How much from Game of Thrones season 8 will be in The Winds of Winter?
By John Fallon
King Bran Stark
The show upended expectations by concluding with Bran becoming the king of Westeros, a plot point that actor Isaac Hempstead-Wright says came directly from Martin. “David and Dan told me there were two things George R.R. Martin had planned for Bran,” he said, “and that was the Hodor revelation, and that he would be king. So that’s pretty special to be directly involved in something that is part of George’s vision. It was a really nice way to wrap it up.”
But later, Wright walked things back a bit.. “Well, I don’t want to step on George’s toes and say anything about it that I shouldn’t,” he told Insider, “but that was kind of the gist they gave me, that there were a couple of things George has got clearly set out. I’m honored to be a small part of that.”
Arya kills the Night King
If not for the Wright’s comments, I’d put this as the most likely shocking moment from season 8 to appear in the books. It may have seemed out-of-place on the show for some, but it was a still a fantastic twist, and could be just as spectacular in the books.
On the show, this moment is foreshadowed but the strange meeting between Arya and Melisandre in season 3. For book-readers, consider this similar interaction between Arya and the Ghost of High Heart, who is terrified of her:
"The dwarf woman studied her with dim red eyes. “I see you,’ she whispered. ‘I see you, wolf child. Blood child. I thought it was the lord who smelled of death …” She began to sob, her little body shaking. “You are cruel to come to my hill, cruel. I gorged on grief at Summerhall, I need none of yours. Begone from here, dark heart. Begone!” There was such fear in her voice that Arya took a step backward, wondering if the woman was mad. Arya, A Storm of Swords"
In an interview, Maise Williams said she thought Jon Snow would be the one to kill the Night King.
"[Kit Harington] expected it to go that way, too, and he even said, “It was going to go that way. Someone told me in Season 3 that I was going to kill The Night King.” And then, he read the script, and it was Arya the whole time. Yeah, I think it would’ve been too obvious. I’m glad that it was Arya, honestly. I think I had the best storyline of the final season."
On the other hand, Arya killing the Night King can’t be the “holy shit” moment Martin was talking about, for the simple reason that in the books, the Night King doesn’t exist. He was a character invented for the show, so we don’t think this will happen in either The Winds of Winter or A Dream of Spring.
Arya and Gendry hook up
In the final season of Game of Thrones, Arya and Gendry hook up before the Battle of Winterfell. It’s possible this could happen in the books, although Gendry is in a pretty different place from where he was on the show. There’s also this quick exchange in one of the later books where Jaime speculates about what may have happened to Ned Stark’s daughter:
"[I]f the gods are good, she’ll forget she was a Stark. She’ll wed some burly blacksmith or fat-faced innkeep, fill his house with children, and never need to fear that some knight might come along to smash their heads against a wall."
Jaime is actually talking about Sansa rather than Arya here, but we see the funny little nod to Gendry and blacksmith and Hot Pie the baker.
The odds of Gendry and Arya getting together in the books seems slim, but it’s be great to see another alliance between the stag and the wolf. Here’s hoping Gendry gets more story in the books to come.