Please be aware that this article contains hints and potential spoilers for the final season of HBO’s Game of Thrones. You have been warned.

The final season of Game of Thrones is almost upon us and, if you hadn’t guessed already, we here at Stylist are very excited about it. Because, as the HBO series has now leapt ahead of George R R Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels (upon which the show is based), we’re now in unknown territory – and pretty much anything can happen.

More important, though, is the fact that pretty much any of our favourite characters – be it Jon Snow (Kit Harington), Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen), Ser Davos Seaworth (Liam Cunningham), Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie), Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage), Samwell Tarly (John Bradley), Gendry *cough* Baratheon (Joe Dempsie), Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). Sansa (Sophie Turner), Arya (Maisie Williams) or Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) – could be killed off at any moment. After all, this is the endgame, people! Nobody is safe from the Night King (Vladimir Furdik) and his army of White Walkers, let alone all the other bloodthirsty living folks of Westeros.

Of course, we already know that Jon almost definitely survives until the final episode, thanks to the less-than-subtle comments made by Harington during a recent interview with Variety.

“I was there the whole time this year,” he said, clearly in a ‘spoilers be damned’ kind of mood. “I felt a bit like people were coming in and out, and Jon Snow was just fucking there the whole time”

Daenerys, likewise, probably makes it through to the very end, as Clarke recently admitted that she “cried like a baby on the last day”.

And, while Coster-Waldau has been a little more cryptic when discussing what’s coming for Jaime Lannister in the final season of GOT, his comments have still given us plenty of food for thought.

“I am proud to have been on a show that has had this kind of impact and success,” Coster-Waldau told Star 2. “And relief that it has come to an end in the way that (showrunners) David Benioff and DB Weiss had wanted it to.”

He continued: “I find Jaime so interesting. The core of this guy is that he does what he does in the name of love. He’s a complex guy… [and] that’s the key to Game Of Thrones, the characters are never just black and white. Even though his story is set in this fantastical world and his circumstances are extreme, he is relatable.”

The actor mentioned his final scene without spoiling what actually happens: “I had a great last scene. It was absolutely beautiful. It was the perfect way to end.” However, he did say the scene was towards the end, which means we’ll see plenty of Jaime in the upcoming season.

“Obviously I can’t tell you what the scene was. It wasn’t the final scene (of the series), but it was close to the end, and it was shot at a beautiful location,” the actor said, revealing that other cast members finished their filming for season 8 before him. “At this point, I had seen quite a lot of colleagues wrap, so I had seen a lot of tears, beautiful speeches, and I knew what to expect.”

Let’s break this down, shall we? Colder-Wastau has spent much of his time filming in Northern Ireland (for Winterfell) and Croatia (for King’s Landing), both of which are, admittedly, very beautiful – but he’s seen them before.

We have a feeling that the beautiful location he speaks of, then, is in fact Iceland – which is used for scenes set Beyond the Wall and, now, in Northern Westeros due to the fact that winter isn’t just coming, it’s well and truly here.

This makes perfect sense: when we last saw Jaime, he had turned his back on his sister/lover Cersei and ridden northwards, to offer his aid to Daenerys and Jon in the battle against the Night King. And, keen to find redemption and prove himself the man of honour Brienne believes him to be, we have a feeling that he may prove to be the hero who takes the Night King down… albeit sacrificing his own life in the process. (Which is a bit of a bummer, for all those who believe him to be in love with Brienne and destined to marry her come the end of the series.)

This theory is backed by the fact that, for as long as we can remember, we have been told that Jaime Lannister is the Kingslayer. We also know that our flaxen-haired knight is equipped with Widow’s Wail, a Valyrian steel sword that he took from Joffrey after his death.

Why is this important? Well, Valyrian steel is one of the few things that can actually kill a White Walker, putting Jaime in a very good position to be the one who puts an end to the Night King and his reign of terror. So maybe that nickname of ‘Kingslayer’ has been a big endgame hint all along? After all, Jaime killed one fire king and was dishonoured.

Wouldn’t it be beautifully poetic if his arc concluded with him sacrificing himself to take down an ice king, and finally earn the redemption he so desperately craves?

Exactly. Roll on season eight, already!

Image: HBO