It all ends tonight. Think this finale will be more in keeping with the older finales from the first three seasons, where one big event is surrounded mostly by the show wrapping things up and hinting towards a future. Obviously the ends will be a little neater, and some characters' futures will be a little more vague because we won't see any of it, but I can't see this being anywhere near as action-packed as the previous three episodes.
1x10 ('Fire and Blood') had Daenerys stepping into the fire and being reborn with dragon eggs, but everything else was concerned with the emotional aftermath of Ned's death and preparing the War of the Five Kings. 2x10 ('Valar Morghulis') was mostly just reaction to Blackwater but it finished with the White Walkers' assault on the Fist of the First Men. 3x10 ('Mhysa') was chiefly concerned with the literal clean-up job after the Red Wedding.
Then things started to change. 4x10 ('The Children') wraps up the entire first act of the story - we have Tywin's death and Tyrion's escape, Stannis arriving at the Wall, Brienne and the Hound fighting over Arya, Bran finally reaching the Three-Eyed-Raven's cave. 5x10 ('Mother's Mercy') has Cersei's walk of atonement, Stannis' downfall, and Jon Snow's death. 6x10 ('The Winds of Winter') is the best episode of the entire series and delivers more shocking and emotional moments than most TV shows could ever dream of. And 7x7 ('The Dragon and the Wolf') had the big dragonpit meeting and the Army of the Dead breaching the Wall.
In 8x6 (whatever it's called), I think we'll get Jon's reaction to everything in 'The Bells' and the completion of Daenerys' downfall - that'll be the "big event". Then the Winterfell-based characters will journey to King's Landing to work out what happens next. Sansa, Sam, Bran, Arya, etc. will likely tell Jon to claim the throne but he'll turn it down and hand power to Sansa, or Tyrion, or Bran or something. This'll be a tragic but quiet ending, where we'll essentially pause after the bloodbath that was last week to see where they've ended up and how they can stop it from ever happening again.
1x10 ('Fire and Blood') had Daenerys stepping into the fire and being reborn with dragon eggs, but everything else was concerned with the emotional aftermath of Ned's death and preparing the War of the Five Kings. 2x10 ('Valar Morghulis') was mostly just reaction to Blackwater but it finished with the White Walkers' assault on the Fist of the First Men. 3x10 ('Mhysa') was chiefly concerned with the literal clean-up job after the Red Wedding.
Then things started to change. 4x10 ('The Children') wraps up the entire first act of the story - we have Tywin's death and Tyrion's escape, Stannis arriving at the Wall, Brienne and the Hound fighting over Arya, Bran finally reaching the Three-Eyed-Raven's cave. 5x10 ('Mother's Mercy') has Cersei's walk of atonement, Stannis' downfall, and Jon Snow's death. 6x10 ('The Winds of Winter') is the best episode of the entire series and delivers more shocking and emotional moments than most TV shows could ever dream of. And 7x7 ('The Dragon and the Wolf') had the big dragonpit meeting and the Army of the Dead breaching the Wall.
In 8x6 (whatever it's called), I think we'll get Jon's reaction to everything in 'The Bells' and the completion of Daenerys' downfall - that'll be the "big event". Then the Winterfell-based characters will journey to King's Landing to work out what happens next. Sansa, Sam, Bran, Arya, etc. will likely tell Jon to claim the throne but he'll turn it down and hand power to Sansa, or Tyrion, or Bran or something. This'll be a tragic but quiet ending, where we'll essentially pause after the bloodbath that was last week to see where they've ended up and how they can stop it from ever happening again.
