Game of Thrones season 5 really jumbled up the plot in the North of Westeros, at least compared to A Dance With Dragons. Crazy things are happening, events that never occurred in the books, and even what does happen occurs in a different order. One key plot point in the North, in fact, has yet to transpire in the show: The departure of Davos Seaworth to Skagos on a mission to rescue Rickon Stark, the future of the North. Question is, will this mission still come to pass in the show?

Game of Thrones Season 5 Plot: Davos And Rickon

In A Dance With Dragons, Davos Seaworth spends most of the book apart from his lord and king, the great and just Stannis Baratheon. He is sent to rally House Manderly of White Harbor to Stannis’s side, and although Manderly can’t support him publicly and indeed pretends to execute him, the rich northern lord lends more subtle support—and he gives Davos a quest. Manderly, alone in mainland Westeros, knows where Rickon Stark is: The remote and barbarian island of Skagos, on the edge between the North and the lands of the wildlings. Manderly swears to pledge allegiance to Stannis if Davos heads to the dangerous isle and brings back the last male heir to House Stark, the ultimate rallying point for a war against the Boltons.

In the show, that plotline has sadly been changed. Davos spent most of Game of Thrones season 5 at Stannis’s side, first at Castle Black and then on the march toward Winterfell. That march didn’t go well, and as Stannis’s increasing desperation and/or madness began to alienate even Davos’s longtime loyalty, Stannis sent his Hand of the King back to Castle Black to plead for reinforcements from Jon. Just as importantly, it got Davos out of Stannis’s hair so he could murder his daughter and lose his war. Done and done.

Rickon Stark still lives in Game of Thrones season 6, and he’s just as scarce as he is in the books. Chances are Osha took him to Skagos in the show too, and he and Shaggydog are growing up there and learning the wild, violent ways of the old Northmen. It’s great training for a future King in the North.

And though the story has been told out of order, it’s now easy to see Davos’s path leading to Skagos. With Stannis defeated and dead (boooooo), Davos’s loyalties lie with no one in particular… but he’s with the Night’s Watch at Castle Black, and may have a role to play when Jon Snow comes back to life. He’s one of the few allies Jon has in the castle now. And if he does help Jon, Davos will have to make himself scarce in a hurry. What better way to do that than to head to Skagos, in search of the boy who can rally the North and help Davos avenge Stannis, help Jon Snow, or just get out of a hornet’s nest? It’s not too much of a stretch.

We’ll miss Stannis deeply in Game of Thrones season 6, but his legacy will live on through a true disciple, a better man than Stannis himself: Davos.