Games Of Thrones Season 4 Finale Spoilers: Who Dies?

Game of Thrones is a television series notorious for showing no mercy to its characters. Fan favorites fall with frequency, as they do in the books that inspired the series, and no apology is given. This season's finale will have its fair share of fatalities as well. If you want to get a sense of what tonight's body count will look like, then read on and we'll inform you of any impending doom that we are aware of. It should be obvious, but SPOILERS follow.

Sandor "The Hound" Clegane

Of all the character deaths on this list, this is the one that has been the most foreshadowed in previous episodes. In the seventh episode of the season, "Mockingbird," The Hound received a nasty bite wound from Biter. Arya offered to sterilize it with fire, but the Hound is not fond of flame and stubbornly refused. The wound's infection is finally going to get the better of him, sending him tumbling down a hill if the episode's preview video is anything to go by.

However, if the scene plays out like it does in the books, we won't be 100 per cent sure that Sandor is dead. Remember that scene in "Mockingbird," before the Hound got bit, where Sandor and Arya discuss death with a dying man and then give him the "gift" of a quick one? Once the Hound realizes he's done for, he's going to ask Arya for that same gift, but she will refuse. Instead, she leaves him on the side of the road to die slowly, meaning we don't actually see him die. Most fans of the books have accepted that the Hound is dead, but some believe he may have survived somehow.

Gregor "The Mountain That Rides" Clegane

I might be jumping the gun on this one. It's possible that Gregor Clegane will simply be dying at the end of the season rather than dead. Though Gregor won his combat with Oberyn Martell, Martell was called the "Red Viper of Dorne" because of his knowledge of poisons. He coated his spear with an incredibly potent poison before he went into battle with Gregor. The poison is slow working, so it takes some time to finally end the Mountain's life.

Whether it's this season or the next, death won't be the end of Gregor Clegane. Cersei will send Qyburn to work on the Mountain. Turns out Qyburn has some skill in necromancy, and a new champion for Cersei will be created.

Tywin Lannister

Not the Lannister you were led to believe would be dying in this episode, is it? It turns out that Tyrion has more allies in King's Landing than he realizes and he will manage to escape from his cell before his death sentence can be executed. Armed with a crossbow, he makes his way through secret passageways until he ends up in the Tower of the Hand. When he finds his father sitting in the privy, Tyrion realizes he finally has an opportunity for the revenge he's always wanted and he takes it. It's an undignified end for such a dignified man as Tywin Lannister.

Shae

Tywin isn't the only person that Tyrion finds in the Hand's quarters. A survey of the apartment reveals Shae in Tywin's bed, wearing a gold chain around her neck. Tyrion is so infuriated by this turn of events that he strangles his former lover to death. It's a grisly end and marks a point of no return for Tyrion.

Balon Greyjoy

The Ironborn haven't really done much this season, and I'm not entirely sure that this death will happen this season either, or even at all. In the books, Balon Greyjoy is blown to his death by a strong gust of wind while he is walking across a bridge during a storm (though many fans theorize it was actually a Faceless Man who killed him). What results is a struggle for the Seastone Chair between Yara (Asha in the books) and Balon's brothers, Victarion and Euron. I'm skeptical about whether or not this storyline will come to pass mostly because a key character, the Damphair, still hasn't been introduced and is key in setting this whole plot up. Of course, the Ironborn get a lot more of the spotlight in the books following A Storm of Swords, so it's possible that Balon will fall in this episode and his three brothers , the third being the Damphair, will be introduced in Season 5.

The Game of Thrones Season 4 finale, "The Children," airs Sunday, June 15 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO.