Talk Elections

Who will end up on the Iron Throne?

Out of these, Jon, but I think the likeliest is no one (and I don't mean Arya- I mean the Iron Throne is destroyed).

I think so too... but someone will still end up ruling.

No one will, and it's not clear to me that Westeros will have a single ruler.

But a show of the theme is how they're stronger united.

It even goes back to that Robert-Cersei conversation in Season 1. Robert asks Cersei if Five Armies or One Army is stronger. Cersei says Five. Robert shows his 5 fingers, says "five armies," then makes a fist and says "one army." Jon is all about uniting people against the true threat, and being willing to bend the knee.

For me, the show is more about how destructive the power struggle is.  The most fitting end for the story, IMHO, is that Westeros is placed under some kind of rule by committee, rather than a single monarch.

I can see Tyrion devising the House of Commons and the House of Lords, with a more ceremonial monarchy. Basically the UK after the Magna Carta.

Danny ends up on the Iron Throne and survives the events of the show. The show ends with a scene with her as an old lady on her deathbed.

Night King

That will make everyone wonder "What the hell did I just watch?".

And it will be so awesome!

More importantly, "Why the Hell did I just watch!?"

"When people don't unite for the common good beyond their self-interest, everyone dies."

Write in:

Arya

Hope the dragons burn Dany and choose Jon as the rightful rulers as she tries to kill him.

I would have still considered her a remote possibility... but she proved this season that won't happen. Not only does she absolutely abhor it... she told Sansa how she'd kill every lord who disagreed with Jon. Like... that's worse than Joffrey. She wouldn't last a day with that attitude.

I think Tyrion will end up as Lord Regent for Dany's child with Jon (I think there is a serious chance of both Dany and Jon dying, they have to keep shocking us). As for the books, I don't think there will be an Iron Throne left. At this stage I think the books will have a fundamentally different ending. GRRM just can't get away with publishing a book with the exact same ending as the show 5 years after the show ended (I doubt book 7 will be out before 2023 lol).

This -and Jon Snow (or rather, Aegon Targaryen) dies saving the world from the Night King and his white walkers and undead wights.  Sansa meanwhile becomes Warden of the North.

 

Besides Arya, or "no one," does anyone else have a realistic shot of being the main ruler in Westeros?

(besides the Night King)

Lame. Weak.

Dany ending up as ruler of Westeros is the dumbest possible ending.  The Iron Throne is something that she's hoped to gain for for most of the series, so the ending is that she does indeed get it?  Boring.  What is her character arc then?  She learns how to be a better ruler?  Again, boring.  Somewhat better would be her having to make a choice between gaining the throne and something more important (e.g., the survival of the human race).

I guess Jon ending up on the throne would be a little better, but still not my preferred outcome.  If anyone's going to end up as a monarch at the end (and I still think it's possible that no one will), my preference would actually be Sansa.  Her arc would be that she got what she wanted from the beginning (to be queen), but not under the circumstances that she wanted, and only after all of her fantasies about the royal life have been shattered.

Yes, I just said that a similar arc would be dumb for Dany, but that's because Dany has already been a Queen for half the series, so I don't think it works the same for her.  It would work better for Sansa, if they're going to go that route with anyone.

It should've been Lord Baelish buuut I'm gonna go with no one

Jon sacrifices himself to save the world and Dany is the ruler of Westeros at the end. Not sure if the iron throne will physically exist at the end though.

Iron Throne is destroyed by the end of the series, the Night King being the last occupant of it.

Before we talk about character arcs, let me remind you that one of the show-runners (David Benioff) is a man who has been quoted as saying "Themes are for eighth grade book reports."

Yes, but Martin told them about how he's ending the series, so unless Martin is a liar and Benioff and Weiss are both liars, they have a thumbnail sketch of Martin's intended ending.  Thus, it's very possible that at least for things like which main characters live or die and who rules Westeros at the end of the story, the show will take cues from Martin's version of the story.

It looks like Yara Greyjoy is dead, after all, according to this lineup of returning cast members for Season 8 (with filming beginning this month, and concluding next summer):


source (http://www.comingsoon.net/tv/news/893535-game-of-thrones-season-8-filming-will-continue-up-until-summer-2018)

That said, I'm not seeing Euron, the Mountain, or Gendry either.  So this could be an incomplete listing.  

