The final seasons also have to cram in a clips episode, a Cops or CSI parody episode, a ‘man on the streets sideline perspective’ episode, a ‘very special’ episode about drug abuse, a guest-directed Tarantino episode with lots of sunglasses and strutting to funk minstrels, and a vanity-project musician cameo in a dramatic role to drum up concurrently-released album (such as Ariana Grande as a 4th Sand Snake).
Why would she presume Bran is dead? Theon told her he didn’t kill either him or Rickon and Rickon showed up hale and hearty until he stupidly neither zigged nor zagged.
This is all pure speculation, and I’m not claiming that any of this is any more likely to happen than anything else. But here’s some potentially interesting plot developments:
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It seems likely that Jaime would kill Cersei if she tried to blow up the rest of the city - but it seems to me entirely possible that Cersei will try to kill Jaime first. They have no children together to bind them any more, she’s gone mad, and he’s most likely not with her “Burn them all” strategy. If she realizes that, she may just try to have the Mountain kill him. Then, possibly Jaime escapes with the help of Bronn, and the two of them head for the North and join up with our heros. Or, if this happens after Sandor Clegane gets back to King’s Landing, perhaps he will step in to fight ZombieMountain and we’ll get CleganeBowl after all.
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Do we know Bronn’s backstory? Early on, he admits to Tyrion that he’s been north of the wall. He also claimed to be in the north ‘on business’ when he first met Tyrion, but I don’t think we ever learned what that business is. There has been surprisingly little discussion about Bronn’s past and his role in the future of the story, but I think there might be hidden aspects to him we don’t quite understand yet. He’s clearly one of the best swordsmen in Westeros, yet he was just hanging out in the north? Seems unlikely. A man of his talents could easily have made a very wealthy living protecting any number of lords. On the other hand, ‘adventurer whose a great swordsman’ is a common trope, and maybe that’s all he is.
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Sansa can be Lady of Winterfell while Jon is the King of the North. Lyanna Mormont is head of her clan, so there’s no reason why Sansa can’t be head of the Stark clan and heir to Winterfell. After all, Jon still is a bastard. He may be King, but there are still rules of inheritance and birthright that are followed pretty strictly in the North.
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Arya’s plot line will be interesting, and I think totally unpredictable. She could wind up back at Winterfell, but I suspect that part of her life is over. She shows no desire to go home. I think we might see her continue the way she has - a shadowy figure showing up and killing people on her list. Perhaps she will be the one to take down Cersei in the end. That would be kind of cool - Cersei kills or runs off her brother who is trying to stop her from setting King’s Landing ablaze, and just as her evil plan is about to be hatched, Arya appears and kills her slowly and dramatically. What would be awesome is if Arya had the ability to take on any face, and then appeared to Cersei as Myrcella or Tommen - just long enough to screw with Cersei’s insane brain before killing her.
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I agree that Daeneris’s forces seem way too strong to drive any sort of meaningful conflict against the Lannisters and Freys in Westeros. Defeating them should be a walk in the park. So either that phase of the story will end quickly and Daeneris is sitting on the Iron Throne within a few episodes, or the whole plot might be derailed by the White Walkers and the Game of Thrones might become moot and the real battle will be the combined forces of Daeneris’s armada and the men of the North against the White Walkers. That’s the real battle the show has been building up to - the Iron Throne may become irrelevant very quickly in the next season.
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What’s Littlefinger going to do? His path to the Iron Throne is looking awfully shaky right now. Marrying Sansa doesn’t help if she’s not the Queen of the North, and anyway Cersei has taken control. Winter is coming, and a military campaign is looking iffy. And very soon he’s going to hear about the armada with dragons heading their way. I suspect he’s going to tack with the wind and change plans - perhaps try to set himself up as the logical choice of marriage for Daeneris. After all, Daeneris is looking for someone to marry - someone with power and money, and who knows the ins and outs of politics in Westeros. That pretty much describes Littlefinger perfectly. Jon Snow is not a political mastermind, and I don’t believe he’s ever even been south of Winterfell. So while we’re thinking about Jon Snow as marriage material, I think it’s more lilely that Jon dies gloriously fighting the Knight’s King, and Daeneris winds up on the Throne with Littlefinger as her consort or something. Then he’ll probably try to double-cross her and die.
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Theon Greyjoy. A tragic character who is on a serious redemption arc. I would not be surprised to see him back at Winterfell, fighting for the North to restore his honor. He may even decide to live there if he survives, taking Hodor’s place as the protector/companion of Bran. But most likely, he will die in battle somewhere along the way. Tragic characters tend to end that way. And I’m not sure Jon would ever forgive him anyway. His sense of honor is too strong. So a glorious redemptive death is probably his fate.
And Richard Belzer as Ser John Munch.
