ElizaD

I actually love that Sansa burn. Unlike some of the lines they've given her in a failed attempt to show her wit (ugh, the S5 stuff), this one works. Sansa thought well of Tyrion, but now he's either a traitor or a Hand who genuinely and utterly failed to see the danger of Cersei, which Sansa more than any other character has emphasized since S7. In this case she truly is about to be shown to be correct in her judgment. And the line is also about Sansa herself, being disillusioned that she once again misjudged someone. It's still possible that it's only about her perception of Tyrion's intelligence taking a hit. But if there is a betrayal, this does potentially set up a season that Sansa begins by adding him to the list of people she's suspicious of and concludes by providing that scroll as evidence of betrayal. Right now the only redemption I see for Tyrion's string of political failures is to be instrumental in Cersei's defeat. If he's just sad in the background after her treachery is revealed, ending the show as Hand would feel damn weird. The Bronn stuff could just be an excuse to get the actor away from Lena Headey's plot so that he has characters he can actually interact with. Book Bronn might take the money if he believed it was worth the risk, but Show Bronn has been such a bro that it would be strange to see him turn traitor, though much of the audience would find it sad if he died with some bitter last words about how he'd served for eight seasons and nothing he did ever got him his castle.

If her last scene is big enough to be her storyboard gift, my first thought was that it's either her death or rebuilding Winterfell. If this beats stuff like Sansa ordering the deaths of Ramsay and Littlefinger, I don't think it will be a quiet character scene, unless it was with her friend Maisie. So, a death scene or Sansa as a leader, either at Winterfell or as regent for the baby Targaryen (IMO much less likely). From interviews over the years I have the impression that Sophie likes having the opportunity to do drama and plotting and shipped Sansa with Littlefinger.

The show's breaking the wheel-speech and the fandom's fondness for including it in speculations has always seemed odd to me because GRRM does not give a damn about the middle and lower classes. He even named them the smallfolk! And there's nothing ironic about that. Davos is the only major non-noble who is a POV and in a position to influence events. Arya and Brienne are the ones who get the much-praised tour of Riverlands suffering. What do the peasants themselves think about it? We don't know, because GRRM wasn't interested in creating a world in which they would have their historical avenues to power. The septons and the maesters are sidelined and reduced to Sparrow mobs or vague dragonmurder conspiracies. Tully ward Littlefinger is the only important Westerosi example of the power of money. There's no obscure Napoleon rising in the army to real power due to the chaos creating a situation in which merit overcomes birth. It just hasn't been a story GRRM cares to tell. This is not heading for a French or Russian revolution with the abused poor making all the upper classes pay, and neither are there any educational or economic structures in place to begin a credible transformation into a republic or constitutional monarchy. Everything is decided above, and not as a response to changes in the structure below. Didn't Aegon V get in trouble with lords for making laws fairer? The one precedent, and it depends on the good king bettering a static society of nameless, unthinking masses. As pointed out by other posters, GRRM's fantasy relies on the perfectly tropey ideas of magic bloodlines, birthright and breeding, which the idealized incest makes even more unironic. His answer to a bad king/queen is a good king/queen. It's not the system that's rotten and under pressure to change, we just need a Dany to replace a Cersei or Aerys. Even if she did melt the throne, what happens next? GRRM has done nothing to suggest that Westeros could be run any differently. It would be the same old families, just with presumably greater equality.

I've been hesitant to believe in the Tyrion betrayal leak, as much as I would like it, because it just feels too huge, even bigger than Jon or Dany dying nobly and predictably. But this reminded me of all his season 7 failures. Even if Tyrion isn't betraying Dany, he'll still look like a fool when Jaime arrives. Since Sansa doesn't hesitate to call out Jon, surely she'd have a scene where she points out that Tyrion was wrong in 8x01 to defend Cersei, which he apparently does both in the assembly and in a scene with her. So what could be his political redemption after such a major screwup? Just about every single thing he's done in Westeros will have failed to help Dany and no leak or speculation has really hit on anything that could be a last minute burst of competence that would make him a good endgame Hand. Right now, if Tyrion lives it would feel more believable if he was so disillusioned by Cersei's betrayal and his failures that he left KL to settle down as the Lord of the Rock. But that would end his story with a whimper. As messy as Sansa's writing has been GOT is clearly trying to sell the idea that she's a great player now, it's just been more offscreen/meta tell than plausible onscreen show. But in Tyrion's case, it feels like post-S5 they're neither telling nor showing that he'd be a good Hand.

