Game of Thrones: Will A Stark Die In Battle Of The Bastards?

One of the major houses in Game of Thrones, the Starks have been to hell and back over the last six season. After their father was publicly executed by Joffrey Baratheon, the Stark siblings have seen their family torn apart, pushed out of their ancestral home of Winterfell and left for dead. Although each of the Starks have suffered extraordinary hardship over the last six seasons, they've actually fared better than most of their peers. After all, we haven't seen a Stark die since the Red Wedding (way back in Season 3), while other families like the Lannisters and Martells have suffered significant casualties. Now, the Starks are poised for a major comeback as Sansa Stark and her half-brother Jon Snow prepare to retake Winterfell from Ramsey Bolton. But will all of the Starks survive tonight's episode?

Three of the Starks will be directly involved with the climactic battle of Winterfell: Jon Snow, Sansa Stark, and Rickon Stark. Jon is a trained warrior and leader and has already died once on the show, so it's unlikely he'll die at the hands of Ramsey or his army. However, not every Stark is as capable as Jon. Sansa was Ramsey's unwilling wife and she raped and beat her mercilessly during her brief stay at Winterfell. She'll be out for revenge, but she's not a fighter and certainly doesn't know her way around a battlefield. Commercials for tonight's episode shows her watching the battle, which possibly puts her in the line of fire.

If a Stark does die in tonight's episode, it will probably be Rickon Stark, the youngest Stark sibling. Rickon disappeared from the show for several seasons, until the Umbers delivered him as a hostage to Bolton as a sign of allegiance. Rickon hasn't had the same character development as his siblings and he's probably the most disposable Stark left on the show. Plus, he is a hostage of Ramsey Bolton, who has amassed quite the body count, usually in sick and gruesome fashion. Game of Thrones isn't kind to children and Rickon might become the show's latest underage victim.

The two other Stark siblings, Arya and Bran, are probably both safe. Bran is currently North of the Wall, having inadvertently attracted the attention of the White Walkers with the improper use of his warging abilities. However, he's in the hands of the reanimated corpse of Benjen Stark, Bran's long-missing uncle. Benjen might be undead, but he's on the side of the living...for now. Meanwhile, Arya just escaped one near miss with death in Braavos (having suffered several stab wounds at the hand of her fellow would be assassin in training) but survived and is now on her way back to Westeros. Unless her ship crashes while in transit, Arya should also be safe.

We haven't seen a Stark die in nearly three seasons and Game of Thrones typically ups the body count for major battles. Expect at least one Stark to meet their final fate to spoil any chance of a truly happy ending for the Battle of the Bastards.