The Battle of Winterfell is over, but the drama on Game of Thrones is far from over. Our heroes still have another war to win and they\u2019ll have to decide among themselves who should sit on the Iron Throne.<\/b>
\nSince its very first scene, Game of Thrones set the stage for a great war between the living and the dead. For many fans, this seemed like it would be the show\u2019s final conflict. But in season 8\u2019s third episode, The Long Night, that battle came to an abrupt end. The Night King and his army were only one of the show\u2019s main threats, but Game of Thrones is a story about people\u2019s cruelty, not an ultimate evil power. And that\u2019s exactly what we can expect from the show\u2019s last three episodes.
Rather than a war against a faceless, decaying enemy, we\u2019re back to the land of the living \u2014 and who finally gets the Iron Throne. So, with the Night King beaten, the North’s forces nearly wiped out, and Cersei in control of a massive mercenary army, what happens now?
As we see in the preview from episode 4, the North isn\u2019t wasting much time celebrating their victory against the dead. Instead, its leaders turn their sights south, toward Cersei, Euron, and King\u2019s Landing. But claiming the Iron Throne won\u2019t be easy.
We all know which main characters are left, but the real question is how many soldiers are in their armies? The battle against the Night King\u2019s wights has likely left the North\u2019s army in shambles, and Cersei has a fresh army of the Second Sons at her disposal. Even with two dragons, for the leaders in the North \u2014 Tyrion, Sansa, Jon, and Daenerys \u2014 to take back King\u2019s Landing, they\u2019re going to have to rely on their wits, and out-planning Cersei.
Humanity\u2019s best were all united under one banner to fight the Night King. He and his army was really the only thing keeping them from each others\u2019 throats \u2014 and even that barely worked. Now that he\u2019s gone, the show has room to explore the political maneuverings of each faction. Dany and Sansa are the two opposite sides in the North; they aren\u2019t outright enemies at the moment, but that possibility doesn\u2019t feel far off.
If Jon and Dany aren\u2019t at odds now, they will be soon, thanks to his recently revealed parentage and stronger claim to the throne. Sansa would likely back him, too. Until last episode it seemed that Dany\u2019s strongest ally was Tyrion Lannister, but his relationship to Sansa seems to be growing more complicated \u2014 that could mean that his loyalty is unsettled as well. Hopefully it won\u2019t come to violence, but the shifting alliances of these four characters are sure to be a huge part of the episodes to come.
Dany\u2019s always had some… fiery impulses when it comes to leadership. While these are mostly kept in check by her smartest advisers, that may change as the odds shift in Cersei\u2019s favor. With the North\u2019s army mostly decimated and Dany facing worse odds than ever at King\u2019s Landing, she may decide to stop listening to the people around her and start using her dragons a little more often. But if she starts burning castles and villages on the way to King\u2019s Landing, she could put herself at odds with her fellows leaders \u2014 and common Westerosi citizens \u2014 pretty quickly. On the other hand, if she isn\u2019t willing to use them in difficult situations, Cersei could use that to her advantage and make them non-factor by keeping her armies close to civilians. The dragons will be a delicate balancing act for the North.
All these issues are still looming for our heroes, but there\u2019s also the single biggest question: Who\u2019s going to sit on the Iron Throne at the end of the show?
Daenerys
Dany is a much better conqueror than she is a ruler, as we saw with her three-season detour through Meereen. She\u2019s also the only character that actually seems to want the throne, which isn\u2019t behavior the show ultimately rewards. She isn\u2019t a terrible ruler, but her intense commitment to (her version of) law and order means that she may not quite have the temperament to rule the Seven Kingdoms alone.
Jon
Jon\u2019s never wanted the throne. Even after being told he has the best claim in the Seven Kingdoms he isn\u2019t particularity enthralled in the idea of ruling. In its own way, that\u2019s an admirable trait. He did a pretty good job when he was in the Lord Commander \u2014 at the start. As time went on and his impulses to help people got stronger, he was eventually murdered by the people he was supposed to lead for helping the wildlings and risking the starvation of everyone at Castle Black, including the men of the Night\u2019s Watch. So, he\u2019s also not the best to rule alone.
Jon and Daenerys
Marriage between family members is a grand Targaryen tradition that goes all the way back to Aegon the Conqueror and his two sister wives who first united the Seven Kingdoms. So, setting their familial relations aside, these two could make for pretty good rulers if they can put aside their individual claims to the throne and rule together.
They balance out each other\u2019s worst tendencies. If Dany is too often a legalist and obsessed with following the letter of the law and Jon is too concerned with bending the rules to make peoples\u2019 lives better, their combination might be a positive force for Westeros. On the other hand, it would once again mean a Targaryen on the throne, so in terms of names it wouldn\u2019t be too different from the rest of the Targaryen dynasty. Hopefully the idea of both ruling together, as Davos suggested in this season\u2019s first episode, would make all the difference.
Cersei
It doesn\u2019t seem like there\u2019s much chance for this, but she does have the best odds on paper. She\u2019s got the bigger army and she\u2019s already in King\u2019s Landing sitting on the throne. Of course, Cersei also has a tendency to make extremely poor decisions and ruin her own success. Plus, it\u2019s only a matter of time before the citizens or anyone else realizes Cersei blew up the Great Sept at the end of season 6. Maybe that will have consequences, too.
Sansa
There isn\u2019t a single person in Westeros that makes more sense to rule the Seven Kingdoms. She may be young, but her political experience rivals that of Dany or Jon, especially inside Westeros. She\u2019s also the only one to pull an entire castle through a few harsh winter months and a war. Despite all her experience, her only downside might still be that she hasn\u2019t ever ruled a place as large or complex as King\u2019s Landing \u2014 let along the Seven Kingdoms \u2014 but she\u2019s a quick learner and more than capable of figuring it out.
Sansa and Tyrion
If Sansa can\u2019t rule alone, and Westeros is destined to have a pair of rulers, then these two ruling together is probably the best option. On top of Sansa\u2019s impressive resume, Tyrion has experience in managing the Seven Kingdoms as the hand to the mostly absent Joffrey Baratheon. It also doesn\u2019t hurt that these two are the show\u2019s smartest characters \u2014 outside of a rough season 7 for Tyrion. The only problem with either of these characters ruling is that the mechanics of putting them on the throne are pretty convoluted since they have no familial claim and no army.
Nation states
This might be the most appealing to many of the show\u2019s biggest characters, like Yara and Sansa. Each has separately suggested Pyke and the North be separated from the Seven Kingdoms. Dany may not agree, as we saw from her reaction to Sansa in this season\u2019s second episode, but sometimes compromise is important. If Game of Thrones is about changing the world we know and building something better, then perhaps breaking the Seven Kingdoms into several different nations that live and work together would be the best thing for everyone.<\/p>\n