Winter is coming for these characters
To borrow a phrase from Cersei Lannister, "When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die," and with Game of Thrones' final season just ahead, there are probably going to be a lot of people who do the latter. So, who's on the chopping block next? Here are a few predictions as to who might not make it through winter.
This one's probably a given, since last time we saw her she was being entombed in a terrible torture chamber beneath the Red Keep -- but Cersei Lannister did promise to keep her alive until she was gray so that she could watch her daughter dessicate as punishment for what she did to little Myrcella, so her fate is still not totally clear. It's also hard to believe that the deadly Dorne assassin will go down quite so easily in the end. Things are about to get pretty hectic over in King's Landing, so don't count out Ellaria Sand (Indira Varma) to stage some kind of escape to take a few of the queen's guardsmen down with her in one final moment of glory.
Now that Littlefinger is out of the picture, Robin Arryn (Lino Facioli) has no one to whisper little power plays into his ear anymore. And since he's wholly outmatched in terms of intellect and awareness of the goings on in Westeros by his cousin Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner), it's not too hard to imagine her getting rid of her petulant little cousin so she can keep the Knights of the Vale on her side.
Even though he promised Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) that he wouldn't betray her, and would instead take his grievances straight to her face, there's no way Varys (Conleth Hill) is done with subterfuge just yet. Next time he double-crosses someone, it might just cost him his life. Besides, according to Melisandre, he's meant to die in Westeros at some point.
The swashbuckler Euron Greyjoy (Pilou Asbæk) might have had a lot of luck taking control of the Iron Islands, kidnapping his niece, and getting Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey)'s attention by delivering the Sand Snakes to her feet. But his ambition might be a bit too wild to last much longer. Not only is his nephew hellbent on rescuing his sister from Euron's clutches, but Cersei can't be trusted to actually reward him with a seat beside her Iron Throne even if he does manage to help her in the coming war(s).
Theon (Alfie Allen) has now gotten to apologize to Jon Snow for betraying his brother-slash-cousin Robb Stark -- at great cost to their entire family by extension -- but there's still one more thing he needs to do before he can be absolved of his many, many misgivings. Theon needs to save his sister, Yara Greyjoy (Gemma Whelan), even if it means sacrificing himself the process. Scratch that. Especially if it means sacrificing himself in the process.
There's only one way for Arya Stark or anyone else to get to the queen, and that's through The Mountain a.k.a. Ser Gregor (Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson). He may be only partially alive and as big as a house, but he's not invincible as far as we know. Someone's gotta take him down.
That someone who dispenses with the Mountain might just be his brother, Sandor Clegane a.k.a. The Hound (Rory McCann). That's a battle fans have been clamoring for since that first time they got into it on the jousting field, and if there's any name on Arya's list that he'd be most primed to help cross off, it's big brother's. Plus, it's probably not a coincidence that the Hound's vision from the Lord of Light was a mountain, right? That couldn't have just been about the mission north of Eastwatch-by-the-sea. It's destiny! That said, the Hound's name is also on her list, so if he dies in the process of taking down the zombified queen's guard, that's two Cleganes, one stone.
The long-awaited return of Gendry (Joe Dempsie) in Season 7 was important to tie up one loose end from the earlier seasons, but it's hard to imagine him lasting much longer on the show now. Unless he makes some big play for the Iron Throne thanks to his Baratheon blood lineage -- in which case he'll really be testing his longevity -- there's not much for him to do besides be a blacksmith, help forge some dragonstone swords, and then die for the cause.
She might be taking a time-out from king- and queen-whispering over in Volantis, but Melisandre (Carice Van Houten) has already committed herself to coming back to Westeros to accept her fate. And since she's already committed regicide of the worst kind -- let's pour one out for Princess Shireen -- she deserves the ax that Jon Snow would probably drop on her the second he sees her again.
The Lord of Light has brought Beric Dondarrion (Richard Dormer) back to life time and time again for reasons even he doesn't understand, but now that his priest Thoros of Myr isn't around to summon his spirit back into his body, the next time his life is laid down might be the last time. And since he was at the Wall when it collapsed, that may have already happened.
