Of the currently living pool of characters (no resurrecting anyone), if you could guarantee one character of your choice to be alive at the end, and one to be dead, who would they be? To be clear this is more about desire than about actual predicting.
I'd choose for Tyrion to survive, and for Cersei to die, and I want it to HURT
Arya.
She almost certainly won’t survive, but I love her strength, intelligence, inventiveness, courage, determination, dedication and love for those who matter to her. My best hope: she will die a glorious and heroic death.
Brienne of Tarth.
What I said about Arya, but with these additions: I grieve that she was never allowed to teach Arya. Brienne is the finest knight in Westeros, the fiercest, most honorable, most dedicated, most noble and respectable, and probably the most talented. The strongest? Almost, but I think The Mountain (especially in his Frankenstein Monster incarnation) is physically stronger. In terms of heart as a warrior? She and Arya, and probably Jaqin Hagar, are coeval. She will also probably die. Neither she nor Arya covets the throne. Arya has blood scores to settle. Brienne has blood-oathes of protection to honor. I expect that these, my two most favorite characters, will go down swinging, blood-spattered and not only taking revenge but also defending those who have the best interests of Westeros at heart. Their swords are the foundation on which the new Westeros is built.
I salute and embrace them.
You don't see Arya surviving? I think she will.
Now that we know Gendry will be back to reunite with the freshly faceless trained badass Arya (possible romance between them this season? That's the vibe I got) at the very least I see them surviving to the very final battle.
I hope that you are right, my friend! I am very emotionally invested in Arya. For one thing, Maisie Williams is amazing. The producers have stated that Arya was the most difficult character to cast, because she changes more than any other personality in the story. We’ve seen her journey from a happy tomboy to a bereaved orphan to one of the 3 or 4 deadliest humans in Westerous (if we can still call The Mountain human), and it has been a painful and miserable journey. If you know my posting history, you know that I love warrior women, going back to Valaria, Queen of Thieves in Conan the Barbarian. I am a fighter. Warrior women resonate with me. I am a natural protector. It is in my blood to want to defend women at risk. I’ve been preparing myself for my sadness when Arya passes, accepting it as inevitable. My art is Samurai sword. The Samurai’s secret was that he accepted the inevitability of his own death, which meant that he went into combat relaxed and at peace, making him far more likely to survive than if he had been frightened and tense. I will survive if she dies. I accept it; but I will CELEBRATE and be THRILLED if she lives, and finds love and happiness! I hope that you are right and I am wrong.
sharelolz. Well, I wouldn't exactly call Arya a "woman at risk" when, like you cite yourself, she's one of the deadliest humans in Westeros; I'd call her the deadliest single human still alive when left to her own devices.
My opinion is there will be precious few if any at all that survive the final battle, which I'm basing on what GRRM seems to imply himself. But seeing as how Arya can take of herself just fine these days, it's hard for me to imagine she doesn't survive till S08E06. She's just too much of a badass not to.
If you're worried her plot armor isn't as strong as, say, Tyrion, Jon, or Daenerys to survive to the finale's end ... maybe not. But if she's to be felled, her fate will surely be heroic. We already know just what kind of tidal force it will require to take a trained, faceless force of nature like her down.
I agree with all that you say, so let me rephrase: It’s in my blood to want to protect a woman in harm’s way, regardless of her valor and skill. I’d hope that she would want to protect me, too. I think that women and men were made for each other.
shareMine would be the same as yours..
although naturally they would not be my ONLY choices.
2nd up would be Jon to survive (I'm pretty certain he will not) and the mountain to die..
Ironically at this point there are more people I'd like to see survive than to die but I have few expectations..
Davos to live.
I don't care about the rest. But I hope whoever ends up on the Iron Throne isn't a boring predictable choice.
I'd bet my 401K that Sam and Gilly will be alive at the end.
I'd also bet thousands that Dany dies in the final season, if I knew any place to place a bet. Season 3 was on again last night, and IMHO that's one of the thing the vision predicts. It also shows snow on the Iron Throne, ya think SNOW ON THE IRON THRONE might have a double meaning?
Sam and Gilly are bulletproof. If the show kills them off, the resulting hue and cry will make the agonized wail that followed what we all thought was the live burning of the two Stark boys by Theon sound like a Tupperware party.
shareFunny thing, nobody actually likes Sam, but everyone thinks he has vibranium-mithril alloy plot armor.
I do like Gilly at least, not a lot, but some.
Well, Sam’s The Scholar in this tale, like Indiana Jones and like most great generals. He knows that a knowledge of history leads to victories; if not his own, then of those whom he advises. He also KILLED A WALKER with his own trembling hands, because he LOVES Gilly and her child. He is, I submit, in his own way a hero, and he loves Gilly beyond description. Is he flawed? Tremendously. Do I relate myself to him? I don’t, for reasons I’m not going to reveal. Do I respect and root for the relationship he and Gilly have with each other? I do.
shareI think that has changed..Sam has grown on a lot of people and if you happen to catch the actor in an interview he's so funny and likable that it becomes contagious to his character.
Regardless, Sam is brave and noble in his own way even without the aesthetics appeal.
Ultimately I think his character is important for recording the story.
Cersei should live, to claim the throne. This can't have a happy ending after all this.
Jon Snow needs to die, for real this time, heroically.