What Main Characters can you confidently say will survive?

[KingStoneheart]

Let’s just say that we actually get the Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring (ambitious I know…), what POV / main characters can you 100% confidently say will survive and be alive at the very end, because out of the actual main characters there’s too many of them that could genuinely die within the last few chapters.

For me, it would be the below -

1. Samwell Tarly, I say this full heartedly and without a doubt. Sam is just a lovely, innocent coward who just happens to do a lot of cool shit. Even though he is away to be in serious danger, I cannot see him sung in the slightest. I know he is one of GRRM’s favourites and I’d like to think his story will end as the new Archmaester of the Citadel and will get to rewrite a lot of the rules (so that he gets to have sex, maybe marry, I dunno)

2. Brienne of Tarth, similar to Sam I really just cannot see her dying. I feel like she is a true symbolism of what a noble and honourable knight is and suspect she will become not only the first female knight, but also grow old protecting someone she believes in

3. Tyrion Lannister, he’s the only MAIN MAIN character I would confidently say will survive, but even then he’s lower than Sam and Brienne because you just never know. He’s done quite a lot of bad things and based on how GRRM talks about him, it’s only going to get worse, so all of that will surely catch up to him… But saying in that, I can see him being the Lord of something, maybe Dragonstone in some way (definitely not Casterly Rock, there’s way too many Lannisters still on the go and he literally killed Tywin, who has surely went down in history as one of the most formidable Lannisters of all time).

4. Bran Stark, yeah I reckon he’ll just continue on as the Three Eyed Raven/Crow (sorry I forget which is the show and which is the books). Though become something of a wizard and guide, possibly be responsible for the rebuilding of historical recordings and shit like that after the Others do real damage and Oldtown is sacked.

 

When it comes to the other MAIN MAIN characters it’s very difficult. Jon and Dany are obviously the main characters and yet it’s so easy for them to die sacrificing themselves to save the world. I would have Arya up there too, although recently saw the theory that she’ll die and live inside Nymeria which I’m not fully opposed to, because she would genuinely think that’s badass

Edited March 10 by KingStoneheart
Incorrect grammar

[sifth]

Jon Snow

[SeanF]

If we ever get an ending, I suspect it will be one where evil wins.  I expect Tyrion to persuade Jon to murder Daenerys, by persuading her she endangers his siblings.  Tyrion’s motives will be base ones, but the author loves him so much that he triumphs.

 

[Queen Sansa Stark]

The remaining Starks, Brienne, and Samwell. 

[StarkTullies]

Big 6 POVs:

• Tyrion Lannister, 100% survival: Tyrion will get everything he ever wanted in a material sense as Lord of Casterly Rock, but he will do so as a villain and by manipulating everyone in his path.  The triumph of this villain (not all villains) will be part of the "bittersweet ending".
• Bran Stark, 100% survival: For reasons I won't discuss.
• Sansa Stark, 90% survival: Her entire story is about character growth and survival without being corrupted by the players around her.  It would be a sad and cynical ending (more than I am expecting) if Sansa dies or is corrupted.
• Arya Stark, 80% survival: I would have ranked her survival a little lower, except for the whole "my wife will divorce me if I kill Arya off" thing.
• Jon Snow, 50% survival: If there is a "main hero" of this story (but I don't think this is that type of story), Jon is the closest we'll get, but I don't think the heroes will necessarily get a happy ending.  Even if Jon survives, he will get a Frodo ending of being sad and broken (without getting to sail off to paradise at the end).
• Daenerys Targaryen, <10% survival: Whether she becomes a mass-murdering tyrant who is taken down, selflessly sacrifices herself to save humanity, or somewhere in between, I think it is extremely unlikely Daenerys will survive.

Other Main POVs:

