We know Season 7 has only just finished, but being the Westeros addicts that we are we simply can’t help but be excited about the upcoming season of Game of Thrones. Seeing as it’s pretty much the most popular television show of all time (the finale had a record 16.5 million viewers), we’d guess that you’re fairly excited too.
With HBO confirming that Season 8 will be the final season of the show (though a range of spin-offs are expected), there’s a hell a lot of plot that show creators David Benioff and Dan Weiss are going to have to fit into the final season. The fact that said season might not come until 2019 gives them plenty of time to work out all those details and also gives us far too much time to fill by creating our madcap theories in the meantime.
With Season 7 ending on a pretty big cliffhanger – or wall breaker – here are some of the events that you can expect to see happen in the show’s final series:
Jon Snow Will Discover His Heritage
We all knew that this revelation was coming but the last episode of Season 7 finally confirmed the fact that Jon Snow is a Targaryen. The only catch is that Jon (or Aegon Targaryen as he should technically be called) doesn’t know that yet. Yep, good old Jon Snow knows nothing as usual.
In spite of the fact he was seeing getting jiggy with his auntie, both Jon’s best-mate, Samwell Tarly and his brother, Bran know the history of his royal lineage, so we can’t see it being too long till Ned Stark’s bastard discovers that he really isn’t Ned Stark’s bastard after all.
Clegane Bowl
What is hype may never die. For those of you not in the know, the Clegane Bowl is the title that’s been given by the internet to the inevitable battle that will occur between Sandor Clegane – aka The Hound – and Gregor Clegane – aka The Mountain. Fans have been clamouring for years for the two to meet in a Westerosi Wrestling match for the ages. Although the Mountain may have become more zombie than man over the past few seasons, the brief interaction we were given between the two brothers in Season 7’s finale seems to strongly indicate that the two will meet again. We don’t know when exactly it will be, but it’s bound to be carnage.
At Least One Pregnancy Will Go Awry
It’s difficult to envision Cersei Lannister as a character who is going to get a very happy ending in Game of Thrones, which makes the fact the rather harmonious fact she is pregnant a rather ominous indication that things may go a little west for the current Queen of Westeros. Prophecies in Game of Thrones are also important to note of, with Maggy the Frog’s prediction that all three of Cersei’s children would die also involving a titbit about how her ‘valonqar’ (Valyrian for “little brother”) would cause her death. Although it seems unlikely that Tyrion will be the one to knock off his sister, Jamie is still technically Cersei’s little brother and an untimely pregnancy could sort of mean this prophecy is fulfilled.
Another potential and fatal, pregnancy we might see also revolves around incest. This time between Jon Snow and his auntie Daenerys Targaryen. Beating us over the head with the fact that Dany thinks she’s barren and thus unable to have children, the whole heir to Westeros conundrum would be rather succinctly sorted if the man who knows nothing was able to impregnate the Dragon queen. The Targaryen clan are certainly no strangers to keeping it in the family, though many fans have hypothesised that a Dany pregnancy might end in her own demise during childbirth. Cersei and Dany both dying in childbirth would be rather poetic when considering the parallel power struggle the two have had over the series’ tenure.
Dragon on Dragon Action
The Night King has got a big undead dragon. Daenerys has got two big live dragons. It’s inevitable that these dragons are going to face off at some point and it’s also inevitable that it’s likely going to result in the most expensive scene in Game of Thrones history.
That being said, we’re not all too fussed. We just want to see some sweet dragon on dragon action. Even if the entire episode consists of a 15 minute Dragon battle because of budget restraints, we’d be hard-pressed to complain. The dragons have been built up since the finale of season one and finally getting to see these fearsome creatures go up against one another has been a long time coming.
A Not-so Joyous Greyjoy Reunion
With Euron larking off to Essos to commandeer Cersei an impressive army, Theon has finally decided to grow some balls (well, sort of) and make it his mission to save his sister Yara from his Uncle’s grasp. Although he’s hardly the series’ most impressive hero, Theon has been with us from the very beginning, and it will be interesting to see how he fares against one of the most fearsome characters on the narrow sea.
Jamie’s Redemption
Poor Jamie really can’t catch a break. Despite giving up just about everything for his sister/lover, Cersei he still can’t see to convince her to do the right thing. Exhausted, and perhaps a little scared, by the mad queen’s persistence to be an absolutely awful human, Jamie ended Season 7 by riding solo to go and help defeat the white walkers.
A character who infamously started the series by pushing a little boy out of a window, Jamie has done a lot of growing over the last few years. The man’s lost both his voluminous hair and his hand along the way. Finally deciding to officially join the good guys in the Great War, the Kingslayer’s ultimate redemption will likely involve him giving his life for this noble cause.
The Great War
Ah yes, the Great War. The big battle that the entire series has been building up to since it very first began. Seeing as this is going to be the finals season of the show it only makes sense that we’re going to see the army of the undead face off against what’s left of the living in a battle for the ages.
It’s hard to predict exactly how this one is going to pan out, but the helpful knowledge that killing a White Walker apparently destroys every Wight they’ve reanimated will surely come in handy at some point. Will the death of the Night King be all that it takes for the Great War to be over? Or will there be a final, sickening twist to the tale? We don’t know, but we can’t wait to find out. Just wake us up in two years time.
