bubble sparkly

I agree. Given Jon, Dany and co will arrive at Winterfell in ep 1, and we know that ep 3 is mainly a battle ep with the Winterfell battle, I suspect the battle is going end up putting to bed a lot of conflicts because everyone will realise they have to let things go and work together to defeat the dead blah blah blah. I'm tipping most of the conflicts between the "good guys" to be resolved by ep 4. In ep 1 and 2 we will likely have Jon dealing with the paternity fallout (leading to some kind of J/D tension whether it's the familial relationship or Jon being the heir, or both), possibly Sam and Dany having issues because she burned his idiot family, Jaimie reuniting with the Starks and having his Bran misdeeds made public, maybe Jorah dealing with the Northerners calling for his head and Lady Mormont wanting to kick his ass, the Northern Lords being their usual xenophobic selves and hating on Dany, and Theon dealing with the other Starks and the Northerners etc. I would not be at all shocked if Jaime saves a Stark during the battle (probably Bran if they want to bring things back full circle), and Dany impresses the Northerners with her bravery during the battle and suffers a non life threatening injury (bonus points if she discovers she is pregnant after the battle, just in time for a reconciliation with Jon). A few non-major players will probably die - Pod seems certain, I'd guess one Northern dude will bite it, and maybe Tormund. Then the survivors band together and put differences aside to fight Cersei and the NK, probably after an inspiring speech from Jon. Most of these conflicts will probably end up being disposed of as easily as the "massive" Jon/Sansa conflict that was talked up in s7 lol.

I can't see Jon just abandoning his child, especially given his own upbringing and always wondering if his mother loved him etc. If for some reason Jon felt it was unsafe to live publicly in Westeros with a Targ baby, there's no reason he couldn't flee to Essos or somewhere else and raise the kid under an assumed name. Not to mention, it would be awful of him to put Sansa in so much danger when there is absolutely no reason he can't raise his own kid. Given how Jon and Dany have been portrayed to date, the only way I can see them not raising their kid is if they die.

It seems a bit weird to me that Jon and Dany ruling together doesn't appear to be speculated about too much by the major media / podcasts etc. Even all this betting stuff about who ends up on the throne only seems to have one-person options. Given how s7 ended, I would have thought there would have been a lot more media spec about J/D ruling jointly (as there has been in fandom).

Regarding BSB, I believe they also said months ago that their source told them the filming code name was Fate / Faith of Angels. I’m also pretty sure that this was confirmed a month or two later by either Seville pictures or a cast member mentioning it. Again, this doesn’t prove BSB is correct about the DP info but it does suggest she truly has an extra / body double as a source.

But..but...Sansa gave Jon a cloak, they’re totally getting married! And Jon was really undercover!Jon at Dragonstone, and only slept with and likely impregnated Dany as a show of devotion for his one true love, Sansa! They are Ned and Cat 2.0 and something about pomegranates. Plus Jon is going to trick Dany into drinking moon tea next season and force an abortion on her. Lol, I could barely type all that with a straight face.

I am curious as to whether Friki’s new source has provided him with any evidence the leaks are legit, because so far Friki hasn’t given us any evidence to prove that his leaks are more reliable than your average FF fleaker who’s mother’s cousin’s neighbor totally saw crucial scenes being filmed. IIRC Friki still hasn’t confirmed exactly what Tyrion’s crimes are nor has he confirmed whether Jon and Dany are alive and if so where they are during this hugely important trial.

I think Sansa might suggest a D/J marriage after the Northern Lords have their inevitable bitch session about the evil foreign whore who dares to come and save their asses. IMO Sansa's best outcome personally is for D/J to marry and take the throne, leaving her in charge of the North. If Sansa tries to get Jon to ditch Dany then she is stuck with Jon as King/Warden of the North, and he has proven that he doesn't listen to her ideas and essentially just wants her to sit down and shut up. Besides, if Jon doesn't marry Dany then he will be strongly encouraged to enter into a political marriage with a prominent Northern lady, which would likely reduce Sansa's influence over Jon anyway as the wife makes her presence felt. I am going to roll my eyes so hard though if someone, be it Sansa or another person, finally proposes the idea of a Jon/Dany marriage and everyone acts like this is a brilliant, revolutionary idea. The fact that Tyrion, Davos or anyone else on Team J/D wasn't pushing for this from about 7x04 onwards makes no sense based on how common political marriages are in Westeros to secure alliances. Add in the fact that Dany and Jon were clearly hot for each other and Jon is pretty much the only age appropriate, fully appendaged dude from a prominent family left, and it is absolute madness!

