Game of Thrones Death Pools Spring Into Life as Army of the Dead Descends on Winterfell

Posted on: April 23, 2019, 12:54h. 

Last updated on: April 23, 2019, 12:55h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More

Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.

Game of Thrones Season 8, episode 2 ended on Sunday night with [spoiler alert] more than half the cast who haven’t yet been killed off trapped in Winterfell as the Night King and his remorseless Army of the Dead prepared to swarm the fortress.

Suddenly, for lovers of betting action, the Game of Thrones Death Pools have become pretty interesting. These are the popular betting markets bookmakers offer on which character is going to die next — and episode 3 promises to be gory.

We can expect many of our favorite characters to die next week — if not all of them. We know this because we were reminded of it constantly by the characters themselves throughout episode 2.

‘We’re All Going to Die!’

“This is different, this is death,” explains Podrick of the Army of the Dead early on. Arya puts on a brave face on it, but later admits to Gendry, “We’re probably going to die soon,” and so she may as well lose her virginity.

Gendry just happens to be in the right place at the right time.

But wait, at least there’s a battle plan: Kill the Night King and his remorseless wights will probably just evaporate into thin air. Maybe. We can even use Bran as bait.

Bran is up for it.

Later, he tells us a strange story about breastfeeding.

“Last man left, burn the rest of us,” says Eddison Tollet in a rare moment of levity.

Place Your Bets

Outside, on the battlements, Tyrion and Jaime are shooting the breeze: “So, we’re going to die at Winterfell,” muses Tyrion to his brother, relishing the delicious irony.

Later, gazing into a roaring hearth, Tyrion tells Jaime he’d like to see the look on their father’s face if he knew his sons were going to “die defending Winterfell.” More irony relished.

Enter Brienne and Gendry: “We didn’t mean to interrupt,” says Brienne, “we were just looking for somewhere warm to –”

“Contemplate your imminent death? You’ve come to the right place,” interjects Tyrion, without missing a beat.

Enter Davos: “Figured I could wait to die freezing my balls off out there or wait to die nice and warm in here,” he says. No contest, really, Davos.

“At least we’ll die with honor,” says Brienne later.

“I think we might live,” says Tyrion, suddenly.

Everybody laughs.

Curtains for Ser Brienne?

Bloodbath it is then. But who’s going first?

Well, for a start, the bookies don’t think it’s the Night King, which means the battle plan is expected to fail.

Jaime Lannister is the favorite with many bookmakers, possibly because he is not only facing an army of undead but he’s also on Arya’s kill list — and Cersei’s.

But for us, it’s just got to be curtains for Brienne. At the end of the last episode she became a knight, fulfilling her life’s dream, and you don’t get happy endings in Game of Thrones. You just don’t.

Brienne is 2/1 to be the first main character to die (albeit with honor) in episode 3.