Warning: Spoilers for the latest episode of Game of Thrones Season 8 are discussed below.

Daenerys is now in possession of explosive knowledge. Jon Snow revealed his true heritage to her in the latest Game of Thrones episode, and The Mother of Dragons took it like a sucker punch. After suggesting that Sam and Bran had reason to make up the bombshell reveal that Jon is her legitimate nephew (and therefore ahead of her in the Targaryen line of succession), Jon stood his ground.

Jon was firm in asserting the veracity of his birthright, saying "It’s true, Dany, I know it is.” Daenerys was still not convinced. She told Jon that that “if” (emphasis on “if”) it was true, Jon would have a claim to the Iron Throne.

They did not have a chance to talk it over further before the horn alerting of the imminent invasion sounded. That unfortunate bit of timing led to one giant question. What is Daenerys going to do next after learning Jon’s true heritage? Let’s go through the possibilities.

Daenerys takes advantage of the Battle at Winterfell to take out Jon

The White Walkers invasion has provided Daenerys with a prime opportunity. If Jon Snow were to fall in battle, no one would question it. Daenerys could use the circumstances as the perfect cover to kill Jon and clear her way to the Iron Throne.

She has the motive, means, and will likely have the chance to make this choice. The question is whether she will. In the same Game of Thrones episode she learned the truth about Jon, Daenerys told Sansa that she loved him. Would she kill the man she loves to get the Iron Throne? Daenerys has a penchant for ruthlessness, so it is not out of the question.

I think she will probably be faced with having to make this decision. A moment where Daenerys will have to choose between love and power, if you will. Jon will undoubtedly end up in a life-or-death situation during the Night King’s attack on Winterfell. Will Daenerys see him struggle and decide not to help?

She could do it. If she does and Jon survives to tell the tale, it could make Jon want the Iron Throne after all. More on that later.

Daenerys concedes to Jon

Daenerys did tell Sansa that she loved Jon on Game of Thrones. If you take her at her word, she means it.

She already told Sansa how her “love” for Jon had shifted her temporary priorities from taking the throne to fighting “Jon’s war.” Spoiler alert: it is actually humanity’s war. That she refers to in a way that indicates it is a war that Jon is waging for his exclusive benefit or glory is telling. It is in her and everyone else's interest.

Let’s all assume that Daenerys actually loves Jon. As in, she loves him more than herself and what she wants. She knows that Jon is a good man. In terms of having a good-hearted ruler for the Seven Kingdoms, he would be a fitting king. She cannot morally justify fighting his claim on those grounds.

Maybe seeing Jon Snow courageously fight will make her realize that Jon is the better person to rule. Could she bend the knee to Jon when the episode is over? Assuming they survive. Jon did not physically bend the knee to Daenerys. He was bed-ridden after fighting to capture that Wight.

Not having Jon do that seems curious. Did Game of Thrones hold off on that visual because Daenerys will be the one to actually do it? That would be a moment. The question is if she does bend it, will she suggest something else while she is there?

Daenerys suggests a compromise

Daenerys agreeably going from spending her entire life trying to sit on the Iron Throne to losing her shot at it for good seems unlikely. If she acknowledges Jon Snow’s rightful superseding claim, which is a big “if,” she could aim for a compromise: marriage.

A Jon Snow/Daenerys marriage has already gotten bandied about in the final season. In the Season 8 premiere, Davos talked to Tyrion and Varys about it, suggesting that a marriage alliance would quell tensions between the North and Daenerys being their Queen. Sansa made it clear she will not accept Daenerys ruling the North when all is said and done. Could Daenerys marrying Jon get Sansa to agree to the North as part of the Seven Kingdoms?

Now, if Jon becomes king and Daenerys wants to still remain in proximity of the Iron Throne, she will want to marry Jon. Being Queen Consort of the Seven Kingdoms is not what she has been aiming to achieve. However, it is something.

On a power level, she would have the ear of the king. On a personal level, she would be able to spend her life with a good man. The thing is, Jon now knows they are related, something that seemingly grossed him out and not Daenerys. You can bet she would not be deterred by an incestuous marriage. She's awfully proud of her pure Targaryen heritage, after all. For Jon, it could be a deal breaker.

Daenerys fights Jon for the Iron Throne

Daenerys could choose to fight Jon outright for the throne. That whould make it clear to Jon that she is not the person he thought she was. The only thing possibly holding her back would be Tyrion, who she had a significant falling out with during the latest episode of Game of Thrones. They did seem to reconcile.

That Daenerys doesn't really understand that House Targaryen was pushed off the Iron Throne for a reason continues to annoy me. By the time of Robert's Rebellion, they were not good rulers. Her father was a madman, and Daenerys has given hints that she leans towards his way of thinking.

The question is whether Jon would actually want to pursue the Iron Throne, at all. Daenerys is uncomfortable with him having a claim. If he assures her that he does not want it, this may all come to nothing. Sam’s argument against Daenerys being queen seemed to impact Jon.

He has taken the power that has been put on him, but he has not sought it. If Daenerys survives the Battle at Winterfell, he will have to decide what to do. Will he lay claim to the Iron Throne and save humanity from a potentially mad queen? Or will he let Daenerys keep her claim, still believing she is as good as he thought?

Daenerys may not survive the episode, which would be shocking. Jon seems a more dependable bet at this point. How things do down in the battle could be a turning point for what both of them want afterward.

The only way to potentially unite the North behind a ruler of the Seven Kingdoms is arguably for Jon Snow to be king, even though his popularity points took a massive hit with him bending the knee to Daenerys. The North wants to maintain its independence, and Daenerys made it pretty clear to Sansa she will not go for that.

Is there a reason that came up ahead of the battle? Will Daenerys suggest Jon be the king to an independent North and give her the Iron Throne? Anything is possible at this moment in Game of Thrones history. By the end of the next episode, what Daenerys is going to do next should be more apparent. After all of the mayhem is over.

Find out what Daenerys ends up doing when Game of Thrones Season 8 continues airing Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.

Spoilers below for anyone who hasn't yet watched Game of Thrones' most recent episode, "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms."

In leading up to the massive Battle of Winterfell that'll soon arrive to wipe out plenty of familiar characters, Game of Thrones delivered an episode that held back on action in place of deep and meaningful conversations. (And even a well-deserved knighting.) There was still some action to be had, though, particularly where Maisie Williams' pragmatic Arya was concerned, as the brave Stark warrior actively incited the loss of her virginity to Joe Dempsie's Gendry.

While Game of Thrones' many millions of viewers likely had a slew of different thoughts and ideas about Arya and Gendry's sexy time, Maisie Williams herself thought it was most important for bringing a sense of humanity back into Arya's life. In her words:

On the one hand, it was powerful and encouraging to see Arya take change over her sexuality in such a way. Many fans have long wanted for Game of Thrones to get Arya and Gendry romantically entangled, and finally witnessed it now that Arya and Maisie Williams are of a proper age. Plus, Game of Thrones sex scenes are all the more celebratory when characters are consenting, which isn’t always the case in the story that showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are telling.

On the other hand, however, vengeful and wayward characters who temporarily focus on their humanity are often set up to take unforeseen falls. After all, the reason why characters like Arya tend to survive as long as they do is because they keep an eye on the prize. Once that dedicated effort gets detoured, it’s often difficult to revert back to an original stance. (Not that I’m saying sex with Gendry would be so life-changing, but still.)

Of course, Arya herself seems to be taking the fatalist approach, accepting that she may very well be one of the many who are killed whenever the Night King and his dead army finally arrive at Winterfell. For any fans who automatically assumed that Arya would be a surefire survivor, that sex scene is possibly a sign that the character isn’t so certain herself.

Arya does know one thing full well, though. She definitely did not want to sit around and spend her last hours on Earth dealing with old shits like The Hound and Beric. At least she and the younger Clegane sibling had a meaningful conversation before she went off to jump Gendry’s stammering bones.

David Benioff echoed the ideas that Maisie Williams spoke to EW about, saying those kinds of character moments and choices were what made the episode so interesting for the creative team. Here’s how he put it to THR:

As for the actual sex scene itself, it took Maisie Williams a spell to realize that Arya and Gendry’s coupling was a legitimate scene and not just a prank that David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were pulling on her. The showrunners have done similar things in the past, so when Williams passed an eye over the scene in the scripts at the behest of co-star Sophie Turner, she suspected foul play.

Clearly, no pranks were on the table in this case, and Maisie Williams said it was during the table read for the episode that she came to terms with what filming that moment meant. To be expected, vision of future trips to the gym flashed through her mind.

As viewers noticed during “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” Arya and Gendry don’t technically have sex on camera, and Maisie Williams doesn’t get as open or extreme with her nudity in the way that other stars have in the past. But while other actors and actresses had nudity clauses in their contracts, which were signed when the performers were beyond 18 years of age, Williams joined Game of Thrones at age 11, long before anyone knew where the HBO drama was heading.

Maisie Williams basically faced all of her formative years while working with Benioff and Weiss, and they were seemingly respectful of her wishes and input as far as Arya’s on-screen reveals went. Here’s how she put it:

Being asked to choose your own nudity limitations seems like it would be almost as nerve-wracking as being told exactly what to do. But whatever mental pressures Maisie Williams may have been facing, she nailed the scene and kept Arya’s vitality intact. Now all she has to do is survive the Battle of Winterfell, NBD. Thankfully, she should have more weapons to use now.

I think everyone can agree that even though Arya’s sexual awakening reportedly wasn’t a bad experience for anyone, the silver lining here is still that no one’s genitals suffered the way that Kit Harington’s did while filming his dragon scene.

Game of Thrones will continue its final stretch of episodes as Season 8 airs Sunday nights this spring on HBO at 9:00 p.m. ET.

Many spoilers ahead for the first and second episodes of Game of Thrones' eighth and final season.

Game of Thrones isn’t making fans wait long for the big battle of its eighth and final season, as the Battle of Winterfell goes down in the third episode. Early spoilers revealed that Winterfell isn’t going to escape unscathed, and a Thrones assistant director revealed that the shoot lasting for 55 nights in a row.

The first two episodes of Season 8 set the stage for the big battle, and now, only days away from seeing the last stand of the living against the dead, we have to consider: does Winterfell stand a chance against the White Walkers?

Now, I’m not saying that fans should prepare themselves to see all the characters currently in the North dead and gone and/or wighted by the end of Episode 3, but there are reasons to doubt that Winterfell itself will survive with many people left alive in the aftermath. Main players like Jon and Dany are unlikely to bite the dust; others’ fates are less certain.

So, as we count down the days before the Battle of Winterfell, let’s take a look at the factors in favor of Winterfell surviving the White Walkers and against Winterfell surviving. The stage has been set; what will happen?

Winterfell Stands

The Night King may have amassed a huge army of the dead that has the potential to only get larger the farther south it marches, but he could not be facing a more formidable group of foes. Grouped together at Winterfell are arguably the best fighters, the best strategists, the best leaders, and the only two known dragonriders other than the Night King himself. Oh, and the Three-Eyed Raven.

As much as the army of the dead is vast and seemingly inexhaustible, the people fighting for the living retain autonomy that could be key to defeating the White Walkers and their army. The wights are basically ice zombies, so the human fighters don't need to worry that they'll be outsmarted, and they can be incapacitated even if they can't be killed.

With the dragons in the mix, the wights might not even pose that big of a threat until they breach the walls of Winterfell, which we can safely say is going to happen based on promos and the fact that the good guys actually need the Night King to at least try to make it to the godswood to kill Bran/the Three-Eyed Raven. Rhaegal and Drogon can roast the ice zombies to their hearts' delight, as long as they stay out of range of the White Walkers' spears.

The humans also have one big advantage over the army of the dead. The cause of the living might be seriously damaged if Dany or Jon or some other key leader falls in battle, but they won't all fall down lifelessly. If the living manage to kill some White Walkers, they can take down dozens and perhaps even hundreds and thousands of wights at once.

The Night King is of course the top target, as taking him out would take them all out, but one by one isn't a terrible plan either, and there's no shortage of dragonglass weapons thanks to Gendry and the other smiths at the forge. There's even some Valyrian steel in play, thanks to Ser Jorah with Heartsbane, Jon with Longclaw, and Arya with her dagger. Throw in Bran's knowledge as the Three-Eyed Raven, and they actually have a lot going for them.

So, the cause of the living isn't hopeless, despite the beliefs of pretty much everybody at Winterfell, and the whole "last night on earth" atmosphere did make for some fantastic character development.

If they weren't all mostly convinced that they were hours away from death, would Jaime have knighted Brienne? Would Sam have handed over Heartsbane? Would Arya have propositioned Gendry, and then gotten her way? Even Sansa and Theon might not have had their quiet moment together.

The end may not be as nigh as they and many of us thought. The living have dragons, autonomy, intelligence, Valyrian steel and dragonglass, the Three-Eyed Raven, and easy targets in the form of the White Walkers. That's not to say that they'll be able to easily kill those easy targets, but a little optimism never hurt, right?

Winterfell Falls

Well, a little optimism could at least make the wait until Episode 3 a little easier. Winterfell does have a shot at standing and even most of the people surviving, depending on whether or not the crypts stay sealed with all the non-fighters hidden inside. That said, most fans who have been watching Game of Thrones for eight seasons probably know better than to be too optimistic, and too many happy things happened in Episode 2 for Episode 3 to likely be packed with victories.

There are really just too many wights for the living to handle, and the Night King's ranks can grow as soon as the living fall in the fight. Jon's first big battle against them at Hardhome proved that quantity defeats quality when it comes to the living vs. the dead with their White Walker masters, and the dragons can't be everywhere at once. It's also possible that Dany will be wary of taking them too far away from the castle, given what happened the last time she and her dragons were exposed among the dead.

Then again, if one of her dragons falls, it would be best for everybody else if that happened far enough away from Winterfell that nobody was crushed. Now, speaking of dragons, the cavalier attitude of the folks at Winterfell about Viserion is what really takes me aback and makes me think that Winterfell is pretty much doomed.

The good guys aren't unaware that the Night King reanimated Viserion and used him to break through The Wall. Bran said as much after Jon and Dany arrived at Winterfell, but that didn't stop Dany from taking Jon for a romantic dragon ride throughout the Northern country. In all the preparations and new weapons and fortifications being constructed in Episode 2, I didn't see a scorpion like the one Bronn used to almost take down Drogon back when Dany first unleashed her dragons on the people of Westeros.

The living can't fling magical ice spears at dragons to knock them out of the sky, and they have to know that Viserion is coming. If they don't have a plan for Viserion that wasn't revealed in Episode 2 and was just being saved for an epic reveal in Episode 3, then I might not actually blame the bad guys if they do some serious damage with their undead dragon. The living had a chance to prepare themselves to take on Viserion; if he destroys them or cripples their cause, it's their own fault.

I actually have a longstanding theory that Winterfell burns due to dragonfire, potentially because it becomes overrun with the dead and Dany decides to just roast it with all the wights and Walkers inside. Maybe even with people inside, and she continues showing shades of Mad Queen Daenerys.

Whether or not that is true, I'm leaning toward not much being left of Winterfell other than the crypts. There will of course be survivors, as the season will only be half over following the battle, and the game of thrones itself won't be completed until Cersei enters the fold.

Basically, the White Walkers and their army have the numbers, the stamina, the ability to kill dragons, and a dragon of their own now that they march on Winterfell. Their opponents other than the Dothraki and Unsullied are largely inexperienced Northmen, and only a handful of the people at Winterfell really truly understand what they've facing. The fear alone could scatter the living.

Tune in to HBO on Sunday, April 28 at 9 p.m. ET for the big battle episode of Game of Thrones Season 8.

