A Girl is No One

In a preview a while back I saw her at what looked like maybe the Riverlands, but now I'm wondering if they're outside Winterfell. I do think the point of sending Brienne to the riverlands is to get back to "sword", but I can't think of anyone else who would threaten Brienne besides Sansa. Maybe Petyr?

I agree with you on the Jorah/Jon Con thing. I suspect Jorah is going to head to Westeros to look for a cure and spread the infection in the process. I feel like we're too far gone from the RW to introduce LSH now, but I'm wondering if that's not where Sansa's storyline is going? In the books the Freys are in the riverlands laying siege to Riverrun and Jaime is sent from KL to parlay with the blackfish (i think, I zoned out during most of the riverlands), the Freys are also allying with house Manderly- although the Manderlys are going to betray them, and I think they're at Winterfell at this point. In both places, Freys keep turning up dead (LSH and Mance?). We know Davos is about to go running around treating with northern houses (Manderly?) and Jon, Brienne, Pod, and Sansa are headed to the Riverlands. Jaime is presumably headed there too, given what we've seen in previews. [puts on tinfoil hat] what if Davos is headed to house Manderly to tell them to forge a false alliance with Ramsay at winterfell and start wacking or turning the other two allied houses. At the same time, we head to the riverlands where team Sansa starts wacking freys in the field. There's a Jaime/Brienne reunion, at which point Sansa realizes that Brienne is/was friends with a Lannister. Outraged, she commands Brienne to kill Jaime (just as LSH did), Brienne refuses and we get "Sword." Then Jaime dies at the hand of Jon or Sansa?

I'm somewhat convinced that there is going to be some kind of uprising against Ramsay. I think the Karstarks and perhaps the Umbers will pledge fealty intially out of pure fear. But I think that at some point word of Fat Walda's murder alongside the (arguable) trueborn heir of Roose Bolton (who happens to be a half-frey) will get back to Walder Frey & GreatJon. A plot is hatched at the twins, probably with LF and the Vale army to retake the north from the Bolton army. Where I get stuck is a) are they TRYING to get Rickon killed so that they can give the north to Sansa and marry her off to a son? or is the Rickon thing all going to be an excuse for the north to rise up? I can't imagine any true northman would watch the heir to winterfell, and a child to boot, be tortured and b- do the manderly's play a part in any of this?

Yes. I actually turned to a bookreader friend of mine and said- "This is how either the Vale Army or the Lannisters will get to the north. Walder Frey is going to let them through the twins to kill Ramsay"

Don't they NEED to because white walkers?

This is kind of how I'm reading it too, Ellaria wants war, Doran does not. My theory is that Ellaria and Tyene orchestrated this without Doran's knowledge knowing that Trystane, the only heir, would become a captive in KL thereby forcing Doran's hand. That's the best I've got

Lately I've been curious about something that has nothing to do with either the burning of Shireen or being on the wrong side of the wall and I'd be interested in your thoughts: Does anyone find it strange that Cersei hasn't sent a letter to Jaime yet? For me, receiving and burning that letter was the crescendo in his arc and kind of the final nail in the coffin for Cersei's downfall. I find it weird that they omitted the "lancel, kettleblack and moon boy for all i know" speech last season and haven't even bothered to work in the fact that Jaime should be very angry with Cersei by now. Maybe Jaime is getting the Trystane treatment and is going to take the place of another character entirely?

I think the phrasing of that was very deliberate. A girl is not ready to become no one (a faceless man), but a girl is ready to become someone else (Cat of the Canals). I went back and scanned her AFFC/ADWD chapters and there were only 5, 3 in AFFC- arriving at the HOBW, her training, and Cat of the Canals/Dareon/Milk. In ADWD we get 1 blind chapter, where she learns to warg the cat, plays the lying game blind and wins, and regains her sight; and one chapter where she is inducted into the FM, Given her first assignment, and then sent to train with Izembaro. I think the rest of her arc this season is going to be posing as Cat. Instead of Dareon, I think she's going to kill Ser Meryn, and I think her arc this season ends with her being blinded. If Jon gets stabby stabby in episode 10 and really does Warg into Ghost, we could have a really interesting season 6 with Bran warging summer, Jon warging Ghost, and Arya warging Nymeria and the Cat.