6 burning questions we have after seeing the new Game of Thrones season six pictures

1. Has Sansa escaped, and is she pregnant?

At the end of season five we saw the beaten Sansa Stark escape the clutches of her abhorrent husband Ramsay Bolton, by jumping off the castle walls into the snow below with Reek, aka Theon, her father’s former ward.

The new images show both her and Theon in one piece, by a river, indicating that they are probably some distance from Winterfell, but not too far: it’s snowing both where they are and where Ramsay is, which looks like the castle.

At the end of last season there was some discussion about whether Sansa could fall pregnant. As viewers were infamously made aware, was raped by Ramsay. Furthermore, Myranda’s final words (that Ramsay needed Sansa only to have an heir and nothing more afterwards, but he does not need all of her in one piece to accomplish that) could be meaningful, especially in light of the episode’s portentous name: Mother’s Mercy.

The pictures hardly show Sansa as Lady Madonna, but could that be a bump hiding under her dress?

2. Will season six stay closer to the books?

One family is particularly noticeable in this line-up: the Greyjoys. Reek may have a chance of returning as Theon, now he’s away from Winterfell, while his sister Yara is shown, armour-clad, looking like she wants to conquer something. Finally, we see Balon, Yara and Theon’s grisly father, standing next to the same grim fireplace the show left him by three seasons ago.

Why is this interesting? Because after a season and a half of the TV adaptation straying ever further from the events of George RR Martin’s novels, the Greyjoys’ presence suggests season 6 could return to them.

Pilou Asbaek has been cast as Balon’s piratical younger brother Euron for season 6. In the books, Euron becomes King of the Iron Islands after Balon dies. We don’t know what the future holds for Yara, Theon nor Balon (although in the latter’s case, it doesn’t look good), but if the books are informing the plot, it may impact on the whole of Westeros.

3. Can Bran walk again?

It’s long been known that Hollywood actor Max von Sydow will be playing the mythical psychic Three Eyed Raven in season 6, but that means that viewers will also be able to catch up with the adolescent Bran Stark. We left him at the end of season four, staring at the talking weirwood tree after a feverdream series of events on his hunt for the Raven.

This picture shows Bran, who was paralysed from the hips down in the first ever episode of Thrones, on a level with the Raven. Does this mean he can stand again, or is this a psychic vision?

4. What will happen between Jaime and Cersei?

Things aren’t looking good for TV’s most attractive incestuous couple. We saw their daughter Myrcella swallow poison at the end of season 5, while in Jaime’s care, but these photos show that Maggy the Frog’s prophecy for Cersei is coming true: her second child has died.

Cersei escaped the brutal imprisonment in the Great Sept of Baelor (albeit in the nude, while being pelted with rotten food), and looks to be reunited with Jaime in the Red Keep, where her last surviving son Tommen is attempting to reign. What will be the impact of Myrcella’s death and Cersei’s treatment on the relationship between Jaime and his sister?

5. Where’s The Mountain?

Few would have predicted The Mountain could ever have been a sight for sore eyes, but Cersei’s were very sore indeed when she came knocking on the door of the Red Keep. Plus, The Mountain had undergone a radical makeover in Qyburn’s laboratory. We got a glimpse of the new, metal-plated FrankenMountain in the closing moments of season five, and there are no photos of him here, but with the remaining Lannisters back in their castle, he can’t be far behind.

6. Will Margaery charm her way out of imprisonment?

Cersei may have fled from the High Sparrow’s claws, but her daughter-in-law Margaery (Natalie Dormer) remains imprisoned in the Great Sept of Baelor. Tommen’s wife was arrested by the Faith Militant for giving false testimony in an attempt to protect her brother, Loras, who was charged with having homosexual relationships.

The last we saw of Margaery, she had thrown Cersei’s insincere condolences back in her mother-in-law’s face – along with with a bowl of stew. It was the first time the usually calm and collected Margaery lost her cool. Doubtless, we expect she will return to her machiavellian ways and charm her way out of imprisonment.

The new pictures show Margaery kneeling before Septon Unella, the woman who oversaw Cersei’s naked walk of shame – could Margaery soon follow? Or will her usually impotent King Tommen manage to assert his power and free his wife?