Game Of Thrones Season 7: 7 Winners And 6 Losers
"There is no middle ground."
When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die.
That message was first told to us way back in Season 1, and it still partly rings true, as evidenced with Petyr Baelish.
But the game has been changing, and so too is Game of Thrones. Death is no longer the sole consequence of losing the game of thrones, as a number of character deaths are now seemingly being saved for the eighth and final season. Similarly, it's possible to both win AND die (see: Olenna Tyrell).
Season 7 had a number of people who could be considered both a winner and a loser, with Cersei Lannister - who previously told us there was no middle ground - the prime example. She suffered the major blow of losing Jaime leaving her, while a number of Lannister soldiers were killed, but she also repaid the Iron Bank, hired the Golden Company and, crucially, clung to the Iron Throne against all the odds.
Likewise, Arya and Sansa were at least briefly turned against each other, had a weak storyline, but ultimately came out on top and stood together. For a number of characters, though, the line between winning and losing - which only occasionally resulted in death - was much clearer.