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Oh yes definitely, I too hope that comment was a sign that the big 5 "good guys" will make it through. Plus we have IHW's comment about some people finding the ending "too happy", which perhaps suggests there won't be a main character blood bath. This line of thinking baffles me a bit, because well popularized theories are popular for a reason (especially when the books series has been going for over 20 years!). Sure, some theories can be arise just because of shipping preferences etc (i.e. the laughable undercover Jon theory where Jon is in love with Sansa and banging Dany to somehow ensure Sansa's safety), but there are a lot of GOT theories that are based on lots of book evidence and foreshadowing etc. For example, R+L=J was a popular theory because all the clues had been well laid out. When Jon's true parentage was revealed the majority of the audience as not exactly shocked, but that didn't automatically make the reveal anti-climactic. My personal opinion is that a good ending to a show shouldn't be a massive shock / WTF, because if it is that means the writers haven't done their jobs and set it up properly.

It’s so difficult to tell what actors and writers etc consider surprising. So often I find that shows will hype something up as a massive OMG twist but fandom has been predicting said twist for half a season. Like, after the anvils in s7 about Dany’s not-barren womb, we are all calling she is going to be pregnant next season. But when this pregnancy is revealed I bet we will get interviews with some of the writers and actors talking about what a crazy shock her being pregnant is lol. Personally, I think there’s a good chance the iron throne will be purposefully destroyed as a symbolic gesture of all the shit that has gone down due to people fighting for it, and whoever takes power will talk about bettering the realm for everyone etc. I would say that the IT being dismantled is not an uncommon fandom theory, but if it does happen I could definitely see the actors and writers playing it up as a massive surprise. Stuff like “The thing people have spent 8 seasons fighting over gets smashed to smithereens, I couldn’t believe it when I read the script! In the end no one winds up on the throne.” etc.

But Hot Pie made her direwolf bread. The good ship HotArya all the way lol!!! She can take on the traditional male roles of fighting and being in charge and he can take on the traditional female roles of cooking and raising the children. Match made in heaven! Jaqen is so sexy, that voice *swoon*. If Arya decided to run back to Braavos and get hot for teacher I would fully support that decision. Plus, think of how talented their murder-babies would be.

Why shouldn't Dany request conditions for providing assistance? It's not like Jon was asking to borrow a cup of sugar. He wanted Dany to risk her life, the lives of her dragons, and the lives of her people to come and save the North. That is a massive request and deserves a massive quid pro quo. Dany was perfectly happy to let Jon mine dragonglass from her land and even provide men to help with without asking anything in return. I think this was very generous of her, as she would have been well within her rights to request gold, food or a bespoke Haus of Sansa wardrobe in exchange for the dragonglass. Given the way Westeros works, Dany could have even demanded that Jon or Sansa marry her / someone of her choosing to grant this request. Catelyn was more than happy to marry Robb or Arya off to a Frey to cross a bridge, so requiring Jon or Sansa to marry someone to get dragonglass seems par for the course. Also, if Jon needs to take a nap it's his own damn fault for being so stubborn. In 7x04 Dany said she would help fight the WW if Jon bent the knee. Jon refused her offer because of his pride. So, despite Jon claiming that fighting the WW was the only thing he cares about, his pride was clearly more important to him until 7x06. Jon claims that everyone in the North will die unless they kill the WW, yet until 7x06 he apparently felt that the lives of all the Northerners were less important than him retaining the title of KITN. I understand why Jon would be hesitant to bend the knee when he doesn't know Dany, especially given the whiny bitches in the North had a massive cry about him leaving. But honestly, if the Northerners are not prepared the bend the knee in order to have someone else fly in and save their assess then they should just sit back and wait for the WW to come and kill them. If the Northerners are not prepared to give anything and just want to take, take, take, then they are the petty, selfish assholes and seem much more villainous to me than Dany does. Frankly, the mission to beg for Dany's assistance just showed that the Northerners have abysmal political skills. If they expected Dany to provide her help without having to bend the knee or give up anything of value then they are soft in the head and clearly know nothing about politics. If Jon and the North were smart, they would have rocked up proposing a marriage alliance between Jon and Dany. That way, when the WW are killed and Dany takes the throne, Jon will be right beside her as King ensuring the interests of the North are protected. They could have also requested that Dany name Sansa as Warden so Starks continue to have day to day control of the North. If Jon had done this in 7x03 then he and all of Dany's crew could have been on a boat North in 7x04, but Jon wasted 3 episodes being petty and caring more about his title as KITN than his people's lives.

