‘Game of Thrones’: Everything You Need to Know for Season 6
When Game of Thrones returns to television on April 24th, Game of Unknowns might make for a more accurate title. Now that the show has fully caught up with George R.R. Martin’s epic-fantasy novel series A Song of Ice and Fire, both book-readers and newbie viewers are totally in the dark about what’s going to happen next. That makes keeping track of the show’s sprawling cast and countless subplots more crucial — and more daunting — than ever.
But you don’t have to have a maester’s degree in Westerosology to keep up! We’ve assembled a quick-and-dirty, region-by-region rundown of all the major players and their current status leading up to the new season’s premiere. It’s the perfect refresher course for being ready when winter finally comes.
The Wall
Jon Snow is dead. The idealistic 998th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch was stabbed to death by his own men — led by his longtime nemesis Ser Alliser Thorne — for the crime of getting too cozy with the wildlings, whom he’d allowed through the Wall to save them from the White Walkers. Of course, there are different degrees of “dead” in this world, and the big question at the start of this season is whether Lord Snow will rise again — aided, perhaps, by his psychic bond with his direwolf Ghost, or resurrected by the magic powers of Melisandre, the red priestess who’s demonstrated an ability to raise the dead in the past.
But the supernatural femme fatale may have other things on her mind. She fled the camp of her supposed messiah Stannis Baratheon after encouraging him to sacrifice his daughter in exchange for the Red God’s blessing, and which only brought him defections and defeat. Her rival in Stannis’ council, good-hearted ex-smuggler Ser Davos Seaworth, seemed understandably devastated by the news. Whose side will they take in the Night’s Watch’s power struggle? And how will Tormund Giantsbane, the towering red-bearded leader of the Free Folk, react to the killing?
At least nebbishy Samwell Tarly and his wildling girlfriend Gilly escaped the carnage: Jon sent them, along with her baby, to the southern city of Oldtown to train as the Watch’s new maester. But that’s a long journey, and his hardass dad Lord Randyll Tarly may be a stop along the way.