This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at USF chapter.

Disclaimer: Before you continue with this article, if you are not current with all the lore of A Song of Ice and Fire and you wish to be surprised by the upcoming content in Season Six, this article is not for you. I will cover fan theories that cross into territory covered in A Dance with Dragons, as well as the content that has been released for The Winds of Winter. If you do not like spoilers, click the little ‘x’ in the top corner of your screen right now.

6) The Return of Bran and Rickon

If you are a hardcore GOT fan, then you have probably been wildly speculating about the whereabouts of Rickon Stark and Nymphadora Tonks– okay, Osha– since their departure from Hodor, Bran and the Reeds way back in Season Three. In the episode The Rains of Castamere , more infamously known as The Red Wedding , Bran tells Osha to take Rickon to The Last Hearth where the Umbers (loyal bannermen to the Starks) will shelter Rickon. Rickon, Osha and Shaggydog head out immediately and haven’t been seen or heard from since. There has been much speculation about how and when Rickon will return, but many believe he will be used to rally the Northern cause around a Stark heir against the Boltons. Some have even speculated that Rickon and Sansa will be reunited after her narrow escape from Winterfell with Theon ‘Reek’ Greyjoy in the finale of Season 5.

Bran’s whereabouts are much less of a mystery to book readers and show watchers alike. Those who are current with the ASOIAF cannon have much more information about what Bran has been up to, since his POVs (Point of View chapters) from A Dance with Dragons were not included in Season 5 of Game of Thrones. In fact, he may be the only current TV show character with book plotlines left to cover (with the exclusion of the Greyjoy’s, but we’ll get to that later). We last saw Bran in the finale of Season 4, The Children ,where Bran encounters the Children of the Forest, enters the weirwood tree, meets The Three-Eyed Raven, and then is completely forgotten about for all of Season 5. The trailers for Season Six have us all wondering about what Bran will see in his Weirwood visions. The show set precedence for his warging abilities back in Season 4 , this vision illustrated Bran’s ability to see into the past and the future. If you go back and watch it carefully, there is really quite a lot happening in that vision. He glimpses his father sharpening his Valyrian steel blade Ice under the weirwood at Winterfell, the Iron Throne covered in snow (just as Daenerys had seen in her vision at The House of the Undying), The Child of the Forest who saves him at the end of Season 4, a reflection of The Night’s King, and the shadow of a dragon flying over The Red Keep in King’s Landing. What we are all really dying to know, is what is going on with him and the Night’s King in the below still from the trailer.

5) The Kingsmoot

Okay, what the heck is a Kingsmoot, and why should you care? To answer this we have to go ALL the way back to that scene in Season 3 where Stannis burns those leeches that sucked out Gendry’s blood.

So, why did Melisandre leech Gendry in the first place? Well, she is a Red Priestess who channels R’hllor (The Lord of Light), and this gives her certain magical abilities. In her religion, there is known magical power in a king’s blood. Gendry is the bastard son of the late Robert Baratheon; therefore, his blood would contain these magical properties. Now back to the leeches, as Stannis burns the leeches he names four usurpers to the throne: the usurper Joffrey Baratheon, the usurper Robb Stark, the usurper Renly Baratheon, and the usurper Balon Greyjoy. We were all overjoyed when Joffrey met his demise at the hands of the queen of thornes.

We all were devastated by Robb’s passing at the Red Wedding–did you learn nothing from your father Robb?

We all were equally creeped out by Renly’s stabbing at the hands of that creepy shadow baby. So, that’s it, all of the usurpers are dead and gone, right?

What about Balon Greyjoy? In the books he is snuffed out fairly quickly after the leeches are burned, but we haven’t seen him in the show since he got Theon’s favorite toy in a box.

I think at the opening of Season 6 Balon Greyjoy will already be dead, and the Kingsmoot will decide who is the heir to Seastone Chair of Pyke. In A Dance with Dragons,Theon’s uncles Euron ‘The Crow’s Eye’ and Victarion challenge Yara (Asha in the books) for control of the Iron Islands. This is what the Kingsmoot is. I will not spoil how it ends up, but I can tell you that Euron is a pretty important character in the books. I don’t want to go into it too much, but I will tell you he is in possession of a horn that is supposed to be able to control dragons.

