With the season premiere of Game of Thrones’ eighth and final season almost upon us, let’s take a look at what might be in store. Rather than doing one massive post with every character or countless individual posts, I decided to group them together into just a handful of posts. The groups I settled on are the Targaryens, the Starks, the Lannisters, and other notable characters. Once I’ve gone through all those, there will be one last post, with a summary of the major predictions, as well as any last points I may have overlooked.
This won’t be an in depth review of each character’s journey to season 8. I might touch on some bigger points, but will mainly focus on two things. One, will this character survive season 8? And two, what might this character’s season 8 story look like? The intent is to make these fairly quick and straightforward, just hitting on some of the major points.
As so many of these characters’ storylines will overlap, there will almost certainly be mention of other characters within these predictions. So you may need to do some back and forth as the posts come out to get the complete picture.
Before getting into these ill-fated predictions, I suppose I have to include a SPOILER WARNING. It should go without saying that you should not be reading this if you are not completely caught up, but better safe than sorry. Alright, let’s get to it.
Arya Stark
Like so many others, Arya is forging ahead for a showdown versus Cersei. If Cersei dies, is Arya the best choice to do it? I say no. While she is a Stark, and Cersei is against all Starks, this is more of a one-way rivalry. Arya pulling the proverbial trigger would be satisfying in the moment, but I think there are more deserving characters. Even if she doesn’t kill Cersei, she won’t finish the season kill-less. I don’t know that there are any big names for her to take out, but one way or another she’ll get hers.
One other detail to keep in mind is Arya now has the Valaryian steel dagger. Why is that important? Well, a couple reasons. One being that we know Valaryian steel can kill White Walkers. You have to think any and all Valaryian steel weapons will feature prominently against the White Walkers. It’s Chekhov’s dagger; it has to play a part. Yes, she killed Littlefinger, but that dagger is meant for more. There would be no point in making it Valaryian steel if it wasn’t going to be featured to some degree. While Arya misses out on her ultimate prize of Cersei, I think she puts the dagger to good use in the battle against the White Walkers.
In looking at Arya’s potential closing story arc, I kept going back to this season in season 7, where she trains against Brienne. It’s a great scene, but there was an air of arrogance to Arya. She has developed some seriously elite skills, but I think that could be to her detriment. If she finds herself in a tough fight, her own hubris could be her downfall. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, and I should just enjoy the scene for what it is. But still, it’s something to keep in mind.
Does she survive? I say No. There are too many fights left to fight, and we all know she can’t avoid a good scrap. Just based on sheer volume, she eventually finds herself in a situation she won’t escape from. And whether directly or indirectly, I believe her death will come at the hands of Cersei. There have to be some “good guy” deaths that occur at the hands of the enemies in this season. This seems like a logical one.
While death is my official prediction, I do think back to a previous question posed by Arya, “What’s west of Westeros?” It doesn’t have the feeling of a throwaway line. But how would this happen? I can’t see Arya leaving Westeros behind before all battles are won. So first she needs to survive the White Walkers and Cersei. A tall task indeed, but it’s always risky to bet against Arya. However, I’m sticking with it and saying she does not make it out of the series alive.
Sansa Stark
Remember that Sansa is still married to Tyrion? Yeah, so they need to figure that out. You’ll have to wait for my Lannister predictions to get the full picture, but I don’t believe the two will end the series married. The last couple seasons especially have featured their strong female characters. And having a major character choose her own path would be a satisfying ending to her arc. Daenerys (or whoever has the power to do so) will annul or otherwise absolve their marriage. Sansa, like Daenerys, is then free to remain single or choose her own partner.
But other than that? As much as Sansa has improved as a character since the show’s beginning, she is still one of the less interesting characters left. That is especially true with so much fighting left. Sansa has never been one to get involved in the actual fighting, so I’m not sure how much there will be for her to do. Yes, there will be plenty of strategy and behind the scenes action, so that must be where she’s going to make her bones in these final episodes.
Does she survive? Yes is the official Sansa prediction. And I’m calling for big things for her.
At the end of the series, Queen Daenerys names Sansa Queen of the North. I’ve already predicted Jon’s death (plus he’s a Targaryen anyway) and Bran can’t take any land or titles. That leaves Sansa to rule over Winterfell and the North.
Bran Stark
Bran might well be the most important character in the show. With his power, all he knows, all he can do, I expect nothing but big things for the new Three-Eyed Raven. He has to be involved in many (all?) of the final major story developments.
Let’s jump right in and get this out of the way: Bran is not the Night King. This has been a popular fan theory over the last few years. I don’t buy into it for a couple reasons. One, there has not been enough set up for this to feel like a natural revelation It would come off as a twist for twist’s sake. Second – and here it comes again – I’m just not sure the show has enough time to fully flesh out this story. I’m not going to dive into the details of the theory, but if you want some more information, check it out here.
Another Bran identity theory out there surrounds the question of whether Bran could be Bran the Builder. For those who may not know, Bran the Builder is an ancient ancestor of the Stark family we know, and was the central figure in building the Wall. We have seen Bran influence past events before, so why not again? While I see this as more likely than Bran being the Night King, I again simply don’t think there is enough time to give this story to attention it would deserve.
So if Bran is neither the Night King nor Bran the Builder, what is there left for him to do? Well, there are two major events still to come in which Bran will almost certainly play a central role. The first is Jon learning of his true parentage. Bran and Sam are the only two characters (that we know of, at least) who the the full truth here. Bran has to be a part of revealing this information to Jon.
The second, and more exciting, event will take place during the season’s massive battle against the Night King and his forces: Bran wargs into Viserion. As many fans well know, Bran was told by the Three-Eyed Raven that he “will not walk, but he will fly.” The best way for that to play out is for Bran to take control of Viserion during the final battle. The Night King will be reigning terror down upon the living with Viserion and his blue fire.
Bran wargs into the undead dragon and is able to control him long enough to throw the Night King from the dragon’s back. This opens the door for the Jon Snow vs. Night King final battle everyone is waiting for. With all of Bran’s power, it only makes sense for Bran to directly influence some of the show’s biggest climactic events.
Does he survive? Yes? he says with great trepidation.
I think it’s very possible Bran survives all the chaos of season 8. He then goes off and finds a nice weirwood tree to call home as the Three-Eyed Raven. Bran only recently became the Three-Eyed Raven. It feels too soon to kill him off already. And the role of Three-Eyed Raven seems incredibly important to all of Westeros, and there’s no time to set up a replacement.
However, Bran warging into Viserion does present a prime chance for his death. He can’t control his body while warging, and this likely wouldn’t be a blink-and-it’s-over warg session. Being exposed for an extended period of time could be the perfect chance for a White Walker soldier to take him out Also, what would happen if Viserion is killed (re-killed?) during the warg? I’m sticking with the prediction that Bran survives, but I’m shaky on it.
