Let’s predict the episode titles for the final season of Game of Thrones

Episode 804, “The Long Night”

“The Long Night” is actually the title George R.R. Martin has unofficially bestowed on HBO’s upcoming Game of Thrones prequel series, which is set during the Age of Heroes, thousands of years before our current conflict. Why has he given it that name in particular? Because the prequel show will deal with the first time the White Walkers came calling, a tragic span known as the Long Night.

I think the White Walkers are going to win the battle in Episode 3. They pretty much have to; we still have three episodes to go. Episode 4 will deal with the aftermath, and with the undead tearing through Westeros as of old, things will be looking pretty bleak for the armies of the living. I don’t know exactly which characters will be dead by this point, but there’s no way the Battle of Ice and Fire passes without a few casualties. Jon and Dany may be safe for the moment, but characters like Tormund, Brienne and Beric Dondarrion — characters sure to be on the front lines of the battle — are skating on thin ice.

For the characters and the audience, Episode 4 will be the darkest part of the path. It’s going to feel like the Long Night all over again, so why not name the episode after it?