Valar morghulis: All men (and women) must die. But when?
Welcome to Valar Morghulis, a weekly column about death and destruction in the wide world of Westeros. Each week, we’ll try to predict how likely every character on Game of Thrones is to breathe their last in the upcoming episode. We’ll also review what we got right, as well as what we got horribly wrong, last time.
Although it seemed likely that Jon’s mission “Beyond the Wall” would result in more death, most of the characters got away with their lives. Heck, one of the characters who died was technically dead already. Let’s take a look back.
"2. Thoros of Myr: 80%. Basically everyone who is heading north of the Wall makes our top ten, but Thoros and Beric rank higher due to their being more expendable than most. They have no plotline outside of this mission, so they have the lightest plot armor."
Well, we got this one right, but freezing to death was sort of anti-climatic. Thoros had largely run his course on the show, but his death might have some consequences for Beric, who no longer has his get-out-of-death free card.
"11. Benjen Stark: 40%. Benjen was last seen north of the Wall, which is where we head this week. That could prove deadly for the already-dead Benjen."
This was our longshot of the week, and sadly, we were correct. There was totally time for you to get on that horse Benjen, but it seems you were only kept around all this time just to save Jon.
"20. Viserion: 25%. What better way for Dany to force an armistice with Cersei than a little shock and awe? And what’s more shocking than three full grown dragons burning something to ash?"
Viserion’s odds were the same as Rhaegal, and were largely based on Dany flying off to burn something of Cersei’s, not being killed north of the Wall by an ice missile. We did not see that coming.
Now, onto this week.
Season finales tend to have high body counts — just look at last year’s “The Winds of Winter.” And considering “The Dragon and the Wolf” will clock in at close to 80 minutes, the longest episode of Game of Thrones ever, there will be ample time for characters to perish.
The major set piece appears to be a meeting of all the power players in Westeros in the Dragonpit of King’s Landing. Who lives? Who dies? Who gets mildly maimed? Let’s take a look!
****Percentages refer to how likely the character is to die, not survive.****