Ranking the ‘Game of Thrones’ Characters Most Likely to Kill Daenerys Targaryen

As Game of Thrones races (for better or for worse) to its surely grizzly conclusion, the attention is now solely focused on who is going to be the one to slay the final supervillain in a series with a proven track record of bringing its antagonists to their ultimate demise.

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR ‘GAME OF THRONES’ SEASON 8 WILL FOLLOW AFTER THE GIFs.

4. Drogon

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Maybe Drogon realizes he’s not down with being a terrorist and “accidentally” lets Dany just sliiiideeeee off his back.

(We’re kidding.)

3. Bran Stark

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But given Bran’s more-than-obvious absence in the penultimate episode, he and his mind-bending powers are certainly going to come into play in the finale somehow, and given that Daenerys is now essentially the Night King except alive and extremely attractive, his said powers are likely going to be put towards bringing the Mad Queen’s brief reign to an end.

2. Arya Stark

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Look, YES, Arya was the last character was saw following the destruction of King’s Landing in “The Bells”, riding off into the ashy sunset on a “pale horse”. And yes, Arya may literally be the most dangerous person still walking the Seven Kingdoms. But to give Arya *the* two major kills in the series just seems like a bridge too far.

Don’t get me wrong, she will play a major role in the takedown of the Mad Queen, but Arya finds herself second on this list due to the credentials of the person who claims the top spot.

1. Jon Snow / Aegon Targaryen

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Poor, poor, poor Jon Snow.

My man has lost his father, his mother, his adoptive father, his adoptive mother, his two of his adopted brothers, his girlfriend, and dozens of other close friends and companions. He’s died — finally escaping all the straight-up stress of Westeros — and got “just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in”-d by Melisandre.

And now — as his epic, truly heroic eight-season arc finally comes to an end — it appears as though Jon is going to have to lose yet another person he loves by being the one to kill her himself.

Jon — a man who has been blinded by his commitment to honor and has reminded anyone who will listen that “Daenerys is my Queen” —  is going to have to overcome his clearly misguided commitment to his word and figure out a way to remove his clearly genocidal Queen from power.

But deeper than Jon’s steadfastly foolish commitment to his word is the general title of the source material itself: A Song of Ice and Fire.

A Song of Ice and Fire has been interpreted in a handful of ways throughout the years. There’s the juxtaposition of the fire of the dragon and the ice of the Night King, or the fire of Daenerys and the ice of Jon Snow.

But as we enter the series finale, the artist is formerly known as Jon Snow — aka Aegon Targaryen — has clearly become the embodiment of the song of ice and fire.

Half Stark, half Targaryen, and all decent, Jon Snow has always been the archetypal hero he’s been made out to be, and will now have to fulfill that tragic destiny by bringing down the greatest villain the realm has ever seen and a woman who he thought he once loved.

A Song of Ice and Fire.