Our Predictions for Game of Thrones Season 7

Winter is Here! The winds of winter are blowing! Season 6 of Game of Thrones is over and now the long wait for Season 7 has begun. FireandLunch has had a blast discussing this season via the lens of book-readers with you all at Tor and we’re here again to help you endure the wait for Season 7.

We’re scrying into our fires and scouring the books to present our predictions for HBO’s Game of Thrones Season 7. As always, tons of book spoilers will be found below. Tell us your own predictions in the comments!

House Stark and the North

• The Wall is coming down in Season 7. Benjen’s comments about the Wall and its magic in the finale confirm that the White Walkers cannot pass so long as the Wall remains. In the novels it is stated that the Wall will stand as long as the Night’s Watch stay true to their vows. Far-fetched theory, but Jon Snow taking the crown as King of the North is in direct violation of the oath to “wear no crowns.” We just hope Dolorous Edd will be OK.

• The Night’s King and his army of Undead are coming now that Winter is officially here. The biggest impending conflict began with the launch of Dany’s fleet and the declaration of the North for Jon Snow. Will there be a Dragon vs Dragon face-off? Jon, meet your aunt. She’s coming to kill you and anyone else who stands in her way. We don’t think Ghost has much of a chance against Drogon. With Jon accepting the mantle of King in the North in order to organize a larger defense against the Wights, Jon should be very interested in the fire-power that Dany’s dragons provide. Look for Jon to parlay with Dany. If he’s smart he’ll avoid any prolonged conflict with the Dragon Queen in favor of alliance against the Others. And if Jon ever finds out about his true parentage, things could get a lot more complicated.

• Littlefinger will try to remove Jon Snow from power. The look between Sansa and Littlefinger was very telling. He is not happy about the current situation in the North and will attempt to muck up Jon’s plans for the North and the War against the Others. He wants to be King of Westeros and we don’t see Jon allowing that. Sansa’s worried look of concern after they made eye-contact means she will have to be extra alert to any of Baelish’s machinations that could undermine Jon’s claims to Winterfell. She will be playing the part of Tyrion to Jon’s Daenerys. Much like Daenerys, Jon does not know how to play the game of thrones, but Sansa does, and in order to survive it he is going to need her by his side as an advisor and ally. After Jon telling her that they have to trust each other, we hope she tells him about Creepyfinger. It’s never going to work if the ‘siblings’ don’t work together.

Who Will Die?

• We hate to say it but budget constraints and the likelihood of The Dragon Has Three Heads prophecy coming true point to Ghost dying. Nothing could replace Ghost in Jon’s (or our) hearts but three dragons are better than one direwolf. Jon can trade in his loyal, invisible, direwolf pal for huge firebreathing dragon that could come in really handy in the coming war.

• Jon will need to battle his Stark ancestors when the Night’s King raises the dead from the Winterfell crypts. Ok Ok, this one is just a joke but wouldn’t it be hilarious if Jon experienced a Game of Thrones spin of this “Mulan moment”?

Reunions and Team-Ups

• Bran and Meera are most likely going to have interactions with Edd and all the other members of the Night’s Watch. Right before they all flee towards Winterfell. Someone will need to come and pick up Bran and the Weirwood grove is very near Castle Black. This could even lead to communication between Sam in Oldtown and Bran at the wall about Bran’s visions, if anyone bothers to use ravens to communicate. They seem to be bad at remembering to do that if Sam’s interactions with the clerk in Oldtown is any indication. We just hope that Sam tells the Night’s Watch everything he is learning down there!

• We’re also looking forward to the inevitable reunion of Bran with his siblings. He may not make it all the way to Winterfell but Bran has a lot of critical information gleaned from his Weirwood visions and there’s no point in revealing the truth of the Tower of Joy to the viewers if Jon never finds out. Bran is going to tell Jon about his parents and how Jon deals with that information could be the most compelling character development on the show.

• The Brotherhood Without Banners will head North. Perhaps they will head up on their own, or perhaps Melisandre will meet them in her exile and convince Thoros of Myr that Jon needs a Priest of R’hllor to advise him. Either way, we’re pretty confident the Brotherhood will end up serving the King in the North. At the very least, we’d love to see a conversation between Jon and Beric Dondarrion on the finer points of life after Resurrection.

