Game of Thrones , the hit HBO TV version, has proven that it is nothing if not unpredictable . In its first four seasons, Game of Thrones has proven not only that it will kill off pretty much any character, no matter how popular or likeable — or unlikeable. The show has also shown that it feels no obligation to stick to closely to A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, the series of novels on which the HBO series is based.
In other words, the show keeps fans guessing, or worse than guessing. Fans are in a constant state of anxiety about which character is going to die next.
And while there is no way — yet — to know which Games of Thrones favorite will be killed in Season Five, one thing that can be said with a high degree of confidence is that someone will die.
But who?
Here are three solid candidates. While we wouldn’t bet the house that at least one of these three Game of Thrones characters will meet an early death in next year’s Season Five, we might bet the garage, at least.
Be warned : if you have not caught up on the first four seasons, please stop reading, because in discussing Season Five, we will need to reveal spoilers from earlier seasons.
• Littlefinger
Lord Petyr Baelish is always a prime candidate for death . Think about it. This relatively minor lord is playing the “game” on the highest level and he doesn’t seem to care what risks he takes or who he has to double and triple cross to get what he wants.
In Season Four, we learned that not only was he behind the assassination of the psychopathic King Joffrey, but he was the true force behind the death of the King’s Hand that occurred immediately before Season One started — and was the event that brought Warden of the North Ned Stark to King’s Landing, thus setting off all of the events of Game of Thrones .
Littlefinger’s only protection is that no one actually knows that he’s the ruthless schemer behind these Westeros-shaking events. At least, no one who can do anything about it. His ambiguous and dangerous relationship with Sansa Stark is also a powder keg, especially because she knows the true story behind Baelish’s murder of his wife Lisa Arryn.
Look for Littlefinger to meet his demise, or come close to it in Game Of Thrones Season 5.
• Lady Brienne
The writers of HBO’s Game of Thrones have shown no respect for Lady Brienne’s storyline in the Song of Ice And Fire novels by George R.R. Martin. In the books, she never meets Arya Stark and she does not engage in any knock-down, drag-out life-or-death battle with The Hound.
So we know that the Game of Thrones TV crew is willing to “go there” with Brienne. She currently has no one to protect her but herself — and we know that in Game of Thrones , alliances are everything. Well, okay she has her borderline incompetent squire Podrick, but come on. He’s no help.
In the books, her fate is left unresolved, so Brienne is most likely on the Game of Thrones Season Five chopping block.
• Bran Stark
Well, if Game of Thrones killed off Bran Stark, it may also kill off most of its audience. If there’s one character who has won the hearts of Game of Thrones fans and held them, that would be Bran. But at the end of Season Four, he finally met the real three-eyed raven. So what now? Some Game of Thrones pundits speculate that this meeting was, in fact, the end of Bran’s mission and all he has left to do is die.
All we can say is — say it ain’t so!
We know one key person in Game of Thrones who refuses to die and that’s novelist George R.R. Martin — who recently had some choice words for Game of Thrones fans angry at the seemingly slow pace at which he turns out the novels and wonders if the writer himself is going meet his end before finishing his epic saga. Click here to see Martin’s message to those so-called “fans.”