We’ve known the title of the first episode of Game of Thrones Season 6, “The Red Woman,” for a while now. Last week, rumored titles for Episodes 2 and 3 surfaced online. Now, HBO has updated its schedule, and we can see that the rumors were true. Here are the official titles for the first three episodes of Season 6:
- Episode 1: “The Red Woman”
- Episode 2: “Home”
- Episode 3: “Oathbreaker”
With a simple title like “Home,” it’s hard to guess what the second episode may entail. That could refer to almost anything. Jaime coming home to find King’s Landing much changed? Daenerys heading to her new home in Vaes Dothrak? Sansa finding a new home elsewhere in the North? Or it could refer to all of these things and more—writers David Benioff and Dan Weiss are pretty good about layering double and triple meanings into their titles. We’ll probably have to wait and watch the episode ourselves to be sure.
“Oathbreaker” is a bit more evocative and specific. When I hear it, I immediately think of “Oathkeeper,” Brienne’s sword. Might this episode involve her in some major way? Jaime is another character dominated by oaths. He swore an oath to Catelyn Stark to keep her daughters safe, but he’s still a Lannister, and is working to advance that family’s interests. That could qualify him as an “Oathbreaker,” to say nothing of the original oath he broke, the one that earned him the nickname “Kingslayer.”
It’s also interesting to note that, now that the show has moved largely beyond the books, the titles don’t seem to be drawing as heavily on the text. Generally speaking, the episode titles take cues from phrases in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series (e.g. “Winter is Coming,” “Kissed by Fire,” “Kill the Boy,” and many, many more). While “The Red Woman,” and arguably “Oathbreaker” are based on phrases from the book, “Home” is more general.
Still, these are three strong titles. I’m eager to see the titles for the rest of the episodes.