Educated Guesses on Game of Thrones Season 6 Episode Titles: Episodes 6 – 10

Yesterday, we made educated guesses about the titles for Episodes 1-5 of Game of Thrones Season 6. Today, we continue with Episodes 6 through 10. But before we begin, I want to give a shout-out to some of you who came up with some really great titles for Episodes 1-5.

• Ghost_Of_Karl_Tanner had a fantastic suggestion for Episode 1: “What is Dead May Never Die” If this hadn’t already been used as an episode title in Season 2, it would be a great title for an episode that featured both the Ironborn and Jon’s potential resurrection.
• Albert Kong mentioned “We Do Not Sow” for Episode 4. If you aren’t familiar, those are the House words for the Greyjoy family. It would serve as a good introduction to Euron Greyjoy, a big player next year.
• Patch really nailed all five episodes. I could see each one being legit:

"1) Night Gathers (Jon is dead, Stannis dead, things generally hopeless up north…)2) A Golden Shroud (Myrcella’s funeral and Balon’s death?)3) Mother of Mountains (I like this proposed title)4) A Mummer’s Farce (Ditto) 5) Blood of My Blood (Dany wins over the Dothraki and the title could be a reference to Sansa and Jon reuniting?)"

These are just a few of my favorites, and really, a lot of you folks stepped up and delivered some great titles…but alas, we don’t have enough room to fit them all, and we need to get to the back half of the season.

Now, we have reports that say director Jack Bender was on hand to film scenes at the Tower of Joy, where something mysterious and important happened years before the show began. We know that Bender will be directing Episodes 5 and 6. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that Episode 6 will be the one where Bran uses his new greenseeing abilities to peer into past and visit the Tower of Joy in Dorne.

Tower of joy, by Henning Ludvigsen for Fantasy Flight Games

Game of Thrones Season 6, Episode 6: “Tower of Joy”

Like my momma always said, “Keep it simple, stupid,” and that’s what I’m doing here. Many suggested that this episode could be called “Blue Winter Rose” or that the title will make another reference to the imagery from Ned Stark’s fever dream about the Tower of Joy from A Game of Thrones, but I think the obvious course is the best course in this situation.

Next, we have Episode 7. This is historically the episode that sets up the final three exciting hours of the season. Last season, “The Gift” saw Jon Snow leave the Wall and head for Hardhome, Melisandre suggested that Stannis burn his daughter alive, Tyrion finally met Dany, and Cersei got thrown in jail. I would expect something similar from Episode 7 of Season 6.

Game of Thrones Season 6, Episode 7: “Family, Duty, Honor”

Here’s my reasoning: We know Jaime and Bronn are headed to the Riverlands to lift the siege at Riverrun, and that this happens after Episode 6. House Tully still holds Riverrun, and their words are “Family, Duty, Honor.” Now, as I mentioned in yesterday’s piece, sometimes Game of Thrones likes to infuse multiple meanings into the titles. With this one, Honor could be a reference to the name of one of Jaime Lannister’s horses (the other being Glory).

Also, it’s possible that Rickon Stark, who will be returning this year, will play a bigger part in this section of the season, as he (along with Jon and Sansa) contemplate the duties they owe to their family and how they can reclaim the honor of their House, which has been slowly chipped away over the past five seasons.

Episode 8 is where things start to get exciting. I fully expect that, by this part of the season, events in King’s Landing will have reached a boiling point. By Episode 8, Cersei should be ready to face her trail by the Faith of the Seven. If things progress as they do in the books, she’ll choose a trial by combat, and will appoint Ser Robert “Zombie Mountain” Strong as her champion. We also know that, in Episode 6, Jamie rides on the Great Sept of Baelor with the Tyrell army at his back in order to free Margaery, so the new queen should also be ready to have her much tamer trial as well.

