Game of Thrones - Who Else Could Return From The Dead?

Spoilers ahead for episode seven of this sixth season, The Broken Man. 

Last week I was so relieved to finally see the Gravedigger Theory confirmed, us book fans had an idea that we hadn't quite seen the last of that loveable Hound, Sandor Clegane (Rory McCann), and it was nice to see him appear lugging a tree. Now we are faced with wondering who else could potentially rise from the dead before this sixth season is over.

Stannis the Mannis

Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane) was apparently killed by Brienne at the end of last season, but the shot cut away before we saw his head being chopped off. If watching the show or reading the books has taught us anything it is to not believe someone is dead until we actually see it happen with our own two eyes.

The Hound was in a similar position, we all thought he would die from bleeding out in the middle of nowhere but he had help in the form of Brother Ray (Ian McShane), who had stumbled upon him and saved him from death. I am not saying this happened with Stannis because if he had gotten his head chopped off he would be beyond repair, but lets now talk about why I don't think that happened to him.

Brienne (Gwendoline Christie) is a very honorable character, she will go above and beyond to do her duty, she would even be willing to die to fulfil it. She almost reminds me of another character we once had on the show, a character that we all loved, who was honorable to a fault, and we saw die way back in season one, Ned Stark (Sean Bean).

A younger Ned Stark (Robert Aramayo) appeared in one of Bran's (Isaac Hempstead Wright) visions this season, however his honorability was questioned when Howland Reed (Leo Woodruff) stabbed Ser Arthur Dayne (Luke Roberts) in the back, and young Ned picked up Arthur's sword to land the killing blow. Now this is a different story to what Bran heard when he was growing up, which has made me begin to question everything we hear on the show.

Game of Thrones is generally a gruesome show, think about the deaths we have seen, We saw Oberyn Martell (Pedro Pascal) having his head literally smashed open as The Mountain (Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson) squished his thumbs into Oberyn's eyes and crushed his skull with those two Mountain sized hands of his.

Talisa Stark (Oona Chaplin) was stabbed repeatedly in her pregnant stomach before she collapsed to the floor and died of these wounds. Viserys Targaryen (Harry Lloyd) had his skull melted as Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa) crowned him with molten gold. So why didn't we see the beheading of a man who had literally just burned his daughter Shireen (Kerry Ingram) alive at the stake, and at that point had deserved to die a horrific death?

I think Stannis will be back, unless I see absolute proof of his actual beheading by Brienne I will just assume he is making up for that horrible daughter killing deed, possibly by secretly helping the poor or misfortunate until King Tommen (Dean-Charles Chapman) dies and King Stannis returns to take his throne.

Shaggydog

I can hear every single one of you telling me to give up hope and just admit that this wild Direwolf is no longer among us, but I refuse in this instance to believe everything that I see. The photo of Shaggydog above was from when he was little more than a pup and the head that was slammed on the table was definitely not as big as Ghost's current head, although it is very hard to tell due to the camera angle.

Ghost was the runt of the pack, which doesn't necessarily mean that he is still the smallest, as in real life if the animal is loved and cared for it will quickly catch up to it's brothers or sisters. But even if him and Shaggydog were the same size this head still isn't big enough to be Shaggydog. Still don't believe me, then check out the comparison below.

Now the big question, Smalljon Umber (Dean S. Jagger) presented Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon) Shaggydog's head to prove that this was Rickon Stark (Art Parkinson), if he just used an normal wolf wouldn't Ramsay know better? The only direwolves that have been seen below the wall in two centuries are the ones that were found by the Starks back in the first episode.

Roose Bolton (Michael McElhatton) would have spent time around Robb's wolf Grey Wind, but as far as I can research Ramsay has not spent anytime around these creatures (and if he had seen them when he went to Winterfell disguised as Reek they wouldn't have been fully grown) so would he know any better? A large wolves head could be enough to persuade him that this is Shaggydog.

Now what possible reason would Smalljon Umber have to lie to Ramsay about the wolf's death? Well if you believe in The Ultimate Umber Conspiracy then there could possibly be a reason for all this deceit. Smalljon Umber may be pretending to be against the old traditions of the North, by not swearing fealty to Ramsay he could actually be secretly plotting a move against the Boltons.

If this theory proves to be true Shaggydog could be waiting in the wings ready to strike from the shadows, I may just be holding onto some false hope here as the direwolves are my favorite things on this show (sorry dragons), but until I see a better shot of that head I will just continue to hold out some hope.

* Potential Book Spoilers Ahead!*

Lady Stoneheart

Lady Stoneheart appeared at the end of A Storm of Swords and for those of you who don't know she is the resurrected Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley). Beric Dondarrion (Richard Dormer) and his Brotherhood Without Banners came across Catelyn's corpse three days after her death, as it was floating in the Green Fork.

Beric, who had been resurrected several times, gave Catelyn the Last Kiss and passed his life force onto her when Thoros (Paul Kaye) refused to bring her back. Catelyn is very different to her previous self, she wants revenge, and will kill anyone who she thinks is collaborating with the Lannisters, even if they had nothing to do with her death at the Red Wedding.

Lady Stoneheart should have appeared at the end of season four, but we are now onto season six and she still hasn't shown up. Now most book readers would have probably moved on by now, thinking her arc will eventually appear but be replace by another living Stark, I on the other hand have begun to disagree.

Coldhands was another book character who showed up around the same time as Lady Stoneheart, he also wasn't revealed until halfway through this season, in the books we don't yet know his identity but in this season of the show he was revealed to be Benjen Stark (Joseph Mawle),

In the books Brienne comes across the Brotherhood, I won't spoil what happens but it does take place in the Riverlands. Where is Brienne headed this season? That's right, the Riverlands. Now this could all be coincidence, and her role could be taken on by another living character but there's one more clue given this season which I would like to talk about.

The Brotherhood without Banners were once considered to be similar to Robin Hood and his Merry Men, they had formed when Ned Stark sent a bunch of Knights to protect the smallfolk from The Mountain who had been raping and pillaging across the Riverlands. Forward to the Brotherhood we saw in last week's episode, when they slaughtered a ton of unarmed smallfolk.

In the books Lady Stoneheart turns the Brotherhood more vile, Catelyn is not the person she once was, she is fuelled by vengeance against anyone she feels turned her back on her and her son. She also has signature move when it comes to killing, and that is hanging. Wasn't a character left hanging by the Brotherhood at the end of last week's episode?

The Hound is now out for vengeance and instead of Brienne stumbling across Lady Stoneheart does anyone else think that her book plot will now be given to the Hound?

TINFOIL HATS PLEASE!

What do you guys think? Please comment below with any characters you think I may have missed in this list, or your opinions on how big my tin foil hat is.

Image Courtesy of HBO and Ertaç Altınöz (http://ertacaltinoz.deviantart.com/art/Mother-s-Mercy-539485159)