I still can’t quite get my head around the fact we are only five short weeks away from the final ever Game of Thrones season. First appearing on our screens eight years ago in 2011, it’s certainly going to feel like a giant iron throne sized hole once it has all wrapped up.

…And what an eight years it has been. It feels like we’ve been to hell and back with our beloved Game of Thrones characters and all that’s left to do now is to find out how it all ends and who wins the throne! So I am here once again to give you my five predictions for what may or may not happen in what will surely be the biggest season to date.

As always, there may well be spoilers ahead for Seasons 1-7. And if you want to get yourself up to date before the upcoming Season 8 then make sure to check out William’s Season 7 catch up here.

 

1. The Kingslayer becomes the King-slain

Is there any other character in the entire series that has had a better arc than The Kingslayer Jamie Lannister? The show runners have managed to take him from an undeserving, cocky knight who was only famous for stabbing the “Mad King” Aerys Targaryen in the back, all the way to a true hero worthy of being a knight and now, hopefully having some heroic stories to finally fill that infamous blank page in the White Book. But now that he is loved my fans of the show and seen as a true good guy, there’s only one outcome that he is destined for, and that is death! There’s nothing this show loves to do more than build a loveable character up, just to rip them away from us in the most horrific way possible. And this is what I believe will happen to Jamie, and I also believe it’ll be done in the same way as he slayed the mad king, bringing his story full circle. Just when it looks like our hero is destined for greatness and about to take the Iron Throne for his own, here comes a stab in the back. From Who? For the whole full circle thing, Daenerys Targaryen makes the most sense. But do not rule out his twin sister Cersei who despite her love for her brother, will do anything to take that throne.

2. The White Walkers do not make it past Winterfell

So we know that one of the biggest moments of Season 8 will be the huge battle between the White Walkers and Daenerys’ army as the undead march toward Winterfell. I think this could be a bit of a brave prediction, but I think this might be the end of the road for the Night’s King and his army. My reasoning behind this, is that I can’t see the end of the season being the Night’s King vs Cersei for the throne. It feels to me that the overriding story of the last seven seasons has been Daenerys building her army, to take back Westeros, which she sees as hers by right. And I think that is what the final hours of this story should come down to, and if the White Walkers are still about then that would overshadow all of this, therefore a giant feature-length episode dedicated to their defeat at Winterfell makes sense to me.

3. The Hound kills The Mountain

This one has to happen doesn’t it?! It would be such a satisfying end to The Hounds story to finally get revenge on his now zombie brother after being beaten and scarred by Gregor as a child. With that in mind, what better way to get his revenge than to confront his fear of fire (Maybe Dragons fire, who knows) and drive The Mountains face into the flames until he dies. It may seem a bit obvious but sometimes the most obvious way is the best way, and is certainly the case with these Brother’s story.

4. Sansa will rule Winterfell and Ayra will leave Westeros

Assuming that Winterfell isn’t consumed by the White Walkers, it seems a pretty straight forward guess that Sansa will continue to rule there as the oldest of the remaining Stark children, but my prediction is that she won’t have the support of the other surviving Stark children. It’s obvious that Bran has no interest in ruling Winterfell after finally fully converting to the Three Eyed Raven, though what about Arya? Although her and her sister seemed to have patched things up, I don’t picture the happy family reunion continuing once the Battle of Winterfell is all said and done. Whether that is due to Arya not being able to let certain events from the past go or whether it’s due to Sansa betraying her trust once again, I’m not sure. Either way, Arya travelling back to Bravos or travelling somewhere else entirely would fit her character arc better than just sitting in Winterfell under her big sister. Will Sansa finally find a King to sit beside her though? I don’t think so. It would be the ultimate happy ending for her character but as we already know, happy endings are few and far between in Game of Thrones. Speaking of happy endings…

5. Jon Snow sacrifices himself, causing Daenerys to destroy the Iron Throne

Okay so we’re told that Jon Snow (Now Aegon Targaryen!) was brought back to life by Melisandre and her connection to the Lord of Light as Jon still has work to do. Working on the assumption that the work in question is to get Daenerys on the throne, then surely Jon is destined to die once this has been completed, as we know in this world, only death can pay for life and the Gods will want their payment. There’s no way that I can see Season 8 having a happy ending with both Jon Snow and Daenerys ruling the seven kingdoms, ruling as King & Queen and having disformed inbred babies, as is Targaryen tradition I guess! No, instead I can see Jon giving his life in some way to ensure that Dany gets the throne she has been chasing this whole time. At this point, as Daenerys is stood there alone, surrounded by death and fire, she will realise the evil of the Iron Throne. After all she is the breaker of chains, so ruling from a throne that has had such a rotten history of evil Kings & Queens is not really her style. I think she will see all the pain that has been caused by that throne and have one of her Dragons (assuming there’s at least one still alive) destroy it with Dragons Breath, destroying it in the same way it was forged. And that is the closest we will get to a happy ending!

So those are my 5 predictions for the new season of Game of Thrones! Agree with them? Or do you think I am way off? What are your predictions? Do you have any theories of what might happen to characters I have left out of this list? Let me know in the comments below…