Fans prep for battle on ‘Game of Thrones’

The great war is here. It will be, anyway, when “Game of Thrones” returns in July, with the show, presumably, entering the final stages of the battle for Westeros.

A formidable list of contenders is circling from as many directions as the blades of the iconic Iron Throne point — a fact not lost on the throne’s current occupant.

“Enemies to the East. Enemies to the West. Enemies to the South. Enemies to the North,” says Cersei Lannister in the latest trailer. “Whatever stands in our way, we will defeat it.”

What stands in her way are the armies of at least two women with a claim to the throne and several more who would literally kill to see anyone but a Lannister ruling the realm from atop King’s Landing.

All, however, have the chance to rule the show’s forthcoming narrative; what started as a classic male-dominated adventure six seasons ago has become an unlikely tale of female empowerment.

The surviving women of “Game of Thrones” have been endlessly brutalized by the men of Westeros and Essos, but now they have the upper hand — and there will be hell to pay.

Based on author George R.R. Martin’s book series “A Song of Ice and Fire,” “Game of Thrones” has since outpaced the fantasy novels. Although Martin is reportedly writing the sixth volume for what is intended to be a seven-book series, the new HBO season (like the one before) follows a largely rogue storyline. (Martin has provided some outlines to show creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff from the eventually forthcoming “The Winds of Winter.”)

Following the success of realistic, family-based dramas such as “The Sopranos” and “Six Feet Under” and gritty tales of urban Baltimore in “The Wire,” “Game of Thrones” was a huge and expensive gamble for HBO when it premiered in 2011.

The series has since become the premium network’s most successful

show and an epic journey in its own right. Even as it outstripped its source material, “Thrones” launched conversations — about the depiction of rape, nudity and violence — far larger than the expected natterings about deviations from the book.

“Game of Thrones” even

outstripped itself, its wildly ambitious filming schedule forcing HBO to delay by several months this season’s premiere. What’s more, the season will contain just seven episodes instead of 10.

Now, for the first time in the Emmy-winning HBO series’ history, nearly all of the show’s central characters have slain their obstructive regional enemies and are poised to converge on King’s Landing in an

ultimate battle for control of the Seven Kingdoms.

Daenerys Targaryen; the Stark sisters, Sansa and Arya; Cersei; Yara Greyjoy; and Brienne of Tarth are all on a potential collision course. And last we saw Jon Snow, Tyrion Lannister and Theon Greyjoy, they, too, were planning to march toward the Iron Throne.

All seek to topple from power the Lannister queen and brother/ lover Jaime.

The most powerful possible new narrative promises to be that of the Stark sisters. Sansa and Arya haven’t seen each other since they were separated as girls in the first season, after the execution of their father, Ned, at the hands of the Lannisters.

They have both learned a great deal about survival, and Sansa has tasted vengeance and victory and likely wants more.

As for the dozen or so other

key characters not mentioned — including Littlefinger, the women of Dorne, Varys — they’re also hovering about, perhaps concocting more devious plans, deadly poisons or a wider network of spies than imagined in previous seasons.

For many “Game of Thrones” fans, July 16 seems as if it is centuries away.

Winter is coming this summer — but not soon enough.