Biggest wildcard yet to be played?

[Sykez]

Howland Reed? Benjen Stark? The others?

[Jacob Feybrad]

The Others. Who they are. What they're up to. Who will die beyond their mighty footsteps.

[JMJ]

Rickon and what he learned/did in Skagos

The Citadel

The Others

[The Bastard of Walton]

So, by now we know lots about the state of various houses, the Lannister/Tyrell alliance in meltdown, the Starks, and Stannis stuck in the North. We have spent lots of time with these big players.

But what (or who) is the biggest wildcard still to enter the scene and make an impact? Is it the Vale, the Dornish spears, Euron perhaps, or maybe LF/Varys still have something up their sleeves? Interested to hear your thoughts.

Great Question to debate this. On paper I would have to say the Vale, it comes across that they have a bigger army than the Dornish & they have waited & waited, so surely when they ride out, they will make a massive impact (Riders of Rohan style) on the Kingdoms. But really looking forward to what Euron has up his sleeve. A crazy idea, that I've said before: Cersi in despartion agrees to wed Myrcella to Euron, if he ends Aegons push on Kings Landing, Euron kills Aegon, marrys Myrcella, slits Tommens throat & becomes King.

[Toxspecific]

Stannis is stuck in the North until Winter passes. And why does everybody love grinding his situation down to 1000x worse than it actually is? The guy's not doing badly at all, seeing as Winterfell is boiling with tensions and ripe for the taking.

And talking of wildcards... Iron Bank, anyone?

[King of Winters]

What the The Others really are.

COTF and Bloodraven

Faceless Men and the Citadel

Hodor says one other word!

[Manderlay]

Bran, Ser Brynden Tully, Samwell, Tormund, Justin Massey

[Maegor the Cuddly]

The Skagosi, small one, but just may tip the favor for whoever they support in the war up north.

The Vale, their armies are untouched by war, they have plenty, good commanders in the Royces and elsewhere, perfectly defensible for whoever they support, and not prone to betrayal.

Bran of course.

Rickon, may be tied in with the Skagosi, though he's, as a political asset, more of an "ace up the sleeve" than a wild card. The wild card-ness will come when he's Lord of Winterfell and the North.

Martells, they're gearing up for something...

That's all I've got.

[stu1987]

I have to agree with the Citadel being one of the biggest wildcards yet to feature. We're given hints that they aim to have a very influential hand in shaping the future of Westeros, so I expect to see more of that in action.

The Faceless Men/Jaqen is surely gonna feature heavily and have some sort of influence, most likely affecting Dany.

I'd also throw in the High Septon/Faith Militant - there must be a reason the HS has manipulated Cersei into allowing a reform. I wonder how ambitious he is...

And finally, I'm struggling to see how Bran will be able to significantly affect the game. We know that BR watches and can possibly give very faint/vague clues through warged animals. I just wonder what role Bran will play going forward.

[FuriousGeorge]

I have a feeling the next time we meet Marwyn the Maester we are going to learn a lot about just what dafuq is going on in the world of ASOIAF. (What is the world as a whole called by the way does aanyone know?)

[Each Other]

Bronn taking control of the Red Keep in a cloak-and-dagger operation, together with the sellswords he has gathered at Stokeworth. Then selling King's Landing to the highest bidder.

... which will be Tyrion, head of house Lannister, timely returning from Essos.

[Starks Revenge]

Brynden Tully, if he goes to the Vale he will hopefully notice theres a Stark there and get the lords of the Vale to kill LF and join the war. Wont happen but I can dream... He could go to the north with a certain someone or information.

The wildlings, if more make it from the north and don't f*ck stuff up for the Starks, them with the Skagosi could help the Starks alot.

Whatever the Martells want to do, whether its support Danny or Aegon. Both the Targs could do alot of damage.

The Iron bank and depending on what (if anything) Stannis does with the money, if he dies will they join the north or go it alone?

[Hermione]

I think that Jon's parentage, whatever it's going to turn out to be, will have to play a role somehow. Whether it really is R&L, as I personally believe, or something else, I don't think it's been built up for so long if it isn't going to be important somehow.

I'd be more disappointed if it was indeed R&L, but is only ever mentioned in an epilogue, than if it turns out to be Ned&someone, or someone else entirely, but has a huge impact on the story that way.

[Sullen]

Someone that hasn't been mentioned yet, but I think Aeron Greyjoy might become somewhat relevant in the next book.

[King of Winters]

I think that Leaf will tell Bran some strories of her travels over Westeros and reveal a few things to us.

[PrimeRhaegar]

harry strickland

the high sparrow

lady dustin

blackfish

[ckal]

The Vale/Littlefinger.

Dorne.

Sellswords that guy brings back for Stannis (presumably).

[Peptalk]

I'm thinking Jaqen and the Citadel.

[Kevin Stark]

The Others

The Citadel

Blackfish

Bran

[Not a kneeler]

There are a lot of ravens about to come home to roost. I agree wth those posters who mentioned the Vale. I am convinced that Petyr has latched on to a large protion of the 6 million dragons the Crown has in debt and he is going to make his move early on. Also, the Wall will fall, and soon after bad things will start to happen in the Iron Islands. We can look forward to some alliance between YG and Dorne. Meanwhile back in Slaver's Bay...

I had to look back at the orginal topic, so much is coming down in the next book. I think the biggest wildcard will be Petyr, but just in this book. The rest of it will be the Others, Dany, and Jon, and how George makes that play out.