The Only 5 Game of Thrones Characters Who Will Survive The Winds of Winter

George R.R. Martin built his whole saga on the premise that anyone can eat it at any time. We learned that the hard way (hi, Ned; hi, Red Wedding; hi, Oberyn; bye, Lysa), across the five books we actually have in our hands. With The Winds of Winter set up as the penultimate book, it would make sense for Martin to start condensing storylines and, yeah, thinning the herd. But not everybody is on the chopping block. In fact, five characters look as close to safe as you get in Westeros, and it goes back to something Martin laid out decades ago.

"Five central characters will make it through all three volumes, however, growing from children to adults and changing the world and themselves in the process... In a sense, my trilogy is almost a generational saga, telling the life stories of these five characters, three men and two women."

That was 1993. Since then, the "trilogy" became a planned seven-book series, the scope exploded, and the TV show did its own thing. But by all reasonable reads, those original five are still the ones Martin intends to carry through The Winds of Winter and into most of A Dream of Spring. Maybe not to the literal last page, but far enough that betting against them now would be silly.

So who actually feels safe in Winds?

1. Jon Snow

   Can you die when you are already dead? The Greyjoys would say no. Jon was stabbed by his Night's Watch brothers at the end of A Dance with Dragons (yep, same cliffhanger the show used to cap Season 5), and it has been a very long wait. Like on TV, the 'does he come back' question is not really a question. The 'how' and 'when' are the interesting parts.

   The prevailing theory: Jon wargs into Ghost in that final heartbeat, and we spend a chunk of Winds with Jon-as-Ghost before he returns to his body. After that? He has to address the Watch mutiny, pay attention to whatever is going down at Winterfell, and still keep the real threat from the far North in mind. The books are also clearly steering toward the reveal of his parentage (Rhaegar Targaryen + Lyanna Stark), which only gets more relevant as the endgame snaps into place.

   As the series narrows to its climax, Jon is basically the main character already. Winds should dig into the cost of dying-and-coming-back and how it changes him. Killing him again would be pointlessly perverse at this stage and makes zero narrative sense.

2. Arya Stark

   For Arya to die, Arya has to be Arya again first. At the start of Winds she is Mercy, still in Braavos, performing in a play that satirizes recent Westerosi history. In the Mercy preview chapter, she spots Raff the Sweetling (one of the Mountain's goons who murdered her friend Lommy of "what the f**k's a Lommy?" fame ) and later kills him. So yes, the vengeance list still has a pulse, even while she is wrestling with the whole 'no one' identity crisis.

   Expect her to reclaim the name Arya Stark and head back to Westeros by the end of the book. The path back will not mirror the show: her ongoing wolf dreams and the specifics of her Faceless Men training set her up as one of Winds' most compelling POVs.

3. Bran Stark

   Believe it or not, the show crowning Bran came straight from Martin. The route there will be different in the books, but the destination is his. Which means one crucial thing for Winds: Bran lives.

   Do not expect him ruling anything yet. Winds should stay focused on his education as the next Three-Eyed Crow (the show rebranded it as the Three-Eyed Raven, a tiny but very nerd-corner distinction), pushing deeper into weirwood visions, clarifying what his powers can and cannot do, and dropping more history breadcrumbs. All of that groundwork is what will make his eventual kingship feel earned on the page.

4. Tyrion Lannister

   Martin has said Tyrion does not get a "happy ending," which opens a lot of doors, including an early grave in the final act. But not yet. In Winds, Tyrion still has major beats to hit: finally aligning with Daenerys and making his way back to Westeros at her side.

   The version of Tyrion on the page is darker than the TV cut at the same point: more bitter, angrier, more willing to entertain ugly options. The show had him pleading for restraint in Season 8 as Dany moved on King's Landing; the books could just as easily see him nudging her toward her worst impulses. He makes it through Winds, but he is absolutely counting other people's deaths along the way, family included.

5. Daenerys Targaryen

   There is a very real chance Dany does not live to see the final curtain of the series. Maybe Jon kills her, maybe someone else does the deed. But she is not dying in The Winds of Winter. She is too central, second only to Jon in terms of narrative weight, and the story still needs her for the war against the Others and whatever comes after.

   Where Winds likely takes her is pretty straightforward in broad strokes. She ends A Dance with Dragons in the Dothraki Sea, found by Khal Jhaqo and his khalasar. From there, she needs to get back to Meereen, settle the mess she left behind, and then, finally, sail for Westeros. If there is space in Winds, brace for some family drama on arrival: it is entirely possible another Targaryen beats her to the Iron Throne, namely her nephew Aegon (not Jon; the firstborn son of Rhaegar, presented as still alive and aiming for the crown). If a Targaryen is going to die in Winds, the smart money is on him, not her.

The fine print

None of this means Martin cannot zag at the buzzer, but the old outline, the current trajectories, and the moving pieces all point the same way: these five are built to survive Winds and do the heavy lifting into the final book. Everyone else? Maybe do not get too attached.