50 Fun Facts About Game of Thrones Season 6

Who rescues Sansa Stark and Theon from Bolton soldiers in season 6's premiere?

Brienne of Tarth. With her squire Podrick she cuts down the riders who have run the pair to ground in the snow, finally making good on her promise to protect the Stark children, and Sansa takes her into her service.

Whom does Daenerys leave behind to keep the peace in Meereen when she sails for Westeros?

Daario Naharis. She ends their affair as she gives the order, telling the sellsword that marriage is her best bargaining chip in Westeros and she cannot arrive there with a lover.

Season 6 was the first in which the story moved past which published novel?

A Dance with Dragons. One of season 6's directors said during the shoot that nothing being filmed came from a book: the scripts grew out of the writers' talks with the author about where his unfinished saga was going.

A small part of season 6 was shot near Calgary, Canada, purely to film which animals?

Wolves. Jon Snow's direwolf Ghost is played by Quigly, an Arctic wolf raised by an Alberta trainer, so a handful of producers travelled to Calgary for ten days to film him there.

Which disease does Jorah reveal to Daenerys, who orders him to find a cure?

Greyscale. Jorah shows her the infection and at last admits that he loves her; instead of sending him away for good, she commands him to heal himself and return to her side for the conquest of Westeros.

Which veteran actor took over as the Three-Eyed Raven in season 6?

Max von Sydow. He replaced Struan Rodger, who had played the part in a single season 4 scene, but his own stay was short: the Night King cuts the Three-Eyed Raven down in 'The Door', leaving Bran to carry on alone.

Which Danish actor joined season 6 as Theon's pirate uncle?

Pilou Asbæk. Viewers of the Danish drama Borgen knew him as a smooth spin doctor; here he walks out of a gale to tell his own brother, 'I am the storm, brother. The first storm and the last.'

Who plays Lady Crane, the actress portraying Cersei in the Braavos play?

Richard E. Grant was cast as the troupe's manager.

Which band appears as the musicians of season 6's Braavos theatre troupe?

Of Monsters and Men. The Icelandic group play for the troupe as it sends up King's Landing, following Sigur Rós and Coldplay's drummer in a run of cameos the producers hand to bands they like.

What is the name of the play mocking Ned Stark that Arya watches in Braavos?

The Bloody Hand. The farce plays Ned as a fool and Tyrion as the villain of the piece, so Arya has to stand in the crowd and watch her father's beheading done for laughs.

Which character does Freddie Stroma play, introduced at Horn Hill in season 6?

Dickon Tarly. Sam's younger brother sits through one painfully awkward family dinner; by season 7 the part had gone to Tom Hopper, probably because Stroma was by then starring in ABC's Time After Time.

Who plays Ned Stark as a boy in season 6's flashbacks?

Sebastian Croft. He is the boy Ned seen training with his little brother in Bran's vision of Winterfell, while Robert Aramayo plays the grown Ned who fights at the Tower of Joy later in the season.

In 2016, season 6's Emmys made Thrones the most-awarded scripted series, passing which sitcom?

Frasier. The sitcom needed eleven seasons to reach its record 37 Emmys; Thrones passed it after six.

How does King Tommen die in season 6?

Jumps from a window. He watches the Great Sept burn from his chambers and, told that Margaery was inside, sets down his crown and steps out without a word: the one death Cersei's plot was never meant to cause.

What was the name of the weekly recap show that followed season 6 episodes on HBO Now?

After the Thrones. Hosts Andy Greenwald and Chris Ryan came from the Grantland podcast Watch the Thrones; HBO dropped the show after one season, and they relaunched it on Twitter as Talk the Thrones.

Which track from season 6's finale reached No. 1 on Billboard's Spotify Viral 50 chart?

Light of the Seven. Because any familiar character theme might tip viewers off to what was coming, the finale's director suggested piano, an instrument the show's score had never used before.

What is revealed about Melisandre at the end of 'The Red Woman'?

She is physically very old. Alone in her chamber she takes off her jewelled necklace and the mirror shows a frail, white-haired woman; the shot put Carice van Houten's made-up face onto an elderly woman's real body.

Who fatally stabs Prince Doran Martell in season 6's premiere?

Ellaria Sand. Furious that he has let the deaths of his sister and his brother Oberyn go unavenged, she knifes him while his own guards look on and tells him weak men will never rule Dorne again.

Daenerys learns in season 6 that a khal's widow must live where?

Vaes Dothrak. As Khal Drogo's widow she is meant to join the dosh khaleen in the sacred city for life; instead she burns the assembled khals in their own temple and walks out to a kneeling horde.

Who persuades a doubting Melisandre to try to revive Jon Snow in 'Home'?

Davos Seaworth. No devout man himself, he says he is asking the woman who showed him miracles exist; her faith broken by Stannis's defeat, she tries, gives up with a last 'please', and Jon wakes once the room has emptied.

What is Hodor's real name, as revealed in 'Home'?

Wylis. In Bran's vision of old Winterfell the future Hodor is a stable boy who talks as easily as anyone, and Bran is pulled out before he can learn what took the words away.

How does Balon Greyjoy's brother kill him in 'Home'?

Throws him off a bridge. The two meet in a storm on the rope walkway strung between Pyke's towers; the old king pulls a knife on the brother who has come home to mock him, and is hurled over the side.

Who does Ramsay kill in 'Home' to take the North for himself?

Roose Bolton. Ramsay stabs his father moments after hearing that Roose's wife has given birth to a boy, a new heir who threatened everything the bastard son stood to inherit.

Which famed Kingsguard swordsman nearly kills Ned Stark at the Tower of Joy in season 6?

Arthur Dayne. Bran grew up on the tale of his father beating the finest knight in the land; the vision shows Ned disarmed and about to die when Howland Reed stabs Dayne from behind.

Which missing Stark does Smalljon Umber hand to Ramsay as a prisoner in 'Oathbreaker'?

Rickon Stark. Umber will not bow or swear to Ramsay, so he offers the boy as a gift instead, and proves who he is by producing the severed head of Rickon's direwolf, Shaggydog.

Which Stark siblings reunite at Castle Black in 'Book of the Stranger'?

Jon and Sansa. He had just quit the Night's Watch and was packing to ride south when she came through the gate, and she is soon pressing him to help her take Winterfell back from the Boltons.

Who tries to seduce and stab Ramsay in 'Book of the Stranger', and is killed?

Osha. She climbs onto Ramsay's lap while reaching for the knife he has been peeling an apple with, but Theon has already told him how she once tricked her way out of Winterfell, and he cuts her throat first.

What trade does the High Sparrow tell Margaery he once followed?

Cobbler. He tells her he loved fine things until the morning after a drunken feast, when he looked at his sleeping guests, saw that it was all a lie, and walked away from his trade leaving even his own shoes behind.

Which lord does Littlefinger talk into coming to Sansa Stark's aid in season 6?

Robin Arryn. Littlefinger turns up with a falcon as a late name-day gift, mentions that the boy's cousin has fled the Boltons, and lets him arrive at the idea of sending help as if it were his own.

Who is chosen King at the Kingsmoot in 'The Door'?

Euron Greyjoy. Accused before the whole assembly of murdering the last king, he simply admits it and is cheered for it; his niece and nephew slip away with the best ships while he is being crowned.

According to Bran's vision in 'The Door', who created the White Walkers?

The Children of the Forest. Losing a war to the First Men, they tied a captive to a tree and pushed a dragonglass blade into his chest to make a weapon of him, and the weapon outlived their control.

Who first gave Benioff and Weiss the idea for Hodor's name origin?

George R. R. Martin. He told the showrunners how Hodor got his name during a hotel-room meeting about the unwritten books; Benioff called it the most shocking thing the author revealed, and said he and Weiss just looked at each other.

Which adviser does the red priestess Kinvara unnerve in Meereen?

Varys. He has loathed magic since a sorcerer cut him as a boy and a voice answered from the flames; she offers to tell him what that voice said and whose it was, and the spymaster has no reply.

Who rescues Bran and Meera from the wights in season 6?

Benjen Stark. Long missing beyond the Wall, Bran's uncle rides in swinging a flaming flail, and explains that a White Walker's blade left him for dead before he was saved from turning into one of them.

Which Valyrian steel sword does Sam take from Horn Hill?

Heartsbane. Told never to set foot in his father's house again once Gilly is found out as a wildling, Sam starts to leave alone, turns back for her and the baby, and carries off the family's ancestral blade as well.

What punishment does Tommen give Jaime for marching on the Sept?

Removal from the Kingsguard. Jaime rides up the Sept's steps with the Tyrell army to free Margaery, only to learn that Tommen has just allied the Crown with the Faith; he is then packed off to besiege Riverrun.

Rallying her horde from Drogon's back, Daenerys asks all of them to be her what?

Bloodriders. A khal picks three sworn companions for life; Daenerys tells the horde she is no khal and names every one of them instead, then asks them to cross the sea and take the Seven Kingdoms with her.

Which Deadwood star plays Ray, the septon sheltering the Hound, in 'The Broken Man'?

Ian McShane. Months before it aired he let slip on breakfast television that his character brings back 'a much-loved character everybody thinks is dead', then shrugged off the fuss by describing the show as 'tits and dragons'.

Who plays the young Lady of Bear Island, introduced in 'The Broken Man'?

Bella Ramsey. It was Ramsey's first professional role: a ten-year-old ruler who cross-examines the Starks' recruiting party, then pledges all of 62 fighting men.

Which practice does Tommen abolish in 'No One', wrecking Cersei's plans?

Trial by combat. Cersei had been counting on the monstrous Mountain to win her case as her champion; the decree means she must face seven septons as judges instead, and no fighter can settle that for her.

How does Jaime force the surrender of Riverrun?

Threatens Edmure's son. Jaime tells his prisoner he will catapult the baby over the walls, so Edmure, still the castle's rightful lord, walks in and orders the garrison to yield; the Blackfish dies fighting.

In 'No One', how does Arya defeat the Waif?

Fights her in the dark. Bleeding, Arya lures the Waif to her hideout and slices the only candle in half with Needle, turning the time she spent training blind into the one edge her pursuer lacks.

What does Jon Snow offer Ramsay before their battle, to spare both armies?

Single combat. Ramsay turns it down: he has heard Jon is the best swordsman in the North, and he sees no reason to duel when he has brought about 6,000 men against Jon's 2,400.

Which of Hannibal's battles did the showrunners take as the model for 'Battle of the Bastards'?

Cannae. The director first based the fight on Agincourt, but as budgets changed it became Hannibal's ring of men closing on a trapped Roman army, with Bolton shields doing the closing.

Which force arrives to save Jon's army at the Battle of the Bastards?

The Knights of the Vale. Sansa had written to Littlefinger for them in secret and never told Jon, so the charge that breaks the Bolton shield wall surprises her brother's side as much as Ramsay's.

How does Ramsay Bolton die?

Eaten by his starved hounds. He had boasted of not feeding them for seven days so that they could feast on Jon; Sansa leaves him tied up in the kennels and reminds him of it as the dogs he trusted close in.

What does Cersei use to destroy the Great Sept of Baelor?

Wildfire. Child spies leave candles burning down in a cache of the green liquid beneath the Sept, and it goes up with the High Sparrow, Margaery and most of the court inside: the very act Jaime once killed the Mad King to prevent.

What does Arya bake into the pie she serves Walder Frey?

His sons. Wearing a serving girl's face, Arya tells Walder Frey that the two he keeps asking for are already there, in the pie in front of him, then shows her own face, names herself a Stark and cuts his throat.

Who shames the Northern lords into naming Jon King in the North?

Lyanna Mormont. The ten-year-old stands up in Winterfell's hall and names the houses that refused the call when Jon needed them; one by one the grown lords she has shamed admit they were wrong and kneel.

After season 6's finale, HBO confirmed that Jon Snow's parents were which two people?

Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen. The finale shows the dying Lyanna entrusting her baby to Ned, but part of her whisper cannot be made out and the father is never named; HBO put him on a family-tree graphic days later.