It certainly looks like it’s a nice day for a wight wedding in Season 8 of Game of Thrones — well, that is if that horned Night King has anything to do with it. Taking the scenic route from his recruitment drive in Season 5’s “Hardhome,” the bolstered ranks of the Army of the Dead finally made moves to conquer the realm of men in Season 7. While we have already seen the valiant Viserion come back to life as the blue-eyed servant of the Night King, fans are told to expect some more of our favorite faces to get a zombie remodeling in the show’s final season.
The Price Is Wight
Speaking to Esquire.com, Jaime Lannister himself has teased that there will be many more casualties to come in the war between the living and the dead. While most of our heroic characters may not want to swap sides, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau certainly makes it sound like some of them are about to:
“You know some of the main characters are going to get turned. There are going to be some blue-eyed main characters running around.”
Given those chilling promo images for Game of Thrones Season 7, even the artwork implies that anyone is fair game for a frosty farewell in Season 8, but at least Coster-Waldau hoped that it wouldn’t be him:
“And, god, I hope it’s not me. That’s three hours of make-up in the morning. I know that if [Thrones showrunners] David Benioff and Dan Weiss read this, they’ll go, ‘Oh, yes we will’.”
With Jaime riding away from his toxic relationship of sibling sex, it looks like the Kingslayer is off to join Jon Snow’s Snow Men, which would certainly put him at the front lines of the War for Winter. With the possibility of an early grave looming, even Jaime shouldn’t count on a happy ending for the gold-handed hero:
“If he wants to even get to battle before he’s killed by Stark soldiers, he’s going to need a bit of luck. You’d hope he can get there. But who knows, I might read Episode One of Season Eight and it says Jaime meets a Stark soldier and he’s killed. It would be so disappointing!”
Interestingly, note that Coster-Waldau says “wight,” not “White Walker.” This suggests that whoever hits the cold ground will be dead and resurrected, not turned into a Walker by that sharpened nail of the Night King. So far, we have seen no one major succumb to the powers of the dead, but “Hardhome” did see the tragic loss of Karsi to wight status and the possible recruiting of Wun-Wun to the Night King’s cause.
Although big names like Olenna Tyrell, Thoros of Myr, and Petyr Baelish breathed their last in the latest run of episodes, but there was that overarching feel that we were missing a big Ned’s head or Red Wedding shocker. Now, if we know Thrones as well as we do, expect some serious cast casualties in the final six episodes.
The question is, who would you rather see blasting out some Wightsnake with a flat wight — Arya Stark or Tyrion Lannister? Imagine the Night King having his own little icy assassin or a (cold) Hand of the King. There would be an altogether more poignant ending to which ever big names bow out in Season 8’s abridged run if they end up facing off against the survivors in their decomposed wight form.
As it stands, the most likely to be doing the zombie shuffle early on are Beric Dondarrion and Tormund Giantsbane, whose lives were left in the balance after that Wall-tumbling finale. Whoever lives and who dies in the final season of Game of Thrones, it is sure going to be in winter wonderland when we get there. Either way, if Jaime or any other of our favorites are planning a cold bath, there is still 19 months left until we get there.
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