Brienne Is Going To Be In The Game Of Thrones Finale, Right?

Game of Thrones has done a pretty good job of knocking characters off the board ahead of Sunday’s series finale: House Tyrell, House Martell, and House Frey are all dead. Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) is the last Lannister; Sam (John Bradley) is the last Tarly; Robin (Lino Facioli) the last Arryn; Edmure (Tobias Menzies) the last Tully; Gendry (Joe Dempsie) the last Baratheon; and Yara (Gemma Whelan) the last Greyjoy. Meera Reed, Tormund (Kristofer Hivju), and Ghost left. The Cleganes went down in flames, Varys’s (Conleth Hill) has been executed. But someone's fate isn't quite clear: Is Brienne (Gwendoline Christie) in the Game of Thrones finale, or are we supposed to just sit with her final scene with Jaime?

But even so, the show takes place in such a large universe that it probably can’t depict everyone’s bittersweet ending in its 80 minute finale — especially when much of that time will probably be dedicated to the fate of Daenerys — which likely means many beloved Game of Thrones characters are gone for good. So, have we seen the last of Ser Brienne? Let’s look at the evidence.

Brienne, last we saw her, was at Winterfell crying. More on that in a moment. She stayed at Winterfell instead of going to King’s Landing to fight because she’s sworn to protect Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner). Sansa will almost definitely be in the final episode, which means Brienne should make at least a brief appearance.

Sorry, but it’s true! The scene where Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) left Brienne in Winterfell received considerable backlash simply because some fans didn’t want to see Brienne “reduced” to a woman crying as a man leaves her. Others felt that strong women like Brienne should be allowed to be sensitive, and experience all the highs and lows of romantic relationships. No matter how you felt about her storyline with Jaime in “The Last of the Starks,” that scene clearly wasn’t a good representation of what Brienne has been to the series. Since the beginning, Brienne has been an honorable woman and an excellent fighter — someone who is loyal, caring, and good at her job.

In all likelihood, Brienne will remain sworn to Sansa, so their fates will be conjoined. If Sansa ends up getting what she wants — an independent North — the eldest Stark sister could end up Queen in the North. In that case, being named the Lord Commander of Sansa’s Queensguard could be a really nice end for Brienne. Kings in the North historically haven’t had Kingsguard, but who’s to say that Sansa wouldn’t do things differently?

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Gwendoline Christie talked about the Brienne-Jaime affair, admitting that she got pretty upset reading that Jaime was going to leave Brienne. But she also said, “I love that she doesn’t crumble from it. She goes back to work. Because she always loves work — that feels refreshing, a woman can be happy without a companion,” which suggests that we will see at least a little more of Brienne at work, i.e. in action.

If IMDb is any indicator (it can be a bit spotty, so maybe don't place any bets), we’ll be seeing Brienne on Sunday. The entry for the still-untitled Game of Thrones S8E6 includes Brienne, as well as the remaining Starks, Daenerys, Tyrion, Ser Davos (Liam Cunningham), Sam, Gilly (Hannah Murray), Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson), Bronn (Jerome Flynn), and Gendry.

If these signs are correct and she does reappear, let's just pray to the gods that Brienne will have more to do than mourn Jaime.