Yes, it’s time. No, not for doing Black Friday shopping or drinking from red Starbucks cups or counting down the days ‘til the Super Bowl – it’s time for murder.

That’s a major element of Game of Thrones’s unceasing popularity, after all, and for the dramatic tension inherent in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire before that. Who will live? Who will die? How will the deed be done, and what effect – if any, at this point – will it have on the overarching narrative?

It’s a simple question, aye, but it’s one that, once you start to get down into the weeds, has a lot of intriguing components and dramatic ramifications – and is, as it turns out, endlessly fascinating to speculate on.

So… who will it be? We’ll tell you our picks – and our rationale for them – if you join the fray with your own bloody candidates in the comments below.

Marc N. Kleinhenz:

I’d like to get your picks for who you would most like to see shuffle off of this mortal coil in season six – and not just because of your undying hatred for the man (or woman), but also because it would make for the best (read: most traumatic) plot twist.

Ready… fire!

Axechucker:

Kill me some Tyrion. Because they’ll never expect it! (I give it an exact 3% chance of happening, and that’s only if they are, by then, deep into The Winds of Winter.)

My second choice is Dany, but I think she’s more likely to go early(ish) in the books. They may kill her on the show, but only in the final season. Same with Arya, who, in my view, is a Dead Girl Walking, but, again – that’s gonna happen near the end.

Bex:

I would love to see Ramsay bite it. I love Iwan Rheon, but it would be fun to watch him die a grisly, Coen brothers-esque death. Would it be a plot twist merely by him being a bad dude in Westeros actually getting offed, maybe at the behest or orchestration of Sansa?* If the reaction to Myranda’s plummet was any indication last season, audiences could be very pleased by the death of a Bolton.**

* not influenced in any way by author’s feelings towards Sansa.

** Roose will live forever because he is a vampire. Or something.

Petra:

Hmm… interesting question. The truth is that I don’t want anyone to die, not even the baddies. I’m pretty content with everyone where they are, as they are. But we all know how long that lasts in Westeros.

Jorah Mormont has to bite it soon, what with his Greyscale. So, I’d like him to go out in style, a la Barristan Selmy. I never found his unrequited love of Dany all that interesting (I know I’m in the minority there), so it wouldn’t exactly tear me up to watch him go.

I’d enjoy watching Petyr Baelish meet a bloody end at Sansa’s hands. I have no expectation of that happening, but I can dream.

With the omission of Lady Stoneheart and her subplot, I’d say Brienne has a decent chance of dying in season six. I can’t say I want her to die (quite the contrary – she’s one of the few characters I’m legitimately, intensely invested in), but if she gets an incredible send-off, it might be worth it.

Tyrion’s death would be fun if I watched his death scene in a bar surrounded by screaming, shrieking drunk people. Same goes for Arya. Or Dany. However, I highly doubt they’d off those three before the last season.

I look forward to a deliciously gruesome death scene for Ramsay, during which all viewers experience Ramsay’s own sadism for just a few minutes. But, please, not until the final season. I enjoy Iwan Rheon’s performance way too much to lose him before that.

Theon’s been walking, er, limping with a bullseye on his forehead since the end of season two, and I know a lot of viewers want him “put out of his misery.” I’d love it if he and Sansa collaborate to kill Ramsay (cough *but not until the last season* cough), but if Theon has to go in season six, I think the writers could whip up a pretty moving death scene between him and Yara. GOT doesn’t really do sentiment, but… c’mon, D&D. Do it for me.

If Missandei and/or Grey Worm go, though, I’ll raise hell.

Hear Marko Roar:

Hello, fellow murderers! Who shall we murder today… or next season, you ask?

Well, there are several layers to the question, as Marc himself suggested. Most shocking would be a clear and unequivocal death of the main protagonists – and here I’m thinking of Tyrion and Dany – but, despite everything, some characters do have plot armour, even in George R.R. Martin’s work. I would be devastated by Brienne’s or Jaime’s demise, for sure, and I agree with Petra – hands off Missandei and Grey Worm.

Secondly, villains we won’t mourn: I think we will say goodbye to Balon this season, and I suspect Ramsay’s days are numbered. Baelish, if Sansa does it, falls into this category, too.

Thirdly, the show will find a way to gut me by killing off a character I am not even thinking about at the moment. Surely. I mean, it’s Game of Thrones – who are we kidding here?

Geoffery:

Balon’s been a walking dead man for seasons now, so, despite the fact I find it hilarious he’s still somehow alive in the show!niverse, I think it’s time he went for a walk.