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Spoilers ahead for the second episode of Game of Thrones Season 8.

Almost every single season of Game of Thrones has featured a grand, cinematic, extremely deadly battle sequence that changes the entire game, and Season 8’s battle is going to come much earlier than in previous seasons. Episode 3 will see the White Walkers and army of the dead making their assault on the living at Winterfell, and all signs point toward the Battle of Winterfell as the most epic of the series to date.

Now, with the Battle of Winterfell approaching in a matter of days, let’s look back at all the ways Thrones set the stage for it.

The Dead March South

Game of Thrones has been building to the conflict between the living and the dead from the very first scene of the very first episode, and it’s finally coming on a truly grand scale with the army of the dead marching south, led by the White Walkers with the Night King presumably at the head, with undead Viserion as his steed. The Season 8 premiere ended with the reveal via the late Lord Umber that Last Hearth had been taken already, and Tormund and Co. were able to give the folks at Winterfell at least a bit of a head’s up about when the dead would arrive.

As Jon said, the dead do not tire, and they do not have the same weaknesses as living humans. The dead greatly outnumber the living, and then there’s the little matter of undead Viserion to worry about. Although Bran mentioned that Dany’s dead dragon was being used by the Night King, nobody seems all that fussed about Viserion wreaking havoc. Will that come back to bite them -- or perhaps freeze them -- when the battle starts in earnest?

The Night King Is The Target

Luckily, the living do have a plan for the battle that makes it somewhat less of a hopeless cause. Jon and the others who have seen the dead know that there are far too many wights for the folks at Winterfell to hope to defeat, let alone all the White Walkers on top of them.

The good news is that the journey beyond The Wall to capture a wight in Season 7 yielded more than an ice zombie to show off in King’s Landing: Jon and Co. realized that killing the Walker who turned a group of wights will take down those wights.

As fans learned back in the Season 6 episode that tragically saw the end of Hodor, the Children of the Forest created the first White Walker that would go on to become the Night King. He created all the other White Walkers and therefore was directly involved with the reanimation of the wights, so killing him should in theory take out the other White Walkers and the wights. Jaime raised the point that the Night King would know better than to expose himself in battle, but Bran explained why that’s not the case.

The Three-Eyed Raven Is In Danger

According to Bran and his thousand-yard stare, the Night King has been trying to kill the Three-Eyed Raven for many years, and while the Three-Eyed Raven was in many different incarnations. Thanks to the Night King marking Bran in Season 6, he can find Bran, and he’ll want to kill Bran himself. Everybody at Winterfell when the dead attack will be in danger, but the Night King himself is after Bran so that the endless night can begin and human history can be lost.

Luckily, Bran knowing this means that the living can set a trap and try to lure the Night King into a position where he can be taken out. It’s a risky plan, but the best one they have, and they can only hope that the Night King won’t get to Bran and take out his protectors where they wait in the godswood.

The Defenses Of Winterfell

The people at Winterfell are doing everything in their power to prepare for the coming attack, and they’re not actually doing a bad job. Gendry and the other smiths have been hard at work forging the dragonglass into weapons, and Episode 2 showed the hundreds of daggers that were ready to go, and there were some axes in the mix as well.

Gendry had already made a special axe for the Hound, and he made Arya’s weapon for her as well after she showed off her skills. Dragonglass fortifications went up all around Winterfell as well, and the Unsullied had their spears tipped with the material.

There are spikes and arrows and even catapults. Drogon and Rhaegal will presumably be flying around and roasting ice zombies en masse. I didn’t see a scorpion that would stand a chance at taking Viserion out of the sky, but my fingers are crossed that the good guys do actually have a plan for taking him down and the show just wanted to save the reveal for next week.

Plans are in place for the field of battle, before the fighters are inevitably forced to retreat behind the walls of Winterfell. Brienne will be in the field, commanding one of the flanks. The living are even planning on a fire trench of some sort. Additionally, there are some Valyrian steel weapons floating around. Jon has Longclaw, Arya has her dagger, and Sam handed Heartsbane over to Ser Jorah, citing his own inability to use it.

The living are as prepared as they can be, really, and they took their final hours before the fight to enjoy themselves. Podrick sang a song, Jaime knighted Brienne in a scene that makes me immediately fear for her life, the Lannister bros bonded, and as much merriment as possible was had by all who weren’t pondering their status as a secret Targaryen.

Oh, and Arya and Gendry hooked up, and in the long history of Game of Thrones sex scenes, Arya and Gendry’s is by far the one that took me most by surprise. My money was on Arya and Gendry getting romantic, but I always believed neither Arya nor Sansa would ever be part of a sex scene on Game of Thrones. Well, when you’re about to probably be murdered by ice zombies and their mystical overlords, seize the day! Or the blacksmith, as the case may be.

The Crypts

Not everybody will be in the field or on the battlements to fight the dead with Valyrian steel and dragonglass. Those who cannot, will not, or should not fight will seek refuge down in the crypts of Winterfell. Kids are going to be most of those in hiding, it seems, although young Lyanna Mormont is determined to fight alongside her men (and women) she trained to fight. Trailers revealed Varys in the crypts looking frightened, and Dany ordered Tyrion to keep himself safe below as well.

