Game Of Thrones Season 6: Are The Pieces In Place To Reveal Lady Stoneheart?

Despite all the talk about how this season of Game of Thrones would be venturing into uncharted territory, the show has featured a surprising amount of book material these past few episodes. Storylines that many book readers assumed had been cut have unexpectedly popped up recently, such as the Kingsmoot and the long-delayed appearance of Coldhands (aka Benjen Stark).

And now the stage is set for another fan favorite to appear - someone book readers had given up on ever seeing - Lady Stoneheart.

For those who need a refresher, or those unconcerned with spoilers, Lady Stoneheart is actually Catelyn Stark, brought back from thee dead by the Brotherhood Without Banners. The resurrected matriarch of the Stark family is now consumed with vengeance and leads the Brotherhood on a warpath against anyone involved in the Red Wedding.

It would be fair to say that fans have been waiting for her to show up since Season 3 and the showrunners even seemed to be trolling fans with several episode titles (Mothers Mercy, Mysa), but alas, fans were always left disappointed. So why would she show up now?

As we know from Episode 6 and the preview for Episode 7, the Siege of Riverrun will be featured prominently in this season. Blackfish Tully, Catelyns uncle, currently holds Riverrun as several key figures converge on the location including the Freys, Jaime Lannister and Brienne. It just so happens that these parties are also all the main targets of Stonehearts mission of revenge.

We learned in the last episode that the Brotherhood has been attacking small forces of the Frey army, which hints at Stoneheart leading the group of outlaws. And then there's Jaime: Stoneheart believes he played a key role in the Red Wedding and she is none too happy that Brienne has formed a friendship with the Kingslayer. The former Lady Stark gives Brienne a choice; either be executed as a traitor or kill Jaime Lannister.

As you can see, the show has certainly positioned all the right chess pieces in a way that suggests this storyline could finally be played out. Benioff and Weiss have repeatedly said Lady Stoneheart will not appear, but we now know they arent always totally honest with us. But if the show does go down this path, what will the end result be?

Could Blackfish know about his nieces return? Could Riverrun be some sort of elaborate trap? With so many key characters meeting in one location, surely something dramatic will be happening. The most likely consequence will be that it spells the end of House Frey, which should be a crowd pleasing moment. But the outcome of the Jaime and Brienne plot is less clear.

Theyve grown so close over the seasons that seeing them forced to fight would be quite a gut-punch. Will one sacrifice themselves to save the other? Will they both die? Its all speculation at this point but next episode could have quite a few shockers in store.