In a series filled with loathsome (yet deeply compelling) characters and would-be icons, Beric Dondarrion and Tormund Giantsbane have cemented their status as true fan-favorites over the past number of years.
How do we know? Coming out of the Game of Thrones season 7 finale, viewers were left sweating over the duo’s fate, given they were standing beneath the Wall just as the Night King and his undead army marched into Westeros for the first time.
Clever editing resulted in something of a cliffhanger for Beric and Tormund, though new intel gathered by Insider strongly suggests that Richard Dormer and Kristofer Hivju’s respective anti-heroes are safe as houses, as they ran towards a section of the Wall left untouched by Viserion’s blinding blue flame. Turns out this was actually cleared up in the script for season 7’s finale, “The Dragon and the Wolf,” which states:
Tormund and Beric lead their wildling comrades to the stairs carved in the ice — Eastwatch has a massive zig-zag stairway, not an elevator like Castle Black. They run for their lives and disappear from view.
So, it seems Lady Luck was smiling on Beric and Tormund when the Wall came crashing down. Not only were the Game of Thrones duo spared from Viserion’s deadly attack, but the fact that they were stationed on Eastwatch (and therefore close to a “massive zig-zag stairway”) worked in their favor.
Alas, the script doesn’t say explicitly that Beric and Tormund are still alive, but it does offer a renewed sense of hope as we approach the show’s eighth and final season.
Comprised of only six episodes, it’ll be with us early next year (April, in all likelihood), when Game of Thrones fans will be ready to bid adieu to Westeros and all of its many characters.
