Editor’s Note: This guest post and survey was created by WotW reader James Rivers. After asking for fans’ input on potential episode titles for Game of Thrones season 6, over 1300 readers responded enthusiastically. The results are compiled a little differently this year, owing to the new path we’re forging, less guided by the books but we hope poring over the outcome and ideas of the fans is as much fun as ever. Thank you for reading! -Sue the Fury

The Oscars have an accounting firm to help tabulate and analyze their annual balloting. Us, not so much, but here we go.

We had well over three times the response to this year’s survey compared to the season 5 survey— each episode title had in the range of 800-950 submissions. On the one hand, this is exciting and reflects the growth of WatchersOnTheWall. On the other, it made it harder to tabulate, given wild variations on very similar names, typos and the like.

A more obvious challenge for survey respondents: We have “no idea what’s going to happen.” Sure, we have some spoilers, and we have a handful of major book events yet unseen on screen, but the season ahead remains a largely blank canvas. As a result, we have very repetitive top choices episode-to-episode. So we’re going to present the results differently than we did last year.

This post is meant to be largely safe for the Unsullied- though some episode titles are potential spoilers in themselves. For those who either haven’t read the books or haven’t read many of the filming leaks from this season, spoiler coding is used where appropriate below the fold. Click to uncover spoilers. Overall, proceed with caution!

Overall Top Titles

Here are the episode names that got at least 100 overall guesses (only very similar guesses were combined).

Kingsmoot 390

The Winds of Winter 342

Family, Duty, Honor 237

Tower of Joy 226

Queen of Nothing 219

Crow’s Eye 196

The Long Night 147

Mummer’s Farce 140

Winter/Winter Has Come 126

Valonqar 117

A Thousand Eyes and One 116

Mercy 112

Promise Me 112

The Prince That Was Promised/The One That Was Promised 105

In this Top 14 list, we have several references to events from the books (or sample chapters) not yet in the show, a forthcoming book title, family words, and even something directly from the Season 6 teaser involving Dany.

Next, here’s titles with 50 to 99 guesses.

Trial by the Seven/Faith 98

We Do Not Sow 93

Cat of the Canals 90

Seven-Pointed Star 86

Mother of Mountains 84

A Time for Wolves 82

The Citadel 81

Battle of the Bastards 81 81

Oldtown 78

Riverlands/ (Siege of) Riverrun 67 Riverrun 67

A Feast for Crows 64

Night Gathers 59

Hodor 59

(Amid/st) Salt and Smoke 56

A Golden Shroud (and very similar) 53

Cleganebowl 52 52

Greenseer/The Last Greenseer 50

We’ve got references to Cersei’s presumed plotline; a book title; a maybe-if-there-winds-up-being-an-eighth-book title; a castle; a city; a major spoiler from Season 6 leaks; and even a fan-given name for a possible eventual event.

Lastly, titles with 25 to 49 guesses.

Azor Ahai 49

(Song of) Ice and Fire 47

The North Remembers 47

The Lord Of Winterfell 44

Horn Of Winter/Joramun 43

Broken Men 41

Ghost 39

The Battle of Winterfell 36 36

Hear Me Roar 35

Snow 35

Warrior of Light 34

Winterfell 33

Battle of Ice 33

The Stallion Who Mounts World 33

A Ghost In Winterfell 31

What Is Dead May Never Die 30

Growing Strong 29

Lord Stark 29

Battle of Six Armies 28

Bastards 28

Blackfish 27

The Ink Is Dry 27

No One 27

Lightbringer 26

Lord of Light 26

Bloodraven 25

Dosh Khaleen 25

Silence 25

The Bloody Hand 25

Apparently a number of fans think the show should reuse titles like “The North Remembers” and “What Is Dead May Never Die.” Can’t blame them, given speculated events coming up in Season 6. Various battle names here as well, all referring to the same possible event.

You’ll notice that among the 60 or so titles above, many overlap one another in terms of the character, plot or event they reference. I took the liberty of lumping popular related titles together into groups and used them for the next section.

The top 11 groups are:

Dany and the Dothraki

Jon Snow’s fate

Bran and the Three-Eyed Raven

Cersei’s trial and fate

Riverrun

Arya

The typical Episode 9 extravaganza

Winter is really coming now

Sam’s destination

All things Greyjoy

Tower of Joy events

This would appear to cover most major storylines, with the exception of events in Meereen.

