5 Big Things We Already Know About the Eventual End of Game of Thrones

Speaking at the Oxford Union last year, showrunner David Benioff discussed how George R.R. Martin is on board with the direction they're heading. "Luckily, we've been talking about this with George [R.R. Martin] for a long time," he said. "We know where things are heading. So, we'll eventually meet up at pretty much the same place where George is going. There might be a few deviations along the route, but we're heading towards the same destination."

For any viewers who read the books, Benioff told The Hollywood Reporter that they don't need to be worried about having things spoiled for them. "The show has diverged from the books quite dramatically by this point, but it's still George's world: The characters he's dreamt up in the world he created," he said. "At this point, given the fact that we're outpacing the novels, we all see the upside in the divergence: book readers won't be spoiled by what's to come on the show, and the show audience won't have to worry about spoilers from the unpublished books. And we're very happy that the show has led so many people to discover George's amazing books."

Game of Thrones has never been a show to have enormous, 20-plus-episode seasons, but it seems like the final two seasons might be even shorter than anyone previously imagined. "We've known for several years now how many hours, roughly, we want it to go," Benioff told EW earlier this April. "It hasn't changed." Benioff further revealed that the number of hours is 73, meaning the seventh season will have seven episodes and the eighth will have six. In other words, if this plan goes through, season six will be the last season of the show that has 10 episodes.

After seeing main characters like Ned and Robb Stark get brutally murdered in the first few seasons, Game of Thrones established early on that no character — no matter how beloved — is immune from the chopping block (although Martin's wife supposedly threatened to divorce him if he ever killed Arya, so she might be safe).

"Central heroes don't have any particular claim on immortality. In fact, we could argue that the notion of 'central heroes' is one of the fantasy tropes that George's books have so brilliantly exploded," showrunner D.B. Weiss told THR when speaking about which characters will make it to the conclusion of the series. "In traditional fantasy, when the forces of darkness are arrayed against the armies of light, everyone knows who's going to win. And that's one of the elements that bored us about traditional fantasy: the predictability of it."

Of all the Game of Thrones theories, perhaps the most enduring and hotly debated are as follows:

• Is Tyrion a Targaryen? It's been long speculated that Tyrion Lannister is actually a member of the Targaryen family, with reasons ranging from the possibility that he's the product of The Mad King Aerys II's rape of his mother, to the uncharacteristically light color of his hair. The show seemed to drop a big hint in the second episode when they showed Tyrion taming Dany's dragons, which no one other than a Targaryen should be able to do.
• Who is "The Prince That Was Promised"? The popular myth basically states that someone will be reincarnated as a long-dead hero figure named Azor Ahai, and will vanquish the White Walkers. Some people think it's Daenerys, while others have their money on Jon Snow.
• Who are Jon Snow's real parents? Yes, it looks like the "R + L = J" theory is going to be answered, meaning we'll finally know whether or not Jon is the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, who supposedly died giving birth to him. Nothing has been confirmed just yet, but in the scene where Bran and the Three Eyed Raven warg back to the Tower of Joy and see a young Ned Stark fighting Ser Arthur Dayne, a woman's screams can be heard coming from the tower behind them. The scene ends without giving us an answer, but we'd be willing to bet Lyanna is the one screaming out in pain while in the midst of childbirth.

So far, season six has set up all three of these theories to be answered over the course of the final two seasons, which will give fans the closure they deserve.

In an interview with the New York Observer in August 2015, Martin shed some light on how he plans to end the books, and since he and the showrunners seem to be on the same page, you can expect the ending of the show to have a similar tone:

"I haven't written the ending yet, so I don't know, but no. That's certainly not my intent. I've said before that the tone of the ending that I'm going for is bittersweet. I mean, it's no secret that Tolkien has been a huge influence on me, and I love the way he ended Lord of the Rings. It ends with victory, but it's a bittersweet victory. Frodo is never whole again, and he goes away to the Undying Lands, and the other people live their lives. And the scouring of the Shire — brilliant piece of work, which I didn't understand when I was 13 years old: 'Why is this here? The story's over?' But every time I read it I understand the brilliance of that segment more and more. All I can say is that's the kind of tone I will be aiming for. Whether I achieve it or not, that will be up to people like you and my readers to judge."