Thankfully after what has felt like a veritable age, we're in to the final stretch before Game Of Thrones season 6 bursts from the ashes of Jon Snow, Stannis Baratheon and his poor, crispy daughter. It may sound like a cliche, but the next season legitimately feels like the biggest yet, with the biggest thrills, the biggest threats and inevitably the biggest rewards. But it's going to be an ordeal to get there. With Cersei and Jaime vowing vengeance, Dany under the captive control of the Dothraki (literally her whole role this season, I'd wager), and new players announcing their arrival with violence and bloodshed, the stakes are incredibly high. Even without a trailer, the questions posed by the end of season 5 would have been enough to draw fans back in, but now that the teaser has posed some of its own questions, the hype train is at full speed on the speculation track to theory town. So what did we learn from the trailer, and how will those teases form into fully-fledged plotlines?
12. The Clash Of Church And State (Plus The Tyrells)
After the beginnings of tension between the Sparrows and the hedonistic ruling classes in season 5, it looks like the forthcoming season will erupt into actual violence. And regardless of how confident the High Sparrow is of his God's will protecting him, the relatively limited forces of the Faith Militant (we at least haven't seen much to suggest they are numerous) should be overwhelmed by a real army. The question of their confidence is a big one: it wouldn't be entirely surprising if we're going to see the reveal of the show's version of the Warrior's Sons. Their actual fighting credentials and armour would inevitably prove more useful against the Lannisters' spears and swords than the Faith's black robes. Most intriguing of course is the fact that the trailer reveals Jaime Lannister sitting at the front of an army of Tyrell guards confronting the High Sparrow, suggesting that the fractured relationship between the two Houses will be put aside in favour of one unified agenda: rescuing the Tyrell brats. Their united forces (and the small matter of the revitalised Mountain) stacks the odds terribly against the church, but they MUST have something up their sleeves, right?
