'Game of Thrones' winner? Iron Throne odds after season 7
Bets are being placed on who will win in the end, and the top 10 contenders may surprise you.
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The odds-on favorite for the Iron Throne ... for now.
Warning: Minor spoilers ahead if you aren't caught up with the HBO series.
After Sunday's game-changing "Game of Thrones" season 7 finale, the odds shifted on who will be last to sit on the Iron Throne whenever the series wraps up with its final season.
Malta-based sports betting site sportingbet is also taking bets on who will come to rule Westeros. I took a look at where the odds stood before Sunday night's barrier-breaking episode and afterward on Monday morning.
As it stands now, the oddsmaker figures Jon Snow still has the best chance of emerging victorious in the end. Considering his, uh, complicated relationship with Dragon Mother Daenerys Targaryen, it will be interesting to see how that conclusion might actually play out.
Dany herself currently has the second best odds of outlasting her enemies, including Cersei Lannister, who is third most likely to be in power at the end of the show, according to the betting site. In fact, Cersei's odds improved pretty significantly after her sneaky moves in Sunday's finale.
The darkest timeline in which the Night King conquers the land of the living held steady Monday with the fourth best odds, while the mending of an apparent rift between Sansa Stark and her little ninja-like sister Arya meant the elder Stark leapfrogged her sibling in the odds to sit at fifth most likely to rule all.
Arya slipped to the eighth position on the list, below Tyrion Lannister and Gendry. Her brother Bran is now ninth most likely to win the Game of Thrones, followed by Samwell Tarly, who rounds out the top 10.
Weirdly, long dead Ned Stark is a 100 to 1 bet to return and sit upon the throne, which is certainly a long shot, but still somehow 10 times more likely than Yara Greyjoy being the final victor. This seems pretty insulting given that although Yara is currently a prisoner, she is at least living somewhere.
I'm not a betting person, but if I were, I think I might like the odds on either the Night King or Tyrion Lannister. In addition to offering a nicer payout, putting the dead in control of the seven kingdoms is a dark twist befitting the series. It also sets everything up nicely for a spin-off sequel in which the shattered remains of humanity must rise again to take back the world.
But if the GoT universe is destined to bend in the direction of justice, the littlest Lannister makes the most compelling winner in the end. Dany and Jon are just too obvious and seem unlikely to make it to the end of the series alive, in my estimation. Oh, and sorry Sansa, but I just don't see it.
What do you think? Tell me who you'd bet on in the comment section or via Twitter @EricCMack.
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