Is Game Of Thrones Finally Introducing Lady Stoneheart?

Many fans of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series have been perturbed and disappointed by the absence of a certain character from the novels in HBO's Game of Thrones. That character goes by the name Lady Stoneheart. While the producers of Game of Thrones have previously appeared dismissive of the idea of bringing the character to the small screen, and the prime opportunity to introduce the character may seem to have passed, HBO recently offered a possible hint that the character will appear in Season 6 of Game of Thrones before it bows out.

Potential Spoilers Follow

For those who aren't familiar, Lady Stoneheart is Catelyn Stark resurrected after she was murdered during the Red Wedding. The Freys tossed her corpse in a river and she was found by the Brotherhood without Banners three days later. Thoros of Myr used the power granted him by the Lord of Light and Beric Dondarrion sacrificed his own life to resurrect Catelyn. However, the resurrection wasn't able to completely heal Catelyn's physical wounds, and did nothing to heal the emotional scars she suffered. Her neck remains mutilated from where her throat was slit. The wound makes it nearly impossible for her to speak. She takes the name Lady Stoneheart and becomes obsessed with inflicting revenge on the Lannisters and anyone she believes to be a Lannister coconspirator. In Dondarrion's absence, Stoneheart takes over leadership of the Brotherhood. Under her command, they lose their moral fiber, becoming thuggish in Stoneheart's merciless quest for vengeance.

Fans expected Stoneheart to show up in the Game of Thrones Season 4 finale, but it didn't happen. In an interview, the episode's director, Alex Graves, suggested that bringing actress Michelle Fairly back just "to be a zombie for a little while — and just kill people" would have been a waste of her time and talent Considering the show had, up until that point, shied away from similarly otherworldly characters like Coldhands, fans began writing Stoneheart off as a character that was simply too strange for Game of Thrones' streamlined adaptation of Martin's novels.

Things changed significantly over the course of Season 5 and the first half of Season 6. The fantasy element of Game of Thrones has come more to the forefront. Coldhands has finally been introduced, the magic-wielding Children of the Forest appeared, the show has spent a lot more time with the White Walkers, Jon Snow came back from the dead, and Bran and the Three-Eyed Raven have been projecting themselves through time. The show got weird, perhaps making it more welcoming of a character like Lady Stoneheart.

Which brings us to the big "hint" we mentioned earlier. It comes from the synopsis for the Season 6 finale, "The Winds of Winter." The key line in the synopsis is "Brienne meets a friend turned foe." As with most Game of Thrones synopses, that line is vague enough to mean practically anything, but fans familiar with the books will likely be reminded of one scene in particular.

In A Feast for Crow, the fourth book of A Song of Ice and Fire, Brienne and Podrick Payne are still searching for Sansa and Arya Stark when they are taken captive by the Brotherhood and brought to meet Lady Stoneheart. Catelyn Stark would once have been considered Brienne's friend, but Stoneheart is most certainly a foe. Stoneheart sees that Brienne is carrying Oathkeeper, a blade forged by the Lannisters from the Valyrian steel of House Stark's family sword, Ice, and takes her for a traitor. Stoneheart offers Brienne a choice between "sword and noose" – to kill Jaime Lannister or to hang. Brienne refuses to choose, and so she and Podrick are hanged. Brienne watches Podrick choking and shouts "sword" to save his life.

Could this scene play out in "The Winds of Winter?" The return of Catelyn Stark and the tense and dramatic nature of the scene would certainly be enough to justify making the Season 6 finale the longest episode of Game of Thrones ever, and Stoneheart assuming leadership of the Brotherhood would explain the behavior of Brotherhood member Lem in "The Broken Man." Then again, we could be setting ourselves up for disappointment again. After all, at six seasons in, Game of Thrones seems more intent on solving mysteries and tying up loose ends than introducing new ones. Either way, fans won't have long to wait to find out.

Game of Thrones airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.