds with one stone), 25% Tyrion, Dany or other.

JAIME LANNISTER: Jaime’s redemption arc will be carried to its conclusion, whereby he reconciles with his estranged brother and repudiates Cersei for her evil, but it may well end in his death too. (Tip to the Disney Star Wars team: take notes from GRRM, this is how you write a memorable, sympathetic, redeemable Anakin or Kylo …) In the unlikely event he survives, I’ve always been a Briaime shipper (Briemund was only adlibbed for the show): it would be poetic if Brienne, the misfit female knight, becomes Lady Lannister, to put the final twist on Tywin’s sordid schemes.

TYRION LANNISTER: 99% likelihood of survival, given GRRM seems to have a soft spot for the guy. If Westeros becomes a Republic, he’d be great as the first elected politician …