Even after offing numerous recurring characters in the season six finale, Game of Thrones still boasts one of the largest casts, with the highest number of locales, on television. In “The Winds of Winter” alone, we traveled to King’s Landing, Winterfell, Oldtown, the Twins, Dorne, Meereen, and beyond the Wall — the episode needed every one of its 69 minutes, and we still didn’t check in with everyone. Here’s what some of Game of Thrones‘ most important characters who weren’t in the season finale are up to.
Brienne of Tarth
Not unlike Gendry, Brienne is still rowing. Unlike Gendry, she has a squire at her side, Podrick. We don’t know where Brienne is headed, exactly, only that it’s away from the Lannister-led Riverrun, where the Blackfish was killed. My guess is that she’s either heading to Winterfell to fight alongside the Starks, or she’ll stay in the Riverlands and eventually run into the Brotherhood Without Banners Featuring the Hound, or more intriguingly, Arya. There’s also always the chance that she’ll encounter the exiled Melisandre, who, if you’ll recall, she swore vengeance on for killing her beloved Renly.
Euron Greyjoy
Daenerys has three dragons, thousands of Unsullied warriors and Dothraki riders, hundreds of ships, and Tyrion. Euron has his “magic cock” and not much else. The King of the Iron Islands is outright with his intent to murder Yara and Theon and marry the Mother of Dragons, but she has other plans. They involve a different kind of “conquering” than the one Euron is thinking of. A collision between the sides is inevitable, but the show won’t dispose of Euron that easily. Could he and Cersei consolidate their power?
Jorah Mormont
Look, I get it. There are a lot of characters on Game of Thrones. It’s impossible to check in on all of them every week, and the show shouldn’t try; the episodes would get messy and overstuffed, otherwise. But it would have been nice to see Jorah in the season finale, if only for a moment. My irrational side wants to believe that Daenerys left Daario in Meereen so she could secretly shack up with Jorah, but that’s unlikely. And deadly, considering the greyscale that’s slowly taking over his body. That’s his life’s goal now: To find a cure for the fatal disease. Maybe he’ll return to Bear Island — he exiled himself to avoid being executed after dabbling in slavery — where he’ll meet the one true Lord, Lyanna. He can introduce her to Daenerys. (Either that, or we’ll get a Jorah check-in midway through season seven for his death scene.)
The Night King
My biggest criticism of “The Winds of Winter” is that the action never cut to the Night King. A Ramsay-Joffrey-Walder Frey villainous team-up is nothing compared to the pain that he and his cold cronies plan on bringing to the Seven Kingdoms. Jon Snow referenced the White Walkers, though, and there seems to be an understanding among the Northern Lords that winter isn’t coming, it’s here, and it brings bad news. Showrunner D.B. Weiss told Deadline that the Night King is “just death, coming for everyone in the story, coming for all of us.” He still needs to get past the Wall, however, which I expect he’ll accomplish with help from the Horn of Winter. Once the army of the dead is through, they’ll make the Battle of the Bastards look like a slap fight. (The Night King is also why I imagine the finale made a point to show us Samwell in the library, which, surprisingly, isn’t a Belle & Sebastian song. Expect Jon’s good buddy to pull a Hermione Granger, and learn something about the White Walkers that’s been otherwise lost to history.)
Sandor Clegane
In a season full of team-ups — Jon and Sansa! Brienne and Tormund! Hodor and a door! — the least likely was Sandor Clegane joining the Brotherhood Without Banners. The two have, to put it lightly, a checkered history, but that’s when he was the Hound; now he’s Sandor. He still wants to eat chicken and kill, but for a good cause. Like fighting the approaching White Walkers.
Ser Pounce
[“I Will Remember You” starts playing]
