Season 6 General Speculation v10

The Northern Houses alignment in S6 will be interesting to me. We know the Umbers and Karstarks will stand behind the Bolton's during Snowbowl and we know that the Hornfoots and Mormonts line up alongside the Starks (although they appear to be more just filler as opposed to actual characters).

But how exactly are the Umbers and Karstarks introduced and characterized since they appear to have a larger role than simply background commanders.

I'm interested in the Umbers because they're either setting Smalljon up to be a secret Stark loyalist who shows his true colours during the battle or someone who is clearly against the Starks (because of some perceived sin against his father perhaps). In either case, the characterization is important because they will have Rickon. Whether their possession of Rickon is a pawn for them to play or a secret they are ultimately keeping until a key moment is the question. I think I lean toward the latter especially since his casting call more or less describes him as a savage warrior who has an impactful role on the story. He's described as someone who has a hatred that runs deep but we don't know who that hatred is for. I know that it sounds like some version of Wyman Manderly appears this season but that role as described seems like more of a cameo that gets a cool speech during a big meeting rather than a character who drives the story. I think Smalljon is basically going to be a remixed version of Manderly who has plans for the Boltons while pretending to serve by them reluctantly. The show has gone out of its way to show the Umbers as being unwavering Stark loyalists so it would be weird to change that.

Also because we have the Karstarks who are set up as being the ruthless opportunistic crew. The show has set them up as clear Stark antagonists and they have a legit reason to side with the Boltons so I think this will continue. Additionally, because they've also cast the Lord and what seems to be a couple other side characters associated with them, I think it stands to reason we'll actually be at the Karhold for a time this season. The casting call describes the Karstark as "ruthless and calculating" which would suggest he is more than just a yes man for Bolton, that he has some kind of leverage to play in choosing sides. This is why I think Sansa will end up at the Karhold after the escape with the intention of ending up at Castle Black.

They have to find a way to get Brienne out of the North and the only way she'll leave Sansa (for good) after rescuing her is if she feels Sansa is safe. Escorting her to a supposed Stark ally with the intention of eventually getting her to Jon at Castle Black (which has to be Sansa's goal after the show had Ramsay casually mention to her that Jon was the new LC last season) would fit the bill.

After that, I'm not sure for Sansa. LF is showing up with the Vale army at some point and he seems to be out there in the snow during the rescue scene but I doubt she's going with him willingly now and what exactly does she do until E9 if she and LF just fuck off to the Vale after the rescue? It also doesn't give Brienne much closure with Sansa if she's back in LF's clutches again. Why would Brienne be good with that and why would she stop trying to help if that were the case?Don't think there's much for Sansa to do in the Vale at this point anyways. Based on what Sophie has described of Sansa's arc this year, I think interacting with Northern characters makes more sense and that works out if she spends some time at the Karhold. I think she'll find a way to get to Jon (either to CB or run into his army on the march to Winterfell). I don't see her being taken back to Ramsay by the Karstarks. I've had a theory for a while that the show would do some kind of remixed version of Alys Karstark with Sansa by having her escape their clutches and riding to Castle Black to avoid them so we'll see about that.

Yes, all things considered, they did a good job with what they had to work with in making it not look too ridiculous. The scene at the fighting pit is still one of my all-time favorite scenes despite the slightly fake looking ride at the end... the CGI of Drogon flaming the Harpies was really well done work... it's just really difficult to make a person perched on the back of a fake dragon look convincing.

Edit: Didn't answer the question! I think if they do any Dany riding Drogon scenes it will probably be from a distance or maybe her POV on the camera which is what I thought of when I saw that image of him flying over the Dothraki.... it would solve some of the problems of fake looking 'riding' if they just had her riding him from her point of view camera angle. 

I think Manderly will still be in at least for one memorable scene based on the casting call listed here: watchersonthewall.com/game-of-thrones-casting-two-more-northern-noblemen-for-season-6/

There are , now, a lot of illos of Aegon riding Balerion.
Many of these show Aegon on a way-too-small Balerion but with a 'dragon-saddle' , that seems like a good idea and would think that after 1000's of years of dragon mastering the Valyrians would have dragon gear. I don't know if GRRM is ever going to get around to this are not. Sounds like the thing Tyrion would really be into! Maybe he will design one?

I thought the only thing awkward about Dany riding Drogon was the mounting and in-the-air-flying , tho the approximation was ok. Once on Drogon all looked fine. The take off was particularly good. The aerial tracking shot needed some better processing. They show all the pre-production 'mount' stuff in Osuna’s Plaza del Toro in Spain. A budget decision , I guess. In a big budget film (these days) all that would have been done in a big green screen studio with rigs so the CGI work up wold not have to be a CGI work-around. Still I have never seen a TV show go to that length before and they did a good job.

Yeah, I'm sure the show Manderly is just a nod to the book readers. But it's Ok for me. It looks almost certain that we will get some version of the "North Remembers" speech. Now, we only need to confirm Meribald's "Broken Men" speech and Doran's "Fire and Blood" speech and we will get a season full of memorable speeches.

In the like dvd extras for season 5, they outright said that the new Kingsguard was the reanimated corpse of Gregor Clegane. They said that he's devoted to helping Cersei get her revenge, and that season six will show that.

He's gonna fuck shit up!!

But she's still married to Ramsay, the only way to make her single is to make her a widow. Are you saying you think there's another double cross in the works where they fight for Ramsay while planning to kill him after the battle?

Kit should watch this video then.

People in the WotW comments are joking that it's going to be Ramsay vs. Gendry. 
Edit: Oh it was barristanwhitebeard.