Trystane is a character I would gladly see offed, based purely on the fact he’s not interesting to me, and I’m surprised he made it through season five. I would definitely have taken his death over Myrcella’s. Loras is another candidate for a potential demise. I think the show has done well at fleshing out his character from the books, and his arrest-for-homosexuality storyline was interesting, but ever since the Faith Militant got their hands on him, I’ve felt like his days are probably numbered.

Ramsay would certainly make for a satisfying death, I propose at the hands of Fat Walda, who is the queen Westeros truly deserves.

Sue the Fury:

God, Trystane is the worst. Can we push him off the boat?

I do think it’s time for the show to lose at least one of the major human antagonists, since the storylines will need to tighten up in the last couple seasons and focus on the larger battle likely to come. I want to see Roose and/or Ramsay dispatched in glorious fashion in season six. I think we’re likely to lose a lot of supporting characters next season, maybe more than usual.

But for an actual plot twist? A real shocker would be to take out one of the Lannister siblings in season six. Tyrion probably has plot armor until the endgame of the show and A Song of Ice and Fire, but Jaime or Cersei (or both together) dying earlier would be an amazing turn.

Marc N. Kleinhenz:

Bronn. He’s much more of a major player in the show than he ever was in the books, and I don’t think he has much – if any – plot relevance later on down the line.

Now that would make people madder than hell all over again.

=)

Nate:

*some partly Sullied speculations*

I think Myrcella being poisoned will set off a chain reaction which kills Trystane, Ellaria, and Jamie. Trystane will probably be offed by a Lannister, most likely Cersei or Jamie. Ellaria will be executed by Doran.

I could see Cersei sending Jamie to Winterfell after Sansa when he returns with Myrcella’s corpse, where he’ll run into Brienne and somehow perish in her arms (the woman he loves).

I also think it will also be a butcher season for the Lannisters, as Cersei and Tommen will probably be executed by the Faith (a la the CleganeBowl, in which the Mountain will also die).

And I’m hoping for a Ramsay/Petyr death, too (by Sansa), but we shall see.

Marc N. Kleinhenz:

Oooooooo… that could be the next Murder: who should be the murderer.

😀

Dame Pasty:

I would love to see Mel die, but she probably won’t, and you said not someone you want to die, but someone that would be for great dramatic effect.

I have to vote for Jaime and Cersei as my numero uno. It will be ugly and tragic and perfect because we want to see Cersei die, but not at the cost of Jaime not being able to continue and redeem himself.

My second vote would be for Arya. I love her dearly, but that’s the reason why they might get rid of her. Same could be said for Sansa, too, though.

No matter what, they’re going to have to start thinning the herd, and that will mean not only the killing off a major character or two, but also supporting characters (or, at least, ending their arc somehow, someway). My metaphorical popcorn is sooooo ready for season six!

Nate:

Oooo, add Mel to my list, too! And Davos as the do-er. ?

Petra:

I hadn’t considered offing Bronn. I quite like that idea, actually. He was a great companion for Tyrion, but now that they’re not following his book storyline (marrying Lollys and naming her baby Tyrion), I really don’t see what he’s doing for us anymore.

Bex:

LEAVE BRONN ALONE.

I heard some gossip last year that Jaime was going to get killed off by the end of season five, and I grew to accept that in my heart, so if it happens this year, my fan rage will be righteous, but I’ll get over it – if they give him a great scene to go out on.

Petra:

That’s a good point. I don’t really mind who they kill so long as they give them a good send-off. I mean, if Brienne, Pod, Missandei, Grey Worm, Yara, and Theon all bite the dust (godspleasenopleasepleasenoI’lldoanythingpleaseno), I’d have a hard time remaining invested, but if they all had fitting, poignant, and/or glorious death scenes… what more could I ask for?

Nate:

I think Bronn should’ve died last season, when he was poisoned (and omit those Sand Snake scenes).

Brienne, I hope, makes it to the very end.

Sue the Fury:

Dramatically, it would’ve made sense if Bronn had died in Dorne. I think they’ve come to rely on him to lighten the mood and play sounding board, so he gets to live. Who knows how long that will last, though. They could dispatch Bronn at any time, at this point.

Previous Murders

The countdown to season six

Season eight

The final word on season five

Should Game of Thrones be boycotted forever more?

“The Wars to Come,” season five, and you

What if season five sucks?

The year in review

Casting the recastings in a new light

Westerosi immersion

The best – and worst – season of Game of Thrones