[Spoiler warning for everything, both the show 'A Game of Thrones' and the
books.]
Arya: She’s everyone’s favorite character, which means she’s likely doomed. It’s
possible the Faceless Men training completely strips her of her prayer list of
people to kill, turning the character into something we don’t recognize or
particularly like very much. It might be ironic if Arya is hired to kill Alayne
Stone, and she goes through with it even after discovering Alayne’s identity, just
because of how coldblooded she has become. Kin slaying is a theme in this
story, and we’ve yet to see any Starks kill each other.
If Arya
leaves the Faceless Men with their training and her own vendetta intact, she
makes her way back to Westeros to start crossing off names. One of those people
on her list (likely Cersei) manages to get the audience on their side, ala
Jaime, …right before Arya kills him/her.
Stark reunion:
the wolf children all together again? Don’t hold your breath. Too predictable
and cliché.
Dany: Or
“Khaleesi” as show watchers call her… which annoys the crap out of me because
it’s a title, not a name. That would be like naming your child or pet “Queen”
after Cersei.
Anyways, Dany,
another audience favorite, is similarly ill-fated. Due to the trend of
subverting audience expectations and tropes of traditional western
story-telling, it’s likely Dany never takes the throne in a blaze of glorious
dragon-fire, if for no other reason than because that’s what everyone is
expecting. It’s too easy, too obvious. Characters in this series are denied
their goals due to their own follies. Dany won’t gain the thrown due to the
mess she’s making in Slaver’s Bay. There are a lot of factions coming for her
head. It’s likely one of them will eventually succeed. Perhaps eaten by a
dragon ala Rhaenyra Targaryen?
 |
| By taking the Throne, Danaerys destroys it. |
Like the Stark dire wolves Lady and
Grey Wind, expect one or more of her dragons to be slain, likely before they
even get paired with a rider. Another dragon just plain goes feral and Dany
never gets it back, like some of the dragons in The Princess and the Queen.
Since Quentyn released the other two, someone may steal one. When we see the
dragons being ridden in the Winter war, not all of the dragon riders will be at
Dany’s consent. Also, if the dragons are kept chained up in a dungeon, they’ll
grow sickly and die, which is how the Targaryens lost the dragons in the first
place after the smallfolk grew fearful and hateful of them.
She may
go to Westeros and help in a possible battle against the Others, but once she
sees how Westeros is full of terribleness she returns to Essos, leaving the
Seven Kingdoms to their own folly. She realizes Targaryens don’t belong in
Westeros and she left Essos in a big mess. She conquers that continent instead
in a parallel of Aegon the Conquerer, establishing a New Valyria.
Let’s
say she does try to take the Iron Throne. Stannis and Mel kill her with a
shadow baby. Sorry.
Sansa: Despite
being infamously hated by fans, Sansa grows to become a powerful woman. She is
what she was trained to be, a lady, and she wields that in a way Cersei only
dreamt of. Watching Littlefinger play the Game is the cap on her training. She
may foil Petyr’s plans and perhaps even regain Winterfell… but if her character
goes through an arc like this expect something bad to happen to her.
If not,
if she continues to be a annoyingly naïve and just a pawn of other Players, then
I hope Arya finds out that Sansa told Cersei what Ned was planning, and then Arya
kills her for it. Insert needlework pun here.
Rickon: (…He’s
Bran’s younger brother. Yeah, him.)
Davos arrives on Skagos to find the
youngest Stark eaten by cannibals in a prologue chapter. Sorry, his end befits
the amount of attention and gravitas the story paid to him so far.
If not killed, he just grows into a savage, being
more wolf than boy, and he is only ever spoken of in hushed rumors about the
Wolf-Man of the North that steals livestock in the night. Any misguided attempt
at seating him in Winterfell is ends in death for everyone involved, possibly
destroying Winterfell again in the process.
Jon Snow: He fights valiantly against the Others in the Winter war. Jon may never discover his true parentage, but he tries to play the Game of Thrones either way, either for the throne or just the North, backed by those who know about Robb’s decree. This leads to his death or exilement as a result of his failure.
Jon may have been set up to be a
hero against the wights, but this series subverts tropes. He will likely go
down in a really awful way, proportional to how much the audience likes him.
If he’s already dead from the end
of the fifth book, Melisandre resurrects him, ala Thoros/Beric. He’s never the
same though, and the audience quickly loses interest after all the POV chapters
at the Wall shift to Sam and zombie-Jon is only ever mentioned second or third-hand.
Or he’s just dead at the end of the fifth book. The end.
