[Book Spoilers] Lady Stoneheart in Episode 10?

[Locust094]

I'm new around here so apologies if I'm violating any rules but I'm starting to really think that we get Lady Stoneheart in episode 10 this season. They like to set up a lot of stuff for the next season and Brienne's storyline has just been too straightforward thus far. I have always viewed her and Podrick as sort of the "close but no cigar" characters of the series and I don't see how their recent trip to the outskirts of Winterfel will be any different.

I've linked two screen captures below of the Season 10 trailer #2 and Episode 10 preview that show a couple Brienne/Pod shots that we haven't seen yet. As you can see it appears to be two separate scenes, in both of which it appears Brienne is expecting to meet someone. We all know they love to string clips together from the trailers to make you think certain characters will face certain fates and then flip them around entirely in the show (think episode 9 with "swear allegiance to me or die" and Jaime). This week they linked Sansa's and Brienne's shots which is far too convenient. I strongly believe that Brienne will not meet Sansa Stark and will instead be intercepted by Lady Stoneheart and the Brotherhood Without Banners.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/HKHY6AHq_dXzvi4za7oPaOM5zXDLZL1Dv9kWOGkDu-k=w854-h509-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/96Y1FtPRFwDab_knQVLrHs98Kzmsb5hyK-u_UsKyJbg=w855-h509-no

There's a few other things to consider like there being two separate Rains of Castamere flavored tracks that we haven't heard yet with Mother's Mercy and Atonement (linked below). It would seem fairly obvious that Atonement will be Cersei's walk but why would they have another song on the soundtrack for her minor scenes before that? The Mother's Mercy song is very forboding/eerie and would fit much better with a foggy ambush/execution. Of course it could also be for a Jaime/Mercella scene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdjfNK4D81s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6Lysz0SK70

Also, there's this article: http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/02/game-of-thrones-lady-stoneheart-season-5Which has a screenshot of a (hastily) removed credit to Michelle Fairley as "Hooded Woman" in episode 10. Was it from an overzealous fan or a leak that was quickly suppressed?

I'm not buying the For The Watch scene as the "break the internet" one that cast members have hinted at but a return of Lady Stoneheart would absolutely fit that billing while setting up nicely for next season. What do you all think?

[Locust094]

Thanks for the approval!

Also, I forgot about this but does anyone else think Thoros and the Brotherhood Without Banners aren't gone forever?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEj1aN_Rmj0

[Wendel Shoemaker]

I thought they would all season, but with a single episode left I don't know if they could do it without any build up whatsoever. You'd think we'd hear of Frey hangings or something.

I will say that I will be very impressed if the show pulls a LSH out of its ass. But what would be the killer to end the season on? LSH or Jon?

[not the besteros]

short answer, probably not. long answer, ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh probably not.

[Locust094]

short answer, probably not. long answer, ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh probably not.

But it's also been widely rumored that Asha / Yara will be appearing in this episode. If that's the case it seems highly unlikely Brienne saves Sansa.

[Mandzipop]

Although LSH works in the books, she won't work in the TV series. It has been too long since Cat was in it. Resurrecting someone in a TV show after being dead for 2 years is a Bobby Ewing/Dallas/it was all a dream moment. It was stupid in that show because there was no plot set up. Although GoT is magical, it would still be stupid without any set up. To work properly it would have needed to be a few episodes between her death and her resurrection, not a few years.

They've set Sansa up to take on the role of LSH. Within the context of the show they could kill Sansa and resurrect her as LSH. The TV audience is still sufficiently invested in Sansa for that to work. But Cat is a character of the past and consigned to history. I don't think they will kill Sansa, but I do think she will take on the role in the form of a vendetta against all that have hurt her or her family.

[scotcat]

I just don't see LSH working out in the tv series in her current form (UnCat).

Cat has been gone now for two seasons & there would be little/no emotional investment on the part of the viewers to see her resurrected - especially if they haven't read the books. Cat is just another one of the fallen, consigned to memory.

I could see Sansa taking over the role of LSH within the show - the audience still cares about her & she hasn't been removed from the action for 2 years. Within the show, it could work.

[Locust094]

I just don't see LSH working out in the tv series in her current form (UnCat).

Cat has been gone now for two seasons & there would be little/no emotional investment on the part of the viewers to see her resurrected - especially if they haven't read the books. Cat is just another one of the fallen, consigned to memory.

I could see Sansa taking over the role of LSH within the show - the audience still cares about her & she hasn't been removed from the action for 2 years. Within the show, it could work.

By that same logic it wouldn't work to go back to the Iron Islanders either since they've been gone for over a full year. Jaqen H'ghar was also gone for a very long time and they brought him back into the fold. They've shown that they have no qualms bringing long forgotten characters back in the show. I don't see how Sansa could possibly end up playing the role of LSH when her role has always been the girl who gets captured by everyone and never has control over where she's headed.

[scotcat]

Look, I'm not the only one who's thought this.

You hate to say it, but when characters/plotlines are side lined for 1 year+, it's not great. Bran has spent a year out, the Iron Islands plotline has vanished completely, Cat has now been gone for 2 full seasons - and I'm not saying that all of the merged plotlines that have been put in their place has been great, but not everything in the books will work in the show. All I'm saying is, if LSH is to show up, it'll likely be in the form of a character that's still fresh in the viewers memories, someone they're still emotionally invested in. That's likely not Cat.

Personally, I'd prefer it if LSH wasn't in the show at all. She's not a favourite of mine at all.

[Damorian]

I'll never tire of saying this but it really is Michelle Fairley or bust as far as Lady Stoneheart goes. No Brienne, no Talisa, no Sansa.

If you want a gothed up, smoky eyeshadow update of the character to appeal to tweens and the Twilight generation, then sure. Go Lady Sansa. It would be a massive cop out to have ported BOTH Jeyne Poole and LSH's storylines over to her, imo, and also incredibly lazy when putting in the necessary groundwork to have laid a brief foundation for Fairley's reappearance is hardly rocket science without it feeling Deus Ex Machina (mainly by having Thoros stood beside her for any first, shock appearance if they were never gonna give book readers the heads up by showing hanging Freys littering the Riverlands.)

Fairley's intense & harder face was made for the flipside of the role (just look at the fan-art if you want proof of that.) Moreover, everything about the character embodies the tragedy of a mother's love for her murdered son gone awry. And if you think Sansa stringing up Walder Frey or Roose Bolton for the murder of her brother would carry the same dramatic power as Catelyn Stark, who watched the betrayal happen in front of her own eyes, then you're probably insane.

It has to be Catelyn. If the showrunners fail to see that, they really have lost the plot - literally and figuratively. But after everything that's gone before, it really wouldn't surprise me, that if they finally give the fanbase Stoneheart, she's also hugely altered so the subtext is: "Up yours! We do it our way, or the highway."

As for her chances of showing in the finale, well, slim tbh. If we don't get a bastardised version, which seems incresingly likely the way things have gone in season 5, I think the ship has sailed.

But if you want a little bit of (hopeless? :ack: ) hope, there always this theory someone posted on Reddit about a shadowy figure overlooking what may or may not be Moat Cailin:

http://i.imgur.com/8H7r8NB.png

(no snow is possible since we've already seen it melting north and the Neck is further south. Also, the overlooking mountain (to the left) as seen in earlier Brienne/Pod scenes appears to be in the same place:

http://i.imgur.com/0m7mi5d.jpg

But yeah .... longest of long shots. :blushing: If not Stannis nearing Winterfell, or just Dany in Valyria, then probably half a tree or a standing stone or something ... :dunno: Farewell, my fair Lady. :crying:

[Khorkalba]

If D&D really wanted to include LSH, I think we would have seen her by now. Expecting her to show up this late is just wishful thinking from fans.

[midi]

But if you want a little bit of (hopeless? :ack: ) hope, there always this theory about a shadowy figure overlooking what may or may not be Moat Cailin:

http://i.imgur.com/8H7r8NB.png

(no snow is possible since we've already seen it melting north and the Neck is further south. Also, the overlooking mountain (to the left) as seen in earlier Brienne/Pod scenes appears to be in the same place:

http://i.imgur.com/0m7mi5d.jpg

But yeah, long shot. If not Stannis nearing Winterfell, or just Dany in Valyria, then probably half a tree or a standing stone or something ... :dunno:

LOL that's not moat cailin, the circled part on the right is just another mountain. You know, mist is commonly found elsewhere than just moat cailin :laugh: :laugh: Now lets see, who do we know that's by themselves, and we've seen very recently, and know for sure is to appear in this episode? :idea: Oh that's right, someone who just rode a dragon last episode.

LSH fans... Oh my, you just don't know when to give up. We might see Lady Sansa Stoneheart, but that's pretty much it.

[ni2tre]

Don't do this to yourselves, you're only going to be disappointed all over again.

[Sopranos With Swords]

I don't think people give show audiences enough credit, Catelyn (and all the starks) were very popular they'll certainly remember who she is.