If the show didn't want to waste any money on elephants, I'm glad they included a scene with Cersei doing a book reader complaint about not getting them. Though they did save an extra million or two by not including Jaime in the episode. Unsurprisingly, Sansan is dead. I still can't guess whether Arya/Gendry will become an actual thing or remain shipper-baiting subtext. If Jon/Dany go to the Wall and Sansa is in charge when Jaime arrives, she won't be happy. I wonder whether she'll come across as genuinely suspicious of Tyrion after the news or just think he's the "good Lannister" who, like everyone else, failed to see Cersei as the threat Sansa believes she is.

IMO Alfie is one of the show's best actors; I've felt that way ever since season 2 when he took a storyline that did nothing for me in the book and made it my favorite. The Theon/Jon talk is one of my all-time favorite GOT scenes, so the Theon/Bran speculation makes me very happy. I don't give a damn about Jaime's so-called redemption arc but I absolutely believe that Theon feels genuine remorse for what he chose to do and that he wants to help those who've suffered because of him. Of the characters who seem very likely to die, I expect Theon will have the ending that I'll find the most emotional.

The most commonly mentioned quote has been that they're basically taking different roads to the same place, which heavily implies that the ending will indeed be the same for the big players - so, for example, Book Sansa won't be marrying Ramsay (which ought to be a life-changing experience from a character POV), but since he's dead plotwise she's now perfectly free to move to the same book ending, whether as corpse or single lady or Tyrion's wifey. If the showrunners had ever said that the ending will be different, I expect the book fandom wouldn't need to talk about how they personally believe the show and books are two different animals now. But I've never seen an actual quote used in those arguments that would say the ending will be different so the show won't spoil the books. Only readers insisting that it must be the case because of stuff like Dorne. For most, I think the ending will be seen as being the same, with more or less acceptable adaptation changes, as long as the Starks/Dany/Tyrion (and Cersei/Jaime) get their GRRM-plotted endings.

My first guess would be 8x04 - a post-battle breathing moment/dragonriding lesson before Jon and Dany turn south either to chase the NK or to deal with Cersei after defeating him. I like the speculation that they're riding the dragons in that one shot but have been edited out like the NK was from a 7x06 trailer shot. Maybe Rhaegal comes to Jon's aid in 8x03 and he has a dramatic first dragonride, followed by a calmer trip with Dany in 8x04? 8x02 seems a little too early for them to be so chummy and non-stressed after what's presumably the parentage reveal in 8x01.

These aren't high quality images, but my first impression of Sansa's new dress is positive. If she has to stay black, I'm glad she's going a bit Tully with the scale look. I thought the show would just forget about Edmure and even Robin, so I'm curious to see how they return.

I'm glad that Sansa will get at least one clearly different look, but I'm going to be so damn disappointed if 8x06 doesn't end with the characters switching to brighter spring colors. I know it makes sense for the story right now, but I'm so tired of all the black. Dany's white fur outfits stand out even more because everyone else dresses so dark and dull. I like the idea of Sansa returning to her original blue-gray colors if she survives.

I've seen Edge in season 6 set photos, maybe he can, I dunno, sail from Iceland to America so the show gets to include that detail? This finale would have been such a perfect ending for Floki that I can't think of how they could top it. If he forgives the murder/cannibalism and sails to America with Edge that will risk seeming like a waste of the largely unpopular Iceland storyline, and I don't see how much he could contribute to the England/Ivar plots. The only idea I've actually liked has been Floki admitting that Athelstan won and becoming something we haven't really seen before - a genuine Christian convert. Thus far all the Viking conversions have been fake or political, but spoiler alert, these days we've got churches over here. Floki has been the most fanatical follower of the old gods and he's just had his search for meaning crushed by the failure of his community and the discovery that Irish monks got to Iceland first. When he's already lost so much of what mattered to him, trying to fill that void by becoming just as fanatical about a new religion doesn't seem impossible to me.

