The biggest battle in television history is about to unfold on next week’s Game of Thrones. The Night King and his army of the dead have arrived at Winterfell, reinforced and defended by Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen, along with her two living dragons and legions of Unsullied and Dothraki soldiers. Despite all the preparations, there are almost certainly going to be some major deaths among our group of beloved characters. Here are a few thoughts and theories to consider before the battle breaks us all.
Is the Night King coming?
There is some line of thinking that the Night King himself may not participate in the battle, instead opting to take his dragon to King’s Landing and add another million bodies to his army while entrusting the destruction of Winterfell to his cronies. The evidence for this is partly how focused the plan is on exposing the Night King due to the show’s penchant for subverting out expectations, but it seems mostly to be just because nobody saw him in the preview for the episode. Which is ridiculous. This is what we have been building up to for years. This is it. There is no way the Night King is not part of this. He’ll be there. Count on it.
Will the dead rise from the crypts?
In Harry Potter, the professors constantly declare that there is no safer place than Hogwarts. Yet, young Harry had to face Voldemort, a basilisk, a dragon, giant spiders, bloodthirsty centaurs, a man people thought to be a mass murderer, a werewolf, and scores of Death Eaters all within the school grounds. The repetition of “NO SAFER PLACE” started to sound like serious denial.
The same issue is currently occurring at Winterfell. The crypts have been labeled the safest place and will house the women, children, and those incapable of fighting (such as Varys and Tyrion Lannister). But the dictionary defines crypt as “an underground room or vault beneath a church, used as a chapel or burial place” and Winterfell’s crypt certainly fits that bill. The emphasis here is on burial place. The only people who are placed in a burial place are dead people. The Night King is particularly skilled at raising people from the dead. So there is definitely a thought that the crypts of Winterfell are, in fact, not the safest place. Thousands of years worth of dead Starks are located in the multiple levels of the crypt, but most of them are decomposed. The most recent Starks to be buried in the crypts are Rickon (totally plausible), Ned (pile of beheaded bones, unlikely to be risen), Lyanna (mostly skeleton, viable to rise), and Brandon and Rickard (all burned up). I cover the idea of known characters fighting for the dead in this battle a little later, but here’s a quick preview: it feels unlikely. If anyone rises from the crypts, they’ll be mostly skeleton.
The bigger problem with the crypts is that there are tunnels that lead from the crypts directly outside, dug as an escape for the lords of Winterfell in case their castle is attacked. It’s how Bran, Rickon, Osha, and Hodor escaped after Theon Greyjoy took the castle in season two. I think there is a higher chance that the wights come in through the tunnels than the dead already buried rise. The people underground are still in serious danger, just not from dead Starks.
Will Daenerys abandon the fight?
So, dragons can fly. Daenerys has already lost one her dragons to the Night King and one cannot help but wonder if she would really risk losing another if it comes down to it. Dany’s opinion of Jon has been turned on its head after he revealed his secret to her, so it feels like there may be a chance that she is less invested in this fight than she was when she still thought Jon was just Jon Snow, bastard of Winterfell. If all looks lost, there is a scenario in which Dany takes off on Drogon and commands whatever is left of her armies to flee, leaving the northerners to die. She knows she has an ally on the Iron Islands in Yara Greyjoy who would welcome her as she recovers, but the thought that Dany would flee really relies on her reaction to Jon’s news being genuine and not just an in-the-moment first impression. I think it is more likely that Dany stays and sees this battle out to the end, but knowing that Sansa still wants a free North and Jon being who he is puts the thought of her leaving them into one’s mind.
Is Bran going to sacrifice himself?
This question is a more specific version of a bigger version: will the plan work? The living are betting on Bran being correct: the Night King is coming for him because he is the world’s memory. If he kills Bran, his conquest of man becomes easier. No history means no rebuilding, no way to defeat the Night King later, and no future. Only a Long Night. The armies will be set up like any other battle, while Bran will be hidden in the godswood to lure the Night King inside away from his legions of wights. Theon and the Ironborn will protect Bran to the best of their abilities, while Dany and Jon will stay close enough with Drogon and Rhaegal to protect Bran should the Night King fall for the trap.
But what if Bran has to die? Scenario: Bran has written down some important tidbits from history for Tyrion and Sam to hold later on. He chooses to give himself up in order for the rest of the living to escape if the battle goes wrong or for Jon to get a shot at the Night King if he can. Bran seems to be the key to this battle succeeding and it feels like at this point there is as a good chance that it comes by a heroic sacrifice to preserve what is left as there is of Bran knowing some secret to killing the Night King. Unless Bran is just a dramatic little omniscient being now, if he knew what the secret was, why not share it during the war council? One possibility is that while he is waiting in the godswood, he plugs himself into the weirwood and sees if there is any information he has missed in the past. But there is a chance that Bran’s assistance in this final battle comes by way of his death.
Is Arya in danger?
After years of crushing losses and mental detachment, Arya Stark’s return home brought back some her humanity. It seems only fitting that she could lose all her humanity and become a mindless wight in the army of the dead.
Arya has reconnected with her siblings and grew to love them after being at odds with everyone as a child and even explored sex with Gendry on the eve of their impending doom. She has come from being a killing machine nearly brainwashed into being No One to being Arya Stark of Winterfell again. While its nice to see Arya coming back to humanity a bit, it also has to give you bad vibes. Losing Arya would be a gutpunch unlike any other probable death in this battle. She’s one of the most beloved characters, but might not necessarily have a role in the endgame like characters such as Jon and Daenerys likely do. Sure, she still has her list of names to finish off, with Cersei being the biggest loose thread left hanging, but there are other possible fates for Cersei. Unfortunately, Arya feels like the most expendable of the “unexpendable” and seeing her join the army of the dead could be the crushing blow that this battle delivers.
Can Daenerys be burned?
Hypothetical situation: Daenerys Targaryen dies in the battle. The living somehow win the fight, but perhaps the Night King is not present like some assume. When the survivors go to burn the dead, would Daenerys’ body burn? We have already seen several situations in which Dany is impervious to fire. Hell, one of her titles it “The Unburnt”. If a scenario occurs in which Dany’s body needs to be burned, it feels like there is a chance that she will not burn. In the books, Dany survived a fire only once when her dragons were born due to some once in a lifetime magic. Targaryens are not known to be immune to fire, but in the show, it is clear that Daenerys is fireproof. If the battle is won, but the Great War is not, it would be an interesting twist to see Dany be brought back as some sort of virtually unkillable wight. Fire would not work on her, but would dragonglass and Valyrian steel fall under the same category? They are both forged by fire, but they both hold other properties that could perhaps still do the trick. It would be a strange and unexpected road for the show to take, but the possibility of it is so cool to think about. If she was not one of the few people completely unlikely to die here, perhaps we could have seen Daenerys become the Night Queen.
How can the Night King be killed?
Similarly to Dany’s fire immunity, the Night King has a few quirks that might make defeating him more difficult than expected. In season six, Bran saw the creation of the Night King. The Children of the Forest shoved a dragonglass shard into his heart, turning him into a creature with the ability to raise the dead to protect the children from the men who were starting to take over their land. Of course, the Night King’s mission eventually grew out of proportion. As revealed by Bran, he now seeks to wipe out all of mankind and create an eternal night. Benjen Stark had a similar deal to the Night King; he was killed by wights beyond the Wall, but the children were able to save him by shoving a dragonglass shard into his heart. The dragonglass kept Benjen…alive, sort of. He was not quite living, not quite dead, but definitely still functioning as more than a mindless wight.
The key point I’m trying to make here is that the dragonglass may be functioning the same for Benjen and the Night King. We know both shards had the same magical properties that kept them both from passing south of the Wall, but do they both serve as life support? The standard issue White Walkers may be able to killed by dragonglass and Valyrian steel, but what about the Night King? Would his killer first have to find a way to cut the dragonglass out of his heart? Or would they, at least, need to use Valyrian steel? Would dragonglass work on a being essentially created and fueled by dragonglass? If this is the case, the potential killers of the Night King significantly narrow from literally anyone to Jon Snow, Brienne of Tarth, Jaime Lannister, Jorah Mormont, or Arya Stark.
Are there any familiar faces among the dead?
Speaking of Benjen, he is one of the few characters we have seen “killed” by wights. Benjen may not necessarily be dead for aforementioned reasons, but he was last scene being overwhelmed by wights. Either he is alive and could come help fight now that the Wall has fallen, or he is a member of the army of he dead (option three is that he does not appear at all because its totally unnecessary and this one seems most likely).
I don’t think anyone we know will be with the army of the dead, but if anyone is, Hodor and Summer, Bran’s direwolf, are the only two possibilities. A wight version of Hodor could absolutely show up and would be a difficult beast to take down. A fully-grown zombified direwolf would be a tough fight too and the only reason I could see for Summer being brought back is because Ghost is still around. A wolf fight like that would be an incredible visual scene and hopefully appease the people complaining that Ghost has been pushed to the side. Unfortunately for those people, I cannot see that fight going well for the mortal Ghost.