Aegon conquered all of Westeros with dragons; Cersei has control over the city where the Iron Throne is physically located. She also has no way to feed either the locals or he army.
The Targaryens held themselves exempt from the incest prohibitions that bind the other houses; it’s not unreasonable to assume their house law also exempted them from the bigamy prohibition. Remember Aegon the Conqueror took both of his sisters as his queens.
They were on Arya’s shitlist, briefly, but the last few times we heard the list they’d been deleted.
As I said in an earlier thread, they’re probably not actually forgiven, but Arya no longer considers them a priority, and may not care about them at all any more.
I do think it’s probable that Arya will encounter Thoros and Beric again, and the Hound is likely to have teamed up with them too.
I remember reading elsewhere that they explicitly ended the polygamy practice well before Rhaegar. Not sure if I can dig up that reference but I can look for it if need be. (of course it’s a book reference; I don’t think the show has talked about it either way)
Can a cripple be a legitimate Lord? Theon didn’t seem to think he could be a King because of his sausagelessness. Surely the same applies here?
never mind, remembered Dorne. Although Doran had already sired an heir.
Are you now talking about power and not right? The difference there is staggering, of course. Aegon had the means to subjugate a continent since he was not shy to use his self-sustaining, self-guiding air borne super weapons to burn everyone who showed resistance. Cersei might want to do the same, but her super weapon can only be used very situational - and not very often.
Still, both ascended to the throne using sheer terror.
OK, we now know that Bran knows Jon’s parentage, but does anyone else? Is there any else that confirm this? This could be a hard sell in Westeros. It will be interesting to see how the writers give Jon’s claim legitimacy.
Howland Reed was at the Tower of Joy with Ned, and would have at least known that Ned wasn’t carrying a baby when he went inside. Meera might have heard it from her father, but even then it’s not necessarily corroborating evidence.
There is the smallest possibility that Ned told Benjen. However, the fact that he never told Catelyn (even later, after she had proven herself to be a loyal wife who wouldn’t rat him out) suggests he told absolutely no one, ever.
Other than that, I would say the only definitive proof would be Jon sidling up to a dragon and not getting killed. Everyone knows that Rheagar kidnapped (or eloped with) Lyanna, so a child between them was never an impossibility.
I had thought for a long time that Jon’s parentage would more or less be revealed when the Night’s Watch tried to burn his body and it didn’t work. I’m still kind of disappointed that didn’t happen.
Me too!
I was wondering if Sam would turn up something in the citadel archives about Jon’s parents - maybe Howland told a maester and it got recorded. More likely Sam turns up some vital intelligence for defeating the night king.
Would love a scene with Dany getting surprised at another dragon rider - one of the other two frolicking around Tyrion - in a come on! get on! playful manner. Then Varys can step out and tell Tyrion ‘well actually … there were rumors about your mother and the king .’
I can’t remember if the show has been pushing the whole “dragon has three heads” thing as hard as the books did. And with the omission (so far) of certain book characters, Tyrion is kind of the only real candidate left for Head #3.
I’m going to speculate that Bran believes that being the 3 Eyed Raven is a full time job and will refuse to be Lord of Winterfell.
Willas was originally in the written materials HBO provided as background for the show so at least originally he was supposed to be part of things but I believe that later they mentioned that their were only two siblings.
You’re kidding right? I’m not the internet and I’m not in any of three categories you list and I love the character and how it’s written and played.
He didn’t think he should be king because he knows his sister would be better.
Rhaegar was prince, not king. The last Targaryan king was Aerys the 2nd, Rhaegar’s father.
Yes - and even Tywin thought Aerys may have raped Joanna Lannister (whose name I may be misremembering at the moment, and almost certainly misspelling).
Nope, not kidding. I believe she was a one (well, two) off character who just happened to get noticed because of good casting/acting/her age etc.
Like I said, any expanded role of hers will be a reaction to her acceptance and not something originally planned. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing if that does happen because it happens a lot in TV, I’m just standing pat that it won’t be planned that way.
Technically, Bran and we know that Jon is Lyanna’s child. The fatherhood of Rhaegar is the natural presumption–but if that’s the fact, not only the Westerosi peoples, but the audience, will need an explanation for why Jon doesn’t have “silver” hair.
As far as I can recall, the TV show hasn’t indicated that silver hair is a dominant trait for Targaryens over any other hair color. It’s been stated that Cersei’s stillborn child by Robert had dark hair like its father, rather than being blond like the Lannisters. Most of the Stark children have their father’s dark hair, rather than their mother’s auburn (Sansa and Rickon and to some extent Robb being exceptions). Since the Targaryens are highly inbred, who’s to say what the hair color of the offspring of an unrelated parent would be? I don’t believe we’ve seen depictions of Rhaegar and Elia Martell’s children.