Teaser 1: let's make the Dany vs. Sansa drama explode. Teaser 2: oh look, Sansa has deemed Dany worthy of becoming her newest hairstyle inspiration. After all the girlfights, I would laugh if we got Arya protecting Sansa and Dany braiding Sansa's hair in season 8.

I hope we get the speculated turn of events where Sansa suggests a marriage alliance as the answer to their problems and everyone acts like this is a stunningly clever political move (rather than a ragingly obvious one), and all the while Sansa makes it clear that to her it's a way to get Jon/Dany the hell away from her power base. Has any character on the show really fooled the viewers? Margaery was more determined than Sansa to win friends, but as was pointed out, the fakeness of her Princess Diana act was obvious. Smarmy Littlefinger's betrayal didn't seem to surprise any season 1 newbies. No one liked the Freys or Roose enough to be shocked by the betrayal, only by the scale of it. I can't think of any other examples right now, so if the Tyrion betrayal theory does come true, that might be the only truly shocking face-heel turn of the show, and it would surely be hotly debated afterwards whether the shock was intentional or simply due to bad writing.

Damn. Right now I feel so close to my dream of Davos as endgame Hand. And Sansa/Arya/Bran teamwork would also make me very happy.

The 4x02 script is the peak of both Good GRRM, with a huge plot point that affects tons of major character relationships and actually reaches a shocking yet logical climax, and Bad GRRM, with all the extras heaped on top of this big event suggesting the fatal bloat that would soon kill the momentum of the books and leave them stuck in a mire of endless worldbuilding. It's always hilarious to see readers twisting themselves into pretzels when something comes up that confirms that yes, Joffrey sent the catspaw, and no, GRRM doesn't intend to give another answer just because you don't like the one that's already in ASOS. Time to face it, it's not just D&D who can come up with unsatisfying wonky resolutions to plot points that have served their purpose. Dogs vs. direwolves in a season or two, wow. That's like the one occasion when GRRM seemed to acknowledge that the plot needs to keep on moving at a pace suitable for TV. A total contrast to the "10+ seasons" stuff that serves no purpose except to make book fans feel betrayed by D&D.

The big leaks this year all seem to have something contradictory, unexplained or dodgy about them, so I probably won't be ready to believe in any of them until episode 1 (or the entire season!) has aired. That said, I do hope the betrayal happens. It would come almost out of nowhere on the show and the much-debated Sansa/Arya conflict isn't a promising sign of how well GOT is currently able to cope with twisty character-focused plots, but still, Tyrion betrayal + Targaryen restoration (+ a Stark rebuilding Winterfell if it gets destroyed in 8x03) just might be my perfect endgame. The Targaryens haven't been my favorite house (and I get annoyed whenever I'm reminded that GRRM is publishing Targaryen backstory rather than TWOW) but seeing how the plot has developed post-ASOS, Targaryens regaining the throne makes the most sense to me. The betrayal wouldn't mess up what really seems to have been the main narrative buildup in the way that something like King Bran would. Yet it would still feel like an absolutely huge twist because of how central Tyrion is and how secure his future has looked. After Bran (who's commonly ignored), he's generally seemed like the safest big character: who else could be the Lord of Casterly Rock? Jon/Dany/Arya/Sansa all have various big and believable theories about their deaths, but despite some betrayal discussion among book fans Tyrion has never felt like someone who's in serious danger of dying. And to die like this, for betraying other major fan favorites - my instinct is still to dismiss the leak because it's so wild. While Stannis is nowhere near Tyrion in importance or popularity, hugging Shireen at the beginning of season 5 and burning her a few episodes later shows that GOT might not be opposed to abrupt face-heel turns. I'd guess that the Tyrion betrayal has a 95% chance of being a mess that's far more damaging to the fandom and the show's reputation than the muddy motives and timeline of the Sansa/Arya conflict. But that 5% chance of it actually working, with Dinklage nailing all the emotions of his last trial and making the viewers feel like they understand how things ended up like this... it would mean GOT was unpredictable to the very end. If done well this moment could be bigger than the Red Wedding because Tyrion is far more beloved than Robb/Catelyn and his death would absolutely be bittersweet enough for most viewers.

