How will the final season of Games Of Thrones end?
Death is the only certainty in the eighth and final season of television’s fantasy powerhouse Game Of Thrones. Author George RR Martin has left plenty of hints but here are several possibilities which will leave fans on the edge of their seats.
TV
Don't miss out on the headlines from TV. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Game Of Thrones final season launch date revealed
- Madden is a star on the rise after Golden Globe win
It is the question that has fervent Game Of Thrones fans on the edge of their seats — how will the show end?
There might be another five months before we will know the answer for sure but we can still take an educated guess.
Author George RR Martin has left plenty of hints — both in early episodes of the mega-hit television series and in interviews — as to how the show will finish.
Of course, being Game Of Thrones, there is always the chance that something will come out of left field to completely surprise us. But it is possible to theorise how the show will play out over its final six episodes.
In a 2015 interview with New York’s Observer, Martin gave us quite the road map towards the show’s ending.
“It’s no secret that Tolkien has been a huge influence on me, and I love the way he ended Lord Of The Rings,” he said.
“It ends with victory, but it’s a bittersweet victory. Frodo is never whole again, and he goes away to the Undying Lands, and the other people live their lives.
“And the scouring of The Shire — brilliant piece of work, which I didn’t understand when I was 13 years old: ‘Why is this here? The story’s over?’ But every time I read it I understand the brilliance of that segment more and more. All I can say is that’s the kind of tone I will be aiming for.”
MORE ENTERTAINMENT:
CORSER’S TRANSFORMATION FROM DAD BOD TO SIX PACK
DERRYN HINCH ‘REKINDLES ROMANCE’ WITH EX
So the first thing we can see is that the Night King will be defeated and then Cersei Lannister, sitting in King’s Landing like a squatter, will have to be dealt with.
This follows the plot of LOTR, where Sauron was defeated and then the hobbits had to deal with Saruman.
The early indications are that episode three of the six will see the massive battle against the Night King and the defeat of the White Walkers.
That battle was reportedly filmed over 55 nights in Northern Ireland, followed by weeks of further interior filming. That suggests most of episode four will be spent clearing up the aftermath and counting the cost.
The battle will obviously need to show the fights and the fates of all the characters in the north — which is a lot of them. It is likely to be fought on two fronts, as well. One aspect will be the battle between humans and undead and the second aspect will be the battle to defeat the Night King.
Much like LOTR’s final battle, we are likely to see most of the heroes trying to occupy the undead army, while a handful of them try to take out the Night King.
That leaves the two final episodes to defeat Cersei (and Euron) and wrap up the endings for the surviving characters.
So we can see there will be three major story arcs to wrap up over these six episodes.
Let’s start with the simple one: Euron.
He was last seen heading off to the east to pick up a mercenary army for Cersei, with niece Yara as his hostage. Nephew Theon, meanwhile, was hot on his tail, having seemingly discovered a backbone at the end of the last season.
We’ve stuck with Theon through seven seasons of betrayals, tears, whimpering and having his gentleman bits cut off. He’s disappointed us so much, the pay-off has to come this season.
Some fan theories suggest Euron will return to Westeros, perhaps even killing Cersei and taking King’s Landing for his own until he is turfed out.
But that just doesn’t feel right.
Theon has to save Yara and defeat Euron — probably at the cost of his own life — to wrap up his story arc. This leaves Yara to rule the Iron Islands but become part of the world, rather than mere pirates.
Next comes Cersei. Much has been made of the prophecies of the witch Maggie The Frog, who told the young Cersei that all her children would die and then she would be strangled by the “valonqar”, which means “little brother”.
Back in season one, Jaime greets Tyrion as “Little brother!” Plus Tyrion killed off his lover Shae by strangling her, so he’s got form. So it seems obvious he will strangle her. The only question is, will it be in fury at Cersei killing Jaime, or because of her general betrayals?
Finally we move to the Night King.
The ending for this is obviously wrapped up in the prophecy of Azor Ahai, the Prince That Was Promised to defeat him.
Or, as Missandei told us in the last season, it could also be the Princess That Was Promised.
The problem with being the Azor Ahai is you have to kill your true love to create a weapon strong enough to finish the Night King.
Basically this comes down to either Daenerys has to kill Jon Snow, or Jon has to kill Daenerys.
You would think this is a 50-50 chance but there is a fair bit of evidence that says Jon is the Azor Ahai and will have to plunge a sword into Dany’s heart before he can kill the Night King.
The first argument is based on the famed Lady Stoneheart character from the books. In the books, Catelyn Stark is brought back from the dead by Beric Dondarrion, who uses his own borrowed life to resurrect her.
The television series has not used Lady Stoneheart, while Beric is still alive and kicking. The speculation is that, in the books, Lady Stoneheart will use her borrowed life to resurrect Jon Snow. In the television series, of course, that role was taken by Melisandre.
So, given Jon Snow has been brought back from the dead, he has the power to give up his borrowed life to bring back another from the dead.
Obviously he doesn’t know this yet but it could be revealed to him in a number of ways — including Melisandre. She’s declared she will return to Westeros to die but surely there will be time to let Jon know of the hidden power.
Complicating this, of course, is the possibility that anyone dead needs to be burned or risk having them return as an undead wight under the control of the
Night King.
However, there are always the crypts under Winterfell and Dany’s body could be safely stuck in a stone tomb, knowing that there is no way even a wight can get out of that.
That will give us Martin’s “bittersweet” ending.
Jon brings Dany back from the dead but at the cost of his own life.
It could even go a stage further, with Dany then giving up her life to save their child, making it doubly bittersweet.
Thus the two main “heroes” don’t survive but their legacy does.
As for the rest of the cast, well, there’s obviously going to be plenty of deaths.
Given the way season one teased both Sansa becoming a queen and how Ned Stark and Robert Baratheon wanted to join their Houses, it seems likely that Sansa will hook up with Gendry, possibly as Queen of the North, or indeed Queen of Westeros until Jon and Dany’s kid comes of age.
Tyrion is likely to end up as the Hand to whoever is left on the Iron Throne at the end.
Jaime Lannister may get the dream ending fans want with Brienne but she is more likely to finish up carrying Tormund off in her arms.
As for the rest … it’s a real lottery.
WACKY THEORIES
Ignore the clues in early seasons of Game Of Thrones, forget the logic and just let the wild ideas fly — here’s a few of the wackiest theories about how the show will end.
The Princess Bride ending
This is based on that cult hit movie where the grandfather is reading his sick grandson a story. Basically, the show will end and then the camera pulls back to reveal it has all been Sam Tarly reading a story to Little Sam in the Archmaester’s library (hence the astrolabe in the opening credits).
The Wizard Of Oz ending
Similar to the one above, this sees the tale ending and then Bran waking up in bed, surrounded by all the Starks. Turns out it was just a dream, after all. He probably won’t start yelling: ‘There’s no place like Winterfell!” though.
The All-Bran ending
It turns out that not only is Brandon Stark the Three-Eyed Raven, he was also Bran the Builder who put up The Wall, plus he drove Daenerys’s father mad, plus he’s the Night King as well. It’ll be a busy season for actor Isaac Hempstead Wright if that’s the case.
Originally published as How will the final season of Games Of Thrones end?
U2 lead singer Bono was born with what name?
The Chase Australia’s official Shark, Brydon Coverdale, has created a new daily quiz challenge. Test yourself.
Brutal truth behind reality show’s sex scenes
Aussie Shore premiered with a bang last week, and while it’s certainly racy viewing, the reality of having sex on the show is anything but.