• Hold it, your long awaited Arya reunion is a long ways off. Arya will go to King’s Landing. Arya is already halfway home when she stops at the Twins to Manderly (We’re just using this as a verb because we can, read the books) some Freys and murder Lord Walder. Fittingly, in the same manner in which her mother was killed in that very hall. Nice one Arya. But don’t anticipate a homecoming in Winterfell any time soon. Arya may be able to teleport across the narrow sea and halfway across Westeros but she’s got a list and she’s not going to get through it by running to Winterfell to check on her surviving family. On her journey South we’re hoping she runs into the Brotherhood Without Banners (who should be making their way North) and maybe she’ll reunite with an old friend. No, not that one. This one.

House Lannister and King’s Landing

• Euron Greyjoy will ally with Cersei Lannister. Cersei is in a bit of a pickle. Once Jaime leaves her, and he will leave her for blowing up half of King’s Landing and driving their last child to suicide (he killed Aerys II for less) he will most likely leave with the Lannister army. Cersei will be left with the city guards, the Gold Cloaks, to keep order in a city that doesn’t trust her and with no way to pay them. We know the Crown owes money to the Iron Bank of Braavos. Collection is long past due. Cersei is going to need every ally she can make in a dwindling field of options. Yara and Theon beat Euron to Dany and the only available Queen for Euron to woo will be Cersei. She will be interested in Euron’s Iron Fleet in her ongoing conflict with everyone and her upcoming conflict with Dany. This should be interesting.

• We’ve predicted that a greyscale epidemic will come to Westeros soon and we think it’s going to come via King’s Landing. As a port city with an extensive slum and a disinterested monarch, King’s Landing is going to become a petri dish. We’re calling Jorah patient zero and the capital city is a perfect place for Jorah to make landfall. Cersei may even turn to biological warfare in her fight against her enemies. Additionally, Jorah could make his way to Oldtown for research but the Maesters know a lot about disease and should be able to contain any outbreaks.

• House Baratheon is still alive! With the death of both Stannis and Shireen in season five there really has been no discussion on the state of House Baratheon and the Stormlands. Who is currently in control of that House? Where will their loyalties lie in this new war for the Iron Throne? House Baratheon in the past went to war against the Targaryens and in more recent history the Lannisters. Where does that leave them? Are they going to choose a side or sit out the war, similar to how the Vale sat out the War of the Five Kings? Our prediction is that Gendry will finally stop rowing his boat (haha actually we think he’s with the Brotherhood) and will be proclaimed the leader of House Baratheon in much the same way Jon was in the North. (In the books, Edric Storm is the only acknowledged Bastard of Robert Baratheon, but Melisandre knows about Gendry in the show and as we’ve said, we think she’s heading South.) With Brienne being from the Stormlands and the historic connection between House Stark and House Baratheon we could see them devoting their resources and men towards Winterfell and the War against the Others.

Who Will Die?

• Cersei, probably. We just can’t exactly see her surviving what is coming for her, whether it be Jaime or Arya or Dany and her rather large army. The addled Queen will most likely die at the hands of her twin but not before she causes as much mayhem and chaos as possible. She has a rogue maester capable of creating sentient zombies, a complete willingness to blow up her own subjects and absolutely nothing left to lose.

Reunions and Team-Ups

• Arya and Sandor, both possibly heading to the capital to kill Cersei and Gregor respectively. Can we really look forward to a continuation of everyone’s favorite road show? We’ve already predicted Arya will meet up with the Brotherhood and while we’re mostly looking forward to the possibility of Gendry making an appearance, Arya should be really surprised to see the Hound still alive. The question is, is Sandor friend or foe? Arya did leave him to die, but Sandor has always had a soft spot for the girl-assassin.

