‘Game of Thrones’: Who’s up, down, and sideways six episodes down in the sixth season

We’ve crossed the half-way point. The sixth season of Game of Thrones has been extremely satisfying, delivering one crazy plot twist after another. As the show is no longer following the books from George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, fans of the HBO television series and the novels are on the edge every week. The stakes are high as unexpected truths are revealed, powerful alliances are formed, and crucial characters return to the chaos.

Return gifts This week’s episode saw the return of a Stark we’d all lost hope of ever seeing again. Ned’s younger brother, Benjen Stark, went north of the wall early in season one and never returned – until now. Benjen is back, but he isn’t really alive. Benjen reveals that after he is struck down by a White Walker’s Sword, he is saved by the Children of the Forest with a shard of dragon glass thrust through his heart.

He has since been on a mission against the undead White Walkers with the Three-eyed Raven. Many believe that Benjen is the character Coldhands from the books, the only “good zombie”. Though Martin denied this claim for the novels, HBO often combines or alters storylines for the screen.

Walder Frey, the architect of the Red Wedding massacre, also returns in this episode, along with Edmure Tully, who has been chained in the dungeons. Frey hopes to use Edmure to win Riverrun back from his uncle, Brynden Tully.

In fact, this season has seen quite a few characters reappear after a long break or resurface after what may have seemed like the end for them. Let’s begin with the most pivotal moment. Early in episode 2, Jon Snow returned from the dead, thanks to Mellisandre, the Red Woman. The mystic, with help from the knight Ser Davos, and a few of Jon’s friends at the Night Watch’s headquarters Castle Black, crushes the rebellion against the Night Watch’s leader, the Lord Commander. Snow has been to the other side, and as he reports, there is nothing out there.

Yara Greyjoy, who left the mainland in Season 4, also returned this season – and fought for her rightful place as heir of Pyke. Littlefinger is back after his long absence following his role as the match-maker from hell in Season 5. He is still manipulating young Robin Arryn and hopes to reconnect with Sansa. We got a brief glimpse of Rickon too this season. He is a prisoner of Ramsay Bolton, but has since been forgotten, again.

Bran is the new Three-eyed Raven This season Bran has been travelling through time with the Three-eyed Raven, uncovering the secrets of his family, the seven kingdoms, and beyond. He sees his father Ned Stark, his sister Lyanna Stark and the young Stable boy Wyllis (Hodor) as kids. He travels to the Tower of Joy in a scene that was cut short just in time, to delay revealing the biggest Game of Thrones fan theory of all time. This is where Ned’s sister Lyanna is giving birth to who the world believes in Jon Snow (and some think Meera Reed too – but that’s a whole another story). Bran discovers that it was the Children of the Forest who created the White Walkers to protect themselves. He causes a full army of Wights to descend upon them. He breaks Hodor. As Meera asks the present-day Hodor to “hold the door” while they escape, the stable boy Wyllis collapses to the ground, shouting his instructions. His final words “Hold the door” meld into the unintelligible “Hodor”. This flashback may just be the longest pay-off in Game of Thrones history, and one of the most heartbreaking moments in the series.

Bran is the new Three-eyed Raven, and while he may not have learnt enough yet, he must travel through time and space looking for a way to define the future, possibly by altering the past.

There’s a new king in the Iron Islands The Iron Islands got a fair share of action this season. Euron Greyjoy, the new king of the Iron Islands, is a pirate, murderer and an altogether crazy man. He has ordered the building of a new fleet, the murder of his brother’s children, and hopes to reach Meereen to marry Daenerys Targaryen so that he can trade his ships for her three dragons and a throne. Euron is truly deluded.

The Ladies of Westeros take charge Game of Thrones is often violent, oppressive and sexist. Most women in the series have suffered misogyny and felt powerless at some point. This season, however, is the one in which they take charge of their lives and of the larger matters that ail the realm.

Sansa has sworn revenge against Ramsay, her abusive rapist-husband and the man who has stolen her home, Winterfell. She has the support of Jon Snow and the Wildings, and hopes to get the loyal Northern houses and the Tullys on her side as well. Somewhere on the way from her escape from Winterfell, her encounter with Brienne and her arrival at Castle Black to reunite with her brother, Sansa has regained her power and been stripped away of the helplessness that has stalked her since season one.

Margery has always been diabolical. Even as she lay in the dungeons, she did not lose her nerve. In the latest episode, she manages to merge the crown with the faith, buying her freedom, and hopefully of her brother too. But she does this just when Cersie and Jamie Lannister arrive with an army, ready to rid King’s Landing of the faith militants. Cersie is too strong for all that she has been going through since the last season, and her trial by combat is upon us too. But she has Gregor Clegane aka The Mountain on her side, and plans for resurrection.

Yara may have lost Kingsmoot, but has escaped her death and the Iron Islands with more than half of the fleet. She and her brother, Theon, are on their way to meet Daenerys, who now has an army comprising a complete Khalasar clan, the Unsullied eunuch warriors , the Second Sons cavalry, and her three powerful dragons.

Arya Stark is not No One Arya’s training as a faceless assassin has not been easy – for her to endure or for us to watch. And while she fought blind, broken and bruised episode after episode claiming that she is in fact “no one”, it is hard to forget who you are when you are a child of Eddard Stark. Her moral disposition came into play this week when she refused to murder the kind Lady Crane. She draws her sword “Needle” out of the rocks where she hid it and is waiting to strike.

Ramsay hit rock bottom, again This season re-established something we’ve long known to be true: Ramsay Bolton is the worst. Thus far, Ramsay has killed his father, fed his step-mother and half-brother to his hounds, killed Rickon’s direwolf Shaggydog, and also Osha, their Wildling companion, and held Rickon Stark prisoner. But this exceeding depravity adds meat to the prediction that this might just be the last season for the bastard of Dreadfort. One can only hope.

Tyrion, hand of the Queen of Meereen Tyrion Lannister was at his best when he was the hand of king for Joffrey back in season two. And this season, he is back to being his brilliant political self. In the absence of Daenerys, Tyrion has struck a deal with the masters of Slaver’s Bay who orchestrated the burning down of Daenerys’s fleet. He has given them seven years to abolish slavery completely. The deal is against everything Daenerys stands for, but as Lord Varys points out, the plan is working. He has also found a priestess of the Lord of Light from Volantis to join their cause.

Daenerys the Conqueror This season, the mother of dragons has been fierce and fearless – to a point where many now wonder if she is the eventual villain of the series. From burning Vaes Dothrak to the ground to rallying a mighty Khalasar to cross the sea to Westeros with her, she is almost undefeatable and drunk on her power. If we look at it honestly, she isn’t a very effective leader – a passionate woman, she frees city after city but is not able to run them successfully. She is a liberator and a “mother”, not a politician. The speech she gives in the last episode, convincing an unruly Khalasar to her bidding, is made from on-board a terrifying fire-breathing dragon. She needs to slow down, or the phrase “Mad Queen Daenerys” (like her father, Mad Kind Aerys) could be added to her ever growing title.

And just so you are up-to-date, so far the title stands at: Daenerys Targaryen, First of Her Name, The Unburnt, Mother of Dragons, Queen of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, Queen of Meereen, Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, Princess of Dragonstone.