The Red Woman


 * This article is about the episode, for the red priestess see Melisandre.

"The Red Woman" is the first episode of the sixth season of Game of Thrones. It is the fifty-first episode of the series overall. It premiered on April 24, 2016. It was written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, and directed by Jeremy Podeswa.

Plot
At Castle Black, Thorne defends his treason while Edd and Davos defend themselves. Sansa and Theon race the cold and the hounds.

In the North
Theon and Sansa, having survived the fall from Winterfell's wall, run through the Wolfswood heading north for Jon and Castle Black. A group of Bolton men sent by Ramsay (possible reference to the Bastard's Boys), with the Bastard's Girls, find them and prepare to bring them back to Winterfell. Brienne and Podrick arrive and kill the Bolton men. Sansa accepts Brienne into her service, where they go next is uncertain.

Ramsay and Maester Wolkan attend to the dead body of Myranda. Ramsay remembers the first time that he met her, stating that while other people were afraid of him, she wasn't. The Maester asks if they should bury her or construct a funeral pyre. Ramsay says it is good meat and they should feed it to the hounds.

Roose Bolton meets with Ramsay afterwards and asks if preemptively assaulting the struggling army of Stannis Baratheon makes him feel like a winner now that they've lost Sansa. A Lannister army marches north and could easily overwhelm the Bolton troops at Winterfell and the Dreadfort. Ramsay assures his father they will recapture Sansa and mentions he's sent his best men to find her. Roose continues they need her to rally the north against the Lannisters, if need be, and subtly says now that she's gone Ramsay's unborn brother will be the next heir after Roose and Ramsay die.

In Braavos
Arya is blind and asks for money in the streets, when The Waif approaches her with two fighting sticks, and gives her one. Arya explains that she can't fight because she's blind, The Waif answers "That's not my problem" and starts beating her. Arya poorly tries to defend herself but fails miserably, The Waif stops and says that they'll meet tomorrow.

In Meereen
Varys and Tyrion are seen walking through the city. After coming upon a woman and her baby, Tyrion tries to offer his help in feeding her baby, but his appearance and poor Valyrian frighten the woman, who thinks that he wants to eat her baby. Varys intercedes, apologizing to the woman and giving her money.

As they keep walking through the city, Tyrion states that they need to find the leader of the Sons of the Harpy in order to bring peace to Mereen. Varys said that his spies have been sent all over the city, and that soon they will bring him news. Their conversation is interrupted by a crowd of screaming people running from a huge cloud of smoke. The two make their way towards the origin of the smoke: all the ships in the harbor have been set aflame.

In the Dothraki Sea
Daario and Jorah are looking for Daenerys and find the place where the Dothraki captured her.

Daenerys is now their prisoner, and two Dothraki take her to Khal Moro as a gift. The Khal wants to rape her, but she explains who she is, Khal Drogo's widow. So Moro's wife tells that she has to be in the temple of Vaes Dothrak with the other Khals' widows.

In Dorne
Ellaria helps Doran get to his wheelchair, as they both reminisce about Oberyn, with Doran stating how he envied his late brother for the adventurous life he led. Ellaria states that Doran would have made a bad adventurer, while Oberyn would have been a bad ruler. After settling into his chair, Maester Calleote brings him message that Myrcella has died. Before he can give an order, Tyene stabs Areo Hotah in the back, killing him, while Ellaria stabs Doran in the chest. As he lies on the floor, Ellaria angrily states that Doran has remained passive since the brutal deaths of both his sister and brother, and that the people of Dorne are with her now. Doran dies on the floor in a pool of his own blood.

In King's Landing
Cersei is sitting alone in her room, when a servant enters and announces that a ship from Dorne has arrived. Realizing that Myrcella has come home, she joyfully runs down to the harbor, only to see a grim-faced Jaime alongside a shrouded body. She tearfully realizes that her daughter has died.

Later, in the Red Keep, Cersei asks Jaime when was the first time he saw a dead body, to which Jaime replies their mother's. Cersei tells of her memory of the horror she felt after first seeing her mother's corpse, and wishes not to see it happen to Myrcella.

Obara and Nymeria arrive on Prince Trystane's ship, announcing their intention to kill him. Nymeria offers Trystane the choice of which one of the Sands he'd like to fight, and he chooses Nymeria, only for Obara to impale him through the back of his head with her spear as he turns his back on her.

At The Wall
Ser Davos finds Jon's dead body just before Edd and some other brothers arrive. They take the body inside. Davos asks if Edd trusts any of his brothers and he replies "the ones in this room" Davos convinces the black brothers to seek the assistance of the wildings and Edd goes alone leaving Davos with the other five black brothers. Melisandre arrives, stating she saw Jon fighting in Winterfell in the flames. Davos and the black brothers doubt the dead Lord Commander could do such a thing and she returns to her room.

Alliser Thorne, Othell Yarwyck and Bowen Marsh hold a meeting with the remaining black brothers stationed at Castle Black and explain their reasoning for killing the Lord Commander. Most of the brothers come to understand them and side with the mutineers. Alone in her bedroom, Melisandre removes clothes in front of a mirror. She then takes off her necklace, which causes the gem upon it to lose its glow. Melisandre stands as a frail, naked, old woman with sagging skin and wispy white hair. She despondently climbs into bed.

First

 * Maester Wolkan
 * Khal Moro
 * Maester Caleotte

Deaths

 * Areo Hotah
 * Prince Doran Martell
 * Maester Caleotte
 * Prince Trystane Martell

Cast
Starring
 * Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister
 * Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Ser Jaime Lannister
 * Lena Headey as Queen Mother Cersei Lannister
 * Emilia Clarke as Queen Daenerys Targaryen
 * Kit Harington as Jon Snow (corpse)
 * Liam Cunningham as Ser Davos Seaworth
 * Carice van Houten as Lady Melisandre
 * Natalie Dormer as Queen Margaery Tyrell
 * Indira Varma as Ellaria Sand
 * Sophie Turner as Princess Sansa Stark
 * Maisie Williams as Arya Stark
 * Conleth Hill as Varys
 * Alfie Allen as Theon Greyjoy
 * Gwendoline Christie as Brienne of Tarth
 * Jonathan Pryce as the High Sparrow
 * Michiel Huisman as Daario Naharis
 * Michael McElhatton as Lord Roose Bolton
 * Iwan Rheon as Ramsay Bolton
 * Iain Glen as Ser Jorah Mormont

Guest Starring
 * Owen Teale as Ser Alliser Thorne
 * Ben Crompton as Eddison Tollett
 * Alexander Siddig as Prince Doran Martell
 * DeObia Oparei as Areo Hotah
 * Faye Marsay as The Waif
 * Daniel Portman as Podrick Payne
 * Keisha Castle-Hughes as Obara Sand
 * Rosabell Laurenti Sellers as Tyene Sand
 * Jessica Henwick as Nymeria Sand
 * Hannah Waddingham as Septa Unella
 * Toby Sebastian as Trystane Martell
 * Brenock O'Connor as Olly
 * Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson as Ser Gregor Clegane
 * Charlotte Hope as Myranda (corpse)
 * Joe Naufahu as Khal Moro
 * Chuku Modu as Ahko
 * Staz Nair as Qhono
 * Rubi Ali as a Khal Moro's wife
 * Fola Evans-Akingbola as a Khal Moro's wife
 * Gerald Lepkowski as a Red Priest
 * Richard Rycroft as Maester Wolkan
 * Diogo Sales as a Dothraki bloodrider
 * Junade Khan as a Dothraki bloodrider
 * Sara Dylan as handmaiden
 * Brian Fortune as First Builder Othell Yarwyck
 * Michael Condron as First Steward Bowen Marsh
 * Steve Cash as a loyal Night's Watch man
 * Robert Fawsitt as a loyal Night's Watch man
 * Michael Hayes as a Night's Watch man
 * Tony Flynn as a Night's Watch man
 * Andrew Bryan as a Bolton officer
 * Tristan Heanue as a Bolton soldier
 * Sabina Arthur as a Meereenese homeless mother
 * Colin Azzopardi as Maester Caleotte

Cast notes

 * 19 of 29 starring cast members appear in this episode.
 * Starring cast members Aidan Gillen (Petyr Baelish), Diana Rigg (Olenna Tyrell), John Bradley (Samwell Tarly), Dean-Charles Chapman (Tommen Baratheon), Nathalie Emmanuel (Missandei), Jerome Flynn (Bronn), Isaac Hempstead-Wright (Bran Stark), Kristofer Hivju (Tormund Giantsbane), Hannah Murray (Gilly), and Tom Wlaschiha (Jaqen H'ghar) are not credited and do not appear in this episode.

Mutiny at Castle Black - books versus TV series

 * This episode confirms that in the TV continuity, the victory of the Boltons over Stannis had nothing to do with the motivations for the mutiny against Jon Snow: it is presented as purely about the wildlings. No attempt is made to overtly explain why Thorne would have let the wildlings through the Wall in the first place if only to kill Jon for it later, when he simply could have barred the gate to them. In the episode itself, it's said that about 40 of the 50 men remaining in the garrison are loyal to Thorne at this point, and it is not presented as if he feared rebuke at the time if he didn't open the gate.
 * In the "Inside the Episode" featurette immediately following the episode, showrunners Benioff and Weiss outright give contradictory explanations for what Thorne's motivations were. Weiss begins by saying that Thorne has hated Jon since Season 1, the mutiny was a naked "power grab", and was made entirely for selfish reasons due to the older officers' grudge against the wildlings. Immediately following this the camera cuts to Benioff, who gives the explanation that the mutiny was actually like the assassination of Julius Caesar, explicitly in the sense that everyone who stabbed Jon did it for selfless reasons, Thorne wasn't making a power grab, he was doing what he honestly felt was best to save the Night's Watch.
 * Thorne's speech, in which he explains his motives, slightly resembles Brutus's speech to the people of Rome in the play "Julius Caesar".

For more information see the sub-article "The Red Woman/Mutiny at Castle Black"

Dorne
The TV series has drastically altered the Dorne subplot of House Martell, and drastically altered it even more in this episode: neither Doran Martell, Trystane Martell, nor Areo Hotah have died in the novels.

In the books, after Oberyn Martell is killed, his daughters the Sand Snakes beg Prince Doran to allow them to take vengeance on the Lannisters (Obara suggests open war, Nymeria - targeted assassinations, Tyene - to crown Myrcella), but Doran refuses all of it. Moreover, Doran's eldest child and heir, his daughter Arianne Martell, sides with the Sand Snakes (under Dornish law women have equal inheritance rights - though the live-action TV episodes have never mentioned this). After Doran refuses them, Arianne attempts to execute Tyene's plan to actually crown Myrcella as a rival monarch to her brother Tommen - under the nominal pretext that under Donrish gender-blind inheritance law, she is ahead of her brother in line of succession.

Ellaria Sand is actually the strongest opponent of going to war against the Lannisters – fearful that the cycle of revenge will never end: they will avenge Oberyn, but then the Lannisters will avenge their dead, and ultimately years from now her younger daughters who are little more than 5 years old will eventually get killed as well.

Two major factors affected the Dorne storyline when it began in Season 5:


 * The writers explained in the Blu-ray commentary that for several years into the TV show, Benioff and Weiss never thought that the subplot in Dorne itself would ever appear, because it doesn’t involve any previously established major cast members. They did know Oberyn and Ellaria would appear in Season 4, but not that the narrative would ever go to Dorne. Belatedly, Bryan Cogman suggested that they invent the detail that Jaime and Bronn would be sent to Dorne in Season 5 to directly confront the Martells – thus the Dorne subplot wasn’t planned out several years in advance as other subplot were.
 * It was also explained in the Blu-ray commentary that after it was decided to actually take the narrative to Dorne, they greatly expanded Ellaria Sand’s role from what it had been in Season 4 – specifically because they enjoyed Indira Varma’s performance.

Thus, all of the drastic changes to Ellaria and the Dorne subplot as a whole were not really developed until after Season 4 was produced, as opposed to being carefully planned out years in advance.

In the novels, after Arianne’s attempt to crown Myrcella ends in failure, she is imprisoned by her father. When he later comes to visit her, Doran finally explains that all of his speeches about how Dorne must have peace at any cost were just an act – he has been plotting revenge against the Lannisters for nearly 20 years, he was simply very careful and patient about it, waiting for all of the pieces to come together. It is also revealed that he was a secret Targaryen loyalist the entire time, and is planning for Dorne to openly rise up to join Daenerys if and when she returns to Westeros. Arianne and the Sand Snakes reconcile with Doran now that they know the real plan.

In the TV version, instead of Ellaria arguing for peace, her role was somewhat combined with Arianne’s as the one pushing for revenge in Season 4 – the exact opposite of her actions in the novels. Doran’s eldest two children, Arianne and Quentyn, were never even introduced. Ultimately, Doran’s speeches about preserving peace at any cost were apparently meant at face value in the TV version – to the point that Ellaria kills him for not taking any more aggressive action. The Sand Snakes also have no need to kill Doran’s son Trystane in the novels because they realize that Doran was on their side the entire time. Trystane’s death in the series also raises other logical questions. Trystane left on the same ship Jaime and Myrcella did – which apparently stayed in the harbor at King’s Landing, given that Trystane is seen painting funeral stones for Myrcella in his cabin. Obara and Nymeria didn’t go on the ship with them – they were shown waiting on the shore as the ship departed. It is possible that they secretly got on the next boat to leave the port and were thus only an hour or two behind Trystane's ship the entire time, then upon arriving in King’s Landing’s harbor snuck onto Trystane's boat to kill him.

Areo Hotah's inattentiveness during the assassination is considerably out of character: in the books, he is always on his guard when the Sand Snakes or anyone else are within the vicinity of Doran. He would not act so carelessly, turning his back on a potential threat.

With Doran dead and none of his other children established as existing in the TV show, House Martell is legally extinct. Ellaria cannot make any claim to rule because she was only Oberyn's paramour, not even his legal wife, and even if she as his wife she has no blood claim to House Martell. Oberyn's eldest daughter is Obara Sand - but by definition, all of the Sand Snakes are bastards and thus cannot lawfully inherit any of House Martell's lands and titles.

Catching up with the books
Though Season 6 has been widely described as the point when the TV series surpasses the novels, this is not exactly true, as storylines have been adapted at an uneven pace. The showrunners always said they felt they were adapting the story as a whole, not neatly matching up the endings of each book to each season. Indeed, Tyrion surpassed his current book material already by meeting Daenerys at the end of Season 5 - which was on the verge of happening at the end of the current, fifth novel. Broadly, preview chapters released for the as-yet unpublished sixth novel can be counted as "released" material. The point still stands that several of the storylines for some of the most central characters have now surpassed the novels - Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, and Tyrion Lannister - but many other subplots have not.

Characters and subplots that have caught up with their current material from the novels:
 * Daenerys Targaryen and Meereen, including Tyrion Lannister
 * Jon Snow and the Night's Watch
 * Roose Bolton and Ramsay Bolton
 * Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish
 * Sansa Stark's storyline was merged with Jeyne Poole's from the fifth novel, who is forced to marry Ramsay; her Vale storylines have now been diverted while she has reached the end of Jeyne Poole's material from the most recent novel.
 * Theon Greyjoy, except for his experiences after escaping Winterfell (in a preview chapter from book six)
 * Stannis Baratheon and Melisandre
 * Davos Seaworth was involved in other subplots in the North which were cut, but which may now have been merged with other subplots.

Characters and subplots that have not yet caught up with the books:


 * Arya Stark - Arya goes blind at the end of the fourth novel, in which her storyline was heavily focused on. Her storyline is revisted in book five, in which she has two full chapters. Moreover, an Arya preview chapter from book six was released in which she kills Raff the Sweetling (condensed to be Meryn Trant in the TV series). The majority of the chapter, however, involves a lengthy scene at a stage play in Braavos, which is confirmed to appear later in Season 6. Thus Arya still has a considerable amount of material from the novels which have not yet been adapted.
 * Bran Stark, Hodor, and Meera Reed - Bran's storyline had one chapter left in book five after he met the Three-eyed raven, in which he begins his training in Greensight and experiences several vivid visions of the past, including his father Eddard Stark in his youth.
 * Season 6 is apparently going to stretch out this one Bran chapter for some time in Season 6, using it as a framing device to show important flashback scenes - at least some of which were actually had by other characters earlier in the novels, recounted through vivid narration: in the first novel, Eddard himself mentally recalled his final confrontation at the end of Robert's Rebellion with the Targaryen Kingsguard in the showdown at the Tower of Joy - Season 6 will present this as a vision of the past that Bran experiences.
 * Much of the Dorne subplot was extremely condensed in Season 5, to the point that Doran Martell only briefly appeared in Season 5, and many other members of House Martell didn't appear and were thought to have been adapted out (the TV series did state that there are eight Sand Snakes - there are four adult ones, and the fourth gets involved in other storylines). Nor did it include Doran's daughter and heir Arianne Martell, who has apparently been omitted from the TV continuity entirely. Casting descriptions and trailers confirm that substantial scenes will take place with the Martells again, some of them covering as-yet unadapted material from the novels.
 * The King's Landing subplots are a mixed case, in that after Cersei's Walk of atonement only one more chapter is set in King's Landing; however, it is an extensive scene in which her uncle Kevan Lannister and the Small Council discuss large-scale events across Westeros. The TV series is apparently combining and moving around some of this, and extending elements of the chapter across Season 6: at the same time, Cersei's ongoing confrontation with the Faith Militant (seen in trailers) will certainly surpass the events of the last chapter focusing on the Small Council.
 * The Faith Militant itself and the confrontation with them to have Margaery released has fully caught up with the novels, and trailers for Season 6 show scenes which confirm that she will quickly move into unadapted material in Season 6.
 * Loras Tyrell wasn't imprisoned by the Faith Militant in the novels; indeed he had a rather prominent new subplot: given that the Tyrells' homeland in the Reach is on the west coast of the continent, it is under threat from the renewed ironborn attacks, and Loras has to command their forces to deal with it. This storyline sees Loras return to the forefront, as he was somewhat in the background from the third novel onward after Renly died. It is unclear if this subplot will be worked back into Season 6 or be omitted entirely.
 * Elements from the Slaver's Bay storyline were pushed back from prior novels, dealing with both internal politics within Meereen and a looming confrontation with Yunkai from without. The Yunkish diplomat Razdal mo Eraz is set to return in Season 6, organizing the slaver powers and their allies, while Daenerys's advisors left in Meereen try to deal with the mounting crisis. In the novels, these chapters after Daenerys's disappearance are told from Barristan Selmy's perspective, but with his death in the TV series, parts of them may have transferred to Tyrion.

Tyrion's storyline as he was heading east to Meereen in book five also introduced a new subplot involving a major political shakeup in the Free Cities, but this was cut completely from from Tyrion's storyline in Season 5. After he leaves for Meereen it subsequently intersects with several other subplots (not Arya's). This Free Cities subplot will probably be cut entirely from the TV series.