Game of Thrones May Finally Be Introducing Lady Stoneheart

Image: HBO

Warning: This article contains spoilers from both George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series and HBO's Game of Thrones TV show.

In the seventh episode of Game of Thrones Season 6, we saw the return of The Hound (Rory McCann). We saw the now-healed Sandor Clegane spend time with a peaceful community led by an ex-soldier named Brother Ray (Ian McSHane). But the peace quickly vanished, as the final scene saw The Hound discovering his new-found friends had all been brutally murdered while he was away chopping wood for the night ahead.

The massacre occured offscreen, but the show made it seem like they were committed by members of the Brotherhood Without Banners, and if the band of outlaws were really the ones behind the crime, it may be a sign that the long-awaited Lady Stoneheart will make her TV debut.

If you've George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire books, you'd know that Lady Stoneheart is the zombified-version of Catelyn Stark who was resurrected by Lord Beric Dondarrion, who gave his life for hers throuh the last kiss shortly after the Red Wedding, and since then, Lady Stoneheart leads the brotherhood in mercilessly pursuing and executing everyone she considers a Lannister collaborator. While many questioned the appearance of Lady Stoneheart in the show, some fans thought that Sunday's Broken Man episode showed moments hinting at her introduction.

Redditor PrinceinDaNorf wrote about his observation that may hint at Lady Stoneheart's debut:

"In the closing scene of the most recent episode, we see the group of innocent smallfolk and Septon Ray get slaughtered by the Brotherhood. Everyone's been debating about whether that was really the Brotherhood, and what it means for that arc going forward if it was. Personally, I'm positive that it was really them, and I'm also positive that we will get to see Lady Stoneheart, probably by the end of this season. If you go back and watch the final scene again, you'll hear that the motif/theme that plays as the Hound is walking through the field of the dead and approaching the partially built shelter where Ray was hanged is unmistakably Brienne's theme. More specifically, it's the exact version of her theme that plays when she first swears herself to Catelyn [1]in season 2, just with a darker tone to it. I'm of the mind that the show version of Lem noticed the Hound and subsequently reported this finding to LSH, who promptly ordered the Brotherhood to return to the camp and slaughter everyone in sight."

There are a lot of other clues that hint the introduction of Lady Stoneheart. It seems like the show is bringing us the Riverlands plot from GRRM's books that was thought to be exluded once Jaime went to Dorne. Walder Frey has been shown again as a villain, and has Edmure Tully prisoner. Frey's men are also reporting that many groups are making trouble for them in the Riverlands, and one of them being the Bannerless Men. We also see Jaime ending up in Riverlands, and we know that Brienne and Podrick are on their way there to try and recruit Catelyn's uncle, the Blackfish, for Jon and Sansa's war against Ramsay Bolton. It seems that the show is dropping too many hints for all this coincidence. The major players are in the right setting and at the right moment for Lady Stoneheart to appear.

So do you think Lady Stoneheart will appear in the show this season? In Season 7? or never?

The next Game of Thrones episode "No One" airs Sunday at 9 p.m. EST on HBO. You can watch the preview trailer here.

Read:How One of George R.R. Martin's Best Moments Was Translated into HBO's Game of Thrones