Game of Thrones Rumor Patrol: Which Theories Are Still In Play?
Sunday's episode alone dealt multiple crushing blows to fans, some of whom have been waiting years for confirmation of moments that will apparently never happen.
For the past two weeks, Game of Thrones appeared to be laying the groundwork for the mother of all reveals: that Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley) has been revived as the vengeful Lady Stoneheart.
In the books, Beric Dondarrion (Richard Dormer) sacrifices himself to resurrect Catelyn, who then takes over the Brotherhood Without Banners and leads them in a vengeance campaign against anyone remotely tied to the Lannisters, Freys and Boltons.
[...] when Beric popped up in Sunday's episode -- and hung Lem Lemoncloak for killing the Hound's (Rory McCann) friends -- it was a severe blow to the hopes that the Brotherhood had undergone a leadership change since we saw them last.
Meaning, even if Beric encountered Catelyn's body next week, she would be in such a state of decay that a revival likely wouldn't be possible.
Many fans believed that Jaqen (Tom Wlaschiha) was actually disguised as Arya to test the Waif (Faye Marsay), thus explaining how Arya could seemingly survive multiple stab wounds to the gut and why she was acting so strangely.
A girl was then somehow able to parkour, kill the Waif and be in no life-threatening danger from the same kind of wounds that killed Jon Snow, Robb Stark and Talisa.
The idea behind this theory was that Cersei would appoint the Mountain to act as her champion and the Hound, who briefly found a second life building a Sept with Brother Ray, would act as the Faith's champion.
[...] with Varys (Conleth Hill) likely heading to Dorne to secure an alliance with Ellaria (Indira Varma) and the Sand Snakes, Dany's new friends wouldn't exactly be a calming, altruistic influence on her.
[...] more likely than Daenerys becoming an actual villain is that she'll continue acting crazy until someone calls her out and she's forced to re-a