[Aries Walker]

I have not read the books or know any advance knowledge, but from what I know of scripting,

Spoiler!

stories need someone to root for. Martin has been trying from the start to obscure who that is, with the whole "Anyone can die" thing and pulling the okey-doke on us by killing off Ned Stark early. By now, it's clear the main characters are Dani, Tyrion, and one of the Stark girls (probably Arya). He may kill one or more right at the end, to make it a tragic finish (Tyrion would be perfect there), but otherwise, if they don't make it to the finale, the audience will feel ripped off, denied of closure.

Everyone else is fair game.

Now, with my luck, they'll all die next week, and the book-readers are laughing at me right now. C'est la vie.