Who will ‘win’ Game of Thrones? Play our predictions game for season 8, episode 5
Note: this piece contains multiple spoilers concerning the plot of Game of Thrones seasons 1-8
When you play the Game of Thrones you win or you die. There is no middle ground – so Cersei Lannister coolly said to Ned Stark.
There are only a few major players left standing in this most brutal of games. But, as season eight gets underway, there are bound to be plenty of developments in store – and possibly some new claimants to the Iron Throne.
In the lull before each episode we’ll speculate on directions the plot might take. Using your responses, our game will generate our collective best guess for the following week’s twists and turns. We’ll also be using your predictions in the comments section to feed into the game.
Do let us know your hopes and fears for the episodes ahead in the comments below after playing.
How your predictions fared for week 4: The Last of the Starks
Last week’s biggest prediction was that we’d be seeing friction between Cersei and Euron. Bafflingly, that doesn’t seem to have been the case with the pirate king deliriously happy and perhaps we even saw a little twinkle in Cersei’s habitual smirk. Next week though, it has to kick off as Tyrion seems to have rather let the cat out of the bag about the coming baby.
Wisely, our readers warned that Sansa is a huge threat to Dany’s ambitions and this did play out, with some judiciously-spread information to her loyal advisers. Perhaps unexpectedly, there was also support for Sansa and Tyrion giving their marriage a second chance.
In other news, Bran Stark is not as benevolent as he seems and has a nefarious plan for the Seven Kingdoms. Oh, and in a triumph for the predictor crowd, we all saw Jaime/Brienne as on the cards two weeks before it happened!
Most popular candidate for the Iron Throne: Sansa Stark, in her first week on our contenders list
How your predictions fared for week 3: The Long Night
Last week saw a big upswell of support for Tyrion Lannister, as overwhelmingly readers put him down as loyal and to remain at Daenerys’s right hand for the foreseeable future.
The dead-pool we ran turned out to get nothing right – perhaps Game of Thrones is turning into a show that surprises you by not killing off the main characters. Several times we thought Grey Worm was definitely done for, in the whirl of action around Winterfell – close but no cigar.
On a downer note, maybe we’re never going to learn what those spiral patterns the White Walkers left actually meant. If the Night King was going to get a monologue, this would have been the week.
On the longer-term view, almost nobody thinks that Sansa and Dany will wind up best buds. Are these two the main contenders for who will rule Westeros at the end of the show?
Most popular candidate for the Iron Throne: Daenerys Targaryen, back on top
How your predictions fared for week 2: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
This second predictor was on the money for quite a few plot developments. Far and away most readers don’t see Samwell Tarly as the vengeful type – we’ve yet to see if they’re 100 per cent right.
On the other hand, we did successfully predict Arya and Gendry’s eve of battle tryst – and that Bran wouldn’t be blabbing anyone’s secrets for the foreseeable future. Unless you count weird, cryptic remarks that only the audience would necessarily get. Also, no elephants for Cersei this week and possibly never.
Jaime Lannister also wound up getting inducted into the northern army pretty quickly, just as you predicted last week.
Interestingly, a large number of readers want Jon and Dany to stay together, despite their auntie/nephew relationship. Perhaps that’s just because it’s Westeros’s best hope to defeat the White Walkers...
Most popular candidate for the Iron Throne: Jon Snow
How your predictions fared for week 1: Winterfell
Our first edition of the Game of Thrones predictor was quite speculative, due to the year-plus gap between seasons seven and eight. Nonetheless, several trends emerged. In short, people wanted a happy ending and the real baddies punished.
Wildly the most popular theory was that Cersei has been lying about being pregnant again, as a ploy to manipulate her brothers. Surely she would never sink so low! People also want to see Arya wreak vengeance against the Lannister queen – a real tribute to Lena Headey’s performance.
The third most-popular plot outcome was that Jaime Lannister would be welcomed to the North with open arms. That’s still in the process of playing out, but puts the Lannister siblings at the dramatic heart of the show going forward.
Most popular candidate for the Iron Throne: Daenerys Targaryen
Check back next Monday: we’ll be looking at how your predictions pan out for episode 4.
Who will sit on the Iron Throne?
The Long Night, season 8 episode 3, finally saw Winterfell do battle with the Night King and his White Walker army. While we were all left on the edge of our seats during the biggest battle in TV history, those who shone during the fight have definitely earned themselves a claim to the Iron Throne.
In her snake’s nest of King’s Landing, meanwhile, treacherous Cersei was busy masterminding her plot to overthrow her enemies in the North.
But who will finally sweep to victory in the Game of Thrones? Here is an overview of the strongest candidates, an estimation of their chances of seizing the day and the latest odds after the epic Battle of Winterfell.
Jon Snow
Jon Snow is Game of Thrones’s resident brooding hero. He’s moody, low-key dashing and, following through on his Christ-like ringlets, has died and returned from the other side – the last turn of events suggesting fate has a grand purpose in store.
The “Bastard of Winterfell” is actually the love child of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen, which means he's actually the rightful heir to the throne of the Seven Kingdoms - a title his lover/aunt, Daenerys, isn't best pleased with.
Having defeated the usurper Ramsay Bolton, Snow is currently installed as Lord of Winterfell, where his fight first, ask questions later style has put him in conflict with his step-sister Sansa Stark. Whether Jon craves rule over all of Westeros is not clear though it is a burden he would probably assume, were it asked of him.
Awkwardly he is currently sharing a bed with would-be Queen of Westeros, Daenerys Targaryen – Rhaeger’s younger sister and, so, also his aunt (did we mention this was awkward?).
The last time he was in formal command of a group of men – as Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch – things ended unhappily, with his troops knifing him in the front (and also the sides and back).
Will he win the Game of Thrones? Potentially. Snow is the closest to a traditionally heroic figure. Although, this being Game of Thrones, it’s possible that his very heroism will be the blade upon which he is hoisted. In fact, he did almost die trying to save Winterfell when taking the Night King on face to face.
Daenerys Targaryen
Mother of dragons, lover of Jon Snow and, would-be ruler of the Seven Kingdoms, nobody could fault the Head of House Targaryen for lacking ambition. But, having allied with the Starks to resist the White Walker threat, has Daenerys left herself exposed to the treacherous Cersei? (Yes…yes, she has). There is also the huge complication of her relationship with the Lord of Winterfell, who is the lovechild of her oldest brother and thus, depending on how you interpret the runes, her potential rival for the Iron Throne.
How far she has come since her introduction as a shivering na?f exiled in Essos. She started as a quivering damsel – terrified of her creepy, bullying brother Viserys, and seemingly too innocent and frail to survive in George RR Martin’s brutal universe.
But, with each episode, it has become ever clearer that Daenerys is a formidable mixture of silk and steel. She is capable of tremendous tenderness and humanity. Yet her drive to win the Iron Throne of Westeros – which she believes is rightfully hers – is unflagging and those crossing her usually live to regret it. Assuming they live at all.
Will she win the Game of Thrones? She has dragons (RIP Viserion) and knows how to use them. But her romance with potential rival Jon might prove her undoing.
Arya Stark
From flinty tom-boy to cold-hearted assassin, what a journey it’s been for adorable little Arya. She started out as the favourite daughter of Lord Eddard Stark – a feisty bundle of energy more interested in swordplay than sewing. But the destruction of her family at the hands of House Lannister has turned her into a brutalised young woman. After witnessing the execution of her father on orders of wicked King Joffrey, she fled north and blundered upon the Red Wedding, where most of the rest of her family were slaughtered.
Having parted ways from her frenemy The Hound she fled to Essos, training as a shape-changing assassin at the mysterious House of Black and White. Back in Westeros, she put her face changing skills to use taking revenge against Walder Frey, who betrayed the Starks at the Red Wedding. Her journey has now brought her back to Winterfell and a reunion with elder sister Sansa.
As children they never got on and they have grown into very different adults. Slithery Lord Petyr Baelish sought to exploit their differences. It seemed he had succeeded when Arya menacingly suggested to Sansa that she could easily assume her sister’s identity. But Baelish ultimately tripped up on his own scheming as the sisters turned on him and Arya slit his throat.
But let’s not forget the moment of the season, when little, feisty Arya Stark stabbed the Night King himself – the ultimate power-player - with her Valyrian dagger.
Will she win the Game of Thrones? Quiet, quick Arya was never an obvious candidate, until the young, dark horse killed the Night King and his White Walker army. If she can kill him, there's not one person/dead person that can get in her way.
Sansa Stark
Even by the gruesome standards of Game of Thrones, Sansa Stark has been uniquely brutalised – and that was long before clapping eyes on new husband Ramsay in season five.
Sansa had witnessed the sadistic execution of her father on the orders of cackling fiancé Joffrey, then had to live among her enemies, concealing her hatred behind a smile that seemed to turn sharper at the edges with each fresh humiliation.
But, as her circumstances have worsened, Sansa has become stronger, summoning reserves of steeliness no-one could have imagined she possessed. This was confirmed as she rescued hot-headed Jon at the Battle of the Bastards by arranging to have Lord Baelish’s Knights of the Vale swoop in just as all seemed lost (but erm, why not tell Jon in advance?) She then took revenge against the sadistic Ramsay by feeding him to his own dogs.
Installed at Winterfell, she is now both ally to and potential enemy of Jon Snow. They have very different world views and she is the far cannier ruler. Littlefinger sought to exploit that tension and to encourage Sansa to imagine a future where she, not Jon, was the one ultimately in control.
However, she has now reconciled with Arya - and most definitely wants to keep it that way after the Night Walker killer saved Winterfell from destruction and death. Nothing brings family together like an imminent influx of ice zombies.
Will she win the Game of Thrones? On paper, Sansa is the finest ruler Westeros never had. With Lord Baelish off her back, might she come into her own? Or will her loyalty to Jon prevent her from usurping him?
Cersei Lannister
If evil possesses a face in the Seven Kingdoms, it is that of the cruel and haughty Queen Cersei Lannister. She's a conniving diva and natural-born schemer who delights in inflicting misery on others. Cersei is entirely indifferent to human suffering and has a tongue like a poisoned blade.
But above all, she is an ardent schemer. Having fallen foul of the Sparrows religious cult – whose rise she herself facilitated as a means of shoring up power – she took her revenge by detonating a stash of wildfire under the Great Sept of Baelor just as all her enemies had gathered there (for Cersei’s trial for sleeping with her cousin, as it happened). She also, lest we forget, was culpable in the demise of the previous king, Robert Baratheon, spiking his drink before he departed on a fateful – make that fatal – deer hunt.
And though her incestuous relationship with twin Jaime is now common knowledge, Cersei is not for turning. Brutalised by the deaths of all three of her beloved children, it is she who sits upon the Iron Throne.
We're all unsure whether the devious Queen is really pregnant with Jaime's child or not – a potential lie she may have let slip by sipping on wine after a cheeky fondle in the sheets with new ally Euron Greyjoy. Now that Jon and Daenerys have exhausted their forces against the Walkers, she will use her new army to ensure that she remains upon the Iron Throne. It’s so devious you almost can’t help admiring her.
Will she win the Game of Thrones? She is certainly in pole position as things stand. But even a show as cynical as GoT wouldn’t sign off with despicable Cersei in charge…would it?
Tyrion Lannister
Everyone is a little bit complicated on Game of Thrones. But even by the show's murky standards, Tyrion Lannister is inscrutable and riven with contradictions – a party animal with a heart of gold, an instinctive schemer who knows right from wrong, a short man made tall by his bravery and kindness (a dirty word in the Seven Kingdoms). As he put it himself: “I drink and I know things”.
He has lately found what he hopes to be his true calling, as advisor to Daenerys Targaryen. They don’t necessarily see eye to eye – she’s very much for torching her enemies, while he cautions winning the hearts and minds of the general populace (by keeping her dragons in reserve until absolutely necessary).
And he has a complicated relationship with his family. He killed his father, Tywin, after discovering that the old man was sleeping with Tyrion’s true love Shae… which has made for some difficult reunions down the road. He has always been close to Jaime – a source of tension with Cersei, who hated Tyrion because of the loss of their mother during his birth. He has served as match-maker, too, in the alliance between Jon Snow and Daenerys – though it’s clear that their love affair is more than he had bargained for and perhaps not a positive development. Lovers, after all, can have tiffs – and tiffs can become awkward when dragons are involved (and the couple are, unbeknown to one another, close blood relatives).
Will he win the Game of Thrones? Tyrion prefers to plot behind the scenes. Even if the throne was his, he would probably demure.
Jaime Lannister
The incestuous, child-maiming villain with a heart of gold. Introduced as a bully and a braggart, Game of Thrones has peeled back the layers from the one-time greatest warrior in Westeros to show us the complicated individual underneath. The very first episode of GoT culminated with Jaime canoodling with his twin, Cersei and then shoving Bran Stark out the window after he’d stumbled upon their impromptu love nest. This was obviously a low-point but he has since made amends.
He lost a hand defending Brienne of Tarth from Bolton soldiers and saved Tyrion from execution for the death of Joffrey (of which he was innocent) by freeing his little brother from prison – presumably not anticipating that Tyrion would kill their father on his way out. Horrified at Cersei’s betrayal to Daenerys and Jon in season seven, Jaime abandoned her at King’s Landing to 'fight for the living'. Surprisingly, he got on quite well with the North considering he'd murdered the Mother of Dragons' father and attempted to kill Bran Stark.
Nonetheless, everyone has eventually grown fond of the single-handed, incest murderer.
Will he win the Game of Thrones? It’s a leap to imagine flashy, callow Jaime would end up on the Iron Throne. We're not even sure if he survived the Battle of Winterfell yet.
Bran Stark
The youngest surviving Stark sibling – those three of you who have just paused to remember Rickon, we salute you – Bran isn’t really a flesh and blood mortal anymore. After studying with the mystical Three-Eyed Raven he has become an incarnation of the same ethereal being – able to wander across the timelines and given to sitting still and creeping out his family members.
Bran’s visions undoubtedly proved crucial when the Night King came knocking on Westeros – but it still left us asking more.
Will he win the Game of Thrones? Let’s hope not. What a scary realm Westeros would become with a monosyllabic psychic in charge.
Latest odds on who will rule Westeros
Odds from Sky Bet as of May 3, 2019.
Bran Stark - 9/4
Sansa Stark - 9/4
Gendry - 5/1
Any child of Jon Snow - 8/1
Any child of Daenerys Targaryen - 8/1
Jon Snow - 11/2
Daenerys Targaryen - 16/1
Any child of Gendry - 25/1
Arya Stark - 10/1
Tyrion Lannister - 10/1
Who will win and who will die? Conniving Cersei, Mother of Dragons Daenerys, King in the North Jon, downtrodden Tyrion? Or could a new contender emerge from the ashes?
Do you have a suggestion for someone with an even stronger claim to the Iron Throne? Who will be the first character to meet their grisly end? Will the living prevail over the Night King and the forces of the undead?Share your Game of Thrones predictions in the comments section below.