Lots of spoilers from seasons 1-7, and from season 8, episode 1.

Part of what I like so much about Game of Thrones is how they go against all the rules in regular television and are totally fine with having unhappy endings. Ned Stark started off as my favorite character. This is funny because I actually realized I probably would have hated him, had Robert not given me one little spoiler — he was not Jon Snow’s father. He told me this as I began the first season because he knew I’d hate someone I thought was a cheater, so I was actually really glad to have this tidbit of information, because I was able to like Ned for who he was. Anyway, I was shocked and disappointed when he was killed in the very first season. Then, I began rooting for his son Robb. I loved his relationship with Talisa and thought he was a very grounded leader. I liked that he didn’t seem super power hungry, and that he kept both feet on the ground while he led. He was smart, brave, and courageous, but also valued his family enough to be smart and protect them. His only downfall was being lulled into a false sense of security, and possibly being too blinded by his love for his wife, and died in the ninth episode of season 3. Darn. My two favorite Starks were gone. By this time, though, I was a fan of Arya and Sansa was starting to get better. Joffrey died early in season 4, which was around the time I really took a liking to both Sansa and Margaery. So, I still had a few Stark’s left.

Anyway, I have kind of gotten a grip on realizing that George R. R. Martin, the author of the series, does not care about our hearts. He is fine with killing people off for shock value, and possibly to remain a little more realistic. Realistically, bad things happen to good people, but we don’t enjoy seeing that in entertainment, so typically don’t have a ton of that.

Here are a few things I think might happen in season 8. Now that I am caught up with y’all, there is absolutely no way for me to know spoilers, so we’ll see just how far off I am with some of these as the season goes by:

1. I think we’ll see some familiar faces as white walkers. I am thinking that some of these people could be, but are not limited to: Margaery, Joffrey (yikes!), Lady Stark, and Ned Stark. If either of the last two are actually white walkers, I don’t think they’ll kill their children. I do think there’s a great chance Joffrey will be a white walker and will be way to into his role of being a zombie.
2. I think Daenerys’ white walker dragon will cross paths with her again and stop blowing ice at people when he sees her for the first time. From the little we saw of her dragon who died and became a white walker, it looks like it blows ice instead of fire. Which makes a whole lot of sense since the GoT series is also kind of called A Song of Ice and Fire. So, I think the bad zombie dragon will actually become good when he sees his mother, Daenerys, fighting for the other team.
3. I think Bran will forgive Jaimie for pushing him out the window. This is a small prediction, but it’s one we could potentially see come to fruition next week. I think this for a few reasons. First, I think Bran is a wise character without a bad temper, so I think he realizes that without Jaimie doing that, he likely wouldn’t have the powers he does that might end up saving humanity. I also think he’s had a long time to process all of this, as I’m sure he’s had some visions with Jaimie involved. The main reason I think he’s going to be forgiving, though, is because I think it’s not Jaimie’s time yet. I think he will definitely die this season, but I believe he’ll be around for one or two episodes beyond the second.
4. I do not think Jon Snow will become king before Daenarys. I am actually kind of leaning toward Sansa being queen, because I wouldn’t be shocked if J and D died in battle. I don’t think D will give up her dream of being queen, because she’s so gung ho about it and dying to sit on the iron throne, but this whole twist of Jon being the rightful heir has really thrown a wrench in things. I think if either of them becomes ruler, they will do it side by side. So maybe he’ll be the king, and Daenarys will be the queen. I am predicting, though, that by the end of the series Sansa will be the ruler of the seven kingdoms. I think she’s being groomed for the part by being the Lady of Winterfell, and will learn to be even stronger as Daenarys demands she “bend the knee” to her and tries to boss her family around.
5. I think there’s a chance everyone will die and become a white walker. I am about 50/50 on this one. Part of me thinks Martin would choose to do this to make an unheard of ending to his series. The other part wonders if he’d really want evil to win, though. From what I’ve heard, Martin is a pacifist, which means he actually is opposed to war. This feels ironic because of how gory the series has been so far, but it also makes a whole lot of sense when you realize that he is showing how gruesome and depressing war actually is. Rather than glorifying it with seeing how “the good guys always win,” Martin shows that really good people die in terrible ways when people become too thirsty for power. He doesn’t sugar coat anything, and has broken our hearts more than once with having favorites, and even the innocent, be taken away from us. So, as a big middle finger to war, I could see him killing off every last person to show that power and gold mean absolutely nothing when you are dead.

These are just a few thoughts I’ve had so far this season, and I’m sure I’ll have plenty of others. My two big predictions that came true were that Margaery’s grandmother killed Joffrey, and Arya Stark beheaded Lord Baelish. Both of those I called well in advance, and I’ll be curious to see what happens this seasons now that I don’t have anyone talking to me that could possibly hint at anything that might happen. I’d love to hear your thoughts and predictions — as long as they’re not backed by anything on the Internet. I have blocked Google from showing me GoT articles, because I have seen headlines saying things like, “Kit Harington tells us what to expect in this season of GoT,” and even if they’re not true I don’t want anything at all to be spoiled.

On an unrelated note, who else thought it was hilarious that Cersei was so obsessed with having elephants on her team? I kind of loved this whole scene, but I’m also glad she didn’t get any of the elephants she wanted. They don’t stand a chance against dragons, so they’re a lot safer being over a body of water.