Game of Thrones Season 6: The Preview

IT IS TIME.

Game of Thrones Season 6 is here. It’s been a long wait — even longer than usual, since this season is being screened two months further into the year than previous seasons. We now know that this is because George RR Martin had hoped to finish The Winds of Winter by now, and in all honesty, I’m gutted that he wasn’t able to. But it does mean that this season is twice as significant as any of the previous 5, because this season, no one knows what’s going to happen. No longer will that one dickhead friend (me) who’s read the books smile smugly at the carnage on-screen, because now we’re all in the dark.

Following onwards from Season 5 is an interesting task. At times, last year’s addition to the GoT canon was sublime; at times it was almost farcical. As a show which (in my opinion) had gradually improved over its first four seasons, Season 5 was certainly a step down. After the action-packed end of Season 4, several storylines stalled, and characters such as Brienne and Arya spent the majority of the season not doing very much at all. The showrunners decided to fill these gaps with fabricated events, such as the deaths of Barristan Selmy and Mance Rayder. Other storylines, such as *prolonged yawn* Sansa’s, went off in trajectories which didn’t make a lot of sense. And that’s without even mentioning the Sand Snakes, but the less that’s said about them, the better.

There were good times, too: some particular highlights were Tyrion’s journeys with Jorah, Ramsey Bolton’s gleeful malevolence, the spectacular scene in the fighting pits of Meereen which saw Daenerys finally ride a dragon.

But nothing else in season 5 can compete with Hardhome, the penultimate episode in which audiences finally witnessed some proper conflict between the living and the dead. This is an altercation which some readers had been anticipating for twenty years, and one which (so far) the books have not delivered upon. And that ending. Oh my fucking god, that ending.

It’s a great example of the skill of the TV adaptation that this episode was conceived: in the books, Jon merely hears about an altercation at Hardhome, and a few survivors make it to the wall. Rewriting this section to directly involve Jon not only made sense, but it created a memorable action spectacle and a chance for Jon to prove his talents before his Julius-Caesar-style demise.

Personally, I believe Jon Snow will return, although not necessarily during Season 6. From a narrative perspective, the eventual revelation of Jon’s parentage is likely to confirm what fans have suspected for decades — that Jon is the eponymous mixture of Ice and Fire, and is therefore utterly intrinsic to the tale. With the return of Melisandre to Castle Black, disenchanted with her religion and in search of a replacement messiah to latch onto, Jon’s story arc just doesn’t seem finished.

Then again, neither did Robb Stark’s. Or Oberyn Martell’s. Or Barristan Selmy’s. Or Gendry’s. Wait, Gendry didn’t die, did he?

Anyway, there’s also the fact that Ghost survives — the Stark direwolves are not-so-subtle reflections of the Stark children themselves. Bran and Rickon have kept their direwolves as constant companions; Robb’s direwolf was infamously killed alongside him at the Red Wedding; Arya’s wolf was lost to the wilderness shortly before she was, and Sansa’s wolf was killed around the same time that she was married off to Joffrey, symbolically losing her Stark name. Yet as the Season 6 trailers reveal, Ghost stands guard over Jon’s dead body. A popular fan theory predicts that Jon’s spirit will somehow warg into Ghost, but that makes little sense, unless it’s temporary.

Also, Jon’s on the bloody posters.

The trailers make it clear that the black brothers are still divided, showing Alliser Thorne and co. breaking down the door to a room which contains two of my favourite characters, Davos and Dolorous Edd. It seems Davos survives, however, since we later hear his warning that “the dead are coming”, and there’s a glimpse of him preparing for a major battle between the Boltons and the wildlings.

From the trailers, this looks awesome. It looks like GoT’s ever-increasing budget has allowed for a true battle of the north, instead of the shitty cop-out we got at the end of last season, when we saw Ramsay Bolton take on the remains of Stannis’ forces from a birds-eye view.

The Boltons might not dispatch the wildlings with as much ease, however. For starters, the wildlings have formidable numbers, including an actual giant and (the man, the legend) Tormund Giantsbane.

If Tormund dies, bricks will be thrown. This actor needs to stay in Game of Thrones.

Now, to the Greyjoys. If you thought a show as huge as Game of Thrones couldn’t possibly introduce any major new characters at such a late stage, you thought wrong. Euron Greyjoy is here, being played by Pilou Asbaek, and he’s about to cause more upset than Joffrey in a room full of prostitutes. But seriously, Euron is a fascinating and unpredictable character, and I’m really glad David and Dan chose to include him in the show. We see him being dunked under water, watched by a disgruntled-looking Yara (Theon’s sister, who disappeared somewhere in Season 4). We also see Euron lowering his hood whilst stood on one of the precarious bridges of Pike, probably squaring off with big brother Balon.

