‘Game of Thrones’ Algorithm Predicts Who Will Most Likely Die in Final Season

A team of Game of Thrones fans have developed an algorithm to try and predict which characters will die in the show’s final Season 8.

Warning! Spoilers for Game of Thrones lie ahead!

Game of Thrones has made its mark on pop culture with merciless and unpredictable character deaths. That has not stopped fans from trying, however, and with the final season now upon us speculation is at an all time high. According to a report by The Verge, a team of analysts at Technical University of Munich have gone above and beyond with an algorithm that they hope can predict which characters will die in the wars to come.

The TUM team has employed machine learning coupled with basic data science to make their predictions, which are whittled down to the decimal point. The character their program says is most likely to die is the beloved sell-sword Bronn, who was given a 93.5-percent chance of death. Meanwhile, the character deemed most likely to survive is the Dragon Queen, Daenerys Targaryen, with a slim 0.9-percent chance of death.

The scientists gathered their data from fan-maintained wiki sites, inputing information on hundreds of characters’ houses, allegiances and locations. The program also takes into account the characters’ importance in the story and how often they are seen, perhaps indicating whether the show would bother killing them off or not.

Their findings may have revealed some surprising biases in the series. For example, men are far more likely to die in Westeros than women, which makes sense given their increased participation in battle. Characters in House Baratheon are slightly more likely to die than average, while characters in House Lannister, surprisingly, are 45-percent more likely to survive.

All of the data and methods are published on the team’s website for free perusal. It is worth noting that their methods have worked out pretty well in the past. They used a similar model in 2016, and three out of their five characters deemed most likely to die in Season 6 did so. However, the other two — Daenerys and Ser Davos — have gone on to thrive.

Meanwhile, the highlights for this season are pretty disconcerting. The algorithm states that some fan favorites are likely to die, including Ser Gregor “The Hound” Clegane (80.3-percent), Sansa Stark (73.3-percent) and Bran Stark (57.8 percent). Projected survivors include characters who abstain from battle, such as Lord Varys (3.2-percent) and Samwell Tarly (3.3-percent).

Game of Thrones airs on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.