What annoyed me about the Sansa/Arya letter drama last season is that they didn't need to go all the way back to Sansa's s1 letter when they had the very recent BOTB / Vale army letter to play with. They could have easily still had Sansa spout her ridiculous "I won the BOTB" stuff, but then have Arya do some investigating about it. After a bit of digging Arya would have realised that Sansa went behind her military commander's back and lied to his face (by omission) about there being no army available to help. It would have actually made sense for Sansa to be scared at this news getting out because Lyanna Mormont would have probably called for Sansa to be executed as a traitor to the North, given Bear Island men were killed in the battle. Also, Arya is already suspicious and thinks Sansa wants Jon's power. She probably would have jumped to the conclusion that Sansa lied about the Vale army because she wanted Jon to die during the BOTB so she could be the leader of the North. This would have given Arya a more solid foundation for her threat to kill Sansa and remove her face lol.

D&D and the actors have talked a lot in the past few seasons about filming fake scenes. Now, I’m not sure they actually did that in s7 and it remains to be seen whether they did in s8 (although I do think that whole thing where Kit and Lena were filming in front of a conveniently wide open window is suspect). It would be pretty funny if they filmed a fake scene of King Bran to try and throw off some extras and the media, which in turn resulted in the whole betting saga.

Maybe Sam will be mad at Dickon for being the dumbest guy going around and martyring himself for absolutely no reason, and leaving his mother and sister vulnerable? For me Dickon is a plot point not a character so I don’t GAF that he’s dead and I hope nobody wastes precious screen time next season talking about someone whose biggest claim to fame is being a walking dick joke for Bronn.

Rickon was the last Stark killed, at the end of s6. IIRC not one of the Starks talked about him in s7 at all. I think Dany made one comment about her and Jon both losing two brothers but that was it. In fact the Stark siblings only really talked about Ned in s7. Poor Cat, their beloved mother, didn’t even get a mention when Arya and Sansa were in the crypts complaining about Ned’s statue being crap. If D&D want to stir up tensions between Sam and Dany then they will probably bring up the Tarlys. However if D&D have decided there’s no time for that then it would not be without precedent for dead family members to be ignored.

I agree that D&D don’t care / have just ignored the rather glaring issue of where Jon as KiTN would be based if not WF because it ultimately doesn’t matter. Jon was barely in the North in s7 before they had him leave and start hanging out with Dany. If he dies in s8 then it doesn’t matter because a dead guy doesn’t need a house. If he lives and runs away with Dany then they will not be in WF or DS etc and will find a new home. Or if he becomes Ko7K then he will be based in KL and be far away from the North. I think that Jon’s endgame, whatever it is, won’t have anything to do with the North so D&D have just skipped over giving him Northern lands because he ultimately has no need or use for them.

And what's the odds D&D don't say anything except the same old buzzwords the cast has trotted out lol.

It’s also possible that Dany is not going to demand the Northeners bend the knee. After all, she made the decision to go North before Jon BTK to her. From her perspective that was an unexpected bonus. Also, even if Dany does intend to get them all to BTK, she might not even get the chance to demand it. As soon as D/J arrive they are going to get hit with the news that the wall has fallen, so presumably they will have to jump straight into strategy mode. Not to mention the Jon parentage bomb will likely drop. As satisfying as it would be to see Glover shit his pants and cower to his knees in the face of a dragon, I wouldn’t be shocked if there’s no time for that.

But s7 Bran had no interest in ruling. When Sansa said he was LoW he said he couldn’t be Lord of anything. Now I suppose that when the AoTD is defeated then Bran might feel like he can be a king / ruler because he doesn’t need to focus his energies on the NK. But robo-Bran of s7 doesn’t seem like he would have the motivation to Machiavelli his way to the throne.

If Sansa does end up with Robin (which is still a big if at this stage), it doesn't necessarily mean it will be an arranged marriage. Robin is age appropriate, the actor has had a puberty glow up so he could now be presented as "hot", and he has cache as Lord of the Vale. Now obviously Robin was a spoiled, weird, joke of a person when we saw him in the first few seasons, but I think we can probably lay that squarely on Lysa's upbringing. It didn't help matters that when she died LF was still around to manipulate him. I think the last time we saw Robin he authorised LF to send the KOTV to help in the BOTB right? Royce and co were at least trying to teach him some fighting skills in s5/6. It has been 2 or 3 years so it's possible Robin has matured, developed some basic fighting skills and isn't a complete tool anymore. Alternatively, maybe Robin is still a useless boob and Sansa sees that he would be easy to control, so if she married him she would essentially be in charge of the Vale. Maybe Royce even begs her to marry Robin so the Vale has some hope for the future?

Banging whilst riding dragons lol? Can't get more Targ than Aunty/Nephew dragon-back sex!

