Who will survive ‘GOT’?
Well, most of us. Even those who’ll lament the narrative’s end, but will be none the worse for wear and tear through eight seasons (make that nine years). Yeah, like Otso Diretso, plus 1.
I can’t watch Episode 3’s original airing this morning, as I'll be involved in another annual ritual involving fiction and poetry. But I’ve been happily assured that Florentina Homes in Dumaguete has a cable TV local provider whose channels include HBO. And that I can even watch the 10 p.m. replay on HD at Gabby’s Bistro, with its wider screen as a Cignal recipient.
So, like most of you who are GOT 8 (and Otso Diretso) fans, I should see who get killed off in the Great Battle of Winterfell. Should be quite a bloodbath, with blogging pretenders to three-eyed raven augury largely predicting that the Night King will take Game 1, and decimate Winterfell the way Thanos did the Avengers. Until his White Walkers claim a nine-dash line to include the Winterfell crypt, where…
But why should I spoil it all for you, when we’ve got three more Mondays before we all appeal to George R.R. Martin to complete his own belabored Comelec count? And give us his original version that might just convince HBO to come up with a rectified coda season with full fidelity to his books.
In any case, since I too was pushed out a window as a child (thankfully, from a bungalow), let me join the forecasting fray and tell you who will survive, not just the battle but the series.
My vision is predicated on experience with narrative arcs. Decades of paneling at a writers’ workshop lead to familiarity and intuitive play call on how stories end, even those whose world-building has been as complex and fantastic.
Of course Jon Snow a.k.a. Aegon Targaryen will survive. He’s the poster boy of fire and ice, and he’s already died before. No self-respecting storyteller will kill the same hero twice (not even Superman).
Joining him in the keepers’ list is Samwell Tarly. Simply because any world needs a bookkeeper. Besides, he was the first to kill a Walker, with obsidian no less, and it just won't do for them to exact revenge by having their mindless minions go obladi-oblada in weighting a wonk. Needless to say, his wife Gilly and their child will help him establish a rejuvenated Citadel. It’ll be faster than ever rebuilding Marawi.
Tyrion Lannister fans, relax. No epic can survive without an eloquent lush. ’Nuff said. And Sansa Stark can’t leave, as she’s the feminists’ fave as strong woman with smarts. Her sister Arya slipped from being a contender in the feminists’ poll when she chose the eve of battle to have herself deflowered. Rather manfully All right, the child warrior wanted to become a woman. Dunno, but not sure she’ll survive at all.
Sure to be killed, likely in a most gruesome way, would be Cersei Lannister, as she’s been consistently villainous. Same with Euron Greyjoy. Though they won’t expire while in bed together.
’Fraid Ser Brienne of Tarth won’t last the series either, as she already got her wish to be knighted, and is likely to go down swinging in battle, maybe in sacrificial rear-guard defense of Sansa. Blue-eyed Tormund will join her, as he’s predicted.
Still, I can’t also help but feel that Ser Brienne might have a future with Jamie Lannister, who remains an intriguing figure. Scenarios even have him applying the death blow to his sister Cersei. And his golden hand is thought to clue in likely ascendance as Azor Ahai, or The Prince That Was Promised. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see him go, too.
I don't think the human survivors of the Battle of Winterfell will then go on to confront Cersei’s forces. No, it can‘t be like stepping up to the NBA Conference Finals. Somehow, Cersei’s army will be drawn into a serial melee, so that it becomes a three-cornered struggle, In fact, Cersei may yet provide last-minute cavalry to help turn the tide against The Night King. But ironically, she’ll still get her comeuppance.
The so-called Cleganebowl will happen, with younger bro Sandor finally getting the better of bionic bullyboy Gregor a.k.a. The Mountain. But The Hound will also perish after his sibling moment of satisfaction. Also falling sometime in the dragdown battles will be Dolorous Edd, leaving Beric Dondarrian as the last to reminisce on the Night's Watch company. Grey Worm sealed his fate with his promise to Missandei about a future together.
Before he dies, Ser Bronn will have the king-slaying crossbow snatched from him by Jaime, for his queen-slaying. Qyburn will suffer from collateral fire, and fail to save himself, even with old tricks of vivisection. Lord Varys will be burned alive, with his recurring fate putting an end to his whispers. And the Red Priestess Melisandre resurfaces, only to have her four centuries of existence end in a strange land, as she had prophesied.
Jorah Mormont will smite down Walkers with the Tarly family’s sword, Heartsbane, given him by Sam, just as Jon got Jorah's father's similar Valyrian steel blade. But he will be overcome while defending Dany for the last time. “Ah, Heartsbane,” he'll sigh, before quoting Jaime thence Bran: “The things we do for love.”
His niece Lady Lyanna, brave and feisty as she is, will also perish quickly in battle. She doesn’t even have an iota of Arya’s skills. That’ll leave Sansa as the sole surviving feminists’ fave. Theon Greyjoy will also give up his life, either for Sansa or Bran, but a Stark. Maybe his sister Yara will survive as the remaining Greyjoy. She’s been inconsequential anyway.
All three dragons will perish in dramatic aerial dogfights, and then some. The ice dragon Viserion, being a wight, can only be killed with fire. Maybe Drogon will get hit with the scorpion missile again, but not before Jon rides him and triumphantly yells “Dracarys!” many times. Rhaegal will be the last to go, when Danaerys confronts The Night King in a lose-lose gambit.
Ah, Daenerys. Besides being my desirable crush, she of the many titles did pioneer for social change in the Seven Kingdoms. But she’s also stayed petty and petulant, with throne power as her be-all and end-all. Jon will call it quits with her, in his predictably moralistic way, even if it’ll be bittersweet since she carries his child. Maybe that child will be born, and he’ll take the scion wandering with him as he shuns both the Iron Throne and the leadership of the North.
Las Vegas bookies have installed Bran as the odds-on favorite to sit on the throne, maybe in a time-bending exercise that also incorporates the Night King in his weird persona. I have no reason to distrust Vegas, where the master weaver Martin might make a killing before the next Pacquiao fight. They should know their endings, both George and Manny.
So have I forgotten anybody? Well, killing off more than half of a cast of about 30 notable characters can’t be that bad. I wish I had more space to settle the next-Iron-Throne-occupant vis-à-vis the Azor Ahai conundrum.
Oh, Ser Davos will survive, as rehabilitating kingdoms need soup kitchens. So will Gendry, as blacksmiths can turn the throne into ploughshares. Missandei will live to keep cherishing the memory of her idol who ended slavery. And lastly, joining the living will be Podrick Payne, since the new world shorn of dragons and menacing villains will still need good singers for podcast updates on renewable myths.
