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Game of Thrones season recap: Where all the major characters are after season 6

CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR GAME OF THRONES SEASON 6

Valar Morghulis, everyone!

Game of Thrones season 7 lands very soon (July 17 in the UK) and it’s been 12 long months since we were last in the Seven Kingdoms.

Even the most ardent ‘Thrones fan would struggle to rewatch all six series’ by now – so here’s a detailed recap of where all the major players are in Westeros and beyond.

game of thrones recap
Brooding: Jon Snow and Tyrion Lannister are among the major characters who feature in the S7 promo posters. (Sky)

Game of Thrones season recap in brief:

Before we explain the exact movements of all your favourite characters, here’s a two paragraph reminder of the entire sixth series. Ready?

Jon Snow came back to life and killed villainous Ramsay Bolton in the epic ‘Battle of the B*****ds’. Sansa Stark joined in and helped see him off. Arya Stark got her sight back and got revenge for her dead family. Cersei Lannister lost all three of her children but gained the Iron Throne in an explosive finale which wiped out a whole host of side characters. Daenerys Targaryen (with Tyrion Lannister at her side) took over the Dothraki and is sailing to Westeros to claim power herself.

Oh, and winter is most definitely here, thanks to the army of white walkers who are on the march and threatening to wipe out everyone.

Phew. Nailed it.

Jon Snow

He’s brought back from the dead soon into the series without a curl out of place on his handsome head and exacts revenge on the members of the Night’s Watch who betrayed him.

He then heads south having been reunited with Sansa Stark to take on Ramsay Bolton, the new Lord of Winterfell who tortured Sansa, kidnapped their sibling Rickon and is generally a ‘right old piece of work’.

While Game of Thrones has a habit of knocking off everyones’ favourite characters, thankfully Jon truimphed in ‘The Battle of the B******s’ in S6 E9. Hurray!

He saw off the twisted Ramsay in a truly gripping penultimate episode – the former Warden of the North meeting his end by being fed to his own dogs.

game of thrones season recap
King of the North: Jon Snow brooding, as usual, in a shot from season 7. (Sky)
game of thrones season recap
Jon Snow battles on during the epic ‘Battle of the B*****ds’ in S6E9. (Sky)

Cersei Lannister

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

Let’s face it, Cersei Lannister owns this phrase more than any female on television ever – and boy did she prove it in season 6.

Having been marched naked through the streets in season 5 by the High Sparrow, by season 6 she’s imprisoned in the Red Keep in King’s Landing, getting madder by the day.

Determined not to face trial for her supposed ‘sins’, she exacts incredible revenge on the unstoppable ‘Faith Militant’ by blowing up the Great Sept of Baelor in a sensational season 6 finale.

The huge explosion of wildfire wipes out the entire religious order, as well as most of House Tyrell, including her former daughter-in-law Margery and cousins Lancel and Kevan Lannister.

game of thrones recap
Plotting: Cersei Lannister plans her next move with brother Jamie in season 7. (Sky)
game of thrones season recap
Blowout: Cersei’s explosive plan comes to fruition in the season finale. (Sky)

Daenerys Targaryen

In Slaver’s Bay, Daenerys attempt to liberate Meereen results in massive bloodshed. Daenerys climbs onto Drogon’s back during a mutiny but she loses control of him and he flies her to the southern border of the Dothraki Sea, the lands of his birth. Daenerys is then stranded and surrounded by a hostile Dothraki khalasar and his thousands of followers. Jorah Mormont and Daario Naharis eventually rescue Dany from Vaes Dothrak, a home for other widowed khaleesi. She returns to take over the Dothraki by awing them when she emerges from their burning temple unharmed.

Meanwhile, Yara Greyjoy has taken off with her uncle’s fleet of ships and set sail for Meereen to join forces with Dany.

Before Dany fulfils her birthright to claim the Iron Throne in the name of the Targaryens, now with the Dothraki at her side, she negotiated boats with Yara and needs to honour her promise to help Yara and her prodigal brother Theon defeat their uncle Euron, who has taken control of the Iron Islands.

Daenarys heads for Westeros
Daenarys heads for Westeros
game of thrones season recap
Unleash the dragon: Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen in season 7. (Sky)
game of thrones season recap
game of thrones season recap

Tyrion Lannister

How could we almost forget the one force to be reckoned with?

Cersei Lannister’s little brother spent most of season 6 drinking in Dany’s throne room, trying to mediate between Grey Worm, Missandei and the warring people of Mereen while sidekick Varys searches abroad for fighters for their cause.

At the end of the last season, he remained at the side of Danyerys, heading up a fleet of ships bound for Westeros. Could be an awkward family reunion…

game of thrones season recap
Tyrion stands loyally by Daenerys’ side in a shot from season 7. (Sky)
game of thrones season recap
Everyone’s favourite dwarf placates Dany’s dragons in season 6. (Sky)

Arya Stark

At the end of season 5 Arya was blind, a punishment inflicted on her for the unsanctioned killing of Meryn Trant using a Faceless Men disguise. Now blind in season 6, Arya poses as a beggar as part of her training and clashes often with her mentor the Waif. She finally holds her own in a fight and Jaqen allows her to drink from the well and she regains her sight.

