Thats probably the case, and thats what Bran's flashbacks are teasing about. My guess is the show will end with the Stark children banding together and retaking the North and then conquering Kings Landing. Jon Snow will probably end up with Dany as his queen or something. No idea on the White Walkers. Probably preoccupied with some plot device.
https://www.reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comments/1iwfc1/spoilers_all_the_grand_northern_conspiracy_parts/ My friend Travis showed me this after I bitched about Rickon, Osha and Shaggydog's fates in the show. It could be a huge damn ploy. Also, Jon's Watch has ended.
The other theory Ive seen floating around is the idea of a time paradox with Bran. If young Ned Stark did hear Bran in the flashback, Bran could be shown one of the Mad King and try to reason with him. When the Mad King hears the "voices" that are actually Bran trying to talk to him, he goes insane and sets the shows events in motion.
Spoiler Probably the most popular fan theory about Jon is that he is the son of Rhaegar Targaeryan and Lyanna Stark. Rhaegar was the prince of Westeros and Lyanna was Ned's sister. Robert's Rebellion was triggered by Rhaegar allegedly kidnapping Lyanna. The theory is that he spurned his actual wife in favor of Lyanna (who was promised to Robert) and they ran away together. The rebellion kicks up, Rhaegar is killed at the Trident, Lyanna dies in childbirth and has Ned promise to raise Jon as his own. This would leave Jon Snow with a blood claim to the Iron Throne and to Winterfell, though contested by Dany and the other Stark kids respectively. Of course Jon could marry Dany (his aunt, technically, but that's how Targaeryans roll) though I suspect that's a little too "neat" an ending for that conundrum. As for the White Walkers, unknown, but presumably gathering their strength while still being held at bay by the Wall. For now.
The Tower of Joy fight sucked. Can we never see another fake choreographed fight scene for the rest of time? That'd be great. Spoiler: Spoiler In the book, the wall is heavily enchanted and white walkers and wights can not pass under it or presumably over it. Something will have to happen to the wall before that real battle can take place. There may or may not be an item in the book that can make that happen.
I hope they bring Wyman Manderly into the show. He was one of the more colorful minor characters in the north and had been an intergral piece for a few of the storylines.
There is something inherently heartwarming about how all the Northmen are pissed at the Boltons, Freys and the Lannisters so fucking hard.
Does it feel like the they think they must kill at least one long time character per episode? I thought killing of Osha was kind of pointless since they gave her no story to work with in the 30 seconds of screen time she got this season.
I agree, that felt more like a rush to tie her up as a loose end than anything. Overall though, I thought it was one of the best episodes in the entire series. The reunion of Sansa and Jon Snow was great, especially since I dont remember them ever sharing a scene before (at least not from what I remember). Every character's check in moved their respective stories along well, and they didnt bore the audience with a Dorne scene. I did like the feminist aspect of the episode as well as it was a turning point for almost every major female character. Dany's scene might go down as one of the most remembered. Good to see Emilia Clarke shed the clothes again. Also, this scene: https://zippy.gfycat.com/GlitteringEntireHoiho.webm
My bets on cgi ala Lena Hedy last season. From what I heard about her performance in the last Terminator maybe she reconsidered though?
I'm going to take a few wild guesses here. Sansa will marry Baelish to ensure that Jon gets the troops he needs to retake Winterfell. In the meantime, Baelish will ensure he's named heir to the Vale and Robin has an accident on the way to Winterfell. None of the other Northern houses will fight for Jon because they've been cowed into submission by Ramsey. That's not to say that they aren't silently rooting for Jon to succeed. Once he does, he begins the process of fortifying the Wall, the Night's watch, and rebuilding the north after the Bolton's reign of terror. Baelish finally gets his Tully, a strategic alliance with the North, and an in with the Riverland houses of the west. That might be enough for him to openly rebel and attempt to take what's left of King's Landing after the Faith Militant and Baratheon's slaughter each other. It'd be interesting to see Baelish on the throne, but it would be over a land that is awash in white walkers and Dorne's rebellion. At this point, I would guess Daenerys shows up with her Dothraki horde and ruins everybody's shit Genghis Khan style before the big battle against the white walkers.
http://decider.com/2016/05/16/game-of-thrones-emilia-clarke-nude/ So I guess in the show she's full on fire-proof, whereas in the books, Martin said the pyre where her dragons were born was a sort of once in a lifetime thing. Sansa meeting up with Jon was friggin awesome. Brienne really did kill Stannis, then. Good. Tyrion is a damn diplomatic genius.
I think the argument for Sansa marrying Ramsey was that the marriage with Tyrion was never consummated.