Science has bad news for the Cersei-haters who want to see her off the Iron Throne.
Slaughter at weddings, crossbow bolts in the privy, skulls crushed by giant hands — we’re well aware by now that no one is safe on Game Of Thrones. While that will likely stay true until the very end, an Australian medical journal has published research on the factors that influence how those left alive have made it so far.
The Guardian reported that researchers conducted a study based on the causes of the 186 deaths the show has racked up in seven seasons. The findings, published in the journal Injury Epidemiology, found that “characters with the greatest chance of survival were prominent characters who had switched allegiance at least once, with lesser determining factors being that both female characters and characters that were highborn tended to live longer.”
The study’s co-author Reidar Lystad, a research fellow with the Australian Institute of Health Innovation at Macquarie University in Sydney, says that even applies to Sansa and Arya Stark, but the article notes that “some fans would object to the suggestion Arya ever truly switched allegiances.”
The article also notes that Cersei Lannister is in the best position to survive the series, given her ironclad devotion to her own House (make of that what you will). Daenerys has not switched allegiances and therefore stands a higher likelihood of dying in season eight, and “Jon Snow switched allegiances to Daenerys in season seven, slightly reducing his chance of dying, although he has already died once. Bran Stark could be said to have switched allegiances to become the Three-Eyed Raven. Jaime Lannister, last seen abandoning his sister/lover and riding north, could also see his chances of survival going up, and Tyrion Lannister was already a turncoat.”
Of those deaths, 63 percent were caused by assault, 24.4 by operations of war, 11.8 by burns, and 4.8 by poisoning. Only one is listed to have died in a “sports and athletics arena” or of a “crushing injury of head” (RIP Oberyn). The longest surviving characters, they found, are Jon Snow and Bran Stark, who have been alive for 57 hours and 15 minutes total. The methodology for the entire study is an intriguing read, so if you have 10 minutes to spare, I’d recommend reading the whole article.
Elsewhere on the internet, Gwendoline Christie (Brienne) advised us of something that we’ve long suspected: that we’re all “going to need therapy” after the series ends.
Christie talked with E! News at the recent premiere of her new film, Welcome to Marwen, telling E’s Erin Lim that “I think just the show ending is going to send all of the world into professional help.”
“I think it’s going to make me incredibly emotional,” she said. “We’re all emotional about the fact that this is the end, and this is the end of something incredibly significant for all of us, and it’s been a truly incredible thing to be a part of.”