Having said that I do think it is wishful thinking.. But if that is the case calling the last episode of the last few seasons Mhysa/The Children D&D have been increasingly trolling because Mother's Mercy is far too close to Lady Stoneheart's alias.

[Lord Friendzone]

I wish you're right, but I just can't see it happening.

[Fylimar]

First: Weilcome to the forums Locust.

And I would love to see LS - she would provide a very good and creepy ending to season 5.

And I don't think, people have forgotten Lady Stark yet. My unsullied friends talk a lot about her, because she was such a well loved character. They ask about Yara, Osha, RIckon and other long gone characters too - so maybe we should give the non-book-readers some more credit.

I don't think, that Brienne and Pod will encounter her this season - they probably will save Sansa as substitutes for Mance and the spearwifes. Plus they are too far from the riverlands. But there could be a Frey scene at the end...

Imo they could have left Thoros, Berric and the brotherhood out of the show, if they wouldn't planing on bringing LS in. The whole purpose of that setup in the books was to show readers, that the dead could be brought back again. Since it is not sure, if Jon will have a magical revival or if he simply will be injured and saved, LS is for me the only explanation for bringing TBWB into the show in the first place.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge TBWB fan, but so are the Reader, Arianne, Lord Manderly..., who will probably never show up.

SO I still hoping for LS - and of course played by Michelle Farley.

[adiman83]

LOL that's not moat cailin, the circled part on the right is just another mountain. You know, mist is commonly found elsewhere than just moat cailin :laugh: :laugh: Now lets see, who do we know that's by themselves, and we've seen very recently, and know for sure is to appear in this episode? :idea: Oh that's right, someone who just rode a dragon last episode.

LSH fans... Oh my, you just don't know when to give up. We might see Lady Sansa Stoneheart, but that's pretty much it.

Dude, that actually is Moat Cailin. Look at the profile of the "just another mountain". Never mind, I did it for you:

http://i.imgur.com/crxZQfF.jpg

AS you see, the top of the "just another mountain" fits perfectly with Moat Cailin's profile.

[Colonel Green]

Imo they could have left Thoros, Berric and the brotherhood out of the show, if they wouldn't planing on bringing LS in. The whole purpose of that setup in the books was to show readers, that the dead could be brought back again. Since it is not sure, if Jon will have a magical revival or if he simply will be injured and saved, LS is for me the only explanation for bringing TBWB into the show in the first place.

That's missing the forest for the trees. The Brotherhood was a central piece of Arya's season 3 story. Their inclusion was justified on those grounds alone -- evidence being that you don't see the Unsullied wondering what the point of them was.

As to the OP, given all the stuff being crammed into this finale, I don't see how including Stoneheart would ever make sense or fit in. It wouldn't have any connection to anything happening in the show in the last two seasons.

[sciteacher]

I'll never tire of saying this but it really is Michelle Fairley or bust as far as Lady Stoneheart goes. No Brienne, no Talisa, no Sansa.

If you want a gothed up, smoky eyeshadow update of the character to appeal to tweens and the Twilight generation, then sure. Go Lady Sansa. It would be a massive cop out to have ported BOTH Jeyne Poole and LSH's storylines over to her, imo,

Agreeing with your point in general, but I wanted to say that as far as the show goes, Jeyne Poole was pretty much a non-entity. She appeared in season one as Sansa's bestie, giggling over the crown prince at dinner in Winterfell. She was the daughter of Winterfell steward, Vayon Poole, who doesn't appear much in the show (and is killed during the Ned's failed attempt to save Robert's throne). It's not even clear on the show whether Jeyne even went to King's Landing.

Point being, show-wise Jeyne's story hasn't been corrupted. It does leave her role open to some potential use--if she survived all the sacking and so forth at Winterfell--but I doubt they'll use that in the show.

[FilipeFreitas]

I really wish the OP is right, but right now I've lost all hope. This season has been a mess, abd LSH could be the only interesting thing coming out of it. Other than Hardhome, there was nothing memorable at all during the entire season. I understand the reasons why they cut several plot lines, but that ended up leaving us with several plots reaching their lower points concurrently, with very little or no sense of danger at all. I've seen unsullied fans giving up on the series because they're finding all the characters "tamed" and "boring". LSH could bring new fire into the mix.

But I don't see it happening anymore. There was no build up, as many pointed out. The producers don't seem to have a very clear gameplan for this season - or, at least, they seem to have abandoned their original gameplan. Making Sansa LS seems just silly and in a very lousy timing - both her and Jon would be "killed" and brought back (whatever the way things are going to go with Jon and the Watch) at the same time?