Who’s going to die in Game of Thrones Season 7? Odds on 50 characters

Brienne of Tarth

There’s no questioning the earnestness and purity of Brienne of Tarth, the most Lancelot-like figure in Game of Thrones. Like Lancelot, she strives to be the ideal knight (although she’s never technically been knighted, but rather dismissed and scorned). But also like Lancelot, she is tortured by her love for a forbidden other: Jaime Lannister, who’s betrothed to his sister everywhere but in the eyes of the law. Lancelot was denied his Holy Grail quest because he was an adulterer, and thus unworthy. But Brienne has been able (if just barely, at times) to remain neutral around Jaime.

In another parallel to the Round Table, Brienne’s journey fits the journey of a true questing knight, or, more accurately, a failed questing knight. All she wants to do is protect a royal personage she truly believes in. She swore her sword to Renly Baratheon and watched him die (not her fault), swore her sword to Lady Caitlyn Stark but wasn’t around to protect her when she died (once again, not her fault), and failed to see Sansa’s candle in the Broken Tower (sort of her fault).

But despite her many setbacks, Brienne finally completed a quest in Season 6. When Brienne swore an oath of fealty to Sansa after saving her from the Bolton men, she secured the safety of one of Lady Catelyn’s daughters, although the whereabouts of the other remain unknown to her. But once again, Brienne was sent away from her charge, and trusted in others to protect her.

Will Brienne survive the dark days ahead? We imagine that Brienne will make her way back to Sansa in the North, and there stand ready to give up her own life in defense of her lady. Assassins may lurk, but as Sansa’s shield arm, our dear Brienne may well be kept off the battlefield. Brienne’s intense attraction to Jaime may prove her undoing, but perhaps goofy Tormund-bear might have enough mojo in him to make her forget her golden hunk from the south. It’s possible that, eventually, Brienne and Jaime might be forced to come to blows, which could prove too sad for words.

I’m tellin’ ya, she’s a keeper.

Chance of survival: 75%

Richard