Another season of Game of Thrones has come and gone, and in its wake, we’re left with a hole in The Wall, an impending Great War between the living and the dead, and a coupling between Dragon and Wolf as simmering hot as it is deeply uncomfortable. Even though we likely won’t see the series’ six-episode final season until 2019 and/or until never because the world blew itself up, we have some questions in the meantime:

Is Tormund Alive?

I’m willing to bet my weight in Arbor Gold wine (also known as a Cersei Breakfast) that Tormund survived the destruction of The Wall. That’s just Game of Thrones these days, folks. If a character has a minimum of one Tumblr fan-blog dedicated to them, they’re pretty much the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The only “major” characters this past season had the stones to kill off were Thoros of Myr—a character best known for A) having a top knot, and B) drunken arguments over whether it’s pronounced “MEER” or “MURR”—and Petyr Baelish, a character so slimy and universally despised by the rest of Westeros his survival up to this point was as genuinely miraculous as his mustache was wispy. The characters that viewers have actual, emotional connections to are, for the most part, safe. Season 8 is going to start with Tormund digging himself out from underneath ten-ton ice cubes and shaking like a wet dog.

Beric Dondarrion, though? Yeah, that dude is dead. My theory? Euron Greyjoy is finally going to get his book-appropriate eye-patch, and David Benioff and D.B. Weiss—the same dudes who thought our minds would implode if there were characters named Osha and Asha at the same time—decided Beric had to die first.

So This Is Bad, Right?

On a scale from one to “dear sweet lord this skeleton is gnawing my face,” Westeros is right about at an eight-and-a-half, getting close to a nine. After seven full seasons hinting at the destructive force looming beyond the Wall, we finally have to contend with the fact that while Cersei and Co. focus on clinging to the Iron Throne, and Jon and Dany focus on creatively getting around the size constraints of a boat bedroom, a goddamn ice-demon is riding his zombie dragon above his million-strong army of corpses, hell-bent on bringing the frost-bitten apocalypse to anyone with a pulse. This scenario is what most military textbooks refer to as a “big uh oh,” and the scientific community calls “not great.”

The Night King broke through The Wall at Eastwatch; if his army keeps shuffling southward in a relatively straight line, they’ll hit Karhold (recently given back to the Karstark family, thanks Jon) and The Dreadfort (which Sansa technically owns, thanks to her marriage to Ramsay Bolton). But the first major pitstop for the White Walkers is, of course, Winterfell. This is fascinating not only because all of the Starks and Team Daenerys will probably be there, but because of what it means for the structure of Season 8 overall. This is The End, the Big Finale, End of the (Kings)Road. One has to assume that once The Night King reaches Winterfell—which should take roughly a half hour if we’re going by Season 7 time—that there’s not going to be a lot of “sitting around and talking” scenes. It’s going to be a massive dragon-on-dragon, dead-on-living, HBO-spending-billions CGI-a-palooza.

The shortcuts this show is going to need to take in order to successfully wrap up The Great War and the multi-layered struggle for the Iron Throne—all in six episodes, mind you—probably already has George R.R. Martin waking up in a cold sweat during the night, screaming descriptions of meat pies into a dark, empty house.

How Awkward Is This Stark “Family” Reunion Going to Be?

Oh, man. So, the Stark sibling reunions we’ve gotten so far haven’t exactly been rainbows and sunshine; Bran casually mentioned how he watched Sansa’s horrific wedding night, Arya threatened to cut off and wear her sister’s face, etc etc. But things have more or less smoothed over—teaming up to kill Littlefinger has that effect—and Winterfell is as calm as it’s been in years.

But then here comes Jon Snow—king of both The North and Making Poor Choices—real name Aegon “Don’t Call Me Sandy” Targaryen. And he’s got news, and lots of it. He actually super doesn’t want to be King In The North now; he has bended the knee for the Targaryen Dragon Queen—that’s her behind him, next to her two monstrous children—and thinks all of the northern lords should do the same. Not only that, but they’re in love. They did the sex, like, fifteen times on the boat trip.

And just when Sansa (a hardened leader) and Arya (a trained assassin) are absorbing all that, Bran is going to wheel his omniscient ass around a corner all like “actually, you two are so, so related by legitimate marriage.” I would not complain if three full episodes of Season 8 consisted solely of one, unbroken shot of Jon trying to process this information.

What’s Tyrion’s Deal?

There are several plausible reasons why Tyrion would be lurking in the shadows outside Dany’s room, looking like someone pooped in his wine leather boots. Most likely, Tyrion goofed up and secretly fell in love with his queen. Game of Thrones has pretty much set this scenario up as an inevitability. Ask Jon, or Jorah Mormont, or Daario Naharis; the price of doing business with the Mother of Dragons is you fall at least a little in love with her. Tyrion pretty much told her as much, right before they shipped out from Meereen: “He wasn’t the first to love you,” he said, referring to Daario, “and he won’t be the last.” Or, you know, it’s late, those walls don’t look sound-proof, and the sound of raucous lovemaking is probably keeping everyone awake. You just know Jon is a screamer.

What’s Next for Jaime and Cersei Lannister?

If these two characters were any more destined to kill the other one, J.K. Rowling would have to get a co-writing credit. Cersei is about two wildfire executions from fully morphing into The Mad King; she stared evidence of the end of the world in its face and decided the best course of action was to hire some mercenaries and hope all that nonsense sorts itself out. Jaime—who has a history of murdering rulers that prioritize their own survival over all of humanity—took umbrage with that decision, and finally, finally flew from his sister’s side. But much like those rascally Clegane boys, these two are practically guaranteed to round back to each other. The question hanging over this sibling rivalry is what it all means for Cersei’s unborn baby. Remember: Maggy the woodswitch from Season 5—who has been pretty spot-on so far—told the young Cersei she would only bear three children.

Who Lives? Who Dies? Who Tells George’s Story?

Because this is the final season of Game of Thrones, the paramount prediction is just that: The Ending. To try and get into specifics would be some sort of Greyscale madness, especially on a show as twist-heavy and melodramatic as this one. One could assume someone has to end the series on The Iron Throne, but there’s an equal possibility there won’t even be an Iron Throne. Or any people left alive, for that matter. All we know for certain about Game of Thrones’ end is that Game of Thrones’ end is certain. Until then, until we’re forced over that particular Wall and into a world without Game of Thrones, all we can do is speculate, argue, discuss, debate, get Mad Online, together, as a community. And if there is one question Season 8 must answer—unequivocally, without dispute—I believe we can all agree on what that question is…

Where the Hell is Ghost?

*Connie Francis’ “I Will Wait For You” plays on repeat until 2019*