Warning: This post contains spoilers for Game of Thrones’ “The Last of the Starks” and predictions for what’s to come. Proceed with caution.
The dead are gone (and cremated) after Game of Thrones‘ “The Last of the Starks,” and the fighting has already moved south to King’s Landing. Along with it: a whole lot of angst over who should claim the Iron Throne. Also, as if more people learning Jon’s secret claim to the throne weren’t a big enough problem for Daenerys, she’s just lost another dragon. Unfortunately for her, she may soon watch another of her children perish. Here are three predictions for the fifth (and second to last) episode of the season.
Prediction 1 – Drogon Will Die
Cersei and Qyburn didn’t just outfit Euron’s ships with giant dragon-killing crossbows; they placed them all along the walls of King’s Landing. While it’s still hard to hit a dragon with a single shot, the sheer number of troops will make it nearly impossible for Daenerys to fly Drogon close to the capital. But you can’t win a war without using your greatest weapon, and it’s a risk Daenerys will have to take if she hopes to defeat Cersei. Even if she’s still reluctant to burn down all of King’s Landing, she can’t allow Euron’s Iron Fleet to control the seas. At some point, she’ll have to bring Drogon into the fight, and he’ll finally take a fatal shot.
Prediction 2 – Jon and Daenerys Will Take King’s Landing
There are only two episodes left, and there are two major issues left to deal with. The first is Cersei, who will either defeat her enemies and prove the ultimate winner, or be killed. The second is the Iron Throne. If it ends up being Cersei who sits on the throne, both of those issues will be concluded in the final episode. But we don’t think she’ll win the game.
Someone else will end up ruling Westeros, and since the show is clearly setting up some kind of showdown between Jon and Daenerys (whether he wants to be king or not), that will be the last issue to be resolved, in the final episode. That means the two will take King’s Landing in episode five, wrapping up the first issue. Cersei might not die in the penultimate, but she will no longer be queen.
Prediction 3 – The World Learns the Truth About Jon
As of “The Last of the Starks,” eight people know that Jon Snow is really Aegon Targaryen, rightful heir to the Iron Throne. (Nine if you count Howland Reed, which, sadly, no one does.) As Varys said, now that eight people know, the whole world will before long.
We will finally see the ramifications of a secret Ned Stark kept for years (and Sansa Stark kept for three minutes), shaking the Seven Kingdoms to its very core. What will happen when Daenerys has to face a situation she begged Jon to help her avoid? How will he deal with people trying to make him a king he doesn’t want to be? What chances do either of them have of surviving a battle that might be fought against theirs wills?
We predict we won’t find out until the last episode.
Images: HBO