Tyrion Lannister
He probably wouldn’t get to hold on to the throne for good, but as Hand of the Queen to Daenerys, if she and Jon had a kid, and then both died fighting the Night King and/or Cersei, Tyrion would probably become the de-facto ruler of the Seven Kingdoms until their heir comes of age. Alternatively, if the “Tyrion is a bastard Targaryen” fan theory proved true, it would make him a viable candidate for the Iron Throne through the Targaryen claim should Jon and Daenerys both die without issue.
Samwell Tarly
R + L = J has been confirmed, and you’ve heard about the fan theory that Tyrion is secretly a Targaryen bastard, but have you heard the one about Sam the Slayer being the trueborn son of Rhaegar and Elia Martell? So the theory goes that the baby Aegon Targaryen—not Jon, the other one supposedly killed by the Mountain—was secreted out of the Red Keep by Varys, who sent him to the Targaryen’s strongest supporter: Randyll Tarly, the only commander to best Robert Baratheon on the battlefield. As such, his hatred for Sam was not just about his weight or distaste for blood and battle, but the idea that his heir would not be of his own blood. If this theory is true, it would make Sam a major contender for the throne—except for the fact that he’s a sworn brother of the Night’s Watch. Then again, now that there’s a great big hole in the Wall, it’s unclear whether or not those vows are still valid. Assuming they’re not, it’s still hard to imagine Sam going toe-to-toe against his (now literal) brother from another mother Jon Snow, so a world with King Sam is definitely one in which Jon Snow is no longer. And Daenerys certainly wouldn’t sit idly by and let someone else sit on the Iron Throne, so the most feasible scenario goes a little like this: Jon and Daenerys and her dragons defeat the Night King, but die in the process. Everyone is all like “oh no, what do we do?” and then Bran pipes in with that annoying monotone he does now, “but wait, there is another Targaryen,” and drops the Surprise Aegon bomb volume 2. The survivors of the War for the Dawn rally behind Sam before heading south to save the seven kingdoms from Cersei. Westeros crowns its first philosopher king.
Arya Stark
How it would play out: Arya decides she wants the Iron Throne. She waits for the dust to settle and sees who ends up on top, then goes full assassin mode and steals their face. Mission accomplished. The real issue here is that Arya has never displayed even the tiniest bit of interest in the sort of power that comes with a crown, nor the politicking involved. As such, any scenario ending with Arya as queen feels at least a little out of character for her. That said, another even more unlikely scenario that would end with Queen Arya comes to mind: Arya hooks up with her old traveling buddy Gendry, as some fans theorize she might. Jon and Daenerys die, and “King Gendry” plays out more or less as described above, only with Arya along for the ride as his Queen. Remember, we are dabbling here in what is theoretically possible, not most likely. Honestly, even if the two should become romantically involved, one imagines becoming queen would be a dealbreaker for Arya.
Robin Arryn
Of the Great Houses of Westeros, the Tyrells and the Martells are entirely gone, while the Baratheon line hangs on by one baseborn thread and the status of the dispossessed House Tully is unclear following the decimation of House Frey. Should the remaining members of Houses Targaryen, Stark, and Lannister also perish—which is not all that improbable, considering they are all on the frontlines of the battle against the Night King with the exception of Cersei, who is perhaps the most hated woman in Westeros and is definitely not making it out of this whole shebang alive—Robyn Arryn, hidden away in the safety of the Vale, would become a strong contender for the Iron Throne as the lord of arguably the most powerful lineage still left standing, unfortunately for Westeros. At least Joffrey could actually aim his crossbow.
No one
Scenario A: Daenerys wins. Remembers her rallying speech about “breaking the wheel,” and realizes that establishing a new Targaryen dynasty would just be keeping it rolling. Westeros transitions from a monarchy to a Republic. Scenario B: Daenerys dies. Jon Snow dies. Cersei dies. Basically, almost everybody dies. The Great Houses of Westeros go extinct. With no clear candidate for the Iron Throne, the scattered survivors, which lean heavily lowborn—Varys, Davos Seaworth, and so on—band together to construct a new government. Westeros becomes a republic. A singularly ironic end.
Bonus: Lyanna Mormont
The thing is, I can’t think of a scenario in which this would actually happen, it just sounds amazing. If the young Lady of Bear Isle had three dragons and a hankering for the crown, Game of Thrones would be a miniseries, and that’s just a fact.
Related Topics: Game of Thrones, HBO
