Spoilers ahead for anyone not caught up on Game of Thrones.

Season 6 of HBO's Game of Thrones delivered a lot of what fans have been waiting for over the years and the finale became the series' best yet as far as viewer numbers go. That being said, there were still some major plot points and characters left out of "Winds of Winter," even with it being the longest episode in the show's history. For the most part, this isn't a complaint; we've seen quite a few shocking moments in Season 6 that brought some highly anticipated moments from George R.R. Martin's books to life and others that may or may not be original to the show itself.

However, some of the characters and plot points introduced in this season were left hanging by the finale, either as open-ended questions to be continued next season or simply sacrificed for lack of time and space. Others have been long-ignored by the show, but are some of the most interesting and exciting aspects of the "A Song of Ice and Fire" novels. So we'll take a look at all the things the Game of Thrones Season 6 finale left out and what might be coming in Season 7, split into episode spoilers and book spoilers to keep you all as spoiler-free as possible.

Direwolves

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Image via HBO

The TV adaptation of Game of Thrones has a history of bad blood with the direwolves. What began as an endearing setup with each of the Stark children (and the bastard Jon Snow) adopting a direwolf pup has ended with a lot of bloodshed. Sansa's direwolf Lady and Robb's Grey Wind met their demise in the books and TV show in a similar fashion, but it remains to be seen if the fates of Rickon's Shaggy Dog and Bran's Summer in Season 6 line up with the books.

As far as the finale goes, there weren't many direwolves left to begin with, but the absence of Ghost was keenly felt, especially when the whole of the North rallied around Jon as the "White Wolf" and as King of the North... Now, when a show's effects budget goes to animating skeletal wights and blowing up sections of King's Landing in nuclear-green wildfire, it's understandable that a larger-than-life direwolf wouldn't make the cut. But Snow's power and presence could be significantly (and necessarily) boosted by having Ghost at his side, even for just the rallying scene if not during battle. All direwolf drama could be forgiven, however, if the show decided to pay attention to an overlooked plot point from the books.

Book Spoiler

What's even more disappointing than the death of the other direwolves or the absence of Ghost is the lack of any attention paid to the pack of wolves roaming the Riverlands led by a monstrous alpha member. The likely leader: Arya's direwolf, Nymeria. The books never went into much detail, just enough to keep hope alive for Nymeria's return, but the show has done bupkis with it since the first season. The Season 6 finale, which featured Arya's unexpected return to Westeros, would have been a perfect time for a scene, or even a line of dialogue, mentioning Nymeria's pack. The direwolf also plays a huge role in the re-appearance of another major character we'll talk about later. Alas, she, too, has been forgotten.

Jorah the Stone Man

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After doing his part, alongside Daario, to help Daenerys secure power over the Dothraki horde, Jorah confessed his undying love to Dany before resigning to his fate. (Remember that his deadly greyscale infection would ultimately claim his life, but not before reducing him to a man of "stone" skin.) Rather than making good on his promise to end his life before the disease progressed that far, Dany ordered him to go off in search of a cure so that he might return to her once she conquers the Seven Kingdoms.

However, we have no idea where Jorah headed off to, and the finale gave no hint of this. Even Daario got some closure as Daenerys shut down his advances and ordered him to remain behind in defense of her city, thus leaving her marriage options open. Perhaps Jorah will make his way to a place of knowledge unparalleled in the Known World: the great library in the Citadel of Oldtown. Might he even cross paths with the highly intelligent and deductive Samwell Tarly, in hopes of finding a cure?

Book Spoiler

Though Jorah wasn't the one who contracted greyscale in the books, his father Jeor Mormont still dies beyond the Wall. There, he tells Sam Tarly, with his dying breath, that he forgives his son Jorah and wants him to take the Black as his last wish. This message hasn't been conveyed in the books just yet, though I don't believe it was ever passed down to Sam at all in the TV series. Still, there's enough precedent here between the show and the books to get Jorah and Sam together in Season 7.