Is there anything in TV history that's a bigger shock than Tyrion being executed by the heroes? I can only think of mysteries like "who shot JR?" but this would feel very different. Book Tyrion is a much bigger asshole but TV Tyrion is not just one of the three most popular characters, the popular view of him is that he's a thoroughly decent man. Whether it's for jealousy, love of his family or fear of Mad Queen Dany, him turning traitor is going to be controversial at best. Those script details could support the betrayal theory, but it feels so damn strange after 7 seasons of Saint Tyrion. Even season 7 was only seen as a professional failure as Hand that led to a bit of talk about how he hasn't really had a great plot since season 4. Honestly, if this does happen and the fandom doesn't hate it with the fire of a thousand suns, Dinklage will earn his Emmy.

I could see Book Sansa still being romantic enough to think "well, he loves me for me and that's the most important thing" while TV Sansa might prioritize feeling safe above all other concerns, but I agree that all the endgames you listed are viable. Of course I could rank them in order of my personal preference, but even the worst-case scenario wouldn't come out of nowhere. In a strange way her fate seems both open and easy to narrow down, compared to someone like Bran, whose ultimate role and importance in the war is still very hard to grasp (no wonder fake leaks don't seem to know what to say about him).

Since he will never finish the books, GRRM is free to hint and troll without having to do the hard work of committing to a plot point and convincing readers that it works. Fake history is so much easier since he can just change canon and the defenders can claim it's a deep artistic statement about unreliable narrators. The bits I've seen from the new book remind me of why I've come to prefer the TV show, despite doing my fair share of grumbling about it too: GRRM was great for pulpy plots and creating houses to root for or boo, but I just couldn't stand the faux-medieval purple prose when I last tried a reread and his writing is even worse in the fake histories. TV Sansa is far more cynical, traumatized and drawn to power as a means of protecting herself than book Sansa has had time to become. The show is no stranger to making characters do whatever the plot requires them to do, but I feel that right now the most in-character option for this Sansa, if she even considers marriage, is to be an Olenna who tells her dumb husband what to do but also claims power openly in her own right. An adoring, intellectually inferior yet physically Neville Longbottomed Sweetrobin might be pretty close to her ideal. I don't think she'd be comfortable with someone she had to treat as a superior or even an equal, remembering her conflicts with Jon.

A blast from the past! I drifted away from book-focused fandom after the post-ADWD high when it was already clear that the show continuing to get ratings as good as season 1 was the only hope of ever getting to know the ending. ADWD made me dislike Dany, for the common reasons you mention, but the show's Jon/Dany basically gave me what I wanted: someone who makes her stop and think for a while about the whys and hows before using her fire and blood-ness to get things done. I remember a time when Stannis as Hand to King Jon seemed to be a fairly popular new theory, but when millions have watched Shireen die as the Iphigenia of Westeros, any book speculation that pretends we don't already know the key bits (she burns, he dies) seems pointless. It's also been interesting to see how the release of GRRM's original outline has affected theories: to me, Jon/Arya and Jon/Sansa are 2010s theories, while Jon/Dany could be guessed early because of prophecies and basic logic (young main hero without viable longterm love interest + main heroine ditto? yeah, GRRM is indeed going there). After the finale airs, it's going to feel so incredible to be able to say "yes, I was right about that!" or "damn it, I hate that I was wrong about that!" sixteen years after I first read the books. About the White Walkers and a possible final revelation, I dunno, climate change stuff? That would be "important" as someone was quoted saying at one point, but they're such non-characters that almost any revelation will be both surprising and unsurprising to me: surprising because I wasn't able to guess it, unsurprising because I'm not emotionally invested in what is revealed about them. Tolkien's orcs had more pagetime and individuality and they are the ur-example of Always Evil fantasy monsters.

