In true Game of Thrones fashion, the titles and descriptions couldn’t be vaguer for the next two episodes of season 6, so there’s lots of room for interpretation and prediction.
The synopses for the second and third episodes of Game of Thrones season 6 were released earlier this week, so it’s time for prognosticating! We can assume that, like many episode titles of old, each title refers to multiple storylines, instead of pertaining to just one, and with the additional vagueness of the episode synopses, we have a lot of ideas of where this show is going.
Season 6, episode 2, ‘Home’
Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright) trains with the Three-Eyed Raven (Max von Sydow). In King’s Landing, Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) advises Tommen (Dean-Charles Chapman). Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) demands good news, but has to make his own. At Castle Black, the Night’s Watch stands behind Thorne (Owen Teale). Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon) proposes a plan, and Balon Greyjoy (Patrick Malahide) entertains other proposals.
We haven’t seen Bran since season 4, so it’ll be interesting to see how far he’s progressed in his training since then. Based on the episode 3 synopsis below, we can assume we won’t be seeing Bran ‘time travel’ in this episode, but it takes a lot of training before that can happen, for both Bran and the audience. The more casual viewers will probably need a refresher on Bran and his abilities, so presumably this episode will focus more on Bran’s warging abilities into animals and people, and perhaps into Weirwood trees, where he can check up on his home, Winterfell (and get spooked by some White Walkers!).
The High Sparrow told Margaery in episode 1 that Tommen misses her, and we know Tommen isn’t exactly a man of action. This is where Jaime could come in. Tommen will weep to his dad uncle about wanting to help Margaery and not knowing what to do, and Jaime gives the best advice he can. After all, if Jaime doesn’t want to get on Cersei’s bad side, he can’t try too hard to get Margaery out of captivity.
Due to the disappearance of the Queen, the people are getting irritated and restless. Tyrion will ‘demand good news’ on her whereabouts from Varys and his spider-birds, and after getting none, will make a speech of lies to the Meereenese in an effort to comfort and calm them.
Up north at Castle Black, Thorne will continue to make attempts to attack Davos and company with the support of the Night’s Watch, but soon they’ll have bigger problems to attend to. Edd left in episode 1, and we can assume he’s gone looking for Tormund and the Wildlings to ask for their help in dealing with Thorne. We also saw last episode that most of the Watch doesn’t approve of Wildling’s south of the Wall, so they’ll do their damnedest to destroy the Wildlings when they come.
Ramsay’s plan is most likely the one we see him propose in the episode 2 preview. He says that Sansa is headed to Castle Black and suggests storming it. It’d certainly be interesting to see the Boltons head north and possibly run into the Wildlings. Now that would be a fight!
Then there’s Balon Greyjoy, who we haven’t seen since a brief appearance in season 3. His appearance in season 6 could also be just as brief. We know Euron ‘the crazy’ Greyjoy will be joining season 6, and he’s the ambitious sort. If Joffrey and Ramsay are any indication, crazy and ambitious are not a good combination.
It’s possible Theon arrives in Pyke (hence “Home”) and the proposal Balon is entertaining is making Theon his heir. The word ‘entertaining’ is used lightly here, though. It’d be more like, Balon is entertained by the idea of Theon being the heir. It’s also possible Reek is taken back to the Boltons, his ‘home,’ and the burning, flayed man we saw in one of the trailers is Theon/Reek.
Season 6, episode 3, ‘Oathbreaker’
Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) meets her future. Bran meets the past. Tommen confronts the High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce). Arya (Maisie Williams) trains to be No One. Varys (Conleth Hill) finds an answer. Ramsay gets a gift.
Daenerys will arrive in Vaes Dothrak and get to know the other Khaleesis. The clip in the second trailer where she’s being undressed could be an initiation thing, like when she had to eat a horse’s heart in season 1. Being the inspiring speechmaker that Dany is, she’ll eventually endear these widows to her, and they’ll help her with whatever cause she asks.
Tommen’s confrontation with the High Sparrow is the result of his talk with Jaime in the previous episode. Jaime gave Tommen a confidence boost and Tommen quickly acts on it. Knowing Tommen though, it won’t go well, and the High Sparrow will end up with the upper hand.
Arya training to be no one is self-explanatory, seeing as that’s what she’s been doing since season 5. But in keeping with the oathbreaker theme, it could be in this episode that she finally has to let go of her revenge plots in order to further her training, thus breaking her oath to herself.
The answer Varys finds is who’s leading the Sons of the Harpy. Could it be Littlefinger, bringing Varys and Baelish back together as enemies? Maybe it’s Daario, and Jorah’s mistrust has been well placed all along. We also saw a red priestess in the trailer, so perhaps Varys does the unthinkable (for him) and seeks her help to find this information.
Any gift for Ramsay can’t be good news to us, and it could be many things. Lady Walda could die, eliminating the threat of an heir, the baby could die, or the baby is a girl. ‘Die’ is also used loosely here, because ‘murdered by Ramsay’ is highly plausible. Rickon is returning this season as well, so Ramsay’s gift could also be capturing Rickon and killing him, eliminating a legitimate Winterfell heir threat. If we want to think really dark though, ‘oathbreaker’ could be referenced here too. One of the Northern houses could be sheltering Rickon, but they betray him and give him to the Boltons.
In this episode, Bran will finally put his warging abilities to the test. He’ll warg into the past to see some important moments we’ve only heard about so far. One of these moments could be the sack of King’s Landing, specifically when Jaime betrayed King Aerys and killed him, arguably the most famous ‘oathbreaking’ moment of the show.
A more likely theory is that Bran will see the Tower of Joy in the past, during an important moment of his father’s life. The Tower of Joy houses one of the series’ biggest mysteries: What did Lyanna Stark made Ned Stark promise before she died? Like many others, I’m thinking Lyanna revealed who Jon’s parents were, and asked Ned to never reveal this truth, and to claim Jon is his own son, which brings us to…
The fate of Jon Snow is revealed in this episode. This is when Jon is revived, during Lyanna’s whispered plea to never reveal her son’s parentage. His oath to the Night’s Watch is broken because of his death, so in life he’s free to now do what he wants.