Euron Greyjoy's Plan

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Image via HBO

One of the most interesting characters introduced this season was Euron Greyjoy, an unpredictable wild card who has thrown the Iron Islands into chaos. After killing Balon, his older brother and the reigning king, Euron soon stakes his claim for the throne at the kingsmoot and survives the ceremony of judgement by their Drowned God. However, his new kingdom is immediately divided as Yara and Theon flee with the near entirety of the Ironborn fleet and a number of allies, avoiding certain death at the hands of their mad uncle and beating Euron to his plan of forging a new alliance with Daenerys and her dragons.

However, Euron's follow-up response to his men to "cut down all the trees" in order to build a new fleet seems pretty ridiculous. Game of Thrones has a lousy handle on the timeline within the world itself, but considering that Dany is already sailing towards Westeros on a substantial fleet, Euron's efforts should already be pointless. However, a full-scale naval battle between the Ironborn and the untested Dothraki sailors (oh and Daenery's dragons) would be a fantastic set piece to be sure. Hopefully we'll see something of that sort, even if it makes little sense.

Book Spoiler

Let's be honest, Euron's introduction on the show was rather underwhelming, especially considering how badass the character is in the books. He's even crazier in Martin's pages, and is even prophesied to be the greatest threat to Daenerys' reign, as seen by the Red Priests Benerro and Moqorro. Described as "a tall and twisted thing with one black eye and ten long arms, sailing on a sea of blood" in the priests' vision, Euron is one character whose on-screen realization has fallen far short of his potential so far; perhaps we'll get more in Season 7.

The Mountain vs. Septa Unella

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Image via HBO

Okay, so The Mountain vs The Septa isn't quite as thrilling as The Mountain vs The Viper, but it's a curious little scene nonetheless. The Season 6 finale featured Cersei getting all sorts of revenge on the Faith of the Seven, not the least of which included taking Septa Unella prisoner. Cersei herself doesn't participate in the physical torture of the Septa, though she certainly seems to enjoy the long-awaited psychological torture of the shame-ful priestess. She does, however, call upon The Mountain in order to perform some unknown horrors upon her prisoner.

But what does he do, exactly? Is he just looking at her wordlessly with his bloated, long-dead face? That would probably be enough for me. With the amount of violence and rampant sexual assaults in this show (the latter of which was restrained throughout most of this season, for once), not knowing what the Mountain did to Septa Unella is almost worse than knowing for sure. Cersei did promise that she wouldn't be dying for a long time, however, so perhaps Season 7 will reveal more about her condition ... if she survives, that is.

The Night King

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Image via HBO

After a pretty epic appearance early in the season, including a dream walk with the woefully uninformed Bran, the Night King and his wintry wight army were nowhere to be seen in the finale. Sure, their main function this season was to eliminate both the older and newly minted Three-Eyed Ravens, and they would have succeeded on both counts had it not been for the intervention of both Hodor and Benjen Stark. But their march southward has taken a very long time, despite how often every character mentions that "Winter Is Coming" or "Winter Is Here."

With pieces of the puzzle now moving to intercept the Night King's army, it's likely that Season 7 will actually see Winter in earnest. The only thing standing between that army and the rest of Westeros is the Wall, which is going to be quite difficult to get through, even for an undead army. Maybe Bran and his, well, brand courtesy of the Night King's touch will have something to do with it, but that wall is still pretty imposing.

Book Spoiler: Unless the Night King actually managed to find the Horn of Winter...

Brienne and Pod

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Image via HBO

When last we left Brienne of Tarth and Podrick Payne, they had rescued Sansa and Theon from the Boltons, escorted the Stark heiress safely to Castle Black, and then traveled to Riverrun with the hope of recruiting Brynden "Blackfish" Tully to their fight against the Boltons. They failed in this task, of course, but managed to escape the siege by the Lannisters and Frays thanks to a rowboat and a secret tunnel leading to the river. While it was nice to see Brienne and Jaime Lannister reunite (and the scene between Pod and Bronn was pretty entertaining as well), we're left wondering just what happened to the duo.

