For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails
There were plenty of reunions in episode two of Game of Thrones
Many had been wondering what happened to Jon Snow's direwolf, Ghost , who didn't appear in season 7 and was barely seen in season 6, although he made a brief appearance when Jon came back to life.
When he didn't show up in the first episode of season 8, fans began to worry. However, they should have been reassured by a Huffington Post
Show all 7 1 /7The Iron Throne contenders – Game of Thrones The Iron Throne contenders – Game of Thrones Jon Snow The big reveal of Game of Thrones’ penultimate season (a twist that fan communities had seen coming from before the television adaptation even aired) was the truth of Jon Snow’s parentage, namely that he is not the bastard son of Ned Stark but the legitimate spawn of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryan. Whilst most viewers were preoccupied with the ickiness of this revelation being juxtaposed against the image of him rolling around in bed with Daenerys (now revealed to be his aunt), the fact is that he now has the most legitimate claim to the Iron Throne. Certainly he has a better claim than his dad’s sister, to whom he’s just sworn fealty (not to mention done things that would make the Pitcairn Islanders blush). Jon’s biggest issue is that he still doesn’t know how hot his stock is, and the only two characters who do are his pal Sam Tarly and his irritating younger brother Bran. Can such an undynamic duo get this crucial information to Jon before it’s too late?
HBO
The Iron Throne contenders – Game of Thrones Daenerys Targaryan Up until the end of the last series (and provided you hadn’t been reading any fan theories) it seemed like Daenerys was fated to end up ruling the Seven Kingdoms. George R. R. Martin’s series is, after all, called A Song of Ice and Fire, and where the chilly element of that could apply equally to Jon Snow or the horde of frigid zombies, it’s long been apparent that Dany brings the titular heat. She spent a frustrating amount of time in Essos, honing her military and governance skills (both of which seem to rely on oppressive use of dragon fire) and arrived in Westeros on a seemingly unstoppable quest for the crown. Her claim has been weakened by the discovery that her nephew Jon is the true Targaryen heir, but it’s also quite clear that she wears the dragon-riding slacks in their relationship.
HBO
The Iron Throne contenders – Game of Thrones Cersei Lannister Cersei is the only villain to survive from episode one to the final season, so credit to her for that. She has already lost her more pragmatic siblings – Tyrion and Jaime – to the anti-apocalypse cause, and her plan for the endgame seems to involve double-crossing the alliance heading to deal with the zombie threat. It simply cannot end well for her, because any damage wrought against the Targaryens will only pave the way for the Night King’s army, and he’s not a man(?) who looks like he’d care much about the Lannisters’ credit rating. Truly the Cnut of the series, she’s already on borrowed time.
HBO
The Iron Throne contenders – Game of Thrones Arya Stark/Sansa Stark/Bran Stark The survival of the younger Stark children makes you feel all the more sorry for poor Rickon (why oh why didn’t he zigzag?!), who suffered the indignity of never even getting to be a real character before he was dispatched. The reality is that none of the Starks really fancy taking the crown and moving to King’s Landing. They love the North, where you get to wear long fur coats and growl ominous warnings at soft southerners. The best case scenario for Bran is that he gets to live in a castle, not a tree (or the Night King’s body, see fan theories for further details), and, for Sansa, that bizarrely coveted wardenship of the North looks increasingly like it has her name on it. Arya is something of an agent of chaos, and it’s hard to know what, undoubtedly pivotal, role she will yet play, but – and do prove me wrong Arya – it’s hard to see her chatting finance with the Small Council.
HBO
The Iron Throne contenders – Game of Thrones The Night King Could the Night King be the strong leader that Westeros so desperately needs? It would be fitting for a series that has so willingly taken beloved characters and decapitated them/stabbed them in the heart/slit their throat, to go out with the nihilistic bang of the Night King, astride undead Viserion, perched on the Red Keep. He’s the man to watch if the showrunners decide that they want to go full metaphor.
HBO
The Iron Throne contenders – Game of Thrones Dark Horses There are some characters – Varys, Jorah, Theon and Yara Greyjoy – who will probably play a significant role in the climactic drama, but without any chance of ending up in the hot seat. A better bet might be Gendry, aka the hot ironmonger from Skins, who has the strongest Baratheon claim to the throne. Other major characters like Brienne, Bronn, Davos and Grey Worm will be knocking about (provided they’re given the screentime in this truncated series) but are subjects, not rulers. Euron Greyjoy has to meet a sticky end at some point, because he’s fully evil and also very misjudged as a character. My outside bet, for the connoisseurs, is Beric Dondarrion, the priest of the Lord of Light, who has seemingly survived the breach of the wall at Eastwatch and whose ability to both conjure fire and come back from the dead might be quite useful against the ice zombies.
The Iron Throne contenders – Game of Thrones Verdict Unless they pull off in a wild, unexpected direction – and full credit if they do – it’s going to be Jon and Dany ruling together, and the final shot of the series will, mark my words, be a slow track backwards through the throne room, showing the newly married couple, side-by-side, in a slightly less uncomfortable pair of matching thrones. Incest apologism at its most heart-warming.
For my own part, I’d like to see a Ministry of All the Talents in King’s Landing, with Arya bossing the Kingsguard, Yara on naval duty, Davos in charge of law and order (justice, Flea Bottom style), Bronn overseeing the treasury (who better than a sellsword?), and Varys back as spymaster. If Robert, Joffrey and Tommen – the Baratheon kings – have taught us anything, it’s that it’s possible to be in office but not in power. When the ice thaws, I hope to see Game of Thrones’ multifaceted characters given their dues – if they make it out alive, that is.
Home Box Office
It was something of an anti-climax, but Ghost does finally appear in episode 2, where he is spotted standing patiently by Jon's side during a conversation with Samwell Tarly and Dolorous Edd on the walls of Winterfell.
Bauer previously explained the absence of the direwolves as to do with the difficulty of bringing them to life on screen. The process involves filming real wolves and scaling them up, but they can “only behave in certain ways.”
“I think that has something to do with why the direwolves are in the show, but they’re not maybe as integral as they are in the books,” Bauer said at the time.“He [Ghost] has a fair amount of screen time in Season 8,” Bauer told us.
With the White Walkers arrived for battle, Ghost is likely to get some more action in the third episode.
The show will be available on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV in the UK .
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies