Game of Thrones Season 8

Phew! What a thrilling penultimate season of Game of Thrones that was! GoT fans now have to wait until the final season to discover how this gripping tale of ice and fire will end. At the conclusion of season 7, we saw the White Walkers and their army of the dead melt the wall thanks to the blue fire breathing skills of the reanimated dragon Viserion.

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We are all waiting for season 8!

Meanwhile in Kings Landing, there was a truce between the Daenerys coalition and Queen Cersei, with Cersei later revealing to her brother Jaime that this is just a ruse, so she can attack from behind. We also got confirmation that Jon Snow is the nephew of Daenerys, that his real name is Aegon Targaryen, and that he is the rightful heir to the Iron Throne. Oh, and Littlefinger got caught out by the Stark sisters and their all-seeing brother Bran, who finally got revenge on the man who started the war and betrayed their father.

Although season 7 received a fair amount of criticism, mostly concerning how long it takes ravens and dragons to travel half the length of a continent, there can be no denying that the final episode left fans desperate for more. We here at Gambling Metropolis are here to answer your questions, look ahead to Season 8 and try to fathom just how the last six episodes will pan out.

Who will sit on the iron throne at the end of season 8?

Jon Snow/Aegon Targaryen has to be the prime candidate now that we know he is the rightful heir to the Iron Throne. He just needs Samwell Tarley to gently break the news to his new lover/auntie Daenerys, kill the Night King, avoid being back-stabbed by Cersei, and it’s a slam dunk.

Daenerys is the other obvious choice to become Queen of Westeros, but she needs to kill the white walkers, destroy her own dead dragon son, and steal the throne from her nephew (who she is now sleeping with), who is first in line.

Cersei is a fabulous character, who gets madder and nastier each season, and in the absence of Joffrey, Tywin and Ramsay Bolton, it’s great to still have at least one genuinely chilling bad guy/girl. In many ways, it would be great if she wins, but we can’t see it. With Jaime gone, she only has the Mountain and creepy Qyburn left to protect her, and the Mountain surely has a looming (and hopefully fatal) date with his Hound brother for Clegane Bowl.

Who will live and who will die?

Red woman Melisandre revealed to Lord Varys in Season 7 that both of them are scheduled to die soon, so presumably we can expect these two to perish in some tragic/heroic fight against the White Walkers. Having said that, Melisandre doesn’t exactly have a flawless record of predictions, as poor Stannis and family found to their cost. Our money is on Melisandre performing some kind of suicide mission to burn both her and a giant wight. As for Varys, will we see his box containing the sorcerer who stole his genitals again?

Every season, Cersei is a top choice for the GoT death list, partly because she is such a wonderful naughty character, but also because of the Valonqar prophecy from the novels, which states she will lose all three children and then be killed by the “younger sibling”. Most have taken this to mean she will die at the hands of Tyrion, or maybe her twin brother Jaime. But why can’t it be Arya Stark? Nowhere does it say the Valonqar needs to be Cersei’s younger sibling, and now Arya has access to Petyr Baelish’s face, maybe she can travel down to King’s Landing looking like Littlefinger, in a plot to lure Cersei to her doom, just as she did to the Freys. As a side note, what would happen to Cersei’s unborn baby in the case of her death? And who is the dad? Her brother Jaime like her last 3 kids, or maybe Euron Greyjoy?

Jaime Lannister always strikes us as a rather tragic figure, and in all Greek tragedies, the tragic figure ends up dying. We can’t see Jaime lasting until the end of Season 8, and we think his death will most likely come as the final act of his redemption process. Jaime has been developing from utter bastard to upstanding moral compass ever since he met Brienne of Tarth on the King’s Road, and his story arc must surely end with his death. Perhaps the Three-eyed raven will get revenge on Jaime for throwing him out of the window back in the pilot episode?

Daenerys is probably bottom of most people’s list to die, but we think her chances of making it to end of Season 8 alive are rather slim. For starters, she has always had a cruel streak, and time does not seem to have blunted it. She has buried, crucified and burned people alive in the course of seven seasons, much to the dismay of her many advisors, and we see a touch of the Mad King in her. In GoT, karma always catches up with you eventually. Also, George RR Martin has continually stated that this story will not end the way people think it will end, and with Daenerys most people’s favourite character, we presume she will not be queen. As Cersei pointed out to Ned Stark in Season 1, once you play the Game of Thrones, you either win or you die.

Jon Snow is an interesting candidate for the death list. Remember, he has already died once and come back to life thanks to the Lord of Light, so he does have form. Perhaps his story arc is that he must die to save us all, probably by having a sword fight with the Night King, where he gets mortally wounded, just before he cuts the Night King in two with his Valyrian steel sword, which destroys the army of the dead and saves humanity and then he dies. Maybe. We can’t see him dying though. At the same time, we can’t see him living happily ever after with his aunt Daenerys either. But more on that in a second…

Tyrion Lannister surely cannot die. Although in many ways the old Tyrion died several seasons back. Could the scriptwriters give him back please?

Theon Greyjoy has to be another contender for the chopping board, but first he needs to save his sister Yara from the clutches of their weird uncle Euron.

What are the most interesting fan theories right now?

Game of Thrones has a fan community which is famously obsessed with the show, spending hours developing theories about what will happen next. Here is an overview of the most interesting ideas right now.

One of the most intriguing theories we have heard is that Bran Stark as the Three-eyed raven will go back in time and warg into the Night King as he is being created by the Children of the forest. Of course, Bran already did something similar in season 6, warging into Hodor in the present day as well as Willis in the past, causing Willis to have his epileptic fit which turned him into Hodor. The idea is that Bran will warg into the First Man who later becomes the Night King, but gets trapped in his body, joins the dark side, and that Bran himself IS the current Night King, and has been all along. The only question we have about this theory is…why? Why is Bran trying to kill us all? It doesn’t sound plausible to us. That said, we do hope we find out more about what the White Walkers want, and why they do what they do.

Another Bran warging theory is that Bran will warg into Viserion the ice dragon, and turn him from the army of the dead to fight on the side of the humans. After all, the last Three-eyed raven told Bran he will not walk again, but he will fly. Could this be what was meant?

Finally, now that Daenerys is getting freaky with her nephew Jon/Aegon, there are many new takes on the Azar Ahai legend from the books. This legend holds that when winter comes, the Prince (or Princess) that was promised will call his (or her) spouse, and plunge a sword through their heart, killing them, but forging a new sword called the Lightbringer. This sword would then be used to defeat the darkness. Now, this is a story of ice and fire, and if Daenerys is the fire and Jon/Aegon is the ice, then perhaps Jon will have to kill his aunt/lover Daenerys in order to make the sword which he will use to defeat the Night King. It’s plausible, and would fit the Game of Thrones theme of things not quite having happy endings.

When will GoT be back?

Although season 8 will have just six episodes, they are likely to take a long time to film, and HBO have indicated that it will be released no earlier than 2019.

2019? That’s ridiculous. How am I expected to cope in the meantime?

Waiting for the next season of GoT sucks, but unfortunately CGI dragons can’t be rushed – unless they are flying the Dragonstone-Eastwatch route. Here at Gambling Metropolis, we provide you with reviews of the best online casinos, listed below, and as a handy coincidence, many of them feature a rather wonderful Game of Thrones slot game. With your favourite theme tune, the best houses in the seven kingdoms and more free spin bonuses than you can shake a Valyrian-steel sword at, this slot game is the best way to pass the time during the Long Night.