Game of Thrones season 8 odds and betting news

Season 8 starts 2am Sunday night

Send a raven - the final season of TV blockbuster Game of Thrones starts tonight and there are almost as many betting markets available as characters who could meet a sticky end in the final six episodes.

The question of who will rule Westeros when all the back-stabbing, plotting, poisoning and murdering is over has been addressed by several bookmakers with Bran Stark the odds-on favourite at 5-6 - the poor lad has been through a lot and who could say he doesn't deserve it? For those who like their revenge served literally, it's 40-1 with Sky Bet that Bran kills Jaime Lannister by pushing him from a height at Winterfell.

But George RR Martin is a progressive thinker and there has to be a chance that dead-heat rules could apply in this one if some coalition of the 'good guys' end up sharing power. The more interesting candidates include Sansa Stark (5-1), Jon Snow (11-2), Gendry (10-1), Tyrion Lannister (10-1), Daenerys Targaryen (12-1) and Arya Stark (16-1).

This being GoT, though, there's also every chance that at least one of those major characters could be dead by Monday morning.

Talking of shock killings, Ned Stark, apparently beheaded at the start of Joffrey's reign of terror in series one, can't be ruled out from making a reappearance in some form or other. A number of internet theories have emerged along those lines.

A Lannister always pays his debts and now they can place their bets, too, as Sky Bet have a host of special markets including prices for a host of characters to die in the series.

Cersei Lannister is the shortest price at 1-50 but Jaime Lannister, Daenerys Targaryen and Tyrion Lannister are all odds-on to perish, while Brienne of Tarth and Sansa Stark are even-money and Jon Snow is 5-4 to get that familiar feeling of being murdered again.

"They can't do that!" does not apply in Westeros, so if you think they really will kill off one of your favourites, you can get some compensation by backing them to be bumped off - Arya Stark is 5-4, Bran Stark 2-1, and good old Samwell Tarly 3-1 to depart.

"When you play the Game of Thrones, you win or you die," as Cersei famously said, and Lena Headey's iconic character getting her comeuppance (as if the Walk of Shame wasn't enough) is seen as such a certainty that Sky Bet have odds about when it will happen.

They go 1-8 episode five or six (the last two shows will be the longest at 80 minutes each, whereas the opener is only 54 minutes), 5-1 episode three or four and 33-1 that she makes her exit in the first two shows.

Euron Greyjoy is Sky Bet's 2-1 favourite to suffer the first death of the series with Yara Greyjoy 5-2, Sansa Stark 7-2 and Theon Greyjoy 15-2.

The market on who will kill the Night King looks fairly open with Arya perhaps a surprise 4-6 favourite. Jon Snow is 5-2 and Jaime Lannister 7-1. An interesting candidate for this role is Viserion - the good dragon gone bad - at 20-1. It surely can't be beyond the Queen of Dragons to get him back on her team?

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