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‘Game of Thrones': Female Backstabbers Are More Likely to Survive the Series, Study Says

Better switch sides now if you wanna make it to the end, Dany

| December 11, 2018 @ 10:39 AM Last Updated: December 11, 2018 @ 6:32 PM
Game of Thrones Cersei Lannister

HBO

When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. And you definitely die less often if you are playing in a shady way.

A new study published in the journal Injury Epidemiology on Monday concluded that the survival rates of “important” characters on “Game of Thrones” decreased if they “were male or lowborn,” “had not switched allegiance during the show,” and were “featured more prominently.”

So being a highborn, female backstabber has its perks, right? Yeah, we’re looking at you, Cersei Lannister, the current occupant of the Iron Throne.

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While Daenerys Targaryen’s consistent loyalty may be her undoing before the end of the series, Sansa and Arya Stark’s fates are a bit more secure than that of the Mother of Dragons, according to researchers.

The survival of the men is more up in the air, as Jon Snow switched his allegiance to Daenerys in season seven, making him less of a target (he has already died once). Then we have the Lannister men, who have been notorious turncoats, and Bran Stark who possibly switched loyalties when he became the Three-Eyed Raven.

Another fun fact: “the probability of dying within the first hour after first appearing on screen was about 14 percent. The vast majority of these deaths were due to injury, burns, or poisoning at the hands of other characters.”

Also Read: 'Game of Thrones' Season 8 Teaser: Fire Meets Ice on the Map of Westeros (Video)

Read more from the study here.

“Game of Thrones” eighth and final season premieres in April 2019 on HBO.

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If there was one thing 2018 taught us, it's that "shocking" is a truly relative term -- and we're not even talking about real-life instances here. Yes, it's pretty hard to blow anyone's mind these days, including that of TV viewers, making truly gasp-worthy small-screen character deaths few and far between. But that didn't stop several showrunners from doing their worst -- er, best, to totally kill you with these on-screen passings. Obviously, spoilers ahead.

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