• Samwell Tarly, >90% survival: I think the "bitter" ending of Tyrion's triumph will be countered by the "sweet" ending of Sam's triumph.  Plus, the Sam/Frodo and Sam/Jon parallels are pretty glaring (and I'm not someone who constantly looks for similarities to LOTR, either), and I think Sam will not only survive but actually get a happy ending.
• Asha Greyjoy, 75% survival:  I think Theon or Asha will survive, but not both, and I think Asha is the more likely survivor.
• Brienne Tarth, 65% survival:  If Brienne survives her encounter with Lady Stoneheart, I think she will survive to the end of the series, but that's a pretty big "if".
• Davos Seaworth, 60% survival:  I think Davos will lose POV status before the end of TWOW, but he doesn't need to die for that to happen.  Maybe he'll get to linger on in someone else's POV.
• Areo Hotah, 50% survival:  I have no opinions or predictions for this guy, so I'll give him a neutral rating of 50%.
• Theon Greyjoy, 25% survival:  The other part of my Greyjoy sibling prediction; he gets the other 25%.
• Arianne Martell, 20% survival:  I think she'll be Aegon's queen for a short time, but I think Dany will kill the "usurper" and she'll die with her husband.
• Melisandre, 15% survival:  She seems semi-immortal, but I'm guessing that's going to soon come to an end.
• Jaime Lannister, 12% survival:  Cersei's dead for a certainty, and I think the self-prophecies of "we were born together, we'll die together" will come true, but some of these prophecies end up being wrong.
• Barristan Selmy, <10% survival:  I'd be shocked Barristan returns to Westeros.  Either he will die heroically in battle, Tyrion will murder him because he's in the way of his plots, or he will turn against Dany when he starts to see the "taint" and she executes him.  Regardless, he's dead.
• Victarion and Aeron Greyjoy, <5% survival:  Euron murdered his other brothers and he'll murder them too, if they don't die on their own first.
• Jon Connington, 0% survival: He's half-dead already, and when King Aegon loses power (which he will), he'll dramatically take a whole bunch of other people out with his own death.
• Cersei Lannister, 0% survival:  She's the closest we have to an ultra-villain POV with no redeeming traits at all.  She's dead.

Edited March 10 by StarkTullies

[House Cambodia]

^ pretty much agree with all that (if not your reasoning re. Tyrion). I'd also include Euron as a 'main character' and as the other "big bad" put him on 0% along with Stoneheart. Littlefinger and Varys' chances are low (maybe 0% and 15% respectively); Rickon and Jaquen H'gar maybe less than 40% too.

Edited March 11 by House Cambodia

[Castellan]

Tyrion is my first thought. He seems like the most important character to the author, has the most mentions of any character in the text, I think, and as he is a real journeyer, he can journey on to the end.

Brienne - possibly. Possibly as an undead person.

Arya - who can say? I can't see why she wouldn't survive.

Sansa - likewise I can't see a narrative/character necessity for her to die. Unless her role in the plot becomes limited to one thing like Petyr's machinations trying t make a northern force and then GRRM dumps her.

Bran - he's become a greenseer, he doesn't seem like he'd be on the author's hit list

Rickon - he'll be a blast from the past when the Kings of Winter were harder and wilder

Jon - because I think he deserves to

Samwell - he'll be a very wise advisor by the time he gets to the end

Aemon Steelsong - what the point of knocking him off? Pure spite?

Won't survive
Jaime - I think he'll run his race in TWOW. Well, I think he'll live on for a while as an undead like Beric and Catelyn, but not for very long.

Tommen & Mycella - too much to be hoped for.

Shireen - I think the show gave away what is now obvious from various things like her ashy face and dragon nightmares. Not to mention Patchface jumping around her chanting creepily about the netherworld below the sea.

Petyr  - villain must die! There'll be no role for him once the war of five kings ceases to be the main struggle.

Cersei - doomed doomed doomed

Martells - Doran seems to have some wisdom but no practical brains at all. He sends his children on missions that are the opposite of any talents they have.

(Except for Tyrion and Jaime, I really don't have much faith in my own list above. GRRM keeps us guessing).

Edited March 11 by Castellan

[astarkchoice]

Arya 100%

 

Grmm has said his wife will leave him if she dies lol

[YeniAy_Ottoman]

Arya. Leaving aside Martin's statement about his wife, a few years ago someone whose name I forget said that Martin wanted to write a short novel about adult Arya. So Martin let it slip. Martin had said long ago that he wanted to write a short novel about Arya, but he had not said anything about her age. So it looks like the only character we're sure won't die is Arya Stark.

[SeanF]

12 hours ago, StarkTullies said:

Big 6 POVs:

• Tyrion Lannister, 100% survival: Tyrion will get everything he ever wanted in a material sense as Lord of Casterly Rock, but he will do so as a villain and by manipulating everyone in his path.  The triumph of this villain (not all villains) will be part of the "bittersweet ending".
• Bran Stark, 100% survival: For reasons I won't discuss.
• Sansa Stark, 90% survival: Her entire story is about character growth and survival without being corrupted by the players around her.  It would be a sad and cynical ending (more than I am expecting) if Sansa dies or is corrupted.
• Arya Stark, 80% survival: I would have ranked her survival a little lower, except for the whole "my wife will divorce me if I kill Arya off" thing.
• Jon Snow, 50% survival: If there is a "main hero" of this story (but I don't think this is that type of story), Jon is the closest we'll get, but I don't think the heroes will necessarily get a happy ending.  Even if Jon survives, he will get a Frodo ending of being sad and broken (without getting to sail off to paradise at the end).
• Daenerys Targaryen, <10% survival: Whether she becomes a mass-murdering tyrant who is taken down, selflessly sacrifices herself to save humanity, or somewhere in between, I think it is extremely unlikely Daenerys will survive.

