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Remember how
Game of Thrones started? After a brief interlude with some White Walkers, viewers were introduced to the Starks at Winterfell. They seemed like a nice family. There was adorable little Bran, working hard at target practice, and Arya, showing him up with an arrow to the bull's-eye. Sure, Ned beheaded a guy - and made his young son watch - but the Lord of Winterfell actually made it seem like the honorable thing to do.
These were supposed to be the heroes of the show, right?
Now let's review how each season ended for members of House Stark.
Season 1: Ned is beheaded, and Bran is paralyzed. The good news is Robb seems as if he might be able to avenge his father's death after being proclaimed King in the North. But Sansa is stuck in King's Landing, still betrothed to that maniacal cry-baby Joffrey, who has forced her to look at her dad's head, mounted on a spike, then ordered one of his minions to slap her across the face. Arya, meanwhile, is on the run, dressed as a boy. And Jon, after attempting to desert the Night's Watch, is headed North of the Wall.
Season 2: After nearly getting killed by the Tickler, among others, Arya ends the season just the way she started it: on the run. Ditto Sansa, who is still spinning her wheels at King's Landing, where she's abused by Joffrey and nearly raped during a riot. Bran and Rickon have to escape Winterfell after their surrogate brother, Theon, lays claim to it and clearly plans to murder them. Jon gets captured by wildlings and has to go deep under cover. At least love is in the air: Robb marries Talisa. His mom does not approve, but what does she know?
Season 3: Two words: Red Wedding. So long Catelyn, Robb, Talisa and the couple's unborn child. Arya, now kidnapped by the Hound, witnesses some of the awful carnage. Sansa's still at King's Landing, now married to Tyrion. Jon ends the season bleeding profusely after his lover, Ygritte, shoots him with arrows. Bran is headed North of the Wall after sending a tearful Rickon to House Umber for safe-keeping. That sounds like a solid plan.
Season 4: Sansa manages to escape King's Landing! But she's nearly murdered by her own aunt and finds herself under the guardianship of Littlefinger, which clearly cannot be good. Bran is almost killed by White Walkers but survives after watching his closest ally get murdered. Jon has a big win during the Battle of Castle Black, but victory is fleeting; Stannis arrives and makes Jon kneel to the One True King. Arya is headed to Braavos.
Season 5: Sansa is raped, Arya is blinded, and
Jon is murdered. Bran who?
Wow. That was rough. But things look pretty different for House Stark at the end of Season 6. It has not all been rosy. We lost Rickon. But Sansa and Jon are back at Winterfell, basically serving as lord and lady (though not in the icky way other siblings in the Seven Kingdoms do). All of the Starks' bannermen have proclaimed Jon the King of the North, and it looks, if only for a moment, as though Littlefinger has been outsmarted.
Meanwhile,
Arya has just gotten some pretty sweet vengeance on Walder Frey -- the man responsible for killing her mother and brother. And Bran is now the Three-Eyed Raven, which means he -- and we -- finally know the truth about Jon Snow. He's not Ned Stark's son after all. He may have a legitimate claim to the Iron Throne, given that he's the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark.
In another fateful twist, Tommen Baratheon, the son of Cersei and Jaime Lannister, has killed himself by jumping out of a high window. His death echoes the final moments of the first episode of Season 1, when Bran, climbing around the walls of Winterfell, caught the Lannister twins in bed and was pushed off the ledge by Jaime, essentially setting in motion ... everything. That's some karma.
What does this mean for the Starks? For one thing, showrunners D.B Weiss and David Benioff are much kinder to them than author George R.R. Martin is. Otherwise, it means they are back where they began, though there are fewer of them now.
The fact that this is cause for celebration gives some indication of just how rough the Starks have had it for all of these years. But what's their next play? Will they ally themselves with Daenerys, who's on her way to King's Landing? For their sake, let's hope so. As Jon keeps reminding us, the most important war isn't going to be fought between men. And if dragonglass can take out wights, then dragons themselves might come in handy, too.
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Video: Here are three quick things to know from the finale of the sixth season of
Game of Thrones. (By Jenny Starrs and Adriana Usero/The Washington Post)
©2016, The Washington Post
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)