If Jon Snow and Sansa Stark brawl in Season 7 of Game of Thrones, it could be a bloodbath of epic proportions in which no one is safe. In other words: “Starkbowl” is coming.
Although Season 6 crowned Jon Snow as the King in the North and let the Direwolf banner fly in Winterfell once more, it likely won’t be smooth sailing for the Starks in Season 7. We’ve seen countless bloodshed in the North; we’ve seen it usurped by madmen and plundered by Wildings. But a new theory posits that Season 7 might divide it from within in the form of a Jon versus Sansa showdown known as “Starkbowl.”
BryndenBFish, who has been hailed as Reddit’s most prolific Game of Thrones theorist, has some thoughts about an inner House Stark conflict. He dubs it Starkbowl, playing off the terminology for the popular (and best) Game of Thrones theory known as Cleganebowl and the subsequent slang for the Battle of the Bastards — “Bastardbowl.”
Unlike more outlandish theories like “the High Sparrow is Secretly Howland Reed” or “Hodor is Secretly the Evil God of the White Walkers”, this is one has a very good chance of coming true.
Season 6 already set up a sense of future unease between Jon and Sansa in the form of Petyr Baelish’s oily machinations. Though Sansa turned down his proposal to crown her as his Queen, there is no denying that dark look the two exchanged while everyone else was cheering for Jon.
Though most of BryndenBFish’s theory is unique to the books — positing a conflict from a still-living Rickon as well — there is merit in one facet of his theory: Starkbowl could finally lead to the death of Petyr Baelish.
Thus far in the story, Baelish has been someting of a cockroach. He is a wild card who seems to survive everything and turn up in the most unlikely locations. It would be deliciously ironic if a fight between Sansa and Jon is what finally strikes him down. Perhaps Sansa would join him in rising up against Jon only to have a change of heart. Or the show could fake us out with a Starkbowl conflict, only to have Darth Sansa manipulate Baelish and side with Jon.
As Season 7 premieres in summer of 2017, we have plenty of time to keep guessing, but whatever happens, since the final book was originally supposed to be called A Time for Wolves, we can bet the North is going to fucking remember in Season 7.
