Game of Thrones: The crucial details you need to remember before season seven

IT’S been a while since we’ve been to Westeros. As the new season looms, there are some crucial story points you need to remember.

IT’S been a while since we’ve been to Westeros.

The last brand new episode of Game of Thrones aired precisely a year and a day ago. That’s right: We’ve officially gone over a year without new Game of Thrones. Absence may make the heart grow fonder, but it does little to help with memory.

We figure you have a good memory of where things left off at the end of last season: Cersei blew everyone in King’s Landing up, Jon was declared the King of the North and Dany was on her way to Westeros.

But do you remember the catspaw dagger? You don’t! That’s totally okay! Here are seven plot points, character connections, and loose threads that you may have forgotten about — and that our proverbial Spidey-senses tell us may be of some importance in season seven of Game of Thrones.

*WARNING: SOME SPOILERS AND LOTS OF CONJECTURE AHEAD*

THAT CATSPAW DAGGER

Do you remember how Jaime pushed Bran out of the tower in the very first episode of season one? OK. Good. Do you also remember how someone sent an assassin — called a catspaw — to try to kill Bran in his sick bed? And then Lady Catelyn took the dagger all the way to King’s Landing?

The dagger was important for a couple of reasons. One, it belonged to Littlefinger (and it also at one point belonged to Tyrion). The other reason it was so special was that it was made of Valyrian steel. Valyrian steel is not only rare in the Seven Kingdoms, but it’s also one of the only materials known to be able to kill a White Walker. So, this dagger that we haven’t seen or heard about in six seasons could be a useful addition to our heroes’ artillery.

Well, we’ll probably be seeing it soon. Eagle-eyed fans noticed that Arya Stark was carrying it in her belt in the recent Entertainment Weekly cover shoot. How did she get it? I don’t know. I guess we’ll have to wait for season seven to find out.

SER JORAH AND THE GREYSCALE MAY RETURN

It’s been a while since we’ve seen him, but Ser Jorah Mormont is still, to our knowledge, on the hunt for a cure to his greyscale. Given the dramatic way he left his darling Khaleesi, we have to guess that he still has some sort of major part to play in the great war ahead.

Oh, also we see a creepy hand covered in grayscale reaching out from behind a locked door in the first official season seven trailer. Is this Ser Jorah? Is he back? Is he reaching out for his Khaleesi? We don’t know, but just remember he could be coming back soon!

SER BERIC DONDARRION AND HIS SORT OF MERRY MEN ARE STILL OUT THERE

Game of Thrones, the TV show, has not done the best job of featuring Ser Beric Dondarrion. Ser Beric pops up in the first book and keeps on emerging as a powerful, mystical force in the Riverlands over the course of the book series. The show uses him briefly in Arya’s storyline, but so far his biggest contribution to the plot has been foreshadowing Jon Snow’s resurrection from the dead.

Keep an eye on Ser Beric and the Brotherhood Without Banners in this next season. We know from the teasers that the Hound is still travelling with them and that they will finally make their way up north. Oh, and Ser Beric’s sword, Lightbringer, is going to be fully charged in at least one battle against the White Walkers and their undead troops. Don’t count Ser Beric out! (He comes back from the dead a lot.)

EURON GREYJOY IS STILL A THING

We reckon this guy could be kind of a big deal.

Though we saw little of Euron Greyjoy last season, we saw enough to know that Theon and Yara’s uncle is a bit of a drama queen. He theatrically killed his own brother, cursed his way through the kingsmoot, and had high hopes of seducing Dany with his fleet of ships and “his big, fat cock.”

Yara and Theon managed to forge an alliance with the Queen of Dragons before Euron could, but he’s still out there, somewhere, with a navy full of pirate ships. Think there’s another queen somewhere who might want to make a deal with him? You know, all he’d need to want to do is kill Daenerys.

What we’re saying is that don’t be surprised if Euron and Cersei team up. Crazy loves crazy.

GENDRY! SWEET GENDRY!

We haven’t seen Gendry for a long time.

Specifically, we haven’t seen him since Ser Davos helped the Baratheon bastard slip out of Dragonstone in a rowboat in the middle of the night. So where is he? What happened? Did he make it all the way to Braavos? Or did he just row-row-row his boat around the island? Did he die?!?

If Gendry were to return to the action of the series, now would be a good time to do it. Things aren’t just winding down on the show, they’re ramping up. Dany will be landing soon on Dragonstone, Arya is back in Westeros, and the great war is about to begin. A nice, strong, able-bodied fighter with king’s blood could be useful on the battlefield.

(And there are rumours that actor Joe Dempsie has been seen close to the Season seven set. Just rumours. Shh.)

TYRION AND SANSA WERE (OR ARE STILL?) MARRIED

An unlikely couple.

I feel like people really forgot all about this plot point. I feel like sometimes I forgot about this plot point.

Ages ago, back in season three, Tyrion and Sansa were married. They didn’t consummate that marriage, but they were still married in King’s Landing, in the Sept of Baelor, in front of everything. They haven’t seen each other since Joffrey’s death at the Purple Wedding (for which they were both wrongfully accused of murder). So who knows if they’d be happy to see each other?

Also Sansa’s marriage to Ramsay Bolton was not only an absolute nightmare, it was potentially illegal. Or not. I’m not 100 per cent sure how divorce works in Westeros.

Nevertheless, as we enter season seven, there are three major camps with claims to the Iron Throne: Cersei’s, Jon’s, and Dany’s.

Both Jon and Dany are in need of an alliance and it makes the most sense that they would rally together. Dany needs a good marriage to a popular lord to help win the goodwill of the people, and Jon is going to need some fire-breathing dragons to help smite down the White Walkers. While that’s the match everyone is counting on, it might be good to remember that Tyrion Lannister, Dany’s Hand of the Queen, and Sansa Stark, Jon’s current second-in-command at Winterfell, have a legal alliance already. And while Sansa was never really taken with Tyrion when she was younger, her past experiences and personal growth might make a marriage of pure political convenience to Tyrion way more attractive than one to the slippery Littlefinger.

I’m just speculating here! But I feel like we shouldn’t forget about this marriage going into the next season …

DRAGONS CAN DIE

I don’t want to bum you out or anything, but I think we need to remember that Dany’s dragons aren’t invincible. The reason they are so special is because dragons have been literally extinct for years and years, but before Daenerys became the Mother of Dragons, it was thought they were all dead. Which means … they can die.

I only point this out because so far the show has treated them as absolutely invincible. However, the show has a habit of killing off the one character you assume is destined to survive. Could one of the dragons be next? (Don’t yell at me! I’m just trying to prepare you for all possible outcomes here!)

What will happen to her fire-breathing pals?

Season seven of Game of Thrones premieres on July 17 on Showcase on Foxtel and Foxtel Now.

This story originally appeared in Decider.