Who Will Rule Westeros? Rioters Cast Their Vote

With the final season of Game of Thrones fast approaching, we here at Book Riot are thinking about how far we’ve come since the very beginning. It’s been a long and arduous journey and a damn emotional rollercoaster. Fitting of the fantasy series, we feel like we’ve been put through the ringer, and all we want is to see someone deserving on the Iron Throne at the end of it.

But, also, let’s be real—a lot of our faves are going to end up dead. We gotta make peace with that.

Still, we have loved some of these characters for a very long time, and we’re looking forward to a (hopefully) satisfying ending. Or, you know, the possibility that it’ll all be a dream or they’ll end up in Middle Earth somewhere. Cuz at this point, who really knows.

These are the characters Rioters want to see on the Iron Throne at the very end:

“I know everyone is rooting for Jonerys, but you can’t have Targaryens on the throne again and a peaceful Westeros. Jaime and Cersei have to die within minutes of one another for their drama to end fittingly—anyway, Jaime doesn’t want it and Cersei is a dead lineage, nobody’s going to let her stay. However, Tyrion is related to the last ruling family and relatively free of scandal. He’s also still technically married to a Stark, which could resolve the conflict with the North. Sansa is young and could have his kids—also, she’s becoming a sophisticated political mind capable of working with him to ensure a stable Westeros. It’s a solution that could make everyone happy. Tyrion gets the throne, which he’ll be good at because he doesn’t want it, Sansa gets a respectful husband, a political stake, and a North that worships her and won’t destroy the kingdom, and eventually everybody else gets the Stark-Lannister babies that they originally wanted.” —Anna Gooding-Call

“Sansa Stark is my baby. She’s been through hell and back and has shown to be just as much of a survivor and fighter as other characters, albeit in a different way (read: more traditionally feminine) which is why she was so unpopular for the longest time. But anyway. Sansa Stark Defense Squad!!” —Rebecca Wei Hsieh

“Though Jon has the more rightful claim to the throne, I’d love for both him and Daenerys to be victorious, followed by him ceding the throne to her. She has put in so much work to develop into a ruler fit to ‘break the wheel’ and I can see Jon acknowledging that over his blood right.” —Linh Anh Cat

“All the men are dead. The women reconcile their differences, discover how to asexually reproduce, and rule the world. They create an iron round table instead of a throne, except with cushions because why be uncomfortable? This includes the female dragon, because dragons are cool and definitely deserve to be on the council, though she has a nice nest in the throne room where she adjudicates.” —Margaret Kingsbury

“I stopped watching after the first season because my in-laws changed their HBO password. But I would send a dozen gift baskets to the writers room if the Iron Throne just morphed Transformers-style into something that could stomp on all of it. Bonus gift baskets if Sean Bean’s Force ghost looks on approvingly.” —María Cristina García Lynch

“Who’d have guessed that Sansa, the whiny brat from season one, would be the survivor I’m rooting for now?” —Vanessa Diaz

“I want Queen Dany to rule alongside her right-hand men Jon, Tyrion, and team, but truly I think she may end up either slaughtered or following the fate of the Mad King, so I believe Jaime will (begrudgingly) end up on the throne, even though he would rather remain out fighting. Brienne, of course, will be his hand.” —Cassie Gutman

Who are you rooting for? Tell us in the comments!