"GAME OF THRONES" - PENULTIMATE PREDICTIONS

This coming Sunday marks the penultimate episode for ‘Game of Thrones’.  There are only six episodes for this last year, just over half as many as previous seasons.  And it came to be expected beginning with that first season that the BIG episode would usually come in the ninth episodes.  (Usually.  For example, in season 5, the eighth episode, “Hardhome”, is more action-packed than the ninth.)

But as for those ninth episodes?  Think about it:

• The beheading of Ned Stark
• The Battle of Blackwater Bay
• The Red Wedding
• The death of Ygritte and the Wilding attack

So this year, this Sunday, the fifth, penultimate, episode should be a gut-wrencher.  We’re going to lose some of the top tier characters this round now that most of the “Farm Team” were eliminated in the third episode “The Long Night”.

And I’ve got a few thoughts on the matter.

Here’s my theory. 

First, a reminder - Maggy the Frog’s prophecy to Cersei:

1 Cersei asks if she will wed the prince. Maggy responds, “You will never wed the prince. You will wed the king.”

2  Cersei asks if she will be queen. Maggy responds, “Oh, yes. You’ll be queen. For a time. Then comes another, younger, more beautiful, to cast you down and take all you hold dear.”

3  Cersei asks if she and the king will have children. Maggy responds, “No. The king will have 20 children and you will have three. Gold will be their crowns, gold their shrouds.”

Mulling over Maggy the Frog’s prophecy, I think it also applies to Danaerys. Which would mean Drogon will die before the series concludes. And even if the last part of the prophecy didn’t make it into the TV series, I think Jon will prove to be her “valonqar” - the “little brother” who kills her. They have been playing up Jon’s height or lack thereof lately. And there is a broader definition to “brother”.  

(For Cersei, that sounds like Tyrion, but Jaimie is younger than her by a few minutes.)

I think once they vanquish Cersei, Danaerys will turn on Jon, the inbred Targaryen madness and her lust for the throne will drive her to attempt to kill him. He’ll have no choice but to save his own life.

But he will still refuse the throne. He’ll stay true to that.  And Tyrion will be crowned King, the hero of Blackwater Bay. 

I also don’t think Arya survives. I hate to say that. I think she will be killed by the Mountain and that triggers the fight we all knew was coming - brother vs. brother, Sandor against Gregor.  And Clegane wins!

Okay, Okay.  The Hound wins.

To this I’ll add a fantastic theory from my brother Bill – during the fight between those two behemoths, fire will become involved somehow.  But Sandor the Hound will overcome his fear of it to vanquish Gregor the reanimated Mountain.

Definitely dying on Sunday (only my opinion) - Varys. Tyrion will feel compelled to turn him in for his threat about her assassination; he’s still too far under her spell to accept that Varys may be right.

So I think we have at least three major deaths that will take place Sunday night:

• Varys.
• Drogon,

and like I said,

• Arya.

There may be others.  I don’t hold out much hope for Grey Worm to make it through the first big battle, distraught as he must be after the death of Missandei.  His mind won’t be focused and he will make a lethal mistake.

I would have added the Mountain, but I think his battle with his brother will be epic and spill over into the final episode.

With all of that focus which the series has had on death, perhaps we might be gifted with a “rebirth”.  With Arya returning to King’s Landing, dare we hope to see her “dancing instructor” Syrio Forel?  We never did see Syrio, once the first sword of Braavos, actually die from his battle with Ser Meryn Trant.  I wouldn’t assume that he did, even if he was slightly hampered with a broken, wooden sword.

Finally, here’s my vision of the final scene of the entire series, so from the sixth episode:

Beyond the Wall, in the true North, Tormund is enjoying some drink and doing his best to coax a Wilding girl into his home. Ghost perks up; someone is approaching. And into the clearing steps Jon, finally taking Tormund’s advice to join him. 

Well, that’s what I’d have happen if I had my druthers.  But we shall see what we shall view….

Valar urnēbis!