Game of Thrones Recap: Where Are They Now?

Game of Thrones is back! We have less than a week until we go back to Westeros, Essos, and beyond the Wall so just like last week with Orphan Black, I’m doing a post of things to remember in case you weren’t able to follow along with #GOT50 or binge watch the 50 episodes whenever you had the time like me. There’s a lot that’s happened in the last 5 seasons, so instead of giving you a rundown of everything, I’m going to remind you where we last left our characters. 

Sansa Stark

When we left Sansa, she had just escaped Winterfell and Ramsay (Snow) Bolton with Theon/Reek (is he Theon now that he’s escaped or is that going to take longer for him to get used to?). We don’t really know what’s going to happen to either of them now, since Sansa missed her meet-up with Brienne. There are plenty of Northern lords they could go to, it’s really only a matter of them finding the ones who aren’t fighting for the Boltons. They could also go to the Wall, but I’m not sure that’s the best place for them given the Wall’s adamant aversion to helping out specific people in the realm.

Theon Greyjoy

Like I said above, Theon escaped from Winterfell with Sansa. We’re not sure where they’re going or who or what they’ll run into. What’ll also be interesting it their dynamic, seeing as Sansa only just found out Theon didn’t kill her brothers. Maybe he was able to redeem himself in her eyes, or maybe not, but we know Theon has been through a lot despite all he’s done and most definitely needs a break.

Arya Stark

When we last left Arya, she was being punished by the man formerly known as Jaqen H’ghar for murdering Ser Meryn Trant when she wasn’t supposed to. As a result, she was made blind, something I forgot about when the first promo pictures came out for this season and I assumed she was warging (how I wish the show had Arya and Jon unconsciously warging into their direwolves and not just Bran). Anyway, she’s blind and still working for the House of Black and White. We’re not sure what Arya will do next, though I think it will definitely be difficult, if not impossible for her to truly become “no one.” I’m curious how much longer she’ll stick it out in the House of Black and White before someone pushes her too far. Also, where is she going from here? She’s learning to change her face and to kill people, so will she bring those gifts back to Westeros and wreak havoc on those who have wronged her and her family? Wouldn’t it be hilarious if the Lannisters were so busy with the Tyrells, Tullys, and High Sparrow and didn’t realize they had to deal with a little girl they presumed to be dead all this time? She’d be like a mini-white walker plotline. Arya is Coming.

Rickon Stark

No one really knows what Rickon’s up to. He is presumably still with Osha, but we haven’t actually seen him since the end of Season 3. He has to come back at some point since Bran is most likely not coming back from beyond the Wall, which makes him heir to Winterfell. Maybe he’ll hook up with Sansa? That would be kind of cool, especially since I’m rooting for at least 2 of the Stark (including Jon) kids to join up.

Davos Seaworth

Davos is still in the North. When we last saw him, Stannis had sent him away, back to the Wall so that he wouldn’t see Shireen burned alive. So he’s at the Wall, and while in the books, he was in White Harbor before being sent off to look for Rickon, in the trailers it looks like he’s protecting Jon’s “dead” body. We’ll see what else this season has in store for him.

Brienne of Tarth

When we last left Brienne, she was in the North trying to rescue Sansa, and it was heavily implied that she killed Stannis. While executives have said that he was dead, it was quite odd to not actually see him die in a show that is gratuitous with it’s killing scenes. Anyway, I’m assuming Brienne killed him, and while it’s great for her that she got her revenge, I’m curious what she’ll be up to next. Will she keep looking for Sansa? Though she made a vow to both Catelyn Stark and Jamie Lannister that she would keep Sansa and Arya safe, neither of the girls seemed to have wanted her help, so I wonder what her game plan will be now. It looked like she and Podrick were at Riverrun, or at least the riverlands, in the trailer, so I wonder how they got there or what their plans are.

Cersei Lannister

When we last left Cersei, we watched one of my least favorite scenes in the whole series where somehow Martin and the show writers were able to make me feel bad for her by forcing her to do a walk of shame. While she deserved to be punished for all the crimes she committed throughout the series, I do feel like the High Sparrow did a little too much, especially seeing as Cersei is the last person to be humiliated and just let it go. She still has her trial coming up and has chosen her champion (Robert Strong aka Zombie-Gregor Clegane), but I’m fully expecting the High Sparrow and his disciples to feel her wrath, especially that septa who shouted “shame” behind Cersei as she walked naked throughout all of King’s Landing.

Jamie Lannister

At the end of Season 5, Jamie was leaving Dorne with his niece/daughter Myrcella when she was poisoned by the Sand Snakes (Oberyn Martell’s paramour and daughters). So now Jamie is returning to King’s Landing and Cersei with their dead daughter, which can’t be good. In the promotions for this season it looked like the Lannisters were back at war, so not only am I curious how close that will be to the books, but also how Jamie and Cersei’s relationship fairs after Myrcella’s murder.

Margaery and Loras Tyrell

Unlike Cersei, Margaery and her brother Loras are still in the Sept, held captive by the High Sparrow. They didn’t confess anything to get out, so it will be interesting to see how that effects Cersei’s plans, Tommen and Loras’s actions, and Margaery’s own trial. Will either of them choose trial-by-combat? Will they allow the High Sparrow to decide their fate? Will they find a way to get Tommen to get them out? The latter may not be as possible since Cersei gave a lot of power to the High Sparrow (which obviously backfired).

Tyrion Lannister

We last left Tyrion in Meereen looking dumbstruck as Daenerys took off on Drogon. It looks like along with Varys, Tyrion will help rule Meereen while Dany is gone, but I’m curious how long that will last. We’ve always known that Meereen wasn’t Dany or Tyrion’s endgame so I wonder how reasonable it will be for them to continue to rule there indefinitely, especially given how far it is from Westeros. I’m sure Tyrion and Varys are both just waiting on Dany to come back and follow her lead, but I wonder how long that will take, and what kind of trials Tyrion will have in ruling Meereen, seeing as those troubles didn’t exactly disappear when Dany left. There’s also the problem of Dany’s two other dragons Viserion and Rhaegal. They’re locked up and irritable, two things that dragons don’t really appreciate.

Daenerys Targaryen

As I said above, Daenerys took off on Drogon, leaving Meereen. While that moment was awesome to watch (and to read), the decision was really impulsive and, as we can see with Tyrion, has a lot of consequences. Dany is now captured by the Dothraki and is being taken to Vaes Dothrak, so who knows when she’ll get back to Meereen or what her plans even are at that point. She didn’t seem very panicked when she was captured, so maybe she has a plan or something. Or maybe she’s just hoping Drogon will come back flame all the Dothraki, take her over to Westeros, and flame all her enemies there too so she can take the Iron Throne. Who knows. I’m sure her storyline will be really interesting as always and I’m interested to see how her character develops.

Jorah Mormont

Jorah is also dealing with the aftermath of Dany’s departure. He is also in Meereen, but I’m pretty sure he and Daario Naharis are going in search of their Queen. I wonder if they’ll rescue her or if they’ll find her in the burning ruins of Vaas Dothrak perched on Drogon or something. Jorah also has some personal issues going on. He contracted Greyscale in the last season when traveling back to Meereen with Tyrion but hasn’t told anyone because that’s always a good idea. We’ll see if he finally let’s someone know or if he infects all of Essos and we have to deal with stone zombies in addition to the ice ones coming down from the North.

Samwell Tarly

In Season 5, Jon sent Sam down South with Gilly and her son. They left from East-Watch-by-the-Sea by ship and are traveling down to Horn Hill where he grew up, so not only will we get to meet his horrible father Randall Tarly, but his younger brother and heir to Horn Hill Dickon (played by Freddie Stroma, also known as Cormac McLaggen from the Harry Potter series).

Melisandre

We last saw Melisandre leaving Stannis once they lost the battle against Ramsay Bolton (fka Snow). We watched as she seemed to realize that she had picked the wrong person as Azor Ahai, Game of Thrones’ “Chosen One” who is supposed to be able to fight against the White Walkers. She went back to the Wall, which implies that she realized/hoped that the real Azor Ahai was actually Jon Snow, which might be awkward considering what the Night’s Watch did to him.

Jon Snow

We last left Jon on the ice cold ground, bleeding out after being betrayed by the Night’s Watch. While that was the last scene we saw of him (and of season 5), we all know he’s not really dead. Well he might be dead but we all know he’s coming back so is he really dead? NO. The only question is how he will come back. Will Melisandre bring him back? In the meantime will he be hanging out inside Ghost? (This isn’t clear since the show hasn’t really established Jon as a warg like Martin has in the books). We’re most likely going to find out about his parentage in this season with these flashbacks at the Tower of Joy, and once he does come back there may be questions about his ties to the Night’s Watch, so it’ll be interesting to see what he’ll do next.

Bran Stark

We haven’t seen Bran since season 4. He finally made it to Bloodraven (aka the three-eyed crow), escaping the white walkers with help from a Child of the Forest and the sacrifice of Jojen Reed (RIP). Meera and Hodor are still around, so I wonder what they will be up to while Bran is training with Bloodraven.

There are still a lot of moving pieces and a lot of political layers as most of our characters continue to play the Game of Thrones. Luckily, a spare few of our characters have finally realized that NONE OF THIS MATTERS BECAUSE OF THE ICE ZOMBIES. Hopefully they’ll be able to bring more over to their cause.