Just in case there’s anyone out there who is a book fan but hasn’t seen the show:

This post contains Game of Thrones Spoilers all the way through the end of Season 7, combined with my predictions about what might happen based on some stuff from the books. If you’re not current on the show, stuff will be ruined.

“You see Bean, in a way, the Starks actually led to the downfall of the entire Targaryen dynasty. Lyanna wasn’t abducted. She married Prince Rhaegar willingly, which makes the Starks ultimately responsible for everything that followed with the Baratheons, Lannisters, etc. They claim that they don’t really like politics, but they ended up being the most politically influential family of all. That uprising ultimately ended with the destruction of what was a 1,000 year dynasty, which is why…”

“Becky, you talk about them like they’re real.”

“What?”

“You and your….. your nerd friends. You talk about this like it actually happened.”

“Don’t be silly, Bean. I just think the depth and complexity of the background is fascinating. See, if you look at the interplay between the houses, and—”

“Becky, you know this never happened, right?”

“Huh?”

“You know this never happened, right? That they never lived? None of this ever happened.”

“Of course I do, Bean. I’m not insane.”

“Then why do you know so much about it?”

“Maybe I just like the history of it. Maybe I just really, really like history. Have you ever thought of that?”

“You’re fascinated with history… that’s it? You’re just a closet historian?”

“….Maybe?”

” If you like history so much, then why haven’t you bothered to learn about the…. oh, say, the rise and fall of the families associated with the American Industrial Revolution?”

“Did the Early Industrial Revolution have dragons?”

“No, Becky.” <heavy sigh> “The Industrial Revolution did not have dragons.”

“Then what’s the point?”

So, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m a little stoked that the Game of Thrones Season 8 premier is just around the corner. T-Minus two days!

To say I’m excited is an understatement. This has been a long, long wait.

I still remember the feeling of disappointment as I stood there in the aisle of the Taft Library, looking at the blank spot where the next book in the Wheel of Time series was supposed to be. Somebody had gotten there before me and checked it out. Crap. Now what was I going to read all weekend?

No matter how hard I try, I can’t quite remember why I grabbed “A Song of Ice and Fire” by George R.R. Martin. Maybe it was on display? Maybe the librarian recommended it to me? Maybe I liked the colors on the cover?

I do know that I also grabed “A Dance with Dragons” at the same time, the recently published second book in the series. I wanted to be certain of having enough reading material to keep me busy before the library opened back up on Tuesday.

That was back in 1999, and there were only two books in the series. I was also 19, and single, and got plenty of sleep every night so reading through 1,600 pages of books in a weekend wasn’t unheard of, if the series was good.

Hold on a moment. I’m going to take a moment and reminisce about those long, sunny summer days I used to spend at the barn, reading my book for uninterrupted hours on end, listening to my horse eat his hay.

Mmmm. I miss those days.

I still remember when I got to the part where they chopped off poor Ol’ Ned’s head. I just shrugged and kept reading. It would be fine. He was the main character of the book. Someone would magic him back alive, somehow.

Only… only….. chapter after chapter went by, and he didn’t come back. I hooked a thumb where I was reading as a bookmark, and began flipping, looking for the next chapter heading about Ned.

There wasn’t one.

Horrified, I set the book down and flipped through “A Clash of Kings”.

No Ned chapters.

Holy crap. He was actually dead.

And that’s it – I was hooked. I couldn’t believe the author had killed the main character. I just couldn’t. I’d never had anyone manage to surprise me that badly in a book.

2000, guys. I was 19 years old. I’m 37 years old now.

I HONESTLY DON’T CARE IF G.R.R.M. EVER FINISHES THE BOOKS. I WISH HIM HAPPINESS, AND WEALTH, AND FAME, AND FORTUNE, AND ALL MANNER OF GOOD THINGS, BECAUSE FINALLY.

FINALLY!!!

I AM FINALLY GOING TO GET MY ANSWERS!!!

This feels a little bit like finally finding out what happened to the lost colony of Roanoke, or what happened to the Mayans. At this point I don’t even care what the answer will be – I’m just excited to actually get one.

After obsessing over the fate of these characters for the past two years, I have come up with a couple ideas on where they might go. Here are my predictions, in no particular order:

1. Bran: Bran kills the Night King, or at least makes it possible to kill him. He dies soon after, because let’s face it, the real Bran died when he became the Three Eyed Raven, and the only reason he’s still around is as a clumsy Deus Ex Machina. The way he defeats the Night King will have something to do with the time warp they keep alluding to, what with Hodor/HoldtheDoor and the way Ned actually heard him call out Father.My guess is that at some point he actually connects up with the mad King and breaks his brain with the timewarp thing and convinces him to hide the wildfire up underneath the streets of Westeros, to “Burn Them All” – with “them” being the future White Walkers?It’s either that or he’s gong to warg into the Night King and take him over and suicide that way, somehow.
2. Arya: Arya does not have a long life ahead of her of returning to normal everyday “wear a dress and be a good little wife” life. As she said to her wolf Nymeria, “That’s not you.” She’s going to die. For a good character resolution, she’ll die sacrificing herself for someone else, possibly her sister. I feel like Hot Pie foreshadowed this when he said, “I’m a survivor, like you.” So she will die, and she will sacrifice herself when she dies, because that would be the most complete character arc for her, as she’s been all about surviving as a lone wolf for the past 7 seasons. The only thing that might save her is that she’s G.R.R.M.’s wife’s favorite character. If she makes it, she and Gendry better pair up and make angry, athletic, muscular little blacksmith babies.
3. Daenerys Targaryen, Mother of Dragons, Breaker of Chains, Owner of the Unspellable Name: She will not end up as a ruler. She’s an awful ruler. The show stagnates on purpose every time she tries to be a ruler. The only time she kicks butt is when she’s a conqueror – they’ve made too many references to her as Aegon’s heir, and too many musical triumphant fanfares when she’s conquering. I think they foreshadowed her death when she said she didn’t want to be the spoke on the wheel she wanted to break the wheel. So she will, and then Jon will “quench” his sword into her heart and Longclaw will become Lightbringer. Her death will turn the tide, and allow Jon to conquer. She will sacrifice herself in order to defeat the white walkers, right after (SNIFF!!!!!) the dragons die.
4. Dragons: Jon will ride Rhaegal, Danerys will ride Viserion. Both Rhaegal and Viserion will die, along with Danaerys, as there is no place for dragons in the future. The Children of the Forest have died, The White Walkers will die, and Danerys will die… magic will die. If the dragons had a future we would know their gender, and more about how they make eggs. Besides, they weren’t even part of the original series. GRRM’s wife talked him into having the dragons hatch, which means they are just a cool addition, not actually part of the original plot.
5. Cersei: Her pregnancy will result in the birth of a dwarf child, as that is hereditary. She will kill the child herself. As a result, Jamie will snap and kill her.
6. Sansa: Sansa will take over the iron throne. Maybe she’ll remarry Tyrion? After being married to the Bastard of Winterfell, she will come to realize how amazing Tyrion is as a husband. They will have a bazillion babies who will be the heirs to both Casterly Rock and Wardens of the North. There will be no Iron Throne, but Tyrion and Sansa will rule – everything they’ve ever wanted, except now they’re so damaged from all that has happened, they realize they don’t want it any more…. which fulfills GRRM’s prediction that the ending will be “bittersweet”.
7. Jon: “Kill the boy, let the man be born,” is what Maester Aemon said. If it weren’t for that line, I figure Jon would die too…. but I suppose he’ll end up Jon Snow. King in the North… and everywhere else? He’s Azhor Ahai, the Prince that was Promised and his sword “Lightbringer” will be born of fire. Remember that scene in Season…2? The one where The Red Woman and Stannis burned all those old gods on the beach, and then Stannis went and got his sword of fire from one of the burning gods?Well, that was just the Red Woman trying to force the prophecy. Here, read the story of Azor Ahai:Darkness lay over the world and a hero, Azor Ahai, was chosen to fight against it. To fight the darkness, Azor Ahai needed to forge a hero’s sword.^[3] He labored for thirty days and thirty nights until it was done. However, when he went to temper it in water, the sword broke. He was not one to give up easily, so he started over.
   The second time he took fifty days and fifty nights to make the sword, even better than the first. To temper it this time, he captured a lion and drove the sword into its heart, but once more the steel shattered.^[3]

   The third time, with a heavy heart, for he knew beforehand what he must do to finish the blade, he worked for a hundred days and nights until it was finished. This time, he called for his wife, Nissa Nissa, and asked her to bare her breast. He drove his sword into her living heart, her soul combining with the steel of the sword, creating Lightbringer, the Red Sword of Heroes.^[3]

   After that, whatever Azor Ahai stabbed burst into flames…. useful, eh? I bet Jon’s gonna have to stab Daenerys through the heart at some point. She will die. She will be reunited with Khal Drogo and her son.

8. Cersei: She miscarries or gives birth except her son has dwarfism, so she kills her kid, and then dies. FINALLY. I truly believe Jamie will kill her for killing their son… but man, wouldn’t it be cool if Arya got her?
9. The Mountain: The Hound will kill him.
10. The Hound: He will kill the mountain. He will survive, and eat lots of chicken, and become the world’s worst priest.
11. Qyburn: He dies. I’m thinking Varys kills him.
12. Varys: He dies. he definitely dies – they’ve even stated it in the show. 🙁
13. The Red Woman: She dies also – she’s the one that told Varys that they would both die in Westeros.
14. Ser Bronn of the Blackwater: Man, I hope I’m wrong about this. He dies, too 🙁
15. Tyrion: He lives! Please! I’m just worried his character arc is nearly complete, so there’s no reason for him to continue living. I really do think the coolest thing would be for him to rule with Sansa. They both are very good at playing the political game, and have just enough clout between them to calmly ensure that whatever political dynasty starts after this is all said and done is off to a decent start.
16. Sam and Gilly: They live. Once the Whitewalkers are defeated, there’s no more reason to have the Night’s Watch, so it’s disbanded. Released from his vows, he returns to rule his home, as his brother and father are dead. He becomes a maester of sorts, and writes the history of this time period – as foreshadowed when he told that one Maester at the Citadel that the title of his book was boring. Sam’s got more imagination than that – he’s gonna call his book “A Song of Ice and Fire”.Brienne and Tormund Giantsbane: They get married and have giant, monster babies who conquer the world. PLEASE, GRRM. PLEASE!
17. Barion Donderric: Stupid name. Badrion Dondarub? Barion Ronderic? Darion Bonderick? I can’t wait for him to die so I can quit calling him “that dude who keeps coming back to life, the one with the eye patch.” He’ll perform some great feat which makes all his coming back to life worth it, and then he’ll finally be allowed to die for good.

There are more characters I’m forgetting about, I’m sure, but my lunch break is almost over, so I’m gonna hit publish.

What do you think is going to happen?