I don't know about today's big name fans, but when I frequented westeros.org post-ASOS/pre-ADWD, there was no consensus about the ending except that one of the Starks would rule Winterfell. The rest was very flexible - Jon and/or Dany or their child, Tyrion and/or Sansa, a return to independent kingdoms (the democracy theory has only gained support through Show Dany's wheel speech, independence was still feudal rather than democractic in older theories because Westeros lacks everything that historically built up to democracy); rarely was it argued that J/D/Tyrion will all die and the younger Starks will rule the entire kingdom, as I've seen more often recently. Tyrion's betrayal was a consistent and plausible bit of speculation, but not a big one since there were other alternatives for Dany's betrayal for love. It's the show that has led to the endless use of the phrase "Disney ending" to describe Jon/Dany. I'm a grumpy veteran fan, and I preferred it when discussions were more "meh, that's a bit cliche for me, but it's absolutely a valid reading based on the existing foreshadowing, character arcs, and our fundamental knowledge of how narratives tend to work." Now anything that can be trashed as a trope is treated more like huge betrayal, as if GRRM hasn't already shown us he's got plenty of tropes he likes. If Jon/Dany end up ruling after stories that are all about their failures and successes as they learn about ruling, I'll be fine with that. I'm not a Targaryen fan, but at this point it's clearly become the logical ending supported by the narrative and that's more important than a twist only for the sake of a twist. Didn't GRRM also say that the Dothraki Jorah killed in season 1 had a role to play? I think we still got the key bits in season 6 with bargain bin Drogo, and I expect the Tyrells and the Martells are similarly doomed even if the roads are different.

GRRM's failure to publish ADOS and perhaps even TWOW absolutely deserves to impact his legacy. He started something good, but he proved unable to finish it because of the mess he made in AFFC/ADWD. IMO, it won't be right to claim that his ending would surely have been trope-breaking and infinitely more intelligent than whatever happens in season 8: we won't know because GRRM choked during the training arcs, before he had to make a stand and bring it all together. And that really shouldn't be seen by the fandom as such a good sign for what his ending would have been. The only thing we will know with certainty is that he couldn't get past the obstacles of which he was the sole author. He shouldn't be called one of the greats of fantasy when his defining work, the only one that has ever raised him out of the relative obscurity of the fantasy reader bubble (due to massive help from HBO), is defined above all by his failure to deliver on his promises.

She had a little pub song on Harlots but she must have intentionally made her voice rougher and less trained because I just watched some of her other songs on YouTube and that was beautiful. I love how British historical dramas are always good for "I liked that supporting player with the tiny but enjoyable role, I'll look her up. . . oh, her shelf is already full of theatrical awards." WOTW news from October: Danny Sapani has been great on Harlots, so he'd be my dream casting for B3. I'd also love it if E or V2 went to one of the Vikings actors. Denise Gough is 38 and there's no black female role on the list, so maybe Gough and Atim had already been cast when this was leaked.

I discovered Harlots this summer and it became my #2 show after GOT. Sheila Atim was one of the new supporting harlots in season 2. So I might actually get the GOT/Harlots connection I dreamed of! She played a tough woman with a sense of humor and she's very tall, so she could be a good warrior type - my first thought was an Areo Hotah role with, hopefully, an actual personality.

Black, red and white are the perfect colors for Jon/Dany - Targaryen and Northern. I hope we'll get another huge photoshoot with most of the surviving cast, like Vanity Fair in season 4, because this is the biggest finale since Friends and GOT deserves an epic farewell. Looking at the unspoiled reader reactions to the article, I'm seeing talk about how the big final battle is at Winterfell and not the Trident (and must have been changed for the show by the hacks of course!), with a surprisingly noticeable number of people not guessing "first at Winterfell and then King's Landing." I guess this is a misdirection that's working at the moment, but I wonder if it'll last when we get trailers: will they only include Winterfell material and generic battle scenes, not something that would make it clear that there will also be epic stuff happening in KL in 8x05-06?