Game of Thrones TV Thread **HBO-Purists ONLY**

[a500lbgorilla]

So here's a list for the finale

- Robb can't die because of the love story for Talisa.
- Bran and Rickon can't die because duh
- Osha and Hodor can't die because they're largely messengers for the Bran/Rickon story
- Snow and Dany obv can't die
- Jorah actually could die.
- Stannis and Melisandre can't die because they're the vehicle for the dark magic
- Davos can't die because he's an important counter to that dark magic and Stannis.
- Varys can't die because he knows too much and is a medium for tying things together for both the characters and the audience
- Littlefinger can't die because of his sigil, but other than that maybe he could since the Tyrell relationship has been brokered.
- Cat can't die because she needs to stick around to make terrible decisions.
- Sansa can die because her Dire Wolf is dead, but that's a dumb way of looking at it.
- Teh Joff can't die because his death has to be fucking awesome, and so far nobody is in a position to make that happen.
- Arya obviously cannot die because Syrio taught her one of the most important lessons there is
- Jaqen can't die until he puts that final name under ground.
- Ygritte could die, but only if the writers are idiots
- Jaime and Cersei are probably the most expendable characters.
- Tywin also could die.
- I don't care about Shae. She sucks
- Bronn could die
- Hound can die
- Theon can only die as soon as a Stark puts his head on a stake

So I was thinking about this - how the story drives the deaths and victories and that you can have a good sense of what is about to happen with enough focus.

As I understand classical music (admittedly not well) there's like a home key that the song starts in the music runs away from, you're supposed to expect from a sense of balance and design that the music will return home and the longer it meanders, the more tension it builds. So you start in A, go away, and eventually come back to A or some such.

That's kind of the same idea driving these thoughts that, for instance, Littlefinger can't die because he picked a sigil. I agree, that's laying the groundwork for something and I expect it to pay off. Or Dany/Jon Snow can't die because they're in the far north and Qarth and the only ways to justify paying attention to these places is because they eventually drive some of the main plot. Why the hell are we in Qarth if it's not eventually going to come back home?

But since this story is 7 seasons long and we're just on season 2, there's plenty of time to stay away from home. There's plenty of time to lay additional ground work, false avenues for your hope that that's how it's taking us back, and smash them. Plenty of time to create a new, second home for us to establish and move away from creating a second tension that needs resolved.

So I'd like to believe that GRRM could have had Stannis win that battle and allow the consequences to ripple forth, since I want to believe that his story telling is awesome and there's plenty of time to achieve whatever conclusion he has in store. I say believe because I recognize first that this sense is valuable as a viewer. The show is more entertaining when I believe GRRM can do anything to anyone at any time.