Those are regulars.

With the eighth (and final) season beginning next April (http://time.com/4913247/game-of-thrones-season-8-premiere-date/), would anyone else want to speculate?

Just want to say that I will be SUPER disappointed and underwhelmed if they deal with the Night King in episode 3 or 4 (as is being commonly predicted) and then turn south for a final battle with Cersei ... not only is that conflict so much pettier, but it would be such a ripoff after spending seven seasons coaching us on "break the wheel," "the real war is with the Night King," "we have to put aside our differences," etc. and then just dispose of this villain only for the final climax to just be another battle between humans for that damn chair.  I'm holding out cautious optimism that episode 3 (one of two episodes we know will feature a big battle) will feature Winterfell falling to the Army of the Dead with our favorite characters fleeing south, and episode 5 (the other one confirmed to be a big battle) will feature a final conflict with the White Walkers closer to the God's Eye.

Unfortunately, I fear that we will indeed see this series-long threat of the White Walkers dealt with about halfway through the final season, which will be oh so lame.

I have not heard this idea yet, that would way better than the way most people are predicting.

*Prepare your tin foil hat*

I watch some GoT YouTube channels on my lunch break sometimes, and there were a few that dissected that teaser trailer, and it was speculated that the ice freezing the wolf might be foreshadowing that Winterfell will fall.  Also, I recall rumors from the set that some of the Dothraki actors were seen on horseback in the all green uniforms that they give the Wights (to then edit them with CGI in post-production), so that would imply a significant addition to the NK's army and, IMO, a defeat at Winterfell.

Is OP talking about the books or show?  Because for all practical purposes, they might as well be treated as two completely distinct and unrelated entities who happen to have characters sharing the same names.  The complete and utter bastardization of Arya in the show is a great example of this; ShowArya and BookArya really don’t have much of anything in common anymore from both a story arc and characterization perspective.

I hear you, but the creators and GRRM have made sure that the major plot points are in sync. For example, once the shows passed the books, GRRM told them about "Hold the Door," burning of Shireen, R+L=J, etc., to make sure that there wouldn't be any major convergence.

What I remember reading was that GRRM told them certain key plot points, but not how the characters end up there, the situational context (which I’m pretty sure will be pretty different when Shireen is burned), etc.  Also, it remains to be seen how closely D&D follow what they were told given what we’ve seen from the show so far.  Ex: Removing the Valonquer stuff is a huge divergence.

^ I remember seeing a quote from one of the Ds that said they felt their ending "did justice to George's stated vision" - paraphrasing, and take that however you may.  I am cautiously optimistic that this last one will be a bit more like season six in style than season seven, though it will probably be a blend of both.  Honestly, it's kind of encouraging that the first teaser emphasized the "ice and fire" element of the story so heavily.

Season 8 is almost here!

I've been binging, I think I'm actually going to finish this year before the season starts.  I'm on episode 9 of season 6 (Battle of the Bastards).  I just noticed when looking that up, the last episode ever is going to air on my birthday. :)

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I actually read somewhere



POTENTIAL SPOILERS
So I read online that one of the trailers potentially spoiled both Jon and Daenerys surviving the Battle of Winterfell as it shows both of them back at Dragonstone. Jon and Dany arrive at Winterfell in the premier and the big battle with the Night's King is said to be in Episode 3. So the only reason they would be back at Dragonstone would be after the battle, signaling their survival.

I’m sure book-readers like me will find something to complain about no matter who it is :P

So pumped ... based on the teasers and the trailer, I think they are probably going to avoid the monumentally dumb writing mistake of killing off the White Walkers threat in Episode 3 (presumably the big battle at Winterfell) only to have the main, final conflict be just another civil war for the Throne they have been putting in seven seasons' work worth of delegitimizing ... my prediction as of now is that our heroes lose the battle in Episode 3 and have to flea south, making the final battle (presumably in Episode 5) kind of a hybrid conflict of them trying to take King's Landing in time for them to be able to defend against the White Walkers one more time only to have the White Walkers show up during a battle with Cersei.  That'd be epic.