Book Spoilers

In the books, Brienne and Pod never find Sansa and thus remain in the Riverlands rather than traveling to Winterfell. Their misadventures eventually lead them to meet up with the Brotherhood without Banners; since that group was reintroduced in this season, it's conceivable that Brienne and Pod might cross their path. That'll be interesting considering that The Hound is currently hanging out with the Brotherhood, and he and Brienne have some troubled history. It would make more sense for Brienne and Pod to head north and reunite with Sansa (and Tormund, ::wink wink::), however, there are some more interesting characters that could show up along the way. We'll talk about them in a moment.

Sandor Clegane a.k.a. The Hound

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Sandor Clegane, a.k.a. The Hound, was re-introduced/proved to be alive early in this season, but little was done with him. (His Season 6 run definitely fell short of the expected and hoped-for "Clegane Bowl" between The Hound and the undead Mountain.) We found him hanging out with Ian McShane (for far too short a time) who played a former soldier-turned-peaceful priest. I rather liked seeing The Hound use his size and strength to help a group of like-minded commoners building a new Sept in the middle of nowhere, but there was little done with his story other than reinforcing the idea that this world is a violent place survived only by those who meet challenges with equal or excessive violence. At least the Hound is properly outfitted for such a task. Perhaps his new circle of friends will give him new purpose in Season 7.

The Brotherhood without Banners

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Image via HBO

A good complement to the re-introduction of The Hound was the reminder that The Brotherhood without Banners was still roaming the countryside, protecting the smallfolk, and resisting Lannister armies and their allies wherever and whenever they could. However, their numbers have been drastically reduced. The main players here are the Red Priest Thoros of Myr and Beric Dondarrion. Now that they have The Hound on their side, they might just stand a better chance against the White Walkers and their army in the north.

However, it's unclear just who their leader is. Neither of the aforementioned characters claim to hold that position, but neither do they share any insight as to who it actually is. There's one major character who's yet to be introduced that could make fans of both the books and the show very happy as the new leader of the Brotherhood, but the showrunners might be holding onto this one for Season 7.

Book Spoiler

The Brotherhood never went north to fight White Walkers in the books, but rather targeted the remaining members of the Frays after the Red Wedding. Their leader has a particular interest in punishing them, but we'll avoid that reveal here. If you want to avoid the biggest spoiler in the series, then you should skip the next section as well.

Lady Stoneheart

Image via HBO

Again, skip this section entirely if you don't want to risk any spoilers from the Game of Thrones TV or book series. 

Book Spoiler

In the books, the leader of the Brotherhood without Banners is a cloaked and hooded woman with a raspy voice, a multitude of scars, white hair and mottled skin. Why is she so gruesome looking? Well it's because this woman, known as Lady Stoneheart, has been mostly dead for some time. Yes, this is none other than Catelyn Stark, who was murdered during the Red Wedding and cast into the river. Her body was later pulled to shore by Nymeria (direwolves to the rescue!) where she was resurrected by Beric Dondarrion, who gave up his life for hers with a "last kiss."

However, Catelyn wasn't fully revived, leaving her with unhealed scars, a half-dead appearance, and the inability to speak properly thanks to the slit in her throat. Her heart has also been substantially hardened, as you might have guessed; she has less interest in defending the land against White Walkers and more in punishing the Frays, Lannisters, and Boltons. This single-minded pursuit (and the fitting description of her new name) is best exemplified by the scene in which Lady Stoneheart puts Brienne and Pod on a trial of sorts for their alliances and perceived treachery. It's a tough moment for everyone involved.

