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Game of Thrones is back on track. After what felt like a rushed seventh season, season 8 returned with a bang last night. WIRED's Will Bedingfield and Andy Vandervell discuss a host of satisfying reunions, clashes between family and duty, some game-changing reveals and, most importantly of all, Cersei's weird obsession with elephants. Read to the end to get their expert predictions on who will finally sit on the iron throne! And yes, this article contains significant spoilers for this episode and earlier seasons.

Andy Vandervell: In many ways, season seven was one of the worst seasons in the series. It felt rushed and sometimes non-sensical, but this first episode of the new season restored my faith. That opening segment which echoed the very first episode of season one was perfect and there were loads of nice character moments throughout. What was your instant reaction?


Will Bedingfield: I agree that season seven felt rushed. While there were elements of that here - Theon suddenly turning up to rescue Yara, for example - I felt the episode did an excellent job of laying out the key conflict for season eight: will Jon Snow side with his family or Dany? There were also so many reunions! Which was your favourite? And what did you think was key moment of episode? I loved the Hound and Arya.

AV: Yes, out of the reunions, it was the highlight. You know, deep down, they kind of like each other, but they don't want to admit it. Conversely, Arya's moment with Gendry didn't work for me.

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As for my key moment, I'm going for an unconventional choice... Daenerys admitting she executed Samwell's father and brother. To me, that scene neatly highlighted her most serious weakness. Ever since she's arrived in the Seven Kingdoms, she's become more inflexible and tyrannical. "Bend the knee" is her catchphrase. That's what's lead her to execute the Tarlys and, as we saw throughout the episode, she's reached a point where she doesn't feel the need to inspire loyalty or favour, but to just expect it and demand it. Right from the start, it feels like she enjoys the fear her dragons create just a little too much.

And, most importantly, that moment frames what comes next, the big reveal we've all been waiting for... spoiler alert, Jon is the "true king of Westeros".


WB: You know, it's interesting you brought up Arya and Gendry - I saw it kind of like the writers suggesting he had a crush on her, but I agree it was handled oddly. Hard to read.

The hints at Dany's potential as a tyrant always get reinforced by Jon continuously saying "she's not her father", which immediately makes me suspect she's going to do something tyrannical again pretty soon.

Beyond Jon finding out that he's the one true king, the key moment seemed to be the conversation between Sansa and Jon, when she asks him whether he gave up the crown to save the North or because he loved Daenerys. Likely this is going to be a big conflict for Jon: family or "woman he loves".

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We should probably talk about the big news though: is he likely to go and tell Daenerys? I imagine that he might keep it bottled up, leading to Daenerys finding out on her own and thinking he's betrayed her. Or he is going to tell her in a particularly ham-handed, Jon Snow-ish way, with the same end result. What do you think?


AV: You can always count on Jon to "do the right thing" even when it's the wrong thing, so he'll probably keep it to himself. He's a black and white kind of guy and, as we've seen countless times in Game of Thrones, it's an unsuccessful approach. Sansa understands that. Jon and Dany don't.

WB: That's a good way of putting it - he acts too morally in an amoral world! Since you mention Sansa, her conversation with Tyrion was interesting. Why does Tyrion believe Cersei? I don't understand it. His reason to believe her seemed so weak.

AV: It's interesting, isn't it? For a while now, Game of Thrones has presented Cersei as Tyrion's blind spot, the person he can't see right and he consistently underestimates both her intelligence and her capacity for duplicity. Obviously it's a deliberate ploy on the part of the writers, but it's never felt especially convincing.

WB: I agree. Tyrion in general has made bad decision after bad decision in the latest seasons, like agreeing a truce with the slavers, or trying to outwit Jaime by sneak-attacking Casterly Rock. I find it an odd path for the writers to take his character down. I wonder if the conversation with Sansa got through to him... perhaps he will redeem himself?

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AV: It's part of a wider point, highlighted by Varys, that they (Varys and Tyrion) are the past, increasingly irrelevant as new leaders likes Jon, Sansa, Dany and the late young Lord Umber, may he rest in peace, assert themselves. Hopefully the writers will find a way to use these characters better this season. They can't spend the whole time giving bad advice and making wry observations.

AV: Let's move south and talk about Cersei. Perhaps I share something with Tyrion, because she's a character I struggle to figure out anymore. I mean, what is her weird obsession with elephants?

WB: Ha! I can't answer the elephants, but I think she's easy to figure out. She remains the only human antagonist, so whatever kind of betrayal she can pull off, she will attempt. For me this means she's likely going to sneak attack Jon and Dany after they're weak from fighting the dead. I hope it's slightly less predictable than that, though. Her relationship with Jaime is up in the air though; ordering Bronn to kill him surprised me.

AV: I take your point. In one sense, it's very simple. She's out for revenge and she cares little how she gets it. In that context, bribing Bronn to kill Jamie and Tyrion makes sense. They have betrayed her, so they must die, but she's still showing tiny glimmers of human frailty, as witnessed in the aftermath of her tryst with the charming Euron Greyjoy (my new favourite character, by the way).

As for Bronn, it's totally weird and smacks of a convenient way to get Bronn at the serious end of the action. Does anyone seriously believe he'll kill either of them?

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WB: I agree. I do not understand how Bronn, who has shown himself to be extraordinarily loyal to Jaime, putting himself in harms way to save his life, will suddenly turn around and murder him.

Ah, Euron and Cersei. What I'm in two minds about is who has the upper hand between those two. On the one hand, Cersei wants his fleet. On the other, he clearly wants the Iron Throne. Both are clearly trying to play the other. That will be interesting.

AV: It will be, but it's time for some predictions. Who do you think will be on the Iron Throne when all this is done? I will hold you to this prediction.

WB: I think Gendry because, bizarre as that sounds, I don't know why else he exists!

AV: Making dragon glass axes, obviously?

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WB: What do you think?

AV: I like your left-field thinking. I'm going for Sansa, because it's clear she's the smartest person in the show now. Look closely and there's no shortage of hints to the possible tragedy that awaits Jon and Dany, but whether we're right or not, I can't wait to find out. With just a handful of episodes left, it won't be long until we do.

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