Saturday open thread: What is going to happen in the Game of Thrones finale?

The Detroit Tigers are on an ugly five-game winning streak right now, and I don’t really feel like talking about them today. I’m sure many of you feel the same way, though we certainly appreciate those of you that stop in here each and every day. With the Tigers in some kind of rut right now, and a certain other big event happening this weekend, we thought we would shift our weekend open thread a bit.

For those who don’t watch Game of Thrones, or who are not caught up to the current episode yet, this is your spoiler warning. We won’t publish anything specific to the last episode in this article, but rest assured, there will be spoilers in the comments. You have roughly 36 hours to get caught up.

Here’s today’s Question of the Day:

What is going to happen in the Game of Thrones finale?

Before my answer, a quick disclaimer: There are apparently leaks of the plot available elsewhere on the internet. Whether they are accurate or not, please do not share them — links, quotes, or anything else — in this thread. Any such comments will be deleted.

My answer: I’ll admit, I’m stealing this one from the great minds at The Ringer. Instead of one person claiming the Iron Throne at the end of the episode, there will be a council of sorts to rule the Seven Kingdoms.

At several points in Westerosi history when the Targaryen succession was not clear, a Great Council of lords assembled to determine who would get the throne. If Daenerys dies and Jon abdicates, it will be the messiest succession crisis in history. Perhaps a council will come together again, only this time not to choose who wears the crown, but to share the burden of leadership among a group of people.

How do they get there? Arya takes down Daenerys, but Jon abdicates his throne and leaves for the North. In the resulting mess, those still alive in King’s Landing somehow decide that having a single king or queen maybe isn’t in everyone’s best interest. And Bran’s storyline still somehow goes unresolved.

What do you think?

Note: We’re stealing an idea from our friends at Pride of Detroit. Every day, we will post an open-ended question, along with a quick answer, to spark discussion about the Tigers (or other stuff, who knows where this goes?). We have been blown away by the response to these threads so far, and will keep them going as long as we can continue to think of relevant, thought-provoking questions. Some of them will be off-topic, like this one. Maybe we’ll make that a Saturday thing going forward.