Wasn’t the dragon pit meeting Tyrion’s idea? Wasn’t he the one who thought they could get Cersei on side and have all the kingdoms unite to fight the WW? Didn’t Jon volunteer to go North to get a WW for Cersei (mainly because he was jealous of Jorah), despite Dany wanting him to stay? Why does Dany keep getting blamed for this? Also, Dany had already committed to fighting the WW prior to the dragon pit meeting. If Jon and the others thought it was so imperative to go North straight away and not get an alliance with Cersei they could have done it. Jon didn’t seem to have any objection to going South for this meeting.

Tv show Jon Snow has pretty much been deemed Ned Stark 2.0, and declared the most honest, moral and decent man in all of Westeros. I kid... but not really lol. Anyway, by the end of S7 Jon Snow is in love with Dany, has indicated he would be happy to prove the witch wrong and impregnate her, stated she has a good heart, bent the knee, said she isn’t like everyone else, publicly declared for her at the dragon pit, and said she will make a good Queen and the North will come to see how awesome she is. So since the moral centre of Westeros thinks Dany is amazing and deserves to be Queen, I’m thinking there’s pretty much zero chance Dany will be portrayed as anything other than a hero in s8.

Do you think that Arya’s endgame in the books could be to marry / have children (and be in charge of a specific castle whether Winterfell or another) with Person X, but the show will change her paramour to Gendry? Either because Person X was already cut out by D&D before they knew his future importance to Arya, or because they like JD and Gendry/Arya have somewhat of a shipping base already after s2/3 so they figured the best solution was to substitute him? Or perhaps Arya’s Guy was going to be someone random so D&D didn't care about substituting Gendry? If Arya was going to end S8 with a guy on her arm, I can’t think of anyone other than Gendry or Pod who is age appropriate (and can still father kids).

If we are taking everything literally: Dany: I can’t have children Jon: who told you that Dany: the witch who murdered my husband Jon: has it occurred to you that she might not be a reliable source of information Dany and Jon: boat banging

Assuming the Night King is defeated, I would think it's in the North's best interests to be part of the seven kingdoms, because if they were independent I don't see how the survivors would remain alive for too long. There are going to be a lot of casualties in the war with the NK and presumably most of them are going to be the fighting men, with the women and children having the best chance of survival if they are evacuated to safety. It also seems likely that there will be significant destruction of castles and homes, with Winterfell even in danger of being destroyed. S7 showed there is already a food shortage, and the North is not known for being a great climate for crops to proser at the best of times. So the survivors, mostly women and children, will have minimal food and homelessness will be a major problem. Major funding would be required to buy food and rebuild homes, but it doesn't seem likely that there would be any incentive for anyone to give them funding because they would be seen a massive credit risk. If Dany controlled the other 6 kingdoms she would be able to distribute the food stores from those kingdoms around, but if the North don't want to be under her rule then they can't expect her to give them any food or provide any assistance for rebuilding. Anyone shrewd on her small council, like Tyrion, would advise her to charge exorbitant prices for trade to the North or refuse to trade with them at all. I would expect that after months of starvation and housing shortages, lots of people would be keen to immigrate to the Riverlands or other areas where they have a better chance for some food and shelter. The ones that remain in the North would probably soon find themselves considering cannibalism just to stay alive. Dany wouldn't even need to put in any effort to get the North back under the banner of the 7 kingdoms - give it a year or two and the North would probably be begging her for help, and knees would be bending all over the place.

I swear I remember an interview or something with the guy who plays Davos, who said he hopes Davos is all like "well, at least she's not your sister". Between Arya, Davos and Sam, someone has got to get Jon to laugh about banging his aunt lol. Even if Jon and/or Dany die by the end of the series (which I hope doesn't happen!), I would lay money on them marrying beforehand. That Targ restoration baby is definitely surviving, and I don't think it's going to be a bastard.

You guys bring up a good point about Sansa. After the BotB Royce should realistically press for Sansa to marry one of his sons or threaten that they will all leave back to the Vale. Either that or they should have been trying to get her to marry Robyn Arryn to try and strengthen the Vale’s future prospects. Now of course Sansa would presumably not want to be forced into another marriage, but Westerosi lords aren’t exactly known for respecting the rights of women.

TBH it’s kind of crazy that none of the Northern lords with an eligible daughter demanded that Jon legitimize himself and marry said daughter in s7. Any lord with half a brain should have been trying to get his daughter to marry the single, attractive KITN and consummate a marriage before he left for Dragonstone. It’s also crazy that no one on Team Jon or Team Dany thought of proposing a marriage alliance in s7. I can only assume D&D want to make it clear that if DJ marry it will be for love, but after Tyrion and Dany had that marriage talk in 6x10 it’s insane that no one mentioned that one of the best marriage candidates was chilling on their island for months.

I totally agree about the lack of time. It would not shock me at all if after the parentage bomb Jon has one short scene with say Arya where he talks about Ned etc., then the matter is dropped for a couple of eps while a battle happens. After the first big battle Jon might then have a short scene with say Dany where he verbalises his acceptance of his heritage (at which time Dany will probably drop the baby news). Then Jon will go into the final battle fully accepting both sides of himself, and will thus be able to conveniently ride a dragon at a crucial point in the battle to save the day. There is definitely not going to be time for Jon to have multiple D&Ms with his siblings, Dany, Davos and Sam etc. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if the only reunion in s8 that gets any sort of screen time is Jon/Arya, due to lack of time. I’m kind of expecting Arya/Gendry, Arya/Hound and Sansa/Hound etc to get nothing more than a one sentence exchange at most.

Barristan also said that Rhaegar was good at fighting but he didn't like it. Then in s7 Jon made the comment about not liking what he's good at (i.e. fighting), and Dany gave him a Significant Look, so I think they have made it clear that Jon has at least a little bit of Rhaegar's personality.

The Starks have avuncular marriage in their family tree, so it will probably take Jon two episodes max to decide he's all in with the Aunty-loving, especially when she's going to have his baby. All of Westeros believes that noble houses are better than the common folk, it's pretty much the basis of the feudal system that they exist in. Jon accepts the idea that Starks are better than common folk, so he would naturally agree that Targs are too. Just as Lannisters, Tarlys, Martells, Tyrells etc are a believed to be better than you average random person. He already thought they were magnificent (even though they were terrifying) in s7 and was happy to pet Drogon. He has happily accepted the titles of Lord Commander and KITN so far. He could have refused both if he wanted to. He may or may not believe the prophecy. Even if he doesn't believe in it he is still going to try and defeat the army of the dead so it seems like a moot point. He already has when he bent the knee and told her she deserves to be Queen. He could be concerned about inheriting a mental illness, but neither Dany or himself have shown any signs of it so far so ome would hope he wouldn't dwell on it too long. Jon has befriended two Targs in his lifetime, and he respects and admires both of them (and is madly in love with one of them). There's no reason he wouldn't eventually be happy to embrace both sides of his heritage, after the shock wears off and he has processed the info. Jon will surely be grateful for the sacrifices Ned made for him over the years. It would be interesting if he was also willing to examine the ways Ned failed him. For example, Ned let Cat emotionally abuse Jon throughout his entire childhood and didn't appear to lift a finger to stop it.

Jon told Theon in s7 that he didn’t have to choose between being a Greyjoy or a Stark, as he could be both. I think that’s pretty clear foreshadowing that he will decide he can be a Stark and a Targaryen. Honestly, Jon going to KL with Dany is in Sansa’s best interest as she would presumably be made Warden of the North and left to her own devices. If Jon stays in the North as King or Warden, then Sansa has no real power. She and Jon disagree on how to rule and Jon doesn’t ask for her opinion on how to rule or follow her advice, as demonstrated in s7. If Jon ends up back in Winterfell then Sansa goes back to being his annoying little sister who has no say in anything. Also, Sansa and the Stark sibs currently have Brienne, Pod, Arya and the Winterfell guards for protection. They hardly need Jon as a personal bodyguard. I just don’t see why on earth Jon would leave the woman he loves and the child he presumably loves to back and babysit his siblings for the rest of his life. If Arya or Sansa fell in love and had a marriage proposal from an eligible guy, I doubt they would turn it down because they would feel obligated to be Jon’s lifelong sidekick. The Stark name will die out quickly if that happens! Besides, if Jon and Dany become king and queen of the 7 kingdoms then Jon can ensure the interests of the North are protected.

What Jon wants for himself may have changed anyway after s7. He was away from the North on Dragonstone for somewhere between say 1 month and 1 year (people have theorized different lengths of time but I don’t think we have confirmation), and he didn’t seem to be missing it too much. Jon seemed very content to hang around and throw heart eyes at Dany. I feel like if Jon was given the choice of living in Kings Landing, being married to Dany and having Targ babies, or going back to the North by himself (and abandoning his surely already conceived baby), then he wouldn’t hesitate to pick KL. Why wouldn’t he want to be with the woman he loves?

Yeah, I agree that Jon is likely to do most of his fighting on the ground. If he rides Rhaegal I think it’s more likely it will happen towards the end of the season and we will only see him do it once. My guess is that it will either be a “heat of battle, spur of the moment” thing where Dany seems to be in danger off in the distance, and Rhaegal is happy for Jon to jump on so they can go and help Dany and Drogon. Alternatively, it will be used as a bit of a metaphor for Jon’s Targ heritage and he won’t be able to ride a dragon until he has made peace with the fact that he is half dragon (possibly with a slightly cheesy declaration that his name is Aegon Targaryen lol).

