MAJOR RUMORED SPOILERS for Game of Thrones Season 6 in Riverrun

It may have been a holiday break here in the US, but across the not-so-Narrow Sea, Game of Thrones Season 6 has been working hard on filming the final parts of the season. Over in Banbridge, where the Lannister and Frey tents still stand defiantly in front of the Riverrun set, the production continues. You think they’re taking a nap in Westeros? No, they’re working at night!

We’re going to go with filming Game of Thrones, especially since the next few tweets are filled with SPOILERS.

Though we understand if you’re more inclined to believe Giorgio Tsoukalos, and don’t want to know the truth. You can turn back now, or face the speculation.

———-I’M DREAMING OF SPECULATION/JUST LIKE THE SPOILERS I USED TO KNOW———-

Because it’s not aliens.

This ties back to the huge scene being filmed. But what could they be filming at night?

Those extras aren’t aliens either. Reportedly, they’re White Walkers.

…and HODOR?!?!

*needle scratch*

Hodor? Hodor! Hodor, hodor, hodor. What is Hodor doing in Riverrun?

Last we checked, Bran had found himself a comfy spot underground, about to become apprenticed to a man in a tree. And (for those who have not read the books) we should tell you that becoming apprenticed to a man in a tree basically requires one to become one with a tree. Brantree, as we might refer to this hybridized character. And let’s just say that as far as we book readers are aware, once one becomes one with a tree…one doesn’t really leave. (Leaf? Leaves? Ok, maybe I heard one too many bad puns this weekend, along with too many slices of pie.)

So how does Hodor get south of the Wall? Does Bran tell Hodor and Meera to get themselves somewhere South now that they’ve gotten him to his tree perch? Does Bran take over Hodor’s mind and walk the big man down to Riverrun, because he has seen things via Weirwood visions? Do Hodor and Meera track the White Walker army and follow them south? Is Meera even there? Or just Hodor? Could he somehow use Hodor (and/or Meera) to communicate with his Tully relatives?

More importantly: how does a White Walker Army get down to Riverrun without passing Winterfell first? Did they take the HighGarden State Parkway instead of the King’s Road Turnpike? I mean, holiday travel on the KRTP is just terrible, especially in winter. Horses going no miles an hour with their hazards on, like a bunch of sweet summer children who never rode in snow before. (I heard a self-appointed King once got so trapped on the journey between Castle Black and Winterfell, he died onscreen, while on the page his other self was still struggling to get to the next rest stop. So embarrassing.) I know the tolls are higher on the Parkway, but I doubt White Walkers stop to pay them, so…

Hodor or no Hodor, this is a very interesting turn of events for the fight at Riverrun. Especially if we take the words of the extras who filmed at Saintfield that no White Walkers were harmed (or even seen) during that climatic battle. One would have expected that when the White Walkers finally took themselves south of the Wall and started bringing down that Winter we’ve all been promised for five long seasons, that the first encounter would be something of a redux of Hardhome, with Jon Snow again in the center of the action. But what if that’s just not how this is going to work? What if it’s Jaime Lannister, freed from his Lady Stoneheart plot line, who finds himself facing the inexorable army of of the dead? Would he survive and take the news to King’s Landing? Remember, he too has

a Valyrian steel blade

**, as Jon does, which we know is one of the few weapons that can take out a White Walker.

(**Doh! I totally forgot he gave Oathkeeper to Brienne! How did I forget that? But hey, it doesn’t matter, because GUESS WHO ELSE IS AT RIVERRUN!?! Brienne! So instead of Jaime, freed from his Lady Stoneheart plotline killing a White Walker with Valyrian steel, it would be Brienne. Which, face it: way more badass.)

Would they believe Jaime (or Brienne) if one of them came back to King’s Landing and warned everyone about the oncoming White Walkers? Would the powers that be in Westeros finally see the real enemy and band together to fight?

Either that, or the production is using the area to film multiple scenes that take place in different parts of Westeros. One of those explanations is a little more anticlimactic.

Next: Five Ways Game of Thrones Season 5 improved on the books