Tonight, it’s the Battle of Winterfell on Game of Thrones. The third season of the eighth and final season will see the Night King and his Army of the Dead arrive and with war inevitable, fans have major concerns that their favorite characters will meet their end tonight — including fan-favorite Wilding Tormund Giantsbane.
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Now, as fans of HBO’s fantasy epic series know all too well, no character is ever really safe on Game of Thrones. Over the course of the series’ previous seven seasons beloved characters have met grim fates, even those that one would expect to be “safe” in more traditional stories — Ned Stark, for instance. When it comes to Tormund, fans have already experienced, in part, the fear of loss for the character. When the wall collapsed in Season 7 of the series, fans feared that Tormund had perished. He, along with Beric Dondarrion and others, were revealed to have survived in the Season 8 premiere.
So, Tormund having already survived is a good sign, right? Fans really shouldn’t bet on it. While there are characters whose deaths would have major narrative impact should they perish tonight — such as Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, or even Sansa Stark — there are more whose deaths would have an emotional price for fans but would otherwise be largely inconsequential As we’ve noted in our speculation of who dies in tonight’s episode ahead of its debut, characters like Dolorous Edd, Beric, and Tormund have never really had major arcs on Game of Thrones. It’s a position that makes them somewhat easily expendable in battle from a story standpoint but would still be significant enough for viewers.
Of course, that logic also keeps them in a position where sparing them in tonight’s Battle of Winter fell would allow them to be killed off in any of the remaining three episodes.
Even with that in mind, if Tormund does meet his end tonight, he’s not afraid of it. Kristofer Hivju told TVLine recently that Tormund is focus on the battle ahead and death is a natural consequence of battle. Fear of it won’t prevent him from fighting.
“Tormund has been focused on the dead since he was a child and old enough to hear the stories,” Hivju said. “He’s grown up as a warrior… His life is fighting, and I think that gives him a kick, and he loves fighting because it’s part of his DNA.
Let’s hear from you: do you think Tormund will meet his end tonight on Game of Thrones? Let us know in the comments below.
Game of Thrones airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.
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