Top Titles by Episode, Three Ways

For each of the 10 episodes, we’ll list:

The top picks from the survey for that episode. I was more liberal in combining similar titles here. Anything with 15 guesses or more for that episode is listed. If multiple episodes had the same winning title (“Kingsmoot,” for instance), then I “assigned” it to the episode where it got the most votes. Overly specific/spoilery titles (example: “Sansa Marries Ramsay” if this were Season 5) are hidden. The most likely titles for the episode from the 11 groups listed above (“Bran and the Three-Eyed Raven” etc.). This is based, when possible, on the spoilers reported by WatchersOnTheWall. These typically involve which directors were spotting filming what and where — and when not, on speculation. A spoiler compendium by Yaga and Jared is linked here . These titles are hidden below spoiler tags. An “honorable mention” title — one that received no more than five votes in the entire survey, but that I personally liked and that generally fits with the theme/group of part “B.”

Shall we, then?

Episode One

Top picks specifically for this episode:

Night Gathers 51

A Thousand Eyes and One 51

The Winds of Winter/Winter/Winter Has Come 41

Kingsmoot 39

Queen of Nothing 31

A Feast for Crows 28

(Amid/st) Salt and Smoke 27

A Golden Shroud (or similar) 27

Ghost 24

Greenseer/The Last Greenseer/The Sight 24

Tower of Joy 16

What Is Dead May Never Die 15

The Ink Is Dry 15

And we start off with a tie between the opening words of the Night’s Watch oath and a quote from the tail end of Season 4 from the Three-Eyed Raven. Both seem appropriately foreboding. We’ve also a couple of quotes from preseason teasers, as well as a reference to Myrcella’s death. Oh, and a title from Season 2.

From overall picks, with speculation:

A Thousand Eyes and One 116

Greenseer/The Last Greenseer/The Sight 50

The Ink Is Dry 27

Bloodraven 25

“Bran and the Three-Eyed Raven” Group total: 218

You’d think that Bran and company would be re-introduced in Episode 1 given their absence last season…perhaps in the very first scene. If so, this might be the episode with a title most likely to refer to them. Four such titles had at least 25 guesses, with the Three-Eyed Raven’s description of how he has watched Bran receiving by far the most. This choice also assumes that Jon’s likely resurrection doesn’t happen immediately.

Honorable Mention:

You Will Fly

Episode Two

Top picks specifically for this episode:

Queen of Nothing/Khaleesi Vosi 101

Kingsmoot 77

Crow’s Eye 56

Cat of the Canals 45

A Thousand Eyes and One 29

We Do Not Sow 22

Mother of Mountains 19

Tower of Joy 18

A Golden Shroud (or similar) 18

White Harbor 15

Last Greenseer/The Sight/etc 15

Kingsmoot rises to No.2 here. You’ll be seeing a lot of it. A large amount of repetition, with about half of these title also popular for Episode 1. But overall the winner is a quote from a preseason teaser, available in two languages.

From overall picks, with speculation:

Queen of Nothing/Khaleesi Vosi 219

Mother of Mountains 84

Dosh Khaleen 25

“Dany and Dothraki” Group total: 328

We’ll go ahead and concur by sticking the Dany-related titles here. Perhaps this episode also strongly features Margaery and Cersei. At the least, it establishes the predicament all three presumably find themselves in as the season opens.

Honorable Mention:

Womb of the World

Episode Three

Top picks specifically for this episode:

Kingsmoot 90

Queen of Nothing/Khaleesi Vosi 55

Crow’s Eye 48

Mother of Mountains 34

Mercy 25

Cat of the Canals 20

The Citadel 20

We Do Not Sow 19

Tower of Joy 16

The Mummer’s Dragon 16

A Thousand Eyes and One 15

This is the first of three episodes with “Kingsmoot” as the top choice. Yes, three. But its most votes came for Episode 3, so it gets the bolded treatment above. With “Crow’s Eye” and “We Do Not Sow” also getting votes, it’s a Greyjoy fest all up in here. Two of Arya’s alternate identities also make an appearance, as does “Mummer’s Dragon.” Book readers have a theory as to what character that represents, but it’s not someone we’ve seen on the show yet and there’s no sign of him coming in Season 6, though you never know.

From overall picks, with speculation: ]

The Citadel 81

Oldtown 78

“Sam” group total: 159

The Sam-related title grouping actually placed 11th overall. It’s here only because the episode titles from three of the 11 above groups would, based on spoilers, make the most sense for Episode 5 or 6. Speaking of Episodes 5 and 6, the Tarly family dinner is to occur during one of them, which means Sam and Gilly and her baby almost certainly swing through Oldtown en route (especially since we now know they travel by boat). Maybe Episode 3 is when they’ll land there.

