For the ostensible protagonists of Game of Thrones, the members of House Stark sure have had a rough lot over the course of the television series and the books. By the end of Game of Thrones season 5, they are well and thoroughly laid low—not in their lowest point anymore, but comfortably ensconced in near-total ruin. Can House Stark rise again in Game of Thrones season 6? It’s a tall, tall order.

House Stark’s Revenge: Rising From The Ruins

At the end of Game of Thrones season 5, Ned, Catelyn, and Robb Stark are dead; Bran lives beyond the Wall and likely will never return. Sansa is married to Ramsay Bolton, Game of Thrones’ consummate monster; Arya is no one, training to be an assassin, and Rickon is in hiding, long missing.

What hope, then, for the Starks? Arya has taken a different path, and it is hard to see a route to her ever becoming a noble lady again—not that she would want to. Count her out of the succession. However, it’s easy to see her being the sword of the Stark’s revenge. It will be Arya who strikes down the Stark’s enemies, if anyone does: I still think her knife has Cersei’s name on it, and she’ll strike her down before the end. But Arya won’t ever be the head of House Stark.

Can Sansa help the Starks get their revenge? She’s the biggest mystery in Game of Thrones season 6: Her story in season 5 was completely different from the books, so even we among the bookreaderati have no idea what will happen with her. But come on—she has to get her revenge on Ramsay somehow, right? Right? Is this whole storyline for naught? Truly that would be a terrible fate—she has to earn a reprieve in the show… or become someone like Cersei, which could well be her destiny (and a dark one).

Rickon, though, has everything going for him. Well, not really—he’s off on an icy island doing who knows what, but probably being raised by near-barbarians and learning their warlike ways. His direwolf was always the most vicious of the lot (besides Lady, of course! Hey!), and while Rickon was too young before to have much of a personality… he can easily grow into the future of House Stark, a martial Lord of Winter ready to reclaim the ancestral lands taken from him as a child. He’s a cipher, though, and it’s easy enough to admit we’re projecting a lot onto him. As readers and show-watchers have done many times with the members of House Stark. It’s easy for us to say “Arya can kill the queen” or “Rickon, age 11, can reconquer Winterfell and defeat the Boltons.” It was easy to say “Robb has never lost a battle, so he’ll win this war” too. But, you know. It’s hard for those characters to actually do those things, and they often don’t succeed.

Is it the destiny of the Starks to get their revenge? This is George R. R. Martin we’re talking about. All the Starks could end up dead by the end. But if not.. the seeds of their revenge are planted. Arya to strike down old foes for vengeance; Sansa to defeat (hopefully) present-day enemies; Rickon to reclaim the North. It’s not how it will happen, but it’s one way it could happen.