This pool has closed.
The penultimate episode of Game of Thrones, “The Bells,” saw the sacking of King’s Landing and the death of two of the show’s major characters. The battle, waged almost entirely by Daenerys Targaryen riding her remaining dragon, was beautifully executed. It also fulfilled Dany’s character arc that—while not surprising—was also not entirely earned given this season’s perfunctory pacing.
Indeed, it seems that GoT showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss abandoned Dany’s nuanced internal conflict—her morality and compassion versus her merciless pursuit of the Iron Throne—that was carefully established over the show’s past decade. Instead, they preferred the spectacle of an unhinged madwoman, laying waste to innocents. Although it’s true Dany’s tendencies towards the rash and the violent have been foreshadowed, her leap to genocide was not.
While “The Bells” probably brought us the last (and the goriest) of all Game of Thrones battles, there is one episode left, meaning that there is still some time for post-war executions, betrayals, and assassinations.
Welcome to Quartz’s Game of Thrones Death Pool. Now is the time to lay your bets on who is most likely to kick the bucket next. To consider: Which character has nearly completed their redemption arc or storyline? Who still stands a chance of sitting on the Iron Throne? Have the Night King and his White Walkers really been defeated after 8,000 years of strategic military planning? Is there anyone left on Arya Stark’s kill list?
To keep things simple for our death pool, we have stuck to 10 of the show’s primary characters—those who have been with us since the early episodes. Who will survive to see spring?
The pool for episode six has closed.