The inclusion of Nymeria and Lady Stoneheart at the outset of Season 7 would be an amazing win for fans of the book, but though it seems like the writers have put a majority of the pieces in place for this to happen, there's no guarantee that it will actually come to fruition. In the show, Catelyn has been dead for much longer than three days (which is when the book has her resurrected, of course), Beric Dondarrion is still alive (so he couldn't have swapped his life for hers earlier, say, in a flashback), and the Brotherhood is headed north to fight the White Walkers, not the Frays. While this could all be written around, I'm worried that they're just going to skip it all completely, which would be an awful, awful waste.

Gendry, the Last Baratheon

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Hey guys, remember Gendry? Yeah, as one of Robert's bastards, he was presumably the last blood heir to the Baratheon line. When last we saw him in Season 3, Davos Seaworth was setting him free from the blood priestess Melisandre's clutches and sent him back to King's Landing via rowboat. Gendry's last words are that he can't swim and has never been in a rowboat, so we'll just have to hope he figured it out and made it safely back to shore.

However, we haven't seen a hint of Gendry since that last scene. He was only an afterthought when Melisandre planned to sacrifice Shireen in Season 5. So what has this heir to the Baratheon line been up to? Was he killed, unheralded, in the explosion of the Grand Sept of Baelor or the resulting wildfire that swept through the streets? We'll probably never know, and the books don't do much better in clarifying Gendry's status.

Book Spoilers

Though Gendry was known as one of Robert's many bastards, he also shares some Targaryen blood to go with his Baratheon lineage. This makes him an interesting player in the prophecies surrounding the quest for the iron throne, but the show has more or less written him off as a non-entity. In the books, Gendry once saved Brienne and Pod from some rogues in the Riverlands where Brienne mistakes him for her lord, Renly. There's some hope that he'll make a return in the books, but it's a longshot to think we'll see him turn up in the show in any major capacity.

Hot Pie

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Image via HBO

The last time we saw our friendly Westerosi baker, it was in Season 4 when Brienne and Pod happened to cross his path at the Inn at the Crossroads. Though their interaction was brief, Hot Pie played a pivotal role in putting the duo on the right path toward finding Sansa Stark. He baked them a direwolf-shaped loaf of bread, told them about the last time he saw Arya, and bid them farewell. Unsurprisingly, there was no time or reason for Hot Pie to show up in the Season 6 finale.

Hot Pie is one of a few characters who seems to appear more in the show than he does in the books. I happen to enjoy the way the show folds Hot Pie into the mix, and when he shows up it's a nice reminder that there are some good and decent people in this world who might not be skilled in swordplay, but have a lot to offer nonetheless. What would be most rewarding to me, personally, is if Hot Pie appears in the last episode/chapter to reunite with Arya, as was promised in a conversation between the two of them. Wouldn't that be a sweet way to end a violent, bloody, and heart-wrenching drama?

Wolf-Headed Robb

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I ask your forgiveness in advance on this one. You probably won't find this fan-theory/wish anywhere else on the internet, or at least not in respected spaces, but ever since the death of Robb Stark at the Red Wedding, and the resulting placement of his dead wolf's head atop his executed body, I've been fascinated with the idea of a resurrected Wolf-Headed Robb.

This is a world of mountain-sized knights and royal ladies resurrected as more monstrous versions of their former selves, of Stone Men and the Lord of Light, and of wights and wildfire; who's to say a resurrected chimera who's half man, half wolf, isn't possible? Who wouldn't follow Wolf-Headed Robb into battle as his enemies flee before him?

Yeah, this is my own particularly weird hope for the future of Game of Thrones, a feat vastly more achievable on the pages of the remaining novels rather than the live-action version. At heart, I really just want to see all the Starks and their direwolves reunited again, in whatever grotesque fashion that happens to be. Imagine the portrait commissioned to hang in the great hall of Winterfell featuring Headless Ned, Wolf-Headed Robb, Arya the Faceless Assassin, the White Wolf and the rest. That's one hell of a royal family!

All hail Wolf-Headed Robb!

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