If the crypts spring to life, Lyanna Stark is another possibility, though she would be mostly skeleton by now and the only obvious sign it was her would be if she came out from behind Lyanna’s statue as a skeleton woman. Ned Stark has the same issue, but more extreme: he was buried in a chest as a literal pile of bones without a head. If he comes back, they would have to show him coming from Ned’s specific crypt to get the message across. Catelyn and Robb Stark’s bodies were both defiled and left to rot in the Riverlands, so no chance at seeing them. Rickon Stark is the most recent Stark to be buried in the crypts, so he would be the most likely to return as a wight.
Other potential resurrections include Stannis Baratheon, who is without a head after being executed by Brienne of Tarth, and Roose Bolton, who was tragically poisoned by his enemies stabbed by his son Ramsay. It is unknown if the dead were burned during the Bolton rule of Winterfell since they were not as familiar with the threat as Jon and Sam are. These two seem incredibly unlikely, but would be cool to see.
Will anyone significant actually die?
Major characters dying have been a big hallmark of the show, but when you think about it, none of them ever died in a massive battle. Robb Stark won all his battles and was killed at a wedding, as was Joffrey Baratheon, though his battle appearances sit at a solid one. Tywin Lannister was killed on the toilet, Renly Baratheon was murdered before he ever took the field. Ned Stark was beheaded for treason and Jon Snow was stabbed by his brothers. Ramsay Bolton died as a prisoner after he lost the Battle of the Bastards, while Stannis Baratheon was killed by Brienne of Tarth post-battle as well. There have been three major battle sequences in the show: the Battle of Blackwater (no major deaths), the Battle of Castle Black (Ygritte was the only major casualty, and even then her status as “major” is questionable), and the Battle of the Bastards (Rickon Stark is even less major than Ygritte). So with all that said, will the Battle of Winterfell really have as high stakes as we expect? You have to think so. This is not a big battle in season three or five or something, where the story is not finished and there are so many threads to tie up with our major characters that you cannot fathom how they could die. This show is so unpredictable that you certainly couldn’t write it off, but somewhere in the back of your mind you always knew Tyrion and Jon and Sam and Davos were safe.
But this is different. This is the halfway mark of the final season, the last chance for our characters to make their mark. Some still have threads to tie up, but many have reached the finish line. Brienne has achieved her goal of being a knight, Grey Worm is making plans for after the war, Beric has lost his priest, Jorah has regained the love and respect of Daenerys, and Theon has earned his redemption. Those are just some of the likely casualties. These are far bigger names than Mandon Moore and Matthos Seaworth or Grenn and Pyp or Wun Wun and Smalljon Umber. These are real characters that we have grown to love and hate and perhaps love again over the years. These are characters we will mourn, but they are the ones we can afford to lose. Other fantasy stories can’t do this. Legolas, Aragorn, and Gimli were totally safe during the final battle at Minas Tirith, but can we really say the same for Arya, Bran, and Sansa? Gandalf wouldn’t die, but Davos can. These other stories cannot get along without their main characters, but this story has proven that it can. The stakes are at their highest in this battle and there is no doubt in my mind that there will be big losses.
(Question submitted by loyal reader Chris D.)
What happens next?
Big theory time.
Let’s say the living win. Daenerys has fled the battle, but Bran’s sacrifice allows Jon to kill the Night King and leave the North with a meager force and a dragon who has bonded with Jon. Dany is clearly threatened by Jon’s potential claim to the throne and Jon is clearly angry that the first thought she has about the whole thing is how it affects her. This is perfect potential groundwork for a second Dance of Dragons. Meanwhile, two Lannister brothers survive and are left with Sansa Stark to figure out how to end the reign of Queen Cersei.
Let’s say the dead win. Jon, Dany, and the rest of the living forces are able to escape and take refuge on the Iron Islands or Dragonstone. They now have to fight a two front war. They still have to deal with Cersei, but the Night King continues moving south and they will have one final stand against the dead.
It feels like some combination of these two results will occur. Who knows how the battle will turn out? This is the great thing about it. With previous battles, you’ve always expected the “good guys” will win or be bailed out in the final hours. But against the dead, there seems to be no bailout coming. The living only have what they have and there is no more preparing they can do. Their last stand starts now. I cannot wait to see how it all unfolds.
A Storm of Sports 