Game of Thrones season 7 episode 6: The reason why [spoiler] conveniently returned in the eleventh hour

The penultimate Game of Thrones season seven episode was a breathless epic which took the action beyond the wall as we followed the Jon Snow-led expedition to abduct a White Walker for the purposes of proving their existence to Cersei.

This being GoT, the episode left fans with several talking points to mull over before next week's finale, chief of which involved a shocking death scene which may have confirmed a long-running series prophecy in a rather chilling manner.

One such moment occurred towards the episode's climax in scenes which almost saw the end of Snow (Kit Harington); left behind by a grieving Daenerys, Snow found himself outnumbered by the army of the undead. As he faced certain death, a saviour manifested in the form of Benjen Stark (Joseph Mawle), his uncle - a former member of the Night's Watch who went missing all the way back in season one.

His sole appearance prior to this moment may hint as to how he conveniently showed up in the nick of time to save his nephew's life. In season six, Benjen saved Bran and Meera in similar fashion after they were swarmed by White Walkers - he says he arrived because “the Three-Eyed Raven requested it.”

It's no stretch to assume that Bran's status as the new all-seeing Three-Eyed Raven could be to thank for Benjen knowing where Jon Snow was at that precise moment in time.

In fact, a recent theory interlinks Bran's story with the Night King in a pretty bold way.

The HBO series' seventh season concludes next weekend with a finale that may or may not drop these three huge twists.

Game of Thrones airs in the US on HBO every Sunday where it is simulcast in the UK on Sky Atlantic at 2am. It is repeated that same evening on both Sky Atlantic and NOW TV.

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