Game of Thrones: Whatever Happened To The Direwolves?

The Direwolves in “Game of Thrones” is one of the best “mythical” aspects of the show while also being the most mysterious beings. Direwolves are an unusually large and intelligent species of wolves. And based on House Stark’s sigil, a gray direwolf on a white field symbolizes them.

Back in the very first episode of “Game of Thrones” titled “Winter Is Coming,” Ned Stark discovers a dying direwolf who was evidently wounded in an intense battle. Besides the direwolf are six of her pups, still alive and breathing. Coincidentally, they tally up for one for each Stark child, including an albino direwolf for the “bastard” Jon Snow.

Richard Madden, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Kit Harington and Sean Bean in Game of Thrones (2011). Photo via HBO

That’s where we are introduced to the tandem of the Stark kids with their own direwolves: Robb and Grey Wind, Sansa and Lady, Arya and Nymeria, Bran and Summer, Rickon and Shaggydog, and Jon and Ghost. For the Stark kids, the direwolves were more than pets to them—they were guardians as well.

And now that we’re trudging deeper into season 7 of “Game of Thrones,” one can’t help but wonder: whatever happened to the direwolves?

Game of Thrones: Direwolf Roll-call

The six orphaned direwolves were found by Ned and assigned to each of his children (and yes, even Jon Snow). The direwolves, according to George R.R. Martin himself, are one of the first “characters” that he considered for the “Song of Ice and Fire” series. Martin has always been fond of werewolves since he was a kid, and he simply picked the direwolf as House Stark’s sigil. However, direwolves went on to serve an even bigger purpose (at least two of them) in “Game of Thrones” than just being a simple childhood easter egg for Martin.

Richard Madden and Isaac Hempstead Wright in Game of Thrones (2011). Photo via HBO

So, of all the six direwolves, only two are alive. Lady was killed by Ned in place of Nymeria, after the latter bit Joffrey. The kill order was given by Robert Baratheon under Cersei Lannister’s prodding. Grey Wind was a brave direwolf, going as far as accompanying Robb in the war of the South. Eventually, Grey Wind was killed by Walder Frey’s soldiers during the “Red Wedding.” Robb and Grey Wind were both decapitated with Grey Wind’s head being sewn on to Robb’s corpse. Shaggydog, on the other hand, was killed by the Umbers as they pledged their allegiance to Ramsay Bolton. He then had Shaggydog skinned to use his fur as a carpet in Winterfell. Summer was killed by Wights back in the Cave of the three-eyed raven. Summer sacrificed himself so Bran could make his escape.

And so it all comes down to the remaining direwolves: Nymeria and Ghost.

Will Nymeria Return After Her Reunion With Arya?

David Benioff and Dan Weiss promised that “Game of Thrones” Season 7 will be full of reunions. In the second episode titled “Stormborn,” finally gave us our first of these (hopefully many) reunions.

Arya suddenly abandons her plans to travel to King’s Landing to kill Cersei upon learning that the Boltons have been defeated and that Jon is now King in the North. As she sets up camp in the woods, she is approached by a pack of wolves. Back in Season 1, Nymeria survived Ned’s reluctant plan to kill her as Arya chased her off into the woods. In the books, Arya successfully rallied a pack of wolves at Nymeria’s command.

Maisie Williams in Game of Thrones (2011). Photo via HBO

As the pack approaches Arya and her horse, Nymeria suddenly appears with teeth flashing at her. However, Arya recognizes that it is indeed her direwolf, and so she prods her to come back with her. But of course, she forgot to factor in how Nymeria probably wandered around with her pack for years. Now they’re both all grown up and it’s obvious that Nymeria isn’t the same pup that she was before (who else here cried when Arya said,”It isn’t you”?).

Given how in the books, Nymeria is tied to Lady Stonehart, this small but touching reunion might just be the last time that we’ll see Arya and Nymeria together. It was high time the showrunners gave us some kind of closure for the both of them.

So where is Ghost?

That being said, the only direwolf that we haven’t seen yet it Ghost. Nymeria is now leading a pack while Ghost is probably… somewhere… looking for Jon?

In season 6, Ghost was still around when Jon Snow was brought back from the dead by Melisandre. He left Castle Black together with Jon, Sansa and Ser Davos. He wasn’t there during the Battle of the Bastards, but surely he was there when the remaining Stark children reclaimed Winterfell right?

Liam Cunningham and Kit Harington in Game of Thrones (2011). Photo via HBO

Ghost was also notably absent when Jon sailed to Dragonstone. However, “Game of Thrones” writer and producer Bryan Cogman shared something that would have made all the cult direwolf fans out there rejoice. There was supposed to be a scene involving Jon and Ghost in “Stormborn.” Maybe this was a scene where the direwolf bade farewell to Jon as he went to Daenerys’ castle, but nonetheless, it confirms that Ghost is still alive in Winterfell.

https://twitter.com/b_cogman/status/889380832963567616

Season 5 also saw Jon and Ghost forcibly separated while Jon spent some time being a spy wildling and met Ygritte. It seems as if everytime Jon leaves his Direwolf, he always finds a new girlfriend. Could this be a foreshadowing of his future relationship with Daenerys? No one knows, but it’s definitely something to think about.

But at least we know that Ghost’s absence isn’t something to be alarmed about. Maybe Bran will warg into him. Maybe he’s going to be the one to bite off Baelish’s face. Maybe Sansa will use him to slash Cersei into little pieces. Whatever the case may be, we should all look out to see Ghost back on screen soon.