Like the Starks themselves, Game of Thrones is leaving it all on the battlefield with the final two episodes of its sixth season.
HBO will not release synopses for the episodes but the loaded titles tell all – “Battle of the Bastards” and “The Winds of Winter.” The ninth episode runs an hour and features the biggest, most expensive battle yet, while the finale is the longest episode in the series to date at 69 minutes. After the highs of episode 4 “Book of the Stranger” and episode 5 “The Door,” the last three episodes kept several plots simmering in favor of build-up so several storylines are ready to go pop like a virgin at homecoming.
Here are 5 predictions for penultimate and final episodes of Game of Thrones sixth season, based on a Google search and my own 3 in the morning musings.
5. Littlefinger helps Jon and Sansa defeat Ramsay
There are two scenes featured in season six trailers left to appear in the show, beyond the battle episode. The first is this shot of Littlefinger from the second trailer, standing in a snowy landscape that is clearly the North. He was last seen leaving spurned by Sansa. Meanwhile, she was last seen writing a letter almost certainly meant for him to appeal for his army in the coming Battle of the Bastards.
Since his arrival in the ninth episode would probably come at a clutch moment, this scene is likely from the finale. It looks a lot like the weirwood grove in Winterfell, indicating he is in the retaken castle. Alternatively, Sansa’s abandonment could have driven him to ally with Ramsay, though I don’t think he would given his treatment of Sansa and general disposition. Either way, Littlefinger has a role play, possibly as the deciding factor, in the Northern battle in the next two episodes
4. The Red Wedding, Part Deux
The other scene in trailers hitherto unseen this season is Walder Frey celebrating with his two sons. It is clear now he is celebrating the return of Riverrun, which occurred in episode eight. A wider shot reveals he is dining with his family as well as the Lannister troops who aided in retaking the castle.
In a long line of the show tying up or simplifying the numerous loose ends of the books, I suspect this setting up the desired but unexpected “second Red Wedding,” this time perpetrated against the Freys themselves. As for who carries it out, I honestly haven’t figured that part out yet though in the books and show, the Brotherhood Without Banners are likely suspects, having harassed/killed the Freys endlessly since they took over. Lo and behold, like the Freys, they just popped back up after a three season absence to recruit the Hound! Coincidence??? Maybe!3. “Burn them all”
In “No One” Tommen, under the influence of the High Sparrow, outlaws trial-by-combat, seemingly condemning his mother Cersei who had been counting on her monstrous bodyguard FrankenMountain as her fail-safe. However, her only other ally, the mad scientist-turned-spymaster Qyburn, brings news that a “rumor” she told him to investigate turned out to be “much more.”
Speculation is that the rumor Qyburn refers to is a search for hidden caches of wildfire left over from the Mad King’s reign. Cersei has long had a fascination with it; she’s oft-talked about burning cities to the ground for various indignities. Plus her brother/lover Jaime the Kingslayer would have surely told her the reason he slayed the king. Add to it the wildfire in Bran’s visions and you have enough foreshadowing to make a case.
This firepower would give Cersei the power for another Red Wedding-esque event wherein she would likely target the Sept of Baelor where the High Sparrow resides and Loras Tyrell is held prisoner. The incitement for this mass murder will probably be Tommen’s death, by some unknown means. I’d also speculate that her uncle Kevan, cousin Lancel and Grand Maester Pycelle will go down in flames (the first and third are dead in the novels). While I hope she is spared, I also can’t discount Margaery from the possible death toll here. That’s seven possible character deaths right here alone. It’s gonna be a couple bloody Sundays.
2. R+L=J confirmation
A fan theory at least a decade old will get confirmed in the finale, if I had to bet. That is, that Rhaegar Targaryen, Dany’s deceased brother, had a torrid affair with Ned Stark’s sister Lyanna that produced a boy – Jon. The affair sparked Robert’s Rebellion, the downfall of the Targaryens and both Rhaegar and Lyanna’s deaths so, to conceal his heritage, Ned passed Jon off as his own bastard.
The cues are numerous. They’ve played up both Rhaegar and Lyanna between characters and in dialogue since last year. In season 5, episode 5, Maester Aemon Targaryen refers to Targaryens left alone as dangerous as the camera meaningful focuses on Jon entering the frame. In “Oathbreaker” we saw the legendary Tower of Joy duel between Ned and Arthur Dayne, known to take place just prior to Ned finding his sister on her deathbed (the Three-Eyed Raven played meta-storyteller by taking Bran aka us out of that vision right before confirmation). I don’t know what more they could do to tease this other than have Jon go albino overnight.
1. The White Walkers bring down the Wall
I’ve predicted since season 5 ended that season 6 would end with Wall collapsing. I think we got foreshadowing of this event in “The Door” when the Night King’s mark allows him to enter the Three-Eyed Raven’s cave. Before his troops attack, he notably touches the icy ground, cracking it and sending quakes in the tunnel network, the implication being he can now work his magic on the cave.
The bigger implication is that the Night King will need to get his mark through the Wall before he can destroy it, assuming it’s infused with similar magic (and, really, Westeros should call its security company if it isn’t) and not just a random ice wall.
The showrunners are adamant about ending the show after roughly 10-15 more episodes. There would be no better way to set the stage of the endgame than by eliminating the literal and figurative Wall between the fantasy Dark Lord and his killer horde and our swelling super-team of ragtag characters (or as the show calls them “cripples, bastards and broken things”).
In other words, we’re in for another excruciating wait until season 7.