[SPOILERS] SNOWBOWL!!! Discussion

Since the Manderly banners are not visible in the Snowbowl pictures and videos, will they come with the Valemen and Sansa? It's quite weird that house Manderly hasn't been mentioned in any SNOWBOWL related leaks.

After ep. 602 and the promo for 603, I think the Snowbowl spoilers we've gotten make much more sense. In part now knowing how early in the season Rickon is given over to Ramsay (in 603) and in part now knowing that Fletcher from the casting calls will indeed be Wyman Manderly rather than just a fat Northern lord as an homage to the character and that the Manderlys are an important Northern house in the show with a big army of their own.

With the Smalljon betraying the Starks and Rickon this early on, it could only be in response to Jon letting the wildlings through the Wall. Previously a lot of us had figured we'd only meet Smalljon in 608 or something and Rickon would be turned over then. But knowing this happens earlier changes my perception of a lot of the spoilers. Firstly show Smalljon is basically a further representation of the sort of political intransigence Jon put up with NW guys like Thorne and wildlings like Loboda (the Thenn at Hardhome). He hates wildlings so much (and his House has traditionally) that he's willing to betray all else, like his loyalty to the Starks, to fight them. This fits with the bit in his casting call that "his hatreds run deep" or whatever the wording was exactly. I imagine part of his spiel we'll hear in 603 is that he feels his loyalty was conditional and that, unlike his dad, he's willing to stand against a Stark if it means backing a Warden of the North who'll face the wildlings with him.

Previously, before the Snowbowl spoilers, many of us had figured he'd be our Manderly stand-in and dramatically switch sides and prove to be actually loyal. Those proved this idea very wrong. Basically, like our young Lord Karstark, he's a massive weenie and disloyal turd. But the good news is we actually have a Manderly now.

This question of who's the worse threat the wildlings or the Boltons will come up elsewhere, I think. That is why Davos is bringing up the Long Night and the Army of the Dead and whatnot in his Bear Island scene from the trailers. All the Northern houses are wary of wildlings and probably initially unwilling to fight alongside them. Which is why silver-tongued Davos has to explain the greater stakes to them. Which will likely lead to him winning over many of the lords at that sitdown.

One question many of us had about the Snowbowl spoilers was why would Jon face a Bolton-Umber-Karstark coalition with his comparatively low numbers? I think them having Rickon answers this. Rickon will be mentioned in whatever showPink Letter we get. He will be a major motivating factor in rallying many of the loyalist houses to face the Boltons. If he'd only got Rickon late in the season this would be different. Rickon would be the wild card at the Snowbowl. But since he gets him in 603, this means that saving Rickon is probably a major factor in why Jon and his army meet Ramsay's when they do. I imagine a specific threat is made against Rickon's life luring them south and Jon away from the Wall. Maybe something like, "I'll kill him on such-and-such-a day unless you ______". Fill in the blanks as you may, I think this explains the urgency and why anyone would be willing to face those odds.

Also I imagine Ramsay will threaten Castle Black which will also make Jon understand that he can't stay there anymore. As in ADWD.

Now on to Manderly. Rams mentioned him in 602, so the Fletcher casting call is definitely for him. But we also know that there were no Manderly banners in Jon's group of loyalists at the Snowbowl. And that his army is big enough that Jon would likely be much larger if his men were there. So where is he? As a lot of us speculated yesterday; they're with the Knights of the Vale and Sansa. This makes sense in particular because of where White Harbour is located. It makes sense that if ships full of Valemen were to sail North, that's where they'd dock.

I don't know if he'll be at the big Northern lord meeting on Bear Island (which I think will be around ep. 606) and if that's when he'll give his speech...or if Sansa will teleport there later in the season, but he's perfectly positioned to be the reason she's not with Jon's group and the reason that the Valemen enter the North. So either she goes with him from Bear Island to White Harbour or she just goes to White Harbour to Bear Island after the first meeting of the lords to meet him in 608 or something... this would explain why the Manderlys merited mentioning in 602 as a major house, haven't sided with the Boltons by the time of the Snowbowl and weren't among Jon's loyalists either.

They are the port in the North nearest to the Vale (and IIRC Ned went that away when he was sneaking out of the Eyrie during Robert's Rebellion, as Davos learned in some ADWD chapter or another), so it stands to reason that's where Sansa would go after Bear Island and that's how LF, Royce and the Knights of the Vale find their way to the Snowbowl. So even if Manderly himself is just in the show to give a single speech, it seems his house will be very important nonetheless in the rundown of the Snowbowl.