Everyone… literally everyone has heard of Game of Thrones. Love it or hate it or completely indifferent, the final season is almost here, and we know all about it. Conversations fill canteens at lunchtime with debates of which characters will survive to the end, and which of them will die. Maybe they all die? It wouldn’t be an unreasonable expectation from the show, that’s for sure. Friends are debating the ending. Families discuss their theories and their favourites and the best topic of all… those characters that we just love to hate! In this post we’re going to examine a few theories that have popped up so keep on reading.
Cersei is going to be The Mad Queen
Cersei Lannister. Love her? Hate her? Love to hate her? One thing nobody can deny is that she keeps us guessing every step of the way. She seemed to have a certain level of humanity while her children were alive, but without them, she seems to be getting more and more power hungry, and acting based only on her own desires. It’s not about being a noble ruler anymore, she wants control as she seems to desperately be losing all else, and if we know Cersei, nothing is going to stop her descent into absolute madness.
All the dragons will die
Don’t tell Danaerys but this theory has collected plenty of weight. How fans imagine it to happen is something like this… Danaerys and John Snow will fight the Night King on Drogon and Rhaegal. The Night King will be riding Viserion, who is now a wight after being raised from the dead. Danaerys and John Snow win but at a great cost of almost all their human forces, something that is known in Greek as a Pyrrhic victory. Left exhausted and vulnerable, Cersei attacks and kills this fantastic four, wiping out the last of the dragons on Westeros.
Jaime kills Cersei
Could it be true? This one feels like the most likely of them all as Jaime’s love for his sister/lover has gradually turned towards hate. At the end of last season, Jaime couldn’t accept her announcement of a plan to kill Danaerys and John Snow and so headed north, a clear move that they are now on opposite sides of the war. So, should she actually carry out this plan, as outlined in the theory above, it seems very likely that Jaime kills Cersei. An act of redemption for him, and a tragic, but predictable ending for her.
Tyrion becomes the ruler of Westeros
Should the above points come true and Cersei, Danaerys and John Snow all die, theories point to Jaime putting Tyrion forward as the new ruler of Westeros. Surely the most diplomatic and dare we say… rational, of the Lannisters, fans predict he will build a democracy/republic, with the council and aid of Sansa Stark. But would he want it? After all he has seen and experienced?
Arya will sit upon the Iron Throne
This theory makes the previous one useless, but let’s consider it for just a moment. Arya has been the ultimate badass, fighting tirelessly to avenge her family at all costs. There’s no way she’s going to miss the final battle and it’s going to be difficult to find a warrior to challenge her skills so… what if she is the last Stark left alive? What if Danaerys, John Snow and Cersei all die too. Wouldn’t she be the perfect heir to the throne? On the actress’s final Instagram post from the set of season 8, Maisie Williams wrote #lastwomanstanding Was it a careless mistake? Or a clever hint?
It was Bran who built the wall
From the pages of Game of Thrones, we read, “Sometimes Nan would talk to him (Bran) as if he were her Brandon, the baby she had nursed all those years ago, and sometimes she confused him with his uncle Brandon, who was killed by the Mad King before Bran was even born. She had lived so long, Mother had told him once, that all the Brandon Starks had become one person in her head.” What if there only ever was one Bran? I mean, he can see the past and perhaps he knew what was coming, he knew the white walkers were on their way and he built the wall to try to stop them.
The theories are endless. This post barely touches on some others, such as Sansa killing Danaerys, Danaerys and John Snow ruling together and Ned Stark not being dead after all. Then there all the other characters we know and love like Brienne of Tarth, Tormond, Bronn and Melisandre. Let us know your theories and if you have more info to support those that you read. One thing is for sure, we’ll be on the literal edge of seats, glued to the screens and lost for words when it all finally ends.