(Spoilers for GOT and ASOIAF.)
It’s a question that Game Of Thrones fans hear season after season: Will we all finally shut up about seeing Lady Stoneheart this season?
For those of you who don’t know from the ASOIAF books, Lady Stoneheart is basically the vengeful, zombified Catelyn Stark, who was pulled back from death by the Brotherhood Without Banners. Together, they travel throughout the Riverlands, killing Boltons and Freys in retaliation for their houses’ betrayal that claimed the lives of Catelyn and Robb Stark and lost the North the war. Lady Stoneheart is a large thorn in the Lannisters’ side, despite being little more than rumors throughout Westeros.
Since the infamous Red Wedding, Lady Stoneheart speculation from book readers and show watchers alike has never ceased, and why should it? She is a cathartic character, a symbol of undying justice that we rarely see in the bleak series. It’s the same reason we root for Arya and her kill list — we still want to see the good guys ultimately triumph and the bad guys get what’s coming to them.
But will Lady Stoneheart be in season six? It’s tough to say. We’ve speculated on her arrival before, as the showrunners seem to go out of their way to troll Stoneheart believers with episode names like “Mother’s Mercy.” Michelle Fairley, the actress who played the late Catelyn Stark, even said that “the character’s dead.” But then again, the GOT crew has been saying the same thing about another “dead” character, so those comments don’t mean much anymore.
If she is going to show up, now is the time. We know that portions of the sixth season will put Jaime Lannister in the Riverlands, which is where Lady Stoneheart and the Brotherhood liked to hang folks. Fairley’s appearance has also been used in GOT promotion, albeit as a face on a wall.
And if she isn’t used, the series is leaving a lot of loose ends out there that could have a zombie solution. In the books, Stoneheart forces Brienne of Tarth to choose between her own death and Jaime’s, weaving their stories back together. It would also be a shame to leave the Brotherhood Without Banners out there without another plot. Maybe they found Gendry on his long boat ride in the land of Unfinished Stories.
If she never arrives, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. There are still many plot resolutions to look forward to in the upcoming season. Seemingly, as with every season, too many for 10 episodes. She might be cut for any number of reasons. But there’s still just so much potential for bringing Lady Stoneheart into the series, if for no other reason than to shut us all up. In fact, I think we should all take an oath that, if she doesn’t pop up this season, we stop talking about it. Because this really seems like her last chance, and we’ll have plenty more to speculate about once this season is through.