Unless they de-robot Bran I don’t see how he could be King. Everyone from lords to commoners would haaattteee him and he wouldn’t be capable or willing to do the tasks normally required of a ruler.

The chances of it happening are probably pretty slim, but it would be interesting to me if Sansa decided to turn the tables; instead of Sansa being used for her name/title she decides it's time she uses others for their name/title to gather power for the Starks. If you assume that Jon/Dany end up ruling the 7K and having at least one kid, there are Stark genes on the throne to ensure Stark interests are protected. Then, if Sansa decided to marry say Robin or Tyrion because she figured she could control them and their power, then you have a Stark in control of the Vale or Westerlands. If J/D gave Gendry the Stormlands and he married Arya, you also have a Stark wielding power in that region. Finally, if Bran was in Winterfell he could marry and have kids to secure the Stark line there, or if he can't procreate he could name one of Sansa or Arya's kids as his heir.

Does it seem from filming that we probably won’t even get much interaction between Brienne and the Starks in s8? I feel like she will probably have most of her scenes with Jaimie. I guess they could have Sansa tagging along behind B/J, but the writers have not put any effort into establishing a positive relationship between Sansa and Brienne so it just seems like it would be really easy to stick Sansa with Gilly and the other non-fighters and have B/J doing their thing whilst using their fighting skills.

If the Northerners are mad at Jon for bending the knee when he turns up with Dany, two dragons and somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 troops, then they truly are the morons the rest of the 7 kingdoms thinks they are. If they had one brain cell between them they would zip it while Dany is assisting in fighting the NK and try to negotiate independence after the war is over. But we pretty much already know how this is going to play out. The Northeners will spend 1 or 2 eps calling Dany a foreign whore and the Mad King’s daughter and railing at Jon for bending the knee. Then, the Winterfell attack will happen and Jon and Dany will lead their respective troops. After the battle the Northeners will probably decide Dany is okay after all, then the survivors will all focus their hatred on Cersei and the NK and make their way to KL together.

If Jon and Sansa were going to end up together, I would have thought there should have been some sexual tension and smoldering moments with them before now. Instead D & D have shown that Jon and Sansa tolerate each other but don’t seem to like each other a great deal. Who can forget last season when Jon told Sansa to shut her trap and stop disrespecting him in front of the lords, or when Sansa told Jon he was acting like Joffrey. If Jon and Dany making heart eyes at each other, holding hands, discussing pregnancy and having sex makes them a parody of a romance, then I don’t know what one can call two siblings who haven’t expressed even the remotest scintilla of romantic interest in each other.

I still want to know if Friki's "source" has given him any actual proof of the these alleged Tyrion spoilers. Because so far we still don't know why Dany and Jon are not at the trial or what Tyrion's betrayal actually is. If someone had seen a script or was an extra in the DP scene etc., then I would think there would be some dialogue explaining J/D's absence. If they were dead as a result of Tyrion's betrayal then surely a large part of the trial is going to be the Starks/Davos etc railing at Tyrion for getting J/D killed. Alternatively, if baby Targ is getting birthed you would imagine there would be some comment, even if it's Tyrion asking where they are and someone snarking that J/D have more important matters to deal with right now. Also, someone who had seen a script/was an extra would surely be able to spill the beans on what Tyrion's act of betrayal actually is. One assumes part of the trial would be a detailed account of Tyrion's crimes, similar to Littlefinger last season. Betraying the Starks, which is all Friki has hinted, could mean anything from actively aiding in the Winterfelll attack to destroying Sansa's bespoke outfits. Friki keeps making random guesses like Tyrion shuts the gates to KL or sets off wildfire, but so far he doesn't seem to be suggesting that he knows for sure what the act of betrayal is. I don't think a Tyrion betrayal and trial is out of the realm of possibility, largely because Tyrion having a final trial does fit in with the rule of three. However, so far Friki hasn't provided one single thing to substantiate these leaks, and there seem to be large holes that someone in the know should be able to fill in but for whatever reason hasn't.

Also, so far GRRM has played most of the common fantasy tropes pretty straight. We have the secret prince raised as a lowly commoner, the exiled princess, the fat and bookish best friend, the father and/or father figure dying to kickstart the hero's journey from boy to man, and the hero possessing a super rare artefact that may prove useful in saving the world. I don't see why the hero and his designated love interest living happily ever after is such a stretch, when GRRM has proven he has no problem following the usual tropes. Plus, spoilers seem to indicate that Jaimie will get the redemption via heroic death treatment, despite some book fans being certain that GRRM would never kill Jaimie off because he made comments about dying being too easy or whatever.

No it doesn’t. We don’t have confirmation from spoilers of anyone’s death apart from possibly Jaimie’s.