‘Game of Thrones’ Season 8, Episode 5 Death Watch: Which Queen Will Rule?

The highly anticipated battle between the current Queen of the Seven Kingdoms and the Queen who is vying for her throne has officially begun on “Game of Thrones.” Now, with the first casualty officially made, several more are likely set to occur as both Cersei Lannister and Daenerys Targaryen duke it out for control.

This battle won’t end on the HBO series until one Queen officially dies—meaning one of them will have to go. The question is—who will die with them?

While several characters seem to have had their storylines wrap up following the battle with the Night King, and others who may still be part of the story are likely to stay ensconced in Winterfell, others have headed South—and directly in harm's way. So, who will be at risk of seeing their time in Westeros come to an end? Here are our predictions for which characters will be dying and which ones may make it out.

SURVIVING

Jon Snow

Not only is Jon Snow (Kit Harington) not yet in King’s Landing, but he should still be safe from being murdered. While Daenerys knows that he has a legitimate claim to the Iron Throne as well, Cersei doesn’t, meaning that since he isn’t a direct threat to her rule, he isn’t likely to be the focus of her attacks. While she does want to take down all of Dany’s allies and has made headway with that plan by killing Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel), she likely wants to try and kill the person taking her throne first.

Daenerys Targaryen

The show has been building up to showing Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) going mad all season, first over the fact that Jon is actually the legitimate heir to the Iron Throne, and then over the deaths of Rhaegal, Jorah and Missandei. They wouldn’t give fans all that buildup for her to lose the fight to Cersei—her bigger battle will likely be one with Jon, even if he doesn’t realize it.

Ser Davos Seaworth

Davos (Liam Cunningham) is inconsequential to Cersei since he’s Jon’s advisor and not Dany’s. Because killing him wouldn’t really have an effect on her biggest enemy, he’ll be spared.

Arya Stark

Despite being the hero of Winterfell who defeated the Night King and his entire army, Arya (Maisie Williams) had no interest in staying there because she still has a big name to cross off of her list. Whether she is the one who gets to kill her number one target or not remains up in the air, but she seems pretty unlikely to die after everything that’s happened thus far this season.

Tyrion Lannister

Though his terrible strategies have helped Cersei best Daenerys several times now and she is most certainly ready to remove him as her Hand, Tyrion’s (Peter Dinklage) time shouldn’t be over yet. If Daenerys is truly becoming a reincarnation of her father and unfit to rule, Tyrion will be the one to successfully stage a coup to stop her, even if he isn’t quite ready to do that just yet.

DYING

Cersei Lannister

Initially, Cersei (Lena Headey) seemed pegged to die in the final episode, but with the narrative surrounding Daenerys at this point, it feels more like there will be two battles for the Iron Throne—the one we expected between her and Cersei, and another between her and those who will grow to back Jon instead. With only two episodes left, those battles will likely each get one episode, with the one between Daenerys and Jon being the final one. By default, that means Cersei will die in the next episode. The only question will be who ends her life—Daenerys? Jaime? Or someone else?

Euron Greyjoy

Along with the woman he has been supporting and fighting for, Euron (Pilou Asbæk) will die, and while he does have a series of Scorpion machines meant to take down Daenerys’ dragons, he seems surprised in the preview clip for the week’s episode as he hears a dragon in the distance. It seems likely she will somehow rally despite the blows she’s been dealt recently and will somehow manage to burn Euron and his fleet in the process.

Bronn

He was sent to kill Jaime and Tyrion in Winterfell—and wound up instead making a deal with them that when the war was over and Daenerys was queen, they would give him a bigger title and castle than Cersei promised him. Since Tyrion has already arrived at King’s Landing, Cersei knows Bronn (Jerome Flynn) did not do what she requested and kill her brothers. As a result, once he arrives in King’s Landing, he will pay the price for betraying the Queen he serves.

Varys

For all the plotting he does, and the fact that he is not trying to find a way to remove Dany from the running for the Iron Throne, Varys (Conleth Hill) will finally go one scheme too far. If Dany gets wind of his plans to commit treason she won’t hesitate to kill him—especially since he swore to her at Dragonstone that he wouldn’t do to her as he’d done to others in the past by changing his allegiance when it suited him.

Jaime Lannister

Now that he is also headed back to King’s Landing to be with his sister, Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) will die. Whether he makes it back there and kills her himself, then kills himself as well so they can die together, or he runs into someone like Arya on the road and makes it back to King’s Landing in a different way (with her wearing his face and then successfully killing Cersei), we don’t know—but if Cersei is dying in this episode, then so is he.

MAYBE DYING

The Mountain

If the Hound makes it to King’s Landing in this episode, then The Mountain will finally die (for good this time) at his brother’s hands. If it takes another episode for The Hound and Arya to arrive, then he’ll make it through one last time.

Qyburn

Qyburn (Anton Lesser) wouldn’t serve any purpose to the story anymore if Cersei dies, which make it seem likely he will be killed too. However, he’s also just slimy enough to figure out a way to get out of being killed.

The Hound

If The Hound (Rory McCann) gets to kill his brother, it won’t be without a sacrifice on his Part. His story feels like it would come to the right conclusion if he perished shortly after he successfully killed The Mountain, so if he does that this episode, then his own death will follow suit.

Grey Worm

Now that Missandei was murdered, there is nothing Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson) will feel he has left to live for. As the battle wages on, he likely won’t hesitate to throw himself right into death’s path—if only because it will allow him to still serve his queen with honor, while giving him the only way he can spend eternity with the love of his life as well.

“Game of Thrones” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. EDT on HBO.