Stannis: Melisandre
has seen him become king in her visions, so Stannis actually wins the Iron
Throne after his part in defeating the Others, but only for a brief period. He
is quickly murdered for a variety of possible reasons: he has few allies, no
charisma, and an unbending code which makes the small council and other players
immediately begin plotting against him upon his coronation. He was not Azor
Ahai after all.
Stannis
is never a POV character, it’s usually Davos. If one takes Robb’s history as a
template: that Catelyn was the reader’s in to what was going on in Robb’s camp,
and Robb died but Cat was the one to be brought back… then one possibility is
that Stannis is doomed and Davos lives just long enough to watch.
Melisandre: The
Red Woman is ironically burned for being a witch, and Davos escapes to Essos
after Stannis’ fall. If Shireen isn’t burned by Mel, she escapes with Davos.
OR:
Stannis reluctantly kneels to Dany, which tears a rift between the Red Woman
and Stannis. Mel bursts into a murderous rage and Stannis doesn’t hesitate to
kill her, or Davos finally does it.
Who is Azor Ahai
then? Is it Dany or Jon? It’s
nobody. Like many other religious things in the story, this is just another
myth and is only confirmed through interpretation of fans rationalizing and
pleading. We never got a straight answer for the Red Comet. Quaithe’s “Perfumed
Seneschal” could’ve been a number of persons or things that have already
occurred in the books, or is yet to come. These types of things are left up to
the audience to decide for themselves which interpretation they like best.
Ramsay Snow does
a lot more crappy things before eventually being murdered like Joffrey. Possibly
by Theon. Roose gives no F***s.
Petyr Baelish rules
the Vale and the Riverlands already before The Winds of Winter even
starts. If he marries Sansa then he’s got the North too. Looks like he’s on his
own path to conquer the seven kingdoms without ever drawing a sword or raising
an army. Get used to the idea of him being King and Warden of everything. In
this series sometimes villains win. Especially the one playing the long and
silent game.
Bran Stark goes
full Vader. Melisandre already called him the champion of the Great Other, and
eating Jojen in the weirwood paste is a bit of a character turn. It’ll be a
long path there, but the audience will turn against Bran in the inverse way
like they grew to like Jaime. Expect more warging into humans and many “the
ends justify the means” arguments towards using the wights towards various
goals, e.g. Coldhands.
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| Expect Tyrion to go full Walter White. |
Tyrion: I was
hoping he would discover his father was really King Aerys II. The Targ blood
would let him ride one of Dany’s dragons and be awesome. But the notion of
Tyrion flying on a dragon is too fantastical for the setting, and a bit silly.
The killer of this theory is Quaithe’s warning not to trust the lion. Sorry
Tyrion, keep searching for Tysha, nothing to see here. By the end of the story Tyrion will be
totally dark.
I
REALLY hope he doesn’t end up with Penny romantically. The notion that dwarfs
are suitable only for other dwarfs is total bull. That’s like telling me that I
can only date tall people (I’m 6’3”), which is ludicrous right? He probably
kills Penny for a petty reason.
Cersei: too hated
by fans to die easily, but too foolish to continue to play the Game. If not executed
when Robert Strong/Qyborg loses the trial by combat, she tries one last unwise
plot against the Tyrells which leads to her being, exiled, or sent to a the
septhood.
She
thinks the Valonqar is Tyrion, but Jaime would be a more emotional choice for
her killer.
Benjen Stark
comes back in the final chapter, “Hey guys, did I miss anything?”
Samwell Tarlly runs
afoul of the Maester conspiracy against magic and dragons. Oldtown
misadventures ensue, running from the familiar Faceless Man.
Due to
his analogous characteristics with Samwise Gamgee from The Lord of the Rings, he likely ends up being the
only character to have a happy ending, and writes a volume of books called “A
Song of Ice and Fire”.
Conclusions: Each
main character will have a resolution, though unexpected and likely sad, much
like where each character ended in A Storm of Swords. But the overall
story won’t be restful. The Seven Kingdoms will always be at war. It’s been that
way for thousands of years, three dragons and the audience’s lofty hopes won’t
change that. The Others/Wight Walkers will be stopped (hell, they might not
even make it past the Wall), but they’ll return again in a few winters.
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| Valar Morghulis |
Before you rage at
me: I acknowledge most or all of these things won’t happen. It’s just fun
to make predictions because we all love to shout “YES! I KNEW IT! CALLED THAT!”
when we’re right. I wrote thi
s in a confident tone to make you, as one of
the fans, prepared (or resigned) for the awful and unpredictable resolutions
that this story imposes on us and our favorite characters. I want Dany to take the throne as much as the
next person, but events like the Red Wedding should remind you of Ramsay Bolton’s
words:
If you think this has a happy ending, you haven’t been paying
attention.
