‘Game of Thrones’ should be won by Stark kids

By Sabreena Saleem

Winter is still coming in “Game of Thrones,” but the Starks may be on the come-up in season five, too.

The show is filled with shocking deaths of key characters (warning: Spoilers ahead). Between the deaths of King Joffrey, Tywin Lannister and even Jon Snow’s beloved Ygritte, it seems season four had the most shocking ones, but death isn’t going to stop in season five.

In fact, “people are going to die who don’t die in the books, so even the book readers will be unhappy,” said book series writer George R. R. Martin at the Writers Guild Awards in February, according to Showbiz411.com.

Tension in the fight between the seven kingdoms will also be at an all-time high in season five. HBO’s second official trailer for the season begins with a quote from the relentless underdog Daenerys Targaryen: “Lannister, Baratheon, Stark, Tyrell — they’re all just spokes on a wheel. This one’s on top, then that one’s on top; and on and on it spins, crushing those on the ground. I’m not going to stop the wheel. I’m going to break the wheel.”

Whether Targaryen will actually break the wheel is up in the air as an even younger set of underdogs make big leaps in the end of season four. The once passive Sansa Stark gets a dark, sinister makeover with a little help from Petyr Baelish, who got rid of her pesky, evil aunt Lysa Arryn.

Even little Arya Stark becomes a cold-blooded killer, shoving her sword through a man’s throat and leaving the Hound to die slowly and painfully. It’s possible that despite the deaths of their parents and brother, the Stark children will climb their ways to the top.

It’ll take a lot of action from the Stark sisters if this is to happen, considering their prophecy-dreaming brother Bran won’t appear in season five at all.

The Lannisters are more divided than ever at the end of season four, and it will be interesting to see how they operate in season five with Tywin’s death, Tyrion’s escape and the Tyrells’ infiltration into the family.

Margaery Tyrell already likely has King Tommen Baratheon wrapped around her finger and Jaime Lannister has sort of softened since his return home (besides his awkward sex scene with his sister, Cersei, in front of Joffrey’s open casket).

Season five won’t just kill off key characters and resume the tension between the kingdoms; new characters like the Sand Snakes will be introduced. Oberyn Martell’s death was shocking as he was seconds away from winning the fight for Tyrion’s life, but it’s not surprising he trained his illegitimate daughters, the Sand Snakes, to fight.

Though rooting for Targaryen is the obvious choice, I can’t help but hope the Stark kids take everyone down in season five.