Dany and her Entourage

• Varys will defect from Dany’s forces. You are probably giving us your best Varys-face but hear us out! On the show, Varys is Team Dany because she’s the heir of the Targaryen line. And judging from his advice and moves throughout the last 6 seasons, he’s also interested in improving Targaryen rule. He wants a Targ to sit the Iron Throne, but he also wants that Targ to be just, kind, and not prone to murder rages. Which is great. And so far, Dany is fulfilling that dream. However, as we’ve learned with Bran’s visions of the Tower of Joy, Jon Snow’s parentage is a potential issue for Dany. In the books Varys supports the claim of a young man that Varys believes to be Aegon Targaryen, Rhaegar’s thought-to-be-murdered-by-the-Mountain son. For various reasons, most readers refer to this character as fAegon (as in Fake). While still other readers have conspiracy theoried themselves into a place where fAegon was switched with Jon at birth and everyone is someone else but still a Targ or a Stark. Sigh. For show-watchers the only part of this information that matters is that when faced with an heir of Rhaegar, Varys chooses that heir over any claim from Rhaegar’s siblings. It’s safe to assume that the truth of Jon’s parentage will be revealed to Jon and company in Season 7. If Varys finds out about Jon, he could very well drop everything and run to Rhaegar’s son. At the very least, to arrange a marriage. Dany believes she has to marry someone, after all, and there aren’t many eligible men left in Westeros. Get ready for a very confused Jon Snow. Your aunt is actually your mother, and your real aunt is your bride. Anything for the fight against the Others.

• Conflict in Meereen. Dany left The Bay of Dragons under the rule of Daario and his mercenary band, The Second Sons. This is not a good decision. Daario’s only motivation was being with Dany and she just dumped him. He’ll be back to his Sellsword ways in no time. Either setting himself up for his own profit or, potentially, even abandoning the cities just when they need someone to make sure the Masters don’t go back to their old ways. Hopefully once word that things in Essos aren’t going as planned reaches Dany, she will not send the Sand Snakes to clean up the mess. Don’t do it, Dany!

Who Will Die?

• One or more of the dragons. Everything seems to be falling into place for Daenerys. She has an alliance with three of the great houses, an army of unsullied, an army of Dothraki warriors, Varys’ intelligence network, and Tyrion Lannister as her hand. It seems too perfect for everything to go her way, so something has to go wrong. Dany has not suffered a serious loss of someone she loves since Season 1. To have her lose one or more of her children will be a huge blow to her. It will also add an interesting parallel to Cersei who has lost all of her children. Our money is on Viserion or Rhaegal being one of the doomed dragons.

• If Theon ever encounters Arya she may kill him for his part in Robb’s death. Theon has been through enough and we’re happy to see him beginning to heal and grow as a character but at this point he’s Yara’s side-kick and we can see the writers penning a sad but inevitable death for the former ward of Ned Stark.

Reunions and Team-Ups

• Depending on where Team Dany ends up next season we could see a lot of reunions on Tyrion’s side. If Dany sticks to King’s Landing the obvious reunion is Tyrion with Cersei, possibly even Jaime. We have to admit, the thought of Tyrion getting to confront Cersei again with Dany’s armies, fleets and dragons at his back sounds incredibly satisfying. Plus, we’re looking forward to some meatier scenes for Peter Dinklage next season. If Dany and company end up North (a smaller possibility) a reunion between Tyrion and Sansa could be imminent. Sansa may use the reappearance of her husband as an escape from the machinations of Littlefinger. Admit it, this kind of declaration is exactly the kind of sudden plot twist that Game of Thrones thrives on.

And most importantly, Who Will Rule Westeros?

• Trick question! Jon Snow has been crowned King in the North but his track record in positions of power isn’t stellar. Jon isn’t charismatic. He isn’t good at motivating or manipulating people. He’s honorable and trustworthy but he lacks political finesse. We think Jon will make a fine General for Dany. Whether he abdicates his claim, marries Dany or simply never attempts to spread his claim further than the Northern Territories—Jon is not destined for the Iron Throne. But we don’t think Dany will sit the famous chair either, even if she has what Jon lacks. Dany may have a forceful personality, an enormous fleet, several armies and three dragons but we’re very sure we haven’t seen everything the Night’s King has in his arsenal. The real question is, can they defeat him, even if they ally? Of course, they could always just send Arya to take care of him!

Hello, we are Fire and Lunch! Five years ago, a bunch of superfans came together to celebrate their favorite book series over food, and the rest is history. You can find our in-depth analysis (complete with POP-toy gifs) of Game of Thrones, A Song of Ice and Fire, and other fantasy series on tumblr and twitter. If you’re into fast talking, intelligent discourse, and some pretty deep geek humor, check out our podcast, The Piecast.