But by the end of season 6 she’s quit the House of Black and White killing her former mentor and declares herself a Stark again.

The now-murderous warrior teen then served Walder Frey some ‘son pie’ before slitting his throat, in revenge for the Red Wedding. She’s now on the hunt for what’s left of her fellow Starks.

game of thrones season recap
Arya Stark gets her revenge on Walder Frey, who murdered her mother and brother, in the season 6 finale.
game of thrones season recap
Where next? Arya Stark is now planning to reunite with the remaining members of her family. (Sky)

Sansa Stark

Sansa in season 7. (Sky)
Sansa in season 7. (Sky)

Sansa and Theon flee Winterfell and are caught by the Bolton forces, but Brienne and Podrick save them just in time and kill Ramsay’s soldiers. Theon leaves Sansa with Brienne to head to the Iron Islands.

After Sansa and Jon reunite at Castle Black, Petyr Baelish, aka Littlefinger, hears of the forthcoming battle between the Starks and Ramsay Bolton’s army and secretly meets with Sansa to urge her to make a power play for the Queen of the North, which she refuses.

Sansa showed her worth in the ‘Battle of the B******s’. She secured a victory for the Starks by convincing Jon to return and fight, summoned Littlefinger and his army to the Bolton battlefield, and managed to get tough little Lady Lyanna Mormont and her Bear Island army to join them and defeat the Boltons.

Bran Stark

game of thrones season recap
Bran Stark and faithful friend Meera in season 6
Bran’s uncle Benjen Stark rescues him and Meera
Bran’s uncle Benjen Stark rescues him and Meera

Bran was on a mission to learn ‘everything’ after being taught how to travel through time and space by the Three Eyed Raven.

As part of his training he saw some helpful flashbacks of his father Ned Stark and learned how the Children of the Forest created the first White Walker as defence against the First Men.

At the end of season 6 the Wight Army caught up with Bran and Meera and they were rescued by Bran’s undead uncle (yup, really), Benjen Stark. He later discovered Jon Snow is the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Ned’s sister Lyanna, who died giving birth to him, proving a long-standing fan theory.

His simpleminded servant, Hodor, stays with Bran in the Cave but when the white walkers attack, Bran uses the weight of his body to hold the exit of the cave shut and allow Bran and Meera to escape. In doing so he dies and viewers learn the heartbreaking truth that his name derives from the words “hold the door”, which is the phrase that he heard during a seizure which mentally disabled him when future Bran Stark warged (travelled through space and time) into his young self during a vision.

Ramsay held Jon’s brother Rickon captive
Ramsay held Jon’s brother Rickon captive

Samwell Tarly

Our beloved Master-in-training spent season six travelling from Castle Black to the Citadel with Gilly and Little Sam, where he hopes to research the White Walkers and find out their weaknesses.

He stops by House Tarly on the way to see his doting mum and mean-hearted dad and then leaves with his family in the middle of the night and takes off with the old grump’s Valyrian sword, because he knows it will come in handy when fighting the White Walkers.

Brienne of Tarth

She kinda fell in love with Jaime Lannister after the surrender of Riverrun, but realises she is his sworn enemy. Instead, she was undecided whether to follow her heart or her honour and head off to fight for the Starks.

What about everyone else in Season 6?

As we’ve come to know about Game of Thrones, there are so many juicy side-plots that also require our attention if we’re to really win in the pub quiz stakes.

Ser Jorah Mormont for instance, was accepted back into Dany’s camp after he helped save her from the Sons of the Harpy and the Dothraki, but she packs him off to look for a cure for his ever-spreading greyscale. Jorah is Lady Lyanna Mormont’s cousin.

Ser Jorah Mormont checks his greyscale in season 6 (Sky)
Ser Jorah Mormont checks his greyscale in season 6 (Sky)

“Chaos isn’t a pit, chaos is a ladder” according to Littlefinger, who is constantly trying to climb it. Lord Petyr Baelish as he’s also known is currently Protector of the Vale after marrying, and killing, Sansa Stark’s aunt Lady Lysa Tully. In season 6 he finally admitted to Sansa that his goal is to sit on the Iron Throne with her as his queen.

The Hound is at deaths door in the beginning of the season following his battle with Brienne but he’s nursed back to health by Septon Ray and eventually joins the former soldier’s peaceful band of villagers. However, when they’re slaughtered by three members of Brotherhood Without Banners, The Hound hunts them down and kills them, leading him to join forces with the Brotherhood Without Banners who are heading north to fight the White Walkers.

Winter has arrived, valar dohaeris to you all and we hope to see you on the other side of season 7.

Game of Thrones season 7 arrives on HBO and Sky Atlantic and through NOW TV on 16 July.