Game of Thrones Mountain Alive Again

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Welcome to Final Path, a regular feature leading upwards to the final season of HBO'sGame of Thrones. In every Concluding Path,The Hollywood Reporter'south resident Westeros expert, Josh Wigler, will offer a character-past-character deep dive of their journeying through 7 seasons, every bit well as what can exist expected in the upcoming eighth and final flavor. Upwards next: Beric Dondarrion.

Heading into the last season, it's worth looking dorsum on "Across the Wall," and the scenes that led up to the climactic battle between homo and wight. Specifically, at that place's an commutation between Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Beric Dondarrion (Richard Dormer) that stands out, as the two previously murdered men bond over the nature of death.

"Decease is the enemy, the commencement enemy and the concluding," the Lightning Lord tells the King in the North. "The enemy always wins, but we still need to fight him. You lot and I won't notice much joy while we're here, simply we tin can keep others live. We can defend those who tin can't defend themselves."

Noble words from a noble human being, a man who knows a thing or two nearly giving his life for causes he believes in. Beric, last seen in the season seven finale facing even so another moment of impending doom (which he thankfully survived, as revealed in the full final flavor trailer), again stands set to put his money where his oral fissure is when the half dozen remaining episodes get-go playing out. If Tormund is the surest person to survive Game of Thrones (which, again, beatnik call!), and then Beric is the surest person to die. But why will he die, who volition he die for and who will alive as a outcome of his deportment? Those are the questions worth asking, and the ones we're attempting to reply in this edition of Last Path.

Names and Titles: The Lightning Lord Beric Dondarrion of the Brotherhood Without Banners, proud retainer of the Lord of Light.

First Appearance: "A Golden Crown," flavour i's sixth episode — merely dorsum and then, he was played past some other actor entirely: David Michael Scott, no affiliation with the Alliance'due south Scranton branch. In his first blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance, Beric was introduced inside the Cerise Keep, commanded by Ned Stark (Sean Bean) to track down the Mount. He was absent from that moment frontward until returning in a very dissimilar capacity (and played by a very different actor) in season three's "And Now His Watch Is Concluded."

Last Appearance: "The Dragon and the Wolf," the flavour seven finale. As previously mentioned, Beric, similar Tormund, was last seen at Eastwatch when the Night Male monarch's forces breached the Wall and marched into Westeros. His side by side steps are unknown.

Best Friends: For years, Beric traveled alongside Thoros of Myr (Paul Kaye), his fire priest pal and field medic. Thoros died during the excursion due north of the Wall to pocketbook a wight, leaving Beric without his best friend and, fifty-fifty more importantly, without the man who constantly brings him back from the dead. Exterior of Thoros, Beric seems to have a soft spot for the Hound (Rory McCann), fifty-fifty if it's not exactly reciprocated. He also has expressed fondness for Jon Snow (Kit Harington), the but other man in the Game of Thrones universe who knows what it's like to live and die and alive over again.

Worst Enemies: The Night Male monarch, direct opponent to the Lord of Low-cal. Taking out the Army of the Dead's commander is the just reason Beric is all the same alive — unless there's another reason why he's still boot around the Game of Thrones universe. (More on that enemy beneath.)

Best Kill: It doesn't quite qualify as a "kill," merely information technology certainly was a prevention mensurate: Beric setting his onetime friend Thoros on fire during their travels across the Wall. In sending his friend off to meet the darkness, Beric prevents Thoros from returning every bit one of the Night Male monarch's wights — a mercy, for one thing, and a quietly powerful scene for another.

Worst Wound: Multiple deaths is a pretty rough wound, right? If we can but choose once, the spear through the eye seems like the worst of the bunch.

Disquisitional Moments: The big one is also Beric's true coming out party: the trial by combat confronting the Hound in season three'southward "Kissed past Fire." It's ane of the best scenes from George R.R. Martin's A Tempest of Swords, and it'due south one that played a critical role in informing both the Hound and Beric equally characters. As information technology regards the Lightning Lord, Beric'southward expiry and subsequent resurrection was a huge magical moment for the series, one that paved the style for Jon Snow'southward own eventual rise from the dead.

Unresolved Mystery: Why does the Lord of Light want him alive? At that place must be a reason for Beric to keep coming back from the expressionless, over and over again. What is it? Why does the human remain such an important part of the series, with merely six episodes remaining?