Other Main POVs:

• Samwell Tarly, >90% survival: I think the "bitter" ending of Tyrion's triumph will be countered by the "sweet" ending of Sam's triumph.  Plus, the Sam/Frodo and Sam/Jon parallels are pretty glaring (and I'm not someone who constantly looks for similarities to LOTR, either), and I think Sam will not only survive but actually get a happy ending.
• Asha Greyjoy, 75% survival:  I think Theon or Asha will survive, but not both, and I think Asha is the more likely survivor.
• Brienne Tarth, 65% survival:  If Brienne survives her encounter with Lady Stoneheart, I think she will survive to the end of the series, but that's a pretty big "if".
• Davos Seaworth, 60% survival:  I think Davos will lose POV status before the end of TWOW, but he doesn't need to die for that to happen.  Maybe he'll get to linger on in someone else's POV.
• Areo Hotah, 50% survival:  I have no opinions or predictions for this guy, so I'll give him a neutral rating of 50%.
• Theon Greyjoy, 25% survival:  The other part of my Greyjoy sibling prediction; he gets the other 25%.
• Arianne Martell, 20% survival:  I think she'll be Aegon's queen for a short time, but I think Dany will kill the "usurper" and she'll die with her husband.
• Melisandre, 15% survival:  She seems semi-immortal, but I'm guessing that's going to soon come to an end.
• Jaime Lannister, 12% survival:  Cersei's dead for a certainty, and I think the self-prophecies of "we were born together, we'll die together" will come true, but some of these prophecies end up being wrong.
• Barristan Selmy, <10% survival:  I'd be shocked Barristan returns to Westeros.  Either he will die heroically in battle, Tyrion will murder him because he's in the way of his plots, or he will turn against Dany when he starts to see the "taint" and she executes him.  Regardless, he's dead.
• Victarion and Aeron Greyjoy, <5% survival:  Euron murdered his other brothers and he'll murder them too, if they don't die on their own first.
• Jon Connington, 0% survival: He's half-dead already, and when King Aegon loses power (which he will), he'll dramatically take a whole bunch of other people out with his own death.
• Cersei Lannister, 0% survival:  She's the closest we have to an ultra-villain POV with no redeeming traits at all.  She's dead.

An ending where Tyrion triumphs, Daenerys dies, Jon is broken,  but Sam lives happily, would be a lot more bitter than sweet. Along with Bran and Sansa getting to live the dream, by treachery and manipulation, that’s the show’s ending.

I’m coming to the conclusion that I would rather not get an ending.

Edited March 11 by SeanF

[Craving Peaches]

Tyrion's mega thick plot armour has showed no signs of weakening so I am fairly confident he will survive.

[Jekse]

Every one of them, as Winds of Winter is never coming out

[SeanF]

I expect poor Jeyne Poole will be exposed, and burned for treason, with only Theon to vouch for her.

[Loose Bolt]

2 hours ago, SeanF said:

I expect poor Jeyne Poole will be exposed, and burned for treason, with only Theon to vouch for her.

Actually she will outlive all other Boltons and will inherit Dreadfort.

[Queen Sansa Stark]

8 hours ago, Jekse said:

Every one of them, as Winds of Winter is never coming out

We will likely get the upcoming book. It's next you that will never come out.

[Castellan]

Yes, I am fairly hopeful the next one will come out.

[Terrorthatflapsinthenight9]

6 hours ago, Loose Bolt said:

Actually she will outlive all other Boltons and will inherit Dreadfort.

I strongly doubt that she'll ever set foot in the Dreadfort nor that she would want it or anything associated with Ramsay and the Boltons if she makes it so far.

[Jekse]

13 hours ago, Queen Sansa Stark said:

21 hours ago, Jekse said:

 

We will likely get the upcoming book. It's next you that will never come out.

George hasn't posted anything positive about tWoW progress since the covid pandemic, and he is working on a bunch of side projects at HBO. He's not working on the books, so it's not coming out anytime soon.

[Springwatch]

Anyone close to the Targ main line is a top candidate to die - Targs and secret Targs - because it's hard to end the story with magical abominations who can be super charismatic, ambitious, powerful, desirable and/or mad, however the dice rolls. And that's without dragons....

So in the firing line: Dany, Jon, Aegon, Cersei, Jaime, Myrcella, Tommen, Tyrion. 

Baratheon bastards probably ok - too dilute.

[Willam Stark]

- Tyrion

- Bran

- Arya

- Sansa

- Sam

- Brienne