He's survived the Red Waste, Daenerys' wrath after his betrayal of her was exposed, and now grayscale, but it's hard to imagine Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen) being an endgame character. His devotion to Daenerys is very authentic -- albeit, stemming from a pretty creepy romantic obsession -- so it's not hard to envision him taking a hit to protect her if the battle between fire and ice gets rowdy.
Daenerys has already Visierion to the Night King, but she may lose another of her dragons before it's all said and done. If Rhaegal is anything like his namesake, he'll die in battle.
It might seem like Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) is invincible thanks to his cunning nature and willingness to shift allegiances to save his own skin. But even though he survived his one-on-one with Cersei last season, he may have also fallen for one of her tricks if Jaime Lannister's theory about the queen's "pregnancy" is correct. That look he pointed in Daenerys and Jon Snow's direction at the tail end of the season indicates that he's having second thoughts about whose team he's really on right now, so it's not hard to picture him making a very grave mistake by trying to return to Cersei's side under the guise of her having another of those little Lannister babies he loved so well.
Samwell Tarly (John Bradley) has now exposed Archmaester Ebrose (Jim Broadbent) twice for being an old fogey who has no idea what's going on outside of the Citadel -- first, by curing Jorah's greyscale above the maester's protestations that it wasn't possible and second, by confirming that, yes, the Three-Eyed Ravens stories about the wight army were legitimate. His position that winter's arrival is not truly nigh is laughable, and it'd be pretty poetic indeed if he was served up his own end by the very creatures he refused to believe in.
It took a long time for Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead-Wright)'s powers to come into use, but finally, finally in Season 7 he returned to Winterfell and helped stave off the Stark Family Civil War and instead exposed Petyr Baelish for the sniveling backstabber that he really was. Surely, there are a few more pieces of history that he'll be useful in dredging back up -- and some believe he may even be a big part of that story thanks to his ability to affect the past -- but don't be surprised if he follows his brothers into the family cemetery by the end of this thing.
We don't yet know if wildling boss Tormund Giantsbane (Kristofer Hivju) survived the Night King's fiery siege on the Wall, but even if he did, he might not be long for the world. Sure, he's had hopes of making babies with Brienne of Tarth and all (not that she's expressed even a remote interest in that idea), but since he's surrounded by a sea of wights right about now, he'll have a tough time fighting his way back to safety.
She had her shot at keeping the Iron Throne, at least for a while, by joining forces with Daenerys and Jon Snow to stop the White Walkers, but Cersei's greed and inherent hostility got in the way of that option. It's always been clear that she wouldn't be a thoughtful ruler for the seven kingdoms, but now she's really got to go by force. The growing wedge between her and Jaime certainly won't help keep her alive.
A girl has no ambition of becoming a Lady, so if and when Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) crosses the last name off that list, her duty will be done. It's not hard to imagine her going down in spectacular fashion during a key kill of, say, the queen?
If the Night King wins, that's game over for everyone else, and with his hoard of zombified people, animals, and even a dragon, he has a fighting chance. But if he's not successful at repopulating all of Westeros with wights, he'll probably die -- or whatever it is that White Walkers do when they're eliminated.
For many, the survival of Jon Snow (Kit Harington) seems inevitable. After all, George R.R. Martin's book series is called A Song of Ice and Fire, and he is thought to represent the colder part of that narrative, while Daenerys is in a more literal sense the fire element. And even though he has now been confirmed as a descendant of both the Stark and Targaryen lines, we still don't know if he is the fabled Azor Ahai a.k.a. "The Prince that was Promised." In fact, Melisandre even believes it may be a princess who fulfills that prophecy. Jon very well may become a dragon rider before it's all said and done, but unless he has dragon blood like his aunt-slash-lover Daenerys, we'd give her the edge on ultimately winning the game for Westeros.
We'll find out if any of these grim predictions prove true when Game of Thrones returns to HBO in 2019.