Last Predictions: Almost two years ago, with a little more than a week left ahead of the season 7 premiere, I launched a prediction that was a personal favorite theory, but one that sadly never came to fruition: Beric Dondarrion sacrificing himself in lodge to bring Jon Snow back to life, once more.

Here's the gist of that theory: In Martin's novel series, Beric forfeits his final resurrected life in order to bring Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley) back from the dead afterward the Red Nuptials. She goes on to get Lady Stoneheart, a zombified rebel who roams the Riverlands exacting vengeance confronting the Freys and Lannisters. Fans waited years for Stoneheart's arrival on Thrones. It never came, and it never will. Most of her major story beats have been offloaded onto other characters, and the ones that oasis't volition either exist discarded or rejiggered to fit the story every bit it stands. Thrones tin can stand to resurrect ii main characters, but 3? Like 13 milkmen versus a dozen, that'due south merely silly.

The lack of Stoneheart felt like a certainty even with a calendar week left before flavor seven'southward premiere, but the idea of Beric sacrificing himself in order to bring someone back (see: Jon Snow) definitely felt more than theoretically possible. So we reached "Across the Wall," the squad-upwardly episode which featured Jon and Beric hunting for wights. Thoros died, and so did a dragon, simply not the Lightning Lord. Somehow, the Wolverine of Game of Thrones walked abroad from the mission with his last life intact.

There are six episodes left in Game of Thrones. More than than plenty fourth dimension for Beric to sacrifice himself for Jon, especially given the events of "Beyond the Wall," specifically their walk-and-talk meditation on the nature of expiry, not to mention their common agreement that they need to kill the Night King in lodge to drib the rest of the expressionless. Imagine the Battle of Winterfell, in which Jon falls, the Nighttime Male monarch moves on and Beric rushes into the room to breathe his own last life into the snowy bastard secretly known equally Aegon Targaryen. Like shooting fish in a barrel enough to picture, right?

Then, proceed hope live on that theory, if it'south one you similar. But with the passage of time and the benefit of hindsight, here's another possibility to chew on: Beric volition still sacrifice his own life in order to bring someone else back from the dead, but it's not Jon. Instead, it'south Sandor Clegane, the same man who temporarily killed Beric once upon a time, the same man he traveled alongside on the trip north of the Wall, the same man whose older blood brother was once Beric's sworn enemy: Gregor Clegane. Imagine the Battle of Winterfell again, except this fourth dimension, information technology'southward Clegane blood brother versus Clegane brother in the much-hyped Clegane Bowl. The Mountain wins. The Hound loses. The Mountain moves on to continue his rampage, threatening the great war against the dead — and in walks Beric, who breathes life back into the fallen Hound at his ain expense. The Hound rises and kills the Mountain in the eleventh hr, just in time to stop the vicious Gregor from inadvertently giving the game up to the Night King. In this version of events, Beric still gets to cede his life for a greater cause, delivering an answer to why the Lord of Light has kept him alive. It closes the loop on his story with both Clegane brothers, while besides playing into his greater goals of defeating the White Walkers. For the Hound, information technology's a confrontation with his greatest fear: fire, the source of the magic that keeps Beric live. Three character arcs well and fully satisfied for the price of one sacrifice.

If Beric resurrects Jon Snow in the final flavor? Hey, take the points where they're available! Only that theory is so 2017. In 2019, with but half dozen episodes left, information technology's all about Clegane Basin hype — and the very notion of Beric stepping into the band with an eleventh-hour assist certainly sounds some alarms.

Last Promise: For Beric to defy all expectations and somehow survive Game of Thrones. The man wants nothing more than rest, which, in his worldview, means death. What if it ways a vacation instead? Lord of Low-cal knows the man has earned some time off.

Catch up on theConcluding Pathseries:

one. Jon Snow
2. Daenerys Targaryen
three. Tyrion Lannister
4. Cersei Lannister
5. Jaime Lannister
6. Sansa Stark
7. Arya Stark
viii. Bran Stark
9. Samwell Tarly
ten. Theon Greyjoy
11. The Hound
12. Brienne of Tarth
xiii. Varys
14. Melisandre
15. Davos Seaworth
16. Jorah Mormont
17. Bronn
xviii. Tormund Giantsbane

Follow THR.com/GameOfThrones for continuing coverage.Game of Thronesreturns Sunday, April 14, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO.

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Source: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/game-thrones-final-season-beric-dondarrion-predictions-1199914/#!

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