But back to Cersei—if she appoints Robert Strong as her champion, who will the Faith choose to fight him? Now, I have to resist my base desire to fanboy-out and call Episode 8 “Cleganebowl” because, well…we all know that’s just a pipe-dream. So, it is with a heavy heart that I name Episode 8:

Game of Thrones Season 6, Episode 8: “Trial of Seven”

I also expect Episode 8 to be heavy on Daenerys. The Mother of Dragons has to start heading to Westeros at some point, and by Episode 8, I’m hoping she will be wrapping up her story in Essos and preparing to sail (or fly) to the Seven Kingdoms.

Next, we head into the penultimate episode of Season 6. The big event this year seems to be what’s come to be known as the Bastard Bowl (or the Battle of the Bastards), in which Ramsay Snow Bolton will face off against Jon Snow. There’s really nothing complicated to say here. Jon and his wildlings (Wun Wun in tow) and those Northern Lords still loyal to House Stark will face Ramsay and the Bolton army.

Game of Thrones Season 6 Episode 9: “The Trueborn Lord of Winterfell”

Ahhhh, getting tricky with the titles, are we? Well, since we were deprived of the Pink Letter in Season 5, and since we know the great bastards of the North are going to battle, I thought I’d toss in a reference to that infamous piece of correspondence from Ramsay to Jon in A Dance of Dragons:

"Your false king is dead, bastard. He and all his host were smashed in seven days of battle. I have his magic sword. Tell his red whore.Your false king’s friends are dead. Their heads upon the walls of Winterfell. Come see them, bastard. Your false king lied, and so did you. You told the world you burned the King-Beyond-the-Wall. Instead you sent him to Winterfell to steal my bride from me.I will have my bride back. If you want Mance Rayder back, come and get him. I have him in a cage for all the north to see, proof of your lies. The cage is cold, but I have made him a warm cloak from the skins of the six whores who came with him to Winterfell.I want my bride back. I want the false king’s queen. I want his daughter and his red witch. I want this wildling princess. I want his little prince, the wildling babe. And I want my Reek. Send them to me, bastard, and I will not trouble you or your black crows. Keep them from me, and I will cut out your bastard’s heart and eat it.Ramsay Bolton, Trueborn Lord of Winterfell"

Obviously this title could apply to either Ramsay or Jon…or both, depending on who wins. *fingers crossed for Jon*

And now we arrive at the finale, Episode 10. Here’s where it all shakes out; this is where it all comes together to set up the final two seasons of the series. We need some closure in the Season 6 finale, and we need characters to make some major moves, location-wise, so they’re in place for the final game of thrones.

Here’s what I think will happen to the major characters in Episode 10:

• In Braavos, Arya will have once again gone against the Faceless Men and assassinated someone else from list. To save her own bacon, she’ll catch a ship back to Westeros.
• In King’s Landing, snow will be falling and many key players will have been removed from the board (see: dead). Cersei will once again be on the edge of losing her mind, and we might see her tap into a cache of wildfire hidden underneath the city.
• In the Riverlands, Jaime will have successfully lifted the siege at Riverrun, but after a meeting with Brienne in his tent, he will have mysteriously disappeared.
• In Essos, Dany has returned to Meereen and has set her dragons loose upon the city. The Mother of Dragons is back with a vengeance and she is taking what is hers by fire and by blood. The last we see of Dany, she and her supporting cast (Tyrion, Daario, Grey Worm, Missandei, and maybe Jorah if he survives the greyscale) are sailing back to Westeros in ships provided by Euron Greyjoy, her dragons flying overhead.
• In the North (and this is where it all ends) the Wall will fall. The winter winds will blow across the North, and with them, the army of the Night’s King will come. Jon and his remaining forces will be holed up in Winterfell, and they will see the army of the undead marching on them.

Game of Thrones Season 6, Episode 10: “The Winds of Winter”

Yes, I went with the much lamented and as yet unpublished sixth book in the Song of Ice and Fire series, The Winds of Winter, as my title. However, if you think about it, it makes sense. If the Wall were to fall and the Night’s King were to begin his invasion, then winter winds would be how he would would announce his arrival. Don’t forget the lesson learned at Hardhome: When you see the white winds blow, it’s time to run.