The North remembers.
As is the norm with any Game Of Thrones story, consider this your spoiler alert. We wouldn’t want you to descend into an unnecessary Ramsay Bolton rage fit.
The world is still rejoicing that a member of the Stark family is back from the dead – yes, we know that Jon’s a bastard, but we’re still counting him as a beloved member of Winterfell’s most noble house – but it seems that another Stark could be making an imminent return to the show, but under very different and dangerous circumstances.
The last time that Game Of Thrones fans saw Rickon Stark was when Bran decided that he would venture north of The Wall to train with the three-eyed raven. Before leaving, Bran told Osha to take Rickon to Last Hearth where the Stark bannerman Greatjon Umber ruled.
As we now know from the most recent episode, Ramsay Bolton can count on the Umbers and Karstarks as loyal allies; he even said that he was close to launching an assault on Castle Black with the help of these houses and that they’re part of his designs to introduce “new blood in The North”.
The trailer for next week’s episode suggests that the Umbers are coming back in a big way – that’s their banner below – and that they have a gift for the newly-appointed Lord Bolton.
Yep, all signs are suggesting that Ramsay will get his hands on Rickon Stark.
To be fair, this plot point makes sense because Ramsay needs a human trophy to keep the Stark-loyal northern lords in line, especially since Sansa has fled, but Rickon could also be used as a bargaining chip to convince Sansa to return to Winterfell.
Ramsay must be delighted.
There’s some hope though. Now that Jon Snow’s Night’s Watch duties are over – their vow clearly states “Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death” – maybe he can finally undertake a mission that we’re all desperate to see: the Starks fighting back to reclaim The North.
He better hurry though, because as we all know, Ramsay gets bored very quickly.