(Side note: now that Stannis, Renly, Joffrey and Robb are all dead, Balon technically won the War of the Five Kings, despite not appearing in the show since Season 3. So it seems like in the world of GoT, when people get killed on a daily basis, the best strategy to win a war is to hole up, have a cup of tea, and wait for all this to blow over.)

Meanwhile, Jaime returns to King’s Landing, back from his mission to rescue Myrcella from Dorne — a job well done. Surprisingly, it doesn’t seem that Cersei is that pissed at him, as she affectionately gnaws at his ear in one of the trailers. Will we see a different side to Cersei, humbled by last season’s run-in with the faith militant?

Hahahahahahahah, of course not. In the most memorable quote from the trailers, she “chooses violence”, implying that last season’s lessons in piety have not sunk in just yet.

Jaime vows to take back everything that “they” have taken from them, except more. As this is a JaimePlan™, it’s likely to be completely impulsive and will probably not go very well. The teaser clip for House Lannister showed a ragged flag in front of a setting sun, whilst the High Septon spoke of “overthrowing an empire.” It certainly appears that House Lannister is about to fall, but watching it do so is going to be fantastic.

Of course, there’s always a chance that they’ll whip another Deus Ex Lanista out of the bag, but I think their demise has been too long coming. House Lannister died with Tywin.

Elsewhere, BRAN IS BACK. I know many people weren’t too sad about his absence from Season 5, but I’ve always been particularly interested in his story because I have absolutely no idea where its heading. It’s been apparent for years now that he will gain the ability to see through weirwood trees, but to what end? And is that end necessarily a good one? Many fans believe Bloodraven to be a sinister character, and with Bran standing next to the White Walkers in the trailers, it may well be that his story will take another tragic turn.

Regardless, it looks like he’ll be using his tree-powers to delve into both the far north and the distant past. And it is here that this season will get really interesting.

These scenes from the trailers are unmistakably the Tower of Joy, one of the most significant and legendary scenes in the entire Song of Ice and Fire. This is a fight which takes place roughly fifteen years before the beginning of Game of Thrones, at the very end of Robert Baratheon’s rebellion. Three of the Targaryen Kingsguard fight seven of Robert’s most loyal men, who are led by none other than Eddard Stark.

This is not just an awesome fight: it has crucial implications on the current story too, but there will be no spoilers here. Safe to say this could be a highlight of the season, especially since the location they’ve found is perfect.

Across the narrow sea, it looks like it’s down to the awkward duo of Daario and Jorah to find Dany, who finds herself kidnapped by a violent tribe of horse-obsessed warriors. Again.

It’ll be interesting to see if Daenerys can pull off the same trick twice, or if her two admirers will need to step in and save the day. Either way, watching Jorah and Daario team up will be great fun, judging by the fantastic moments of rivalry between them during Season 5. Since Jorah’s days are now numbered, I feel the need to shoutout actor Iain Glen for his excellent, nuanced portrayal of this complex character, even if he is going a bit grey these days.

Meanwhile, the task of ruling Meereen will be left to the all-star team of Tyrion and Varys, purveyors of political machinations and the wittiest of banter. This storyline is particularly unpredictable. Whilst their rule over King’s Landing during Seasons 2 and 3 is one of the only times in GoT when anyone has ruled effectively, they are both complete newcomers to Meereen, a city which doesn’t take kindly to foreigners. They certainly look perturbed by Melisandre 2.0 in one of the trailers.

The trailers also give flashes of our other favourite characters: Arya, Littlefinger, Brienne, Theon. Sansa was there too.

The rumour mill suggests that Arya will be joining a theatre troupe, which will stage a play featuring some familiar characters. It seems fairly likely that Brienne and Podrick will run into Sansa and Theon at some point as they both wander aimlessly around the North. What happens from there is anyone’s guess, but you can bet Littlefinger won’t release his “care” of Sansa any time soon.

Although he’s absent from the trailers, we hope to see Samwell Tarly as he travels to Oldtown in hopes of becoming a maester, but it sounds like he might run into some family along the way. Season 6 will also see the return of Edmure Tully and Brynden the Blackfish, Catelyn’s brother and uncle, MIA since Season 3. And there’s a quick glimpse in the trailers of everyone’s favourite patriarch, Walder Frey.

As ever, the show has its hands full, attempting to juggle numerous storylines packed with well-loved characters. And possibly also the Sand Snakes. I wont’t make any predictions here, but Game of Thrones is looking to wrap up within the next two or three years, and it just might be Season 6 that things really start moving. Expect deaths. Expect sex. Expect witty retorts, furious combat, ice zombies and dragons. Expect all of this at the same time: this is Game of Thrones.