I’m sure (and I hope) Jon and Arya will have a number of scenes in s8, but I think it’s kind of hard to judge given there have been a lot fighting scenes that take ages to film. Like, all the Belfast sightings of them since Xmas could easily only be 1 or 2 episodes, in which Jon and Arya (plus other fighters like Greyworm, Gendry, Brienne, Hound etc) are in a battle whereas others like Dany, Tyrion and Sansa are unlikely to have fighting scenes. (Apart from the green screen dragon stuff that gets filmed indoors).

Yeah, if there is one thing I would bet money on in s8, it's that the boatsex baby lives. There is no way GRRM isn't going full Targ restoration. As has been pointed out before, why else would he make the last two people in an incest-practicing dynasty attractive, similar aged people of the opposite gender? Not to mention all the books stuff with Dany and Jon referencing kids. GRRM's fascination with the Targs is so blatant, like he can't even be bothered to give Ned Stark's mother a name, but he finds sufficient inspiration to write numerous prequels and histories all about Targs. Honestly though, I wouldn't be at all shocked if most of the remaining good guys get a relatively happy-ish ending. Dany and Jon get married, have some baby Targs and assume some kind of leadership position. Bran chills in the Godswood for the rest of his days, Arya goes on adventures / is a knight for Dany and Jon / rules over something, and Sansa rules over something / marries someone who isn't a psychopath. Tyrion gets Casterley Rock and continues to be Hand. However, just because they all survive the long night it doesn't make things a bucket of sunshine. Scores of family and friends have been killed, the lands are going to take a while to recover from all the damage and begin growing crops again, there will be rampant poverty and homelessness due to all the destruction, and the task of rebuilding Westeros is mammoth. Plus, there will be plenty of deaths of the more minor characters (some that we care about and some that we hate), that will up the body count and make thongs feel more "bitter", even though those characters were always slated for death. Also, if Nissa Nissa does suddenly spring up in s8, I think it's much more likely that there will be a twist and it isn't just a literal translation of someone being stabbed in the chest. I think the theory that Jon is AA, Dany is NN and their kid is LB (the breast baring and "sword" thrusting happening on the boat lol) is funny. But more seriously, the idea of lightbringer just being a super sword seems weird. There are already valyrian steel swords that kill WW, and Beric has a flaming sword. Lightbringer being an actual sword seems like a bit of a letdown.

Thinking about the likely Targ restoration has me wondering about the Starks. What do we think the chances are that the Stark name will continue past the current lot? Any kids Jon has will most likely have Targaryen as a last name. Bran’s capacity to father kids is unknown and he is currently a robot with limited prospects of marriage. The only hope seems to be if Arya or Sansa marry someone who is happy to take the Stark name and have Stark kids (the 4th son of a Northern lord or someone of “low” birth). If none of Bran, Sansa or Arya has kids, and DJ has more than one kid, then I guess one of the Targ kids would inherit Winterfell. The Northern lords would have a fit at the very thought. I wonder if Arya or Sansa would feel like they had a duty to marry and reproduce to ensure there is always a Stark in Winterfell?

Why? Beric and Jon were both 100% dead and then they got fully revived without issue. If pregnant Dany was stabbed in the heart and then revived, why would the baby remain dead? I don't recall any character on the show categorically stating that pregnant women can't be brought back to life with their foetus intact. I still think this Nissa Nissa thing is fake, but whatever happens there is no way the Targ baby is dying. GRRM is obsessed with Targs above any other family (he can't be bothered to finish the series but still finds time to write numerous Targ history books). Dany and Jon might both die, but Targaryen restoration is 100% happening.

The only was I see Nissa Nissa happening is if Dany is resurrected like Jon was. Either Beric or Melisandre will do something/ sacrifice themselves and Dany and the baby willl be good as new an episode later. DJ get the main character “rules don’t apply” treatment all the time from GRRM and D&D, and I don’t see that stopping in the final season.

I am extremely skeptical that after months of relative nothing re filming pictures and leaks, someone somehow manages to have info on arguably the biggest WTF twist for the show. And they manage one blurry pic of DJ talking but can’t snap another when the stabbing happens? Suuuurrree. The pic might be real but I think the Nissa Nissa stuff is bullshit.

Yeah, I must admit that I don’t understand this idea that GRRM is a big trope subverter. Jon is essentially Harry Potter, and every other (usually male) fantasy hero who grew up poor/unloved/ an orphan, but is actually a secret prince / savior of the world. Ned is the hero’s father figure who dies at some point because it pushes the hero to grow from boy to man. Dany is the beautiful heroine who wins the love of the hero with her beauty and good heart. I will say that Dany has a lot more depth as a character and actually has her own thing going on, which is unusual for the standard female love interest. There will be heavy losses along the way, but ultimately the good guys will conquer all.