Game of Thrones “Battle of the Bastards” AKA the Bastard Bowl AKA Snow Bowl will air this Sunday at 9pm EST.
HBO released a cryptic episode synopsis: ‘Terms of surrender are rejected and accepted.’ So at least we know there won’t be any cop outs. Two bastards enter, one bastard leaves.
Here are a few predictions for the rest of the season.
1. Wun Wun dies after an ungodly amount of carnage
We’ve all come to know and love the big friendly giant Wun Wun. But although he’s undoubtedly the greatest asset to Team Stark, he’s also the biggest target.
Don’t get me wrong, Wun Wun will kill an obscene amount of people, carving a path of destruction through the Bolton army, but it’s an only a matter of time before he takes an arrow to a vital organ. At the end of the day, he’s made of same soft, fleshy stuff as the rest of us.
2. Davos finds Shireen’s funeral pyre.
A deadly confrontation between Davos and Melisandre has been in the making since their introduction. On their way to the battle Davos may find the spot where Melisandre and Stannis burned Shireen alive. Davos already is suspicious based on previous conversations between him and Melisandre.
Before Davos left Shireen and Stannis in Season 5, he gave her a carved stag as a gift. If Davos finds it along with charred remains he will know immediately what happened. In the preview you can see Davos looking down at a pile of burnt wood, which could be Shireen’s pyre.
The real question is will Davos act immediately and take revenge on Melisandre or save the grudge for after the battle?
3. Potential leak of Battle of the Bastards plot.
If you are a fan of dubious spoilers, a guy claiming to be an extra in the Battle of the Bastards possibly revealed most of the plot of the episode on Reddit. Read it with a grain of salt.
If this extra is telling the truth, we can look forward to a one on one showdown between Smalljon Umber and Tormond, a last minute saving charge by Littlefinger and the Vale, and a concise Stark victory and capture of Winterfell.
4. Tommen will die, but who’s his heir?
Based on the old witches prophecy we can expect all Cersei’s children to die. The last and the least of her children, Tommen, will almost certainly die in the season finale. But how Tommen dies is immaterial. What really matters is who is his successor.
The line of succession in Westeros follows the rule of primogeniture or through the male line. So with Renly and Stannis dead, there are no known Baratheons to succeed Tommen. Gendry has Robert’s blood, but he is a deligitimized bastard with Varys being the only person alive who can confirm his lineage.
It seems the internet is in disagreement over who it would pass to legally. Some say Jaime Lannister, as there was potentially a Baratheon-Lannister marriage a few generations ago. Other say Jon Snow, but only if he is actually the child of Rhaegar Targaryen and only if his father and mother were legally married before his birth. The entire question is a complete mess and the true successor could be anyone. My bet’s on Hot Pie, but we’ll have to wait and see.
5. Cersei will blow up the Sept of Baelor with wildfire.
In the previous episode Cersei asked Qyburn if he looked into a rumor she heard. He responded, saying it’s true and there’s more, much more.
This rumor has to be the massive stockpile of wildfire set to explode under King’s Landing. Remember that the Mad King rigged the city with the explosive chemical after it was certain he lost the war to Robert causing Jaime to kill him in order to stop the detonation.
Now the Mad-ish Queen has a similar idea. Cersei’s not going to let the fate of her trial be in the hands of the High Sparrow who clearly wants nothing more than to see her downfall. She would rather burn it all to the ground than get humiliated again.
Cersei’s relative and ex-lover Lancel (now an acolyte of the High Sparrow) may have a role in the plot. In season 2 he was the one who told Tyrion that Cersei was planning to use wildfire against Stannis’ army. He already knows of Cersei’s access to the substance so he may be the only one to stop the plot.