4) The Women of Game of Thrones Dominating

Season 5 was pretty rough for the women of Game of Thrones. As seen in the above series of Entertainment Weekly covers, the women of Game of Thrones are set to dominate this season. George R.R. Martin has done a phenomenal job of giving us a vast array of strong females to pine over and emulate, but Season 5 was pretty rough for all the ladies of the Series. In King’s Landing, Cersei and Margaery were imprisoned by the High Sparrow and his Faith militant (who Cersei armed early on in Season 5). Cersei had her lowest point in the Season 5 finale Mother’s Mercy when she took her now infamous walk of shame.

Queen Margaery is still locked up for perjuring herself while trying to protect her brother Loras. Cersei had planned to arm the Faith to gain her own control of King’s Landing back from the Tyrells, but it epically backfired on her. Now, Cersei is back at the Red Keep and ready to take back every shred of dignity they took from her.

As I said before, Queen Margaery is still in the custody of the High Sparrow, but I have a feeling that she may find a way to ally herself with the faith against Cersei.

In Braavos, Arya continued on her path to become No One at the House of Black and White. We last saw her losing her sight after her brutal takedown of Meryn Trant. I will touch more on her storyline in the second part of this article.

At Winterfell, Brienne spent the entire season in the snow with Podrick watching a tower for Sansa to light a candle, only to abandon her post at the very moment when the candle was being lit. YOU HAD ONE JOB, BRIENNE.

In Season 6, I believe Brienne will redeem herself and finally fulfill part of her oath to Catelyn Stark. When we last saw her she was about to chop off the head of Stannis Baratheon– but did she?

I think in this moment Brienne remembered that her duty was to Sansa, but we will see.

What about Sansa? She has arguably had the worst time of all the women on the show. She suffered mental anguish at the hands of Joffrey. She was rescued by the creepiest man in all the Seven Kingdoms, Littlefinger.

Littlefinger leaves her with the realm’s biggest sadist, Ramsay Bolton, and she is forced to marry him in the Godswood— the most sacred spot in Winterfell. She is given away by Theon Greyjoy, who betrayed her family, and Theon was wearing the same clothes her brother Robb was murdered in.

After the wedding, Sansa is brutally raped in front of Theon in a scene which stirred up a hell of a lot of controversy online. Many fans threatened to walk away from the show forever, but others (myself included) can see where the narrative is going. Sansa is continually abused, but she never breaks. She begs Theon for help, and he finally reveals to her that her brothers are alive.

The knowledge that her brothers are out there, and that she is not a lone wolf renews her strength. We last see her leaping from a wall at Winterfell with Theon. We know that she survives her fall, and the trailers show her looking fierce as hell. Some fans are theorizing that she will be merged with the Lady Stoneheart character in the books, who is taking her revenge on the Freys and the Boltons for the Red Wedding. While others are still hoping we might have a shot at meeting the actual Lady Stoneheart.

Finally, it wouldn’t be a proper Game of Thrones article without mention of the Mother of Dragons. When we last saw her, she had jumped on the back of Drogon to escape the Sons of the Harpy, and found herself surrounded by the Khalasar of Khal Jhaqo (former bloodrider to Khal Drogo).

From what we can see in the previews, she will be returning to Vaes Dothrak where she will join fellow widows of former Khals in called the Dosh Khaleen. It is unknown for how long in the season she will be at this location, but I am sure Drogo will get his strength back. When he does, I expect we will see quite a few burning horselords. Daenerys will have finally shown the strength needed to win over the rest of the Khalasar, and she will add them to the ranks of her ever-growing army. It will be interesting to see how long they let this storyline play out, because I believe this will be the season that we see Daenerys finally head towards Westeros.

If you liked the first half of this article, look out for part two which will be released on Saturday, April 23. I will be discussing Arya Stark, the Tower of Joy, and everyone’s favorite fan theory: Clegane-Bowl!

6 Things I’m Excited For in Season 6 of GoT: Part One

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