Also, the Throne cannot survive the series, I'm sorry.  All of this foreshadowing of "breaking the wheel" and themes of nobility oppressing the common folk and this all being a broken system and "the real war" yet to come from the threat to the north and all that ... it'd be completely ruined by the Throne being heralded as the final prize still and our characters learning nothing.  Not George's style, IMO.  The world they have left will have to be fundamentally changed, and I believe that they will have to do something to defeat the Night King that will "ruin" the Westeros they knew going forward, including probably the complete destruction of King's Landing.

So excited!

Tbf, the "themes are for book reports" (actual quote) style of D&D's show couldn't be more different than GRRM's style.  At this point, GOT has basically become a beer and wings show about dragons and ice zombies :(

True, but I am hopeful that the "broad strokes" George gave them to finish the series and that they claim they have been faithful to will be, err, "narrow enough" that even D&D can't dumb them down too much.

I know who's gonna end up on the Porcelain throne soon...me.

Last takes?

With King's Landing destroyed and Jon not wanting the throne, there's only two likely possibilities.

1. Daenerys Targaryen, First of Her Name

2. The Seven Kingdoms regain their independence.

Don't care anymore.

The fanbase has just completely ruined any enjoyment I have for this show.

Something that the books but not the show made pretty clear was that Westeros is currently more stable and peaceful than it ever was as multiple kingdoms. The area between the Reach, the Stormlands, and Dorne was a march constantly facing invasion or attack. The Crownlands as well was a no-mans-land constantly being invaded. The North and the Vale were also at each other’s throats over the Sisters. The Riverlands has been invaded at times by the Stormlands, Westerlands, Vale and most recently conquered by the Iron Islands, who would also raid up and down the coast. With the major exception of the North, I think most of the Westerosi nobility understands that things are better as is and would want the Iron Throne to continue on.

Or Jon realizes he must take the Throne.

Or a new dynasty starts, not claiming to be a continuation of the Targaryen dynasty.

Or Westeros begins to take the first steps towards democracy, with a House of Lords electing and advising a new monarch and to determine every succession so transitions remain peaceful and no "bad eggs" come to the throne simply due to "birthright."

Or some combination: the North, Iron Islands, and Dorne become independent. The rest become more centralized under a stronger monarch, as one united kingdom, but with some kind of Magna Carta and creation of a House of Lords.

Or maybe there's some more magical ending, something that couldn't happen in our own real world.

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Things weren't exactly quiet under the Targaryens in the books. If Daenerys is gone, then even if they are still alive, Drogon, the Dothraki, and the Unsullied have no particular reason to stay in Westeros. (I could even see Jon flying off on Drogon, never to be seen in Westeros again as a possible ending.) The North has the only sizable body of Westerosi soldiers right now, but Jon doesn't want the throne and Sansa is in favor of devolution.

I suppose Jon could be guilted into taking the throne (if they can find it in the ruins of the Red Keep) but he's unlikely to leave heirs. (For that matter neither is Daenerys.)

Betting markets say the poll is underestimating Bran

bow before your king

It's weird, but the thing I found more offensive out of all the illogical stuff was precisely making Bran king. There's just so many reasons as to why that is A. a terrible idea, B. makes no narrative sense, and C. there's no way the Lords of Westeros would willingly go along with it that it's really hard to believe that's the choice for king in the end.

Particularly coming from a story which actually tries - at least in the books - to address political consequences, which alone would make King Bran a nonstarter. 

Bizarre that Dorne, historically the most independent of the seven kingdoms and the only one with a more-or-less intact military, would voluntarily remain part of the realm while the north brexits. Of course, they also introduced a new Martell (?) after they killed off all of them, and lord knows what Jeff Martell thinks about geopolitics, but.

The selection was so weird that it got me hoping that there'd be a last minute reveal that he used some kind of enhanced warging / mind control powers to convince them to pick him, and that this was some final Revenge of the Children of the Forest, where they had incepted their master plan into his brain to control humanity through him.

Bronn as Master of Coin is ludicrous, altho not entirely since he now has Highgarden, but his actually getting it is.

Arya wanting to go west of Westeros is something I expect will be explained in the books as it certainly wasn't in the series.

Dorne is more dependent on trade than the North is, so it staying while the North goes was believable.

Bran as king might have more sense if they'd brought up the idea of an elected king first. Once you do that, Bran's a pretty logical choice.

In Season 6, Arya talks about going west of Westeros after trying to leave the Faceless Men, when she's with the actress.