A year and a half after the most recent instalment, the final season of Game of Thrones is steaming towards us like an ice dragon.

HBO has been adept at concluding series memorably and before they have worn out their welcome – compare the enigmatic end of The Sopranos with the staggering, menaceless last few seasons of AMC’s The Walking Dead – and indeed, has ended some sagas (Deadwood) prematurely.

For a fantasy with the grandeur and sweep of Game of Thrones, eight seasons of plot lines seems about right, and the series is now poised to conclude with the biggest of big bangs.

Here’s a recap of what’s at stake and who’s in play as the Night King’s White Walkers assemble to march on Westeros.

They’re armed with undead dragon Viserion, but the machinations of those destined to oppose the horde are equally relentless.

Jon Snow

Now a secret Targaryen, Ned Stark’s bastard (Kit Harington) is alive, home and grappling with destiny. He seems to be hurtling towards both a strange love and political authority open to him through a birthright about which he currently knows nothing.

Jon Snow might finally learn something. Photo: HBO

Daenerys Targaryen

Even though she’s one dragon down, Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) is on the brink of achieving her ambition to claim the Iron Throne. But her bedtime shenanigans with Jon mean the main obstacle to her plan could be someone who now considers her his favourite aunty.

Daenerys is on a wing and a prayer. Photo: HBO

The Lannisters

All three are on the brink of destruction amid divided loyalties to realm and family. Cersei (Lena Headey) and her spreading inner malignancy have driven away her brother Jaime. She’s pregnant to him (again) but it may not be enough to overturn his growing feelings for – perhaps his soulmate? – Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie).

For his part, Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) knows full well his sister’s intention to betray the super-alliance against the wights, and realises this would mean the destruction of King’s Landing.

Tyrion’s last deliciously poisonous private audience with Cersei heralds, as usual, that wherever we arrive at the very end, ‘The Imp’ (Peter Dinklage) will have a hand in the outcome and likely was a key engineer.

And you can almost see Cersei’s mind ticking over. Photo: HBO

The Stark siblings

At Winterfell, sisters Arya (Maisie Williams) and Sansa (Sophie Turner) have finally bonded by executing Littlefinger. Sansa’s salute to Arya as the strongest person she knows hints at what an unstoppable combination the Stark ladies will be now they have learned to play nice together.

Also in the north, how will Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright) and Samwell Tarly’s knowledge of Jon’s hidden heritage play out? We may finally see the surviving Stark son become a player in the devious dealings.

A girl has more than a name. Photo: HBO

Other family conflicts to watch

Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen), whose emasculation by Ramsay Bolton proved something of a secret weapon last season, looks set for a deadly stoush with his uncle Euron (Pilou Asbaek). And the sibling rivalry between the Hound (Rory McCann) and the Mountain (Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson) has reached Def Con 4, making for interesting future family celebrations.

Given how things are poised as season eight kicks off, it’s perhaps unsurprising critics have tried since its debut to dismiss GoT as tits ‘n’ bums and spectacular murders.

But one aspect that has developed and matured as the series progressed has been its political literacy.

It’s difficult not to interpret Jon’s warning at season seven’s conclusion as anything other than a comment on the real drama enveloping Washington: “When enough people make false promises, words stop meaning anything. Then there are no more answers, only better and better lies”.

When Game of Thrones fades into the ice in a couple of months, so does another literate medium to help us interpret the chaotic politics of our own Seven Kingdoms.

Season eight of Game of Thrones premieres on Foxtel on April 15