Here’s What I Expect from Game of Thrones Going Forward
Only two episodes left! The end of Game of Thrones is nearing, and I find each episode slightly more stressful than the last.
As we approach the end, I thought I would take a stab at making my predictions. Some of my guesses are not as educated as those who actually read the books — that’s right, I, an author of fantasy, have not read the books — but my information is based on what I have noticed as the seasons passed.
Before continuing, brace yourself. Spoilers are coming.
Cleganebowl 2019 & Arya the Faceless Assassin
In The Last of the Starks, we see Arya and Sandor headed to south on the King’s Road together — but not with the army. These two have their own path to follow and it leads them to the same place: King’s Landing. So what will happen when they arrive?
Ever since we watched The Mountain and The Hound fighting at the jousting match, we’ve all been salivating for Cleganebowl. Who will win a fight between these two brothers? We will find out, and my guess is that it will come in Episode 5 (which I am currently referring to as The Last War).
This battle will claim Sandor’s life — but not before he manages to kill his brother as well. And I think that Arya will not leave him to die again. My precise (and possibly very wrong) prediction is that a grievously injured Gregor will deal a deadly blow to Sandor. Sandor will be on the brink of defeat and Arya will swoop in to help end the battle. She will make sure The Mountain stays down and will either help Sandor survive or — if he is beyond help — ease him into death.
Who will kill Cersei?
Because it’s inevitable. We’ve known it, deep down, since season one when Ned was beheaded. Arya will be the one to finish Cersei off. This could go down a number of ways, but the beginning is clearly and obviously the same.
Arya will use the passage she discovered in season one to sneak into the Red Keep with Sandor. There, they will part ways on their own quest, but that quest will bring them back together again (as it often does). After all, where Cersei is, The Mountain is nearby. Sandor will distract Gregor in battle while Arya sneaks by to get to Cersei. And this is where it gets hairy.
In The Long Night, Arya proved that she has some pretty baller stealth skills. She sneaks up on the Night King when no one else could. So yes, it’s possible she could sneak up on Cersei the same way. But that seems too easy and too clean after everything we’ve been through to get to this point. Arya will have to use her Faceless skills to complete her task, which means she can either become Qyburn or Jamie to get close enough. Remember Walder Frey? Yeah, kinda like that.
But to do this, that person has to be dead, which makes Qyburn a more likely candidate and an easier target for Arya. Besides, Jamie is days behind the army in riding south. He won’t be in King’s Landing in time for Arya to plan this assault.
There is a third option, someone on Arya’s list who we haven’t seen die yet. Ilyn Payne. There’s a reason he hasn’t been on the show. The actor was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer years back. Thankfully it was removed and he is now cancer free, but we have yet to see if he will resurface in the show. It is a distant possibility that Arya could use Ilyn Payne’s face to get close to Cersei instead.
BTW, I don’t think that Daenerys will be happy that Arya will be the Hero of the Great War and the Hero of the Last War. This doesn’t bode well for Arya, and she may die before this series is over as a result.
Unless we want a happy ending (as if that’s possible for anyone), in which case, I think Arya will head to Storm’s End to make amends with Gendry. Not likely, though.
Or maybe…
Okay, this is a long shot, but maybe, just maybe, Jamie will kill his sister. He’s seen how much of a monster she’s become. “She’s hateful. And so am I.” He doesn’t once tell Brienne that he’s going to be with his sister. He’s on a path to redemption. He knows that he’s a horrible person who did horrible things, and maybe killing his sister and ending the war is the one good thing he can leave behind. Jamie rides off to his death, and he knows that, but I think he intends to take his sister with him. Maybe. Possibly.
Or it could just be that Jamie Lannister is just a shit who doesn’t deserve a noble death. Yeah. That’s more likely.
Yet I can’t discount the possibility that it could be him who kills Cersei. He is the Kingslayer, after all.
The dragons will all die.
I love dragons, and maybe that’s part of the reason I loved Daenerys so much. Her dragons are fantastic. But she lost one for sure. A second… maybe? We saw him get shot from the sky and fall into the sea, but if you pay attention, she never says her dragon is dead. What she says is, “You saw my child fall from the sky.” Sure, it’s a long shot, and Sansa does get a message that the dragon is dead, but it’s possible… or maybe I’ve watched too many Marvel movies (which this is nothing like; the dead stay dead unless they’re undead).
In Dany’s vision in Season 2, the Great Hall is destroyed, mostly from above, which means her dragons are more than likely the cause of the damage. But to do that damage, they have to get by Cersei’s scorpions, which I expect will deal a fatal blow to any of the remaining dragons. Losing them will mean losing her power, and Dany will be powerless against another person rising to the throne in her place. She just doesn’t have enough backing in Westeros.
Who will sit on the Iron Throne?
We have all wondered the same thing since that first season showed us just how brutal this Game of Thrones can be: Who will sit on the Iron Throne? So I will start with this prediction and justify myself.
And my prediction is… by the end of the final episode, we will see Jon Snow take the throne as Aegon Targaryen.
I hate saying this. I’ve been #TeamDany since the first season when she accepted her role as Khaleesi and the Dothraki began following her, but Season 8 has shown us a side of her that is becoming more and more reminiscent of the Mad King. Will Dany take the throne? Yes. We will see her entitled backside on the Iron Throne before this is over, but she won’t hold it. And there is one reason for that.
Littlefinger Jr. — a.k.a. Sansa Stark. She learned a lot during her captivity with Cersei and her time spent with Peter Balish, and that education gives her an edge to control who sits on the throne far more than people may give her credit. When she turned the tables on Peter in Season 7, we saw a side of Sansa that reveals just how powerful she has become. I fully expect to see more of that before this is over.
In The Last of the Starks, Sansa already set her plans in motion. She had enough time between when Jon and Bran revealed the truth about who his parents were and when she stood on that wall with Tyrion to know just what will happen if the truth comes out. She knows Tyrion is a good man and he just wants the war to end and a good ruler to take the throne — and she makes it clear in a few words just who she thinks that is: Jon.
It’s no secret that Sansa has no love for Daenerys. We’ve watched the two of them go toe-to-toe in just about every episode this season. Sometimes with words. Sometimes with just glances. But the enmity between them is palpable.
Sansa has already put her plans into motion. While we may not understand what those plans are yet, I don’t have a shred of doubt that Littlefinger Jr. is up to something, and it will only end when Jon is on the throne.
But Jon doesn’t want it!
True. But Jon also didn’t want to be Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch or King of the North. Daenerys points this out to him when she pleads with him to say nothing about his lineage. She knows what we know, and she fears it. Jon is the rightful heir to the throne, and he already has the love of the people in the North to support him. Daenerys is smart. She is well aware that everyone else will fall into behind him once Cersei is removed from power. In this, I agree with Dany, especially with Sansa already backing Jon.
What are your thoughts? Am I way off base or do you agree? What predictions do you have for these final two episodes? Sound off in the comments below!