Despite getting some armor, Sansa will probably be leading her people from the safety of the crypts. As much as the crypts are the safest place in Winterfell to hide from the attackers, I’ll be surprised if there aren’t some scary moments when the dead are trying to break in. Crypts aren’t exactly designed with a back entrance. If Tyrion and Sansa are both down there, I doubt that the doors will be breached and the people hiding down there massacred en masse, but anything can happen.

The Teams Are In Place

The episode ended with the army of the dead approaching Winterfell, with the three horn blasts making it clear that these aren’t just Northern refugees approaching. Things are bound to get intense pretty quickly in the next episode, and characters may end up in drastically different places with totally different fighters backing them up, but there are some units seemingly in place now.

Brienne -- now Ser Brienne -- will be leading a group of fighters beyond the walls of Winterfell. Jaime requested the honor of fighting with her, and she vouched for him to Dany, saying that she would fight by her side, so those two will presumably be in the mix together. Podrick as well, I imagine. A bunch of people around them are probably going to bite the dust, but likely not major characters.

The Hound and Beric Dondarrion are likely to stick together for at least part of the fight after they shared a drink on the battlements. Sansa is probably going to be in the crypts with Tyrion, Varys, and other non-fighters.

Arya and Gendry were still in bed -- or what passed for a bed -- together when the horn blasts started, so they might start out as a unit. Whether they can stick together is a bigger question. Just like Brienne getting knighted makes me worry for her life, Gendry and Arya getting to be happy and unburdened for a bit makes me immediately worry about Gendry’s life.

Bran will be awaiting the Night King in the godswood with Theon Greyjoy and the Ironborn as his defenders, which… should be interesting. Theon is determined to make up for his past wrongs. He did what he could to redeem himself to Sansa, and she happily greeted him with a big hug in Episode 2. Will he redeem himself by saving Bran? And will he survive the attempt?

The wild cards for me at the moment are Tormund and the oh-so-dolorous Edd. Tormund could want to stay by Brienne’s side and continue what may be the weirdest love triangle in the history of the show, now that Jaime is in the mix. Edd would be an asset up on the battlements thanks to all his years at The Wall. Hopefully he doesn’t need Sam or Jon to burn his body at the end!

Finally, we have Jon and Dany. It was never specifically stated, but given how they ran off together after the horn blasts, my money is on the two of them on dragonback for part of the battle. I won’t be surprised if Jon is fighting on the ground at some point, though.

Dany Knows The Truth

Things are bound to be a bit awkward between Jon and Dany, assuming they both survive the battle against the dead. Shortly before the horn blasts announcing the arrival of the dead, Dany found Jon visiting Lyanna’s statue down in the crypts, and he dropped the truth on her. Considering it came in the very same episode that saw Dany assuring Sansa that she came North out of love for Jon, it was more than a little awkward.

Dany did quickly connect the dots that Jon as a Targaryen -- if true, since she doesn’t 100% trust the word of Jon’s brother and best friend -- would be the last surviving male in their family line and would therefore have a claim to the Iron Throne. She definitely didn’t look happy about it, and Jon looked like he’d happily go back in time and stop Sam from breaking the news if he could.

Will the bombshell affect Dany’s ability to focus in the field? Or her determination to protect Jon? We’ll have to wait and see.

People Are Going To Die

Alas, the battle is likely going to be a bloodbath, which may make the epicness of it somewhat hard to appreciate. We’ve known for a while that a lot of characters are probably biting the dust before the end of the eighth season, and all of the major players aside from Cersei are congregated at Winterfell, mostly expecting to die.

With all these significant, long-running, and/or beloved characters in the mix at Winterfell, some of them are going to have to die. It simply wouldn’t be realistic if good guys didn’t meet bad ends, although the pacing and travel speeds of the past two seasons indicate that realism isn’t the most important thing in the world to people who brought Game of Thrones to the small screen.

But who will die? I’m worried about Gendry, Jorah Mormont, Theon, and Brienne after the events of Episode 2 in particular, and I’m really only confident that Jon, Dany, Sansa, and Tyrion will survive. Grey Worm is on my list of characters kinda likely to breathe his last, and I’m not feeling great about Podrick’s chances after he sang his beautiful song this week. And what of Sam, now that he's handed over Heartsbane?

Basically, all the people who got to be happy this week strike me as either in danger of dying or of losing somebody very important to them. As once predicted, the Battle of Winterfell will take place in the third episode of Season 8, airing Sunday, April 28 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO. It will be the longest of the eighth season to that point, so prepare for a long and intense installment that could be as heartbreaking as it is epic.

Teltlale's Batman: The Enemy Within is prepping for the release of the second episode. After a slight delay the next episode is now scheduled to release on October 3rd. To prep for the release a new trailer was rolled out featuring another classic Batman villain: Bane.

That's right, the man who broke Batman's back is briefly teased at the end of the new trailer for Batman: The Enemy Within.

It starts by quickly going over how the Riddler was just a small part of something bigger. In the original episode, the Riddler was captured after killing Lucius and attempting to kill multiple agents working under Amanda Waller. Batman managed to save some of the agents but discovered that there was a much larger network of criminals at large, something he was tipped off to by "John Doe," better known as The Joker.

The Joker continually tries to get Bruce to meet up with his "friends," whom many suspect is Harley Quinn. In the trailer it's revealed that she's already a criminal before hooking up with The Joker, and appears to be the leader of her own group.

We also see that Lucius' daughter appears to want to get revenge in some way, but ends up getting caught up in the troubles involving Bruce, The Joker and Harley. The trailer also reveals that Bruce goes undercover in order to get closer to the masterminds that originally put the Riddler back into action in the first episode of Batman: The Enemy Within.

Even though the trailer appears to make it seem as if Harley is the one pulling the strings, and we see her causing some kind of mayhem throughout Gotham, along with threatening Lucius' daughter, the trailer eventually reveals that there's yet another sinister force at work: Bane.

We get to see a cop flying through the air as Batman rolls out of the way. We then hear Bane's voice, sounding foreign and intimidating. His accent sounds closer to the likes of someone either from Eastern Europe or possibly South America. It's tough to get a pinpoint on his origins based on the clip used in the trailer.

What's interesting, however, is his design. Telltale's Batman: The Enemy Within appears to borrow more from the mercenary look that Nolan went with in The Dark Knight Rises as opposed to the super muscled-up look in Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham games. Telltale also seemed to avoid the standard wrestler garb that he wore in Batman: The Animated Series.

Based on the little that we see, Bane is in military fatigues with boots, a utility belt and some sort of upper-body armor. Even though we don't get a full look at the character, it's obvious that the more military-themed look seems to be the more popular look for Bane these days. It's also something that NetherRealm Studios went with for the character in Injustice 2.

You can look for Batman: The Enemy Within -- Episode 2: The Pact starting October 3rd. Details on second season are also available over on the Telltale website.

The launch trailer for the second episode of Hitman has gone live ahead of its April 26 release, featuring a look at Agent 47's visit to the fictional tourist town sitting off the sandy shores of Italy. We get to see a few of the outfits 47 will don as well as his main target in the area, a biochemical engineer.

Game Informer spotted the new Hitman trailer from IO Interactive and Square Enix, where it first leads players around some of the hotspots of resort area of Sapienza, leading up to 47 heading down into the secret lab of Dr. Silvio Caruso. Check it out below.

According to the Game Informer article, the reason Silvio Caruso is so dangerous is because he's developing a virus that has the potential to target specific DNA in an individual, allowing him to become a killer and an assassin without even having to leave the confines of the laboratory.

The agency has Agent 47 to travel to Sapienza to scout out where Caruso is located and take him out. Players will have the entire, idyllic town at their disposal. We get to see a number of ways for 47 to utilize high-points for sniping opportunities, or disguising oneself as the lawn maintenance to get in close, or pretending to be a guard while infiltrating the lab.

The launch trailer for Hitman's second episode doesn't go quite into the amount of detail and variety of gameplay options present in the Sapienza map, but IO Interactive made sure in previous videos gamers managed to get a nice little collage of all the different ways they could both infiltrate the area and execute the target.

The Sapienza map will be the second of six total maps due out for Hitman. Square Enix decided to utilize a different payment and release model for the AAA game in order to experiment with limiting production costs while maximizing revenue. While it means that the title is making money consistently across each and every quarter, it also limits the total install base and creates a sense of fatigue for some players.

Comment sections and forum boards are rife with players who feel as if paying separately for each episode destroys the flow of immersion and replayability since they have to wait months in between each episode's release. The other problem that Square Enix may incur with this release model is that if a group of players don't like a particular episode, they may be less inclined to pay for another one, as opposed to just paying $60 up front and getting them all right then and there.

The option to pay $60 for the complete package of Hitman is still available, only you'll still have to wait with everyone else for the scattered release of each episode. It's a risky move, no doubt.

You can look to get your hands on Episode 2 for Hitman starting April 26, next week, for the Xbox One, PS4 and PC. Episode 3 will take place in Marrakesh and will likely be unveiled soon.

There was a time in my life when I was in college and I was only armed with an Xbox 360 and a weak gaming laptop that could run games like Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike, Left 4 Dead and Amnesia: The Dark Descent on low quality settings. Games like Call of Duty or Battlefield would’ve never been able to run. I was limited in what I could play. So when it came to survival horror, I had to be picky. Amnesia: The Dark Descent could barely run on my laptop. And sure, there were indie games I could sink my teeth into. But nothing that matched the fear I felt playing games like Silent Hill. Until I discovered a Half-Life 2 mod by the name of Nightmare House 2.

Watching the trailer now, I kind of laugh to myself because it really isn’t that great, but in college when I was used to playing low quality games and solely relied on things like action and story to hold me, it really made a difference. I’m highly addicted to being scared, to feeling the fear of the unknown, watching horror movies and feeling the tension of a scene cloaked in silence and darkness. So a mod like Nightmare House 2 quickly drew me in.

Nightmare House 2 is a mod of Half-Life 2: Episode 2 using the Valve source engine, and it takes place after the first mod, Nightmare House, which oddly, I never played for one reason or another. The player wakes up in the middle of a seemingly abandoned mental asylum with no idea how they got there. As the player wanders around a little, unexplainable thing start to happen and a man by the name of Dr. Romero contacts you, claiming he’s trapped somewhere in the hospital. I always secretly wondered if the name of the doctor was a tribute to George Romero, the creator of the famed Night of the Living Dead.

So at this point in the game, it’s about meandering your way around the creepy hospital to find Dr. Romero. And let me tell you, you are not alone. You can check out the official game trailer.

Obviously, the trailer doesn’t give you a lot of insight into actually how terrifying this game really is. I played this game well before games like Outlast or Daylight where jump-scares were almost a requirement, but before Nightmare House 2, I had never really been someone affected by jump-scare moments. But when you’re playing at night in the dark with a high quality gaming headset, it’s utterly terrifying.

I want to give you a little more insight into just how terrifying this game really is. It’s obvious it uses elements from Silent Hill like the limited area of view using the tiny flashlight beam, blood trails and environmental effects and sounds that seriously keep you on the edge of your seat. The gameplay below will give you a little taste of Nightmare House 2.

There is some messed up stuff going on in this game and it really toys with your head. The mannequins in this scene, particularly, are horrifying because at first you tell yourself you’re just seeing things and the mannequins aren’t really moving. But then things start to get...weird. What’s great about this is how subtle the movements of the mannequins are. They don’t turn into ravaging zombies that get all up in your face and you’re sick of running from them after 10 minutes. They move when you aren’t looking and I think that’s far more terrifying than something blatantly chasing you.

Going through Nightmare House 2, I had to question everything I saw. Like in the above video when you see the SWAT Team member behind the glass, you’re sure it’s someone who needs help. But if you’ve been playing Nightmare House 2 long enough, you’d know better than to take something you see in-game as reality.

For a mod released in 2010, it’s come a long way in its power to instill genuine fear. You can download the mod at Desura. And if you go to play it, I highly recommend you get the full experience with a nice set of headphones and a dark atmosphere. While Prospekt has been officially confirmed as the next major fanmade Half-Life 2 mod, I still feel like nothing will be better than Nightmare House 2.

Futurama's seventh season has been sensational so far. After an excellent back to back premiere that saw the animated series pull off its signature mix of silly and sentimental twice in one night, the show went for full on political satire with "Decision 3012." Really smart with a neat science-fiction inspired time travel twist, last week's episode brilliantly skewered the Republican mis-labelling of Obama and the entire 'birther' movement.

Let's hope the strong start to the new season continues with Wednesday night's "The Thief of Baghead" but, judging by this clip released by Comedy Central, I'm sure we have nothing to worry about. Take a look at the preview called 'Just Take The Damn Picture'...

It's pretty obvious why the clip was called "Just Take the Damn Picture," and not just because it's a line literally uttered by Leela. Bender seems to have taken quite a liking to photography which opens the recent obsession with instagram (not to mention the constant film vs. digital conversation) up for ridicule. The clip also shows that Calculon, the robot soap opera star, will be making an appearance in "The Thief of Baghead" and apparently he gets caught up in an acting competition that puts the loser to death. As Calculon might say, "noooooooooo!!!!!"

Futurama returns with “The Thief of Baghead,” Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET on Comedy Central. It stars Billy West, Katey Sagal and John DiMaggio. It was created by Matt Groening and David X. Cohen.

Matt Groening's Futurama is back in less than a week. The seventh season of the Emmy winning animated program, same as the sixth, will be split into separate 13-episode runs with '7A' beginning on Wednesday night and then '7B' airing sometime in (early) 2013. Comedy Central started advertising for the first run not too long ago and adopted the popular Futurama 'Not Sure If' meme as the primary marketing strategy. There are now a bunch more of those promos on the Comedy Central YouTube page but the network has also released preview clips for the two-part premiere.

Season 7 opens with back-to-back episodes called "The Bots and the Bees" and "A Farewell to Arms" and in the first, Bender and Bev (the office soda machine) have unprotected robot sex which results in a bastard son. Somebody's been watching too much Game of Thrones. Bender's new boy, appropriately named Ben, is a chip off the old block except when it comes to following in his dad's profession. They may be able to rob several different places together (people, liquor stores, banks) but they will never bend as father and son. That's what you get when your mom is a vending machine. Here's the clip called 'Bender's Bastard.'

Following "TBatB" is Futurama's spoof of the Mayan 2012 doomsday prophecy called “A Farewell to Arms.” Of course, with the show being set in the future, this time the ancient prophecy predicts that the end of the world will occur in 3012. In the clip, 'The World Is Ending Again,' we see the beginning of the extinction event which has taken the form of a catastrophic sun-spot cycle! And don't count on Coward Man to save the day.

"I was crazy before it was cool." Futurama returns Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET for a special one-hour premiere on Comedy Central. It stars Billy West, Katey Sagal and John DiMaggio. It was created by Matt Groening and David X. Cohen.

Showtime’s House of Lies didn't impress last week with its premiere "Gods of Dangerous Financial Instruments." Too much style and not enough substance. However, with a core cast (Don Cheadle, Kristen Bell, Ben Schwartz and Josh Lawson) this talented and usually so enjoyable to watch, the series has to improve right? "Amsterdam" was still far from something I'd recommend but if anything it was definitely a vast improvement. And not only that, the series' second episode even contained a truly great sequence. There's hope but first...

"You have to be willing to violate. Violate personal space. Violate manners. Violate the law. Hell, violate every molecule so all that is left is the yes."

It's fitting that in the opening recap Cheadle's Marty Kaan explains that every week his team, the Pod, will meet with a different client and try to bilk them out of their money. On the surface, that's rather interesting because, unlike the medical, police and law procedurals we're so accustomed to, a consulting procedural is seemingly new. It also offers a nice structure for not just the shows but the series. It appears that House of Lies will be both episodic and serialized, focusing on a new client each week as well as developing the character conflicts and relationships over time. Unfortunately for the show, neither seems to work all that well just yet.

The episode opens with a sequence as horrible as any of the worst parts of last week. Again, the stylistic trappings are annoying and weigh everything down. Marty's at lunch with a possible client and he plays up how dire the circumstances will be if they don't work with Galweather & Stern. However, the speech is so over-the-top, accentuated by the flashy visuals and too easy and obvious use of the gospel music, that I can't possibly see any savvy business man buying the bullshit. Despite my reservations, Kaan's a closer and he doesn't just finish the deal with the sweaty business head but also manages to finish with his ex-wife, consulting competitor and all-around horrible person. I'll admit, while not amused by the psycho-sex, I did laugh at the two them saying the safe word in unison. Amsterdam!

"They're close friends of mine. So, I'd like to see what you can do for 'em. I mean, don't undercharge them for God sakes."

The rest of the episode was considerably better. It was less concerned with being really cool and actually delivered some genuine(ly funny) moments for the main characters. Kaan arrives back at the offices of G&S smelling like a closer while the hapless Doug has taken to wearing vanilla or, as Clyde puts it, "after-shavey cookies" to impress the ladies. Marty is soon pulled away by a (weekly?) call from his son's principal. She is again very concerned with the other parents' concern over Roscoe's 'gender bending' and the scene plays like a complete re-hash of last week's events between the pair.

The Pod are sent to see their boss Skip (Richard Schiff) who, along with 'The Rainmaker' - introduced in one of those annoying, fourth wall breaking asides - in turn sends them to Phoenix to meet with this week's client. I wish I had more to say about the scene since there were so many great actors present yet it was pretty forgettable (save the one good quote above in bold). On the way to the plane, Jeannie receives a call from a former flame and the boys all follow her around listening intently. Any scene with Bell taking the lead is a good scene. At the airport, Cat Deeley - who was briefly mentioned before - sits down across from the vanilla smelling Doug and he does his best to pick her up. Unfortunately for Doug, mid-krump he spills coffee all over himself. Fortunately for Doug, Deeley steps in to pat him dry. Another enjoyable sequence, especially the way it's filmed to position his co-workers as another audience (a participating one in Clyde's case), even if it goes a step or two too far when Doug ultimately blows it. "Don't look at me."

They arrive in Phoenix and the week's procedural thread finally gets going. After a brief walk and talk bit of exposition to introduce the client to us - a sports franchise whose owners are a couple on the verge of divorce - the Pod are quickly ushered in to pitch. Cheadle shines during these fast talking monologues but I find it hard to believe that his disciples, I mean team, would be standing around in awe, talking about how good he is right in the middle of the meeting. Anyway, the briefing quickly breaks into bickering and the series confuses screaming vulgarities for comedy. They leave to prepare the next phase of the pitch while Jeannie excuses herself for her date. Too bad that her former man, a Joel McHale knock-off, is just a head hunter only there on business. Bell is really wonderful in the scene and her character might be the only one worth liking (not that the two cronies, Lawson and Schwartz, aren't entertaining).

"Just say yes."

Jeannie arrives back at the strategy session and the boys can't help but be curious as to why she'd be returning to work immediately after a date. Surprisingly, the tight lipped lone female member of the Pod decides to share her romantic woes and it turns into the best scene of the series thus far. Actually, that's an understatement. The scene seamlessly turns the focus from Jeannie to Doug to Clyde and it's incredible to watch Cheadle and Bell as they watch Lawson and Schwartz play out the can Clyde pickup Cat Deeley scenario. I knew Schwartz was funny (he's great as Jean-Ralphio) but I didn't know he could carry a scene this well and/or deliver the range that he displayed here. Actually, all four work very well together and just like last week, the show is at its best when the core cast bicker, banter and bullshit with each other. It was truly a great sequence and fosters hope that the series might actually have a lot to offer.

Doug knocks on Marty's hotel room door in the middle of the night having found the one hundred million dollars that the husband/owner had hidden away to keep from losing in the divorce proceedings. And, in a sadly predictable move, the consulting team convinces him (using their knowledge of the money as leverage) that the best recourse is a 'fakeconciliation' with his wife in order to keep from losing the team to the league. This ending was not just foreshadowed throughout the episode but painfully telegraphed. I think I can remember at least three times where it's mentioned that 'if they only would stay together, the team would be fine, or something to that effect.

The episode closes on Jeannie confronting Marty about the head-hunter and if he's the reason the job offer has suddenly been rescinded. Of course he is, and to the show's credit, Jeannie's reaction is quite complex and interesting. She plays like she's mad but soon reveals (only to us) a huge grin, suggesting that she's just happy to be wanted. How nice for a not-so-nice show. Overall the episode was a giant leap forward. Last week I noted that even the second half of the pilot seemed much improved on the first and that trend also continued this week. Perhaps somewhere down the line, once the kinks are ironed out, this could be an interesting (and recommendable) series. And at least we know for sure that the cast will always be great, even if the material isn't.

House of Lies is on Sundays at 10 p.m. on Showtime. It stars Don Cheadle, Kristen Bell, Ben Schwartz, Josh Lawson, Dawn Oliveri, Glynn Turman and Donis Leonard Jr. It was created by Matthew Carnahan.