Honorable Mention:

The Glass Candle

Episode Four

Top picks specifically for this episode:

Kingsmoot 77

The Mummer’s Farce 43

Tower Of Joy 21

We Do Not Sow 21

Crow’s Eye 20

The Citadel 19

Queen Of Nothing/Khaleesi Vosi 17

Mother Of Mountains 15

There’s “Kingsmoot” at the top again. But it had more votes for Episode 3, so we’ll tag “The Mummer’s Farce,” which could also refer to something Braavosi in nature, as the Episode 4 pick. Pretty much everything else on this list is a retread.

From overall picks, with speculation:

The Prince That Was Promised/The One That Was Promised 105

(Amid/st) Salt and Smoke 56

Azor Ahai 49

Warrior Of Light 34

The Stallion That Mounts the World 33

Lightbringer 26

“Prophecies from the books” group total: 303

We lack clear spoilers on when the “Is Jon dead?” mystery will be resolved, but it would likely need to be the same episode as the Tower of Joy episode (Episode 5 or 6, per spoilers) or in an earlier one. And with Dany involved in some sort of tent-torching act in Episode 3 or 4, perhaps Jon will be revived the same episode? To me Episode 4 seems a little long for him to be on ice, but we’ll go with it.

Honorable Mention:

The Old Words

Episode Five

Top picks specifically for this episode:

Kingsmoot 68

Tower of Joy 35

Crow’s Eye 28

The Mummer’s Farce 22

Promise Me/The Promise 19

Mercy 17

The Citadel 16

Broken Men 15

Family, Duty, Honor 17

“Kingsmoot” was already number one for Episode 3. “Tower of Joy” is No.1 for another episode. That bumps us down to “Crow’s Eye,” which I suppose could be used as a double entendre early in the season to refer to both the Three-Eyed Raven and a new season 6 character, even if said new character lacks the physical characteristic on the show that yielded that nickname in the books.

From overall picks, with speculation:

Kingsmoot 390

Crow’s Eye 196

Silence 25

We Do Not Sow 93

What Is Dead May Never Die 30

“All things Greyjoy” group total: 734

The huge number of Euron-related guesses guaranteed placement somewhere on the “informed speculation” list. Fans think, based on spoilers, that the titular meeting occurs in a Jack Bender episode, hence No.5 or No.6, so here we are. “Crow’s Eye” seems less likely only because it’s unclear if Euron will be one-eyed on the show. “Silence” would be a neat title, though, albeit for whatever episode we first meet the pirate.

Honorable Mention:

King of Salt Rock

Episode Six

Top picks specifically for this episode:

Tower of Joy 56

Family, Duty, Honor 50

Promise Me/The Promise 45

Kingsmoot 27

The Mummer’s Farce 24

Mercy 21

The Winds of Winter 19

The Seven-Pointed Star 19

(Siege of) Riverrun/Riverlands 16 Riverrun/Riverlands 16

The Tower of Joy sequence has mythical import among A Song of Ice and Fire readers, and wouldn’t it make sense that whatever episode features it will also have it for its title?

From overall picks, with speculation:

Tower of Joy 226

Promise Me 112

“Tower of Joy” group total: 338

The Mummer’s Farce 140

Mercy 112

The Bloody Hand 25

“Arya and the players” group total: 277

The Tower of Joy sequence is in Episode 5 or 6, we think. And so is the mummers’ play involving Westerosi characters (though the troupe also appears later in the season). Rather than tossing one of these up to Episode 3, where we know it won’t belong, I’m just listing both groups of titles here.

Honorable Mention:

Blood and Roses

Episode Seven

Top picks specifically for this episode:

Family, Duty, Honor 92

Tower Of Joy 24

(Siege of) Riverrun/Riverlands 22 Riverrun/Riverlands 22

Mummer’s Farce 21

Trial (of the Seven, of the Faith, by Combat…) 21

Crow’s Eye 17

Seven-Pointed Star 15

The Tully family words are by far the top choice here. It will be most interesting to see how the events on their (former?) home turf shake out.

From overall picks, with speculation

Valonqar 117

Trial Of Seven/Faith 98

Cleganebowl 52

Seven-Pointed Star 86

A Golden Shroud 53

“Cersei’s trial and fate” group total: 366

Well, the “informed speculation” guess here depends on whether you decide to combine “Seven-Pointed Star” with “Trial of Seven” and/or “Cleganebowl.” We’ll just go ahead and use “Valonqar” instead, although that’s only directