Lord Stoneheart Could Appear In 'GoT' Next Season

To say that this season of Game of Thrones has been off the wall is a bit of an understatement — and you'd be more factually accurate if you say "off the books" since Season 6 of the HBO fantasy drama has officially surpassed the book series written by George R.R. Martin on which it's based. Now since fans don't have the books as a guide, there are plenty of new theories circulating the internet, but there's only one episode left of Season 6. So, will Lord Stoneheart happen in Game of Thrones Season 7? That is, if he doesn't appear in the Season 6 finale, of course.

Now, if you're wondering whether I made a typo, I assure you I didn't. The Lord Stoneheart Game of Thrones theory draws on the Lady Stoneheart storyline from the A Song of Ice and Fire books, but rather than Catelyn Stark being resurrected by the Brothers Without Banners, this theory states that Robb Stark will become a zombie with a thirst for vengeance. Many fans invested in this theory hoped Beric Dondarrion's appearance earlier in Season 6 would lead to it becoming a reality so that zombie Robb could help Jon Snow and Sansa Stark defeat Ramsay Bolton and take back Winterfell. But, now that "Battle of the Bastards" has aired, we know that didn't happen.

So, is there still room for Lord Stoneheart to make his arrival in Season 7? Maybe! Sure, Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss told Entertainment Weekly last year that Lady Stoneheart isn't a part of the story, but that doesn't necessarily mean they'd be opposed to throwing fans a curveball by introducing Lord Stoneheart. The biggest story developments in the way of a Lord Stoneheart appearance is that Beric Dondarrion is still alive, which means, if he's still the character giving his life so that a Stoneheart can live, then Robb hasn't yet been resurrected. That point leads into the fact that it has been years since the Red Wedding, while in the books it was only days after that Catelyn was brought back — even then she was a little worse for the wear and Robb's body was much more defiled than hers.

In order for Robb to return as Lord Stoneheart, it's likely there would need to be a sacrifice, just as Beric sacrificed himself in the book. Game of Thrones would also need some sort of workaround for the rules of its magic in the series since resurrections performed through the Lord of Light don't heal any of the person's injuries (just as we saw earlier in Season 6 with Jon Snow keeping his "For the watch" sword wounds). So a resurrected Robb would be without a head and incredibly decomposed since it's been so long after his death.

Still, that doesn't necessarily mean it's impossible. Since going off-book, Game of Thrones hasn't been shy with introducing or following hard-to-believe plots, even when they aren't entirely justified enough for certain fans (such as how Arya lived from The Waif's assassination attempt and how Jon avoided all those arrows in the Battle of the Bastards). So, in my opinion, if we can still have hope for some kind of CleganeBowl confrontation, then why not Lord Stoneheart as well?

Images: HBO; Giphy (2)