This week FireandLunch wants to help you win your office Iron Throne betting pool with our predictions for which way the winds will blow for Game of Thrones Season 6! First things first, you should watch the latest trailer. Go ahead. It’s right here.
Armed with these prophetic and mysterious images we, the members of FireandLunch that don’t subscribe to show spoilers, will apply our book knowledge to make some educated guesses about major plot points you can look forward to this season. If you are more interested in real life rumor we suggest checking out our Season 6 PieCast Speculation episode featuring the spoiler addicted members of the group.
We’ve broken down our predictions geographically into three regions—The North, The South, and Essos. Have a prediction we didn’t cover? Tell us in the comments!
Beware of Book Spoilers and references to the latest Season 6 Trailers.
Gird yourselves, here we go:
THE NORTH
PREDICTION: Jon Snow will live again.
WHY WE THINK SO: The ASoIaF fandom has long convinced themselves that Jon can’t possibly be dead forever. Especially if those fans believe Jon is Azor Ahai come again. (Whether or not you think Azor Ahai and the Prince That Was Promised are one and the same, as Melisandre seems to, is another argument altogether.)
Even the more casual fan can be convinced Jon’s death is greatly exaggerated without resorting to obscure prophecies. Melisandre and other priests of R’hllor have already established they can bring people back from the dead (see Beric Dondarrion for an on-screen example) and the conclusion of Season 5 made a point of returning Melisandre to the Wall. Convenient.
How will this work? Well, that’s when we have to start talking about skinchangers and wargs. The predominant theory is that Jon warged into Ghost and will be resurrected by Melisandre. This possibility isn’t fully explained in the show. In the books, we see people among the Free Folk who can skinchange their spirits into animals. On the show we’ve seen Orin appear to send his spirit into a hawk, and after Orin’s death that hawk attacked Jon. Vengeance? The books explicitly establish ALL the Stark children as wargs, except for Sansa. The show only does this definitively for Bran, and Jon has been referred to as a warg by the Free Folk. Basically, because it is POSSIBLE for a skinchanger to escape death by skinchanging into their animal, many believe Jon has taken refuge within Ghost.
We think Melisandre will perform whatever ritual the Lord of Light requires, probably something with fire, and because Jon’s spirit is still in Ghost he will be able to return to his body without the negative consequences suffered by Beric Dondarrion.
PLAUSIBILITY: We’re very confident that Melisandre will return Jon to life in Season 6. We’re not as confident that the show will choose to make warging a part of the resurrection.
PREDICTION: The Onion Knight will defect from House Baratheon.
WHY WE THINK SO: For one thing, there is no more House Baratheon. Stannis and his Queen are dead. And Stannis’ heir was burned alive. Even if Stannis had lived we’re pretty sure Davos would renounce his allegiance because of what Stannis did to Shireen.
PLAUSIBILITY: Six fingers out of Ten. Moving beyond the tantalizing images of Davos wielding Longclaw and hanging out with Ghost in the S6 trailers—in Davos’s eyes there is no longer any true heir to the throne of Westeros.
Davos understands the real threat (the White Walkers), and we know from the Season 6 trailers that he is preoccupied with the threat from beyond the Wall. We think Davos is done with political shenanigans. He’s going to make it his mission to fight the true enemy. He will definitely hang around the North but probably not the Night’s Watch since that is where Melisandre is currently roosting. There are other Northern strongholds where someone like Davos would be appreciated (keep reading for our theory about House Mormont). Look for Ser Onion to be the breakout badass of Season 6!
PREDICTION: Sansa Stark Lannister Snow—no, wait—Bolton and the gathering of the North to oppose House Bolton.
WHY WE THINK SO: Sansa and Theon have escaped Ramsay and are on the run. We don’t know where they’re going but, based on the recent trailer, a good guess is Bear Island, the seat of House Mormont. Moreover, they’ve proven themselves a staunchly Northern house (remember Lyanna Mormont’s amazing letter to King Stannis?), and we don’t think they’ll take kindly to the Bolton’s claim on Winterfell either. They would be excellent allies for Sansa if she’s going to take back her birthright as the, apparently, only living Stark heir. Plus, we all want to see Ramsay go down!
Note: If Sansa rallies the North via House Mormont, she may run into Davos. If he’s taken possession of Longclaw, that IS a Mormont sword. It would give him an excuse to visit, plus we spotted House Mormont banners behind Davos in the recent trailer.
PLAUSIBILITY: Hopeful but we won’t bet on it. We know that the North is moving against House Bolton in some capacity, even if we don’t know exactly who (although it looks like the Free Folk are involved in some sort of battle). This is the season that Sansa will come into her own. If Ramsay didn’t break her, nothing will. The Lannisters, the Boltons, and anyone who messed with her family better watch their backs. We’re looking at you, Littlefinger.
THE SOUTH
PREDICTION: Tommen is going to die.
WHY WE THINK SO: Other than the fact that sitting the Iron Throne greatly decreases your life expectancy, everyone is gunning for the Lannisters right now. Cersei is not making friends with the Faith in the trailer (Hey, Lancel!), and unfortunately we know the Tyrells are perfectly willing to kill off boy kings if it suits them. If she doesn’t help the Tyrells get Margaery and Loras out of jail (and we know she won’t) she can kiss any support from that quarter goodbye. And we haven’t even mentioned the Martells yet. They also like to kill Cersei’s kids. That’s a lot of enemies for Cersei, and the only person keeping Cersei in power is Tommen. Remember the flashbacks to Maggy the Frog at the beginning of Season 5?
PLAUSIBILITY: You can start predicting which episode Tommen dies in the comments.
PREDICTION: Jaime Lannister will breakup with his sister and reunite with Brienne.
WHY WE THINK SO: We know Jaime will disengage from Cersei because it’s already happened in the books. The plot details may be different on the show but it’s going to happen. Sometime after the Lannisters (aka Cersei) get themselves into a War with the Tyrells, the Faith, the Martells and probably everyone else, Jaime is going to peace out.
PLAUSIBILITY: Pretty good. Tommen is doomed and Cersei is losing her grip. If the show writers don’t get Jaime out of King’s Landing soon he’ll become embroiled in the politics surrounding the Iron Throne and pretty much lose all agency as a character. He’s at his best when he’s on his own and unpredictable.
As for hooking up with Brienne, that’s far less likely but we will go down with this ship. Plus the person going after Podric in the trailer might actually be Bronn and we know who always hangs out with Pod and Bronn. Anchors aweigh!
ESSOS
PREDICTION: Tyrion Lannister will rule in Dany’s absence, via dragon.
WHY WE THINK SO: Process of elimination. There doesn’t appear to be anyone left in Meereen to do any of the ruling except for Tyrion. Plus, and this is very important, Tyrion knows stuff. He reads. And he knows about Dragons. In theory.
Rhaegal and Viserion are locked under the pyramid and Tyrion cannot keep himself out of trouble. Or maybe he’ll be trying to keep the teen dragons out of trouble? Or maybe he’s going to let them out in hopes they will go looking for their mom? Those of you who have read the books are making jokes to yourselves right now but we think that actually knowing a little bit about dragons is the key to surviving an encounter with them.
PLAUSIBILITY: Tyrion as proxy ruler of Meereen = Very high. Tyrion taking a ride in the skies on a dragon = Very Low. Jorah and Daario are taking the Greyscale Show on the road. Missandei, although great for giving advice, is probably not skilled enough to make those decisions alone, and although Varys seems to support the Targaryen cause, he’s not the type to take control. Now, if only Tyrion can stay sober.
PREDICTION: Dany gets another Dothraki army.
WHY WE THINK SO: The Season 6 trailers give us a lot of images of Dany hanging out with Dothraki, some of them a little upsetting. We’re hoping the show doesn’t put Dany on exactly the same character arc she was on in Season 1. We’re predicting she gains a new Dothraki army to aid her, but she doesn’t get a new Dothraki husband. Been there, done that. Dany has Drogon’s unpredictable help this time around and anyways, we know nothing good can come from weddings.
PLAUSIBILITY: Middling. We want Dany to get on with it and finally make that crossing to Westeros and the Dothraki would be a great cavalry addition to her kinda tiny army. But, will she get her way or will she just escape with her life?
PREDICTION: Everybody is Essos is getting greyscale.
WHY WE THINK SO: It’s already begun.
PLAUSIBILITY: High. So high. High as the Eyrie. If Jorah keeps wiping his hands all over everyone, it should happen in 5…4…3…2…1…
PREDICTION: Arya will return to Westeros.
WHY WE THINK SO: Arya becomes an initiated Faceless Man (er, person) and is sent to Westeros to end the life of someone under contract. SURPRISE, that person is Tommen. She’s been hired by any number of Lannister enemies, but we’ll predict the Iron Bank of Braavos. The Crown aka The Lannisters owe the Iron Bank several fortunes and show no sign of paying. Arya, being Arya and never No One, takes the job with glee because she’s got that list to get through and they’re pretty much all in Westeros. Time to go home.
PLAUSIBILITY: Tommen has to die somehow, may as well be at Arya’s hand. She’s good at killing little boys.
Hello, we are Fire and Lunch! Five years ago, a bunch of superfans came together to celebrate their favorite book series over food, and the rest is history. You can find our in-depth analysis (complete with POP-toy gifs) of Game of Thrones, A Song of Ice and Fire, and other fantasy series on tumblr and twitter. If you’re into fast talking, intelligent discourse, and some pretty deep geek humor, check out our podcast, The Piecast.
