Game of Thrones Predictions for Season Eight – Author Spitballing

THIS POST IS DARK AND FULL OF SPOILERS, FOLKS.

Okay, here are my predictions for the ultimate Season of Game of Thrones. We’ve got a long wait ahead of us, so I felt like spitballing what I was sure would happen next season. I feel like possibly some of these will be spoilered by those effing leaks before we get to season eight, but for now, while I’ve still not run across any season eight leaks online, I wanted to spitball about what I hope to see.

Here’s my prophecy (AKA what I’d do with the plot as an author if I were the writers):

1. First, outside of plot, someone at HBO will announce that rumored spinoff. It will be full of many more young hot people who look too much alike than season one

   

   of GOT did. Probably the Hedge Knight, or Dunk and Egg.

2. HBO will continue to write dialog that sounds more fanfic than GRRM’s would have. Jon just kept repeating the same lines from Season Six for the first few episodes of season seven. I don’t expect that to change. Nor do I expect the TV writers to understand that GRRM would have thrown in a lot more sub-text.
3. I still can’t decide whether Jon and Dany will care about them being family. I expect it to put a temporary hold on things and create some mid-season drama.
4. Danaerys gets pregnant and dies giving birth, and her final words are “promise me, Jon”, or possibly “promise me, Tyrion” if Jon is already dead or (insert name here) if EVERYONE is dead. Because no one is safe, and GRRM will probably try to end on a harmonic of his primary theme, something about circular, repeating patterns.  Also, I’ve yet to read an epic fantasy book series that didn’t try to be circularly plotted, sometimes to the nth degree of ridiculousness. If it’s going to be truly pointlessly circular, Jon will be busy trying to kill someone who’s kidnapped his sister or Dany maybe just as Dany gives birth. Please let’s just… not. We don’t need to be that circular.
5. The speed with which players move about the chess board will get even more ridick.
6. Jon will not go by Aegon, and will convince those worried he’ll try to usurp from Dani that he’s not a threat. Someone’s always worried about where Jon wants to go and what he wants to do. He’s not power-hungry though, so either he’ll walk away and let Dany take it without him, or he’ll be by her side not changing his role in her life too much, with her instigating any change to her status. Trumped up temporary episode-to-episode conflict will melt away. Jon only cares about defeating the Night’s King – and has been a broken record since the beginning. Don’t expect that to change.
7. Jon rides Rhaegon, named for his father obviously.
8. Someone on a dragon will be critically injured or killed during the fight-out with the dead dragon. It will be the DragonBowl epic fight of probably the penultimate episode. That’s where I’d put the death of the ice dragon.
9. It’s only somewhat likely that Jamie strangles Cersei dead eventually as per the prophecy, because they left that part out of the TV version of Maggy’s prophecy. Why?  Probably just to limit the obvious conk-you-over-the-head foreshadowing of Jamie killing her. If Jamie does kill her, it won’t be until after she has nothing left. No gold left, no Iron Bank, no army left, no lords on her side, nothing, not even the Mountain. And DEFINITELY no baby. She cannot have another kid, it would violate the prophecy. She had THREE CHILDREN. Whatever child she has in her will be stillborn or miscarried. I’m half expecting a gory miscarriage with her half-Maester of a hand at fault. Unless the valonqar is her own child, and it kills her… remote possibility, but unlikely. Too many people expect Arya to kill someone and wear their face to kill Cersei. If Jamie really does head all the way North, that might happen, but I’m rooting for Jamie doing it himself. His rift with Cersei right now is just getting WIDER and WIDER. It’s so weird that I actually respect and admire the guy who THREW BRAN FROM THE BROKEN TOWER. WTH is wrong with me? What I want to see? Jamie returns from Valiant fighting up North with a new respect for Dani and Jon. Cersei she has nothing left, she’s in a blind seething panic about to be stormed by her enemies and doesn’t even have Pycell for his poisons. She orders someone to blow up the remaining wildfyre under the city, and Jamie kills her to prevent it and becomes the Queenslayer.
10. Jon eventually kills the Night King (or does he? Seeming victory will turn into a scene with a new Night King in the snow somewhere. Or possibly the Night King transfers his gift to whoever kills him. Which would suck. Jon might possibly completely sacrifice himself.

    

11. Jon won’t face down the Night King until after emo-Bran royally screws things up again and makes things even worse than they already are. Remember how the prolonged warging was a problem and he wouldn’t stop being Summer so he didn’t eat? And of course, causing Willis to become Hodor. That boy doesn’t know when to quit. He’s probably going to disappear down the rabbit hole and accidentally start this whole problem in the first place. I like the theory that he’s the one who drove The Mad King mad, but that seems extremely unlikely. Something else. Oh, and emo-Bran will morph into full-on full-time white-eyes RAVENBRAN with no further tether to reality, and then he’ll die… OR WILL HE? Probably he’ll actually be trapped for all time in Summer. Or in a dragon. Or something. One of those. Or become one of the all-knowing trees. Or the Night King. Whatever it is, neither Bran nor the Night King will be really dead at the end of the show. Something super-iffy but forever will happen. Plus, the cycle needs to probably repeat some thousands of years into the future. What if Bran apparently “dies” of falling?
12. Even more of the cast will have morphed into all-black clothes. It’s like they ALL took the black over the last few seasons. What GIVES, GOT? Just felt like it was cheaper to order all costumes in black-only? We’ve lost all other colors. I get why, but it’s not like these people couldn’t stay all dark and murder-y and not sometimes wear colors like yellow and green again.
13. Obviously the Mountain and the Hound will face off, but they’ll both be dead at the end of the fight. If  the Hound survives, he’ll become a Priest. His final words on screen, alive or dead, will likely be aimed at Brienne. Or Arya. Either way, confronting his fear of fire will prove to be WHY he wins over his brother in the end. If there’s any more circularity to the plot, there will be a moment of burning The Mountain’s face on coals or on a dragon-heated something or other.
14. Arya will continue to be the ultimate Mary-Sue that she became this season.
15. Sansa will stay the Lady Stark, but it’s unlikely she won’t make some babies so the Starks can continue. It seems unlikely Bran will father a child before his white-eyed end… That house cannot die or it would interfere with the endlessly repeating cycle of Brandon-Stark-fighting-the Others-throughout-history. Somehow, there will be future Stark babies.

I know I’ll have more. I have over a year to add more predictions.

*Sigh.*