‘Game of Thrones’ Fans Are Bracing for the Worst as ‘The Battle of Winterfell’ Nears

Game of Thrones fans are holding their breath before Sunday’s highly anticipated episode, which centers on the Battle of Winterfell.

The episode is the third of Season 8, meaning the final season will already be halfway over after it airs. It is expected to be around 60 minutes long. Fans apparently only want to hear about the episode in the hours before it airs, as certainly some characters will die.

“No one talk to me about anything but the Battle of Winterfell today unless [you] wanna catch a dragonglass dagger to the windpipe,” one fan wrote.

“I want to say.. Happy Battle of Winterfell Day. But. I’m not happy at all about it.. I’ve never been so nervous/anxious for any fictional thing in my life. I don’t know what to do until 9 p.m.,” another wrote. “Laugh, Cry, Smile, Hug anyone I see.etc. My heart can’t take this episode.”

“This has been the hardest and longest week ever. First I’ve had so many exams. Avengers: Endgame emotionally drained me and now more of my favourite characters are going to die in the Battle of Winterfell,” another fan added.

In last week’s episode, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” many of the show’s main characters spent the night before the big battle in Winterfell together. Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) made sure she had sex for the first time, while Brienne (Gwendoline Christie) became the first female knight in Westeros. In the last scene, Jon Snow (Kit Harington) told Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) that she is his aunt, and he has a real claim to the Iron Throne.

While fans are understandably scared about who will die Sunday, actors Richard Dormer, who plays Beric Dondarrion, and Kristofer Jivju, who stars as Tormund Giantsbane, are not worried.

“Tormund has been focused on the dead since he was a child and old enough to hear the stories,” Hivju told TVLine. “He’s grown up as a warrior… His life is fighting, and I think that gives him a kick, and he loves fighting because it’s part of his DNA.”

“He’s ready,” Dormer said of his character, who has already died and come back to life in the past. “If it happens to him and he goes and finally meets the Red God, he’ll have a smile on his face, because he’ll know that he’s fulfilled his purpose.”

“[Beric and Tormund] have no interest in the throne,” Hivju added. “We just want the good to prevail, that’s all… I don’t think Tormund has a belief in iron chairs or power. He believes in freedom.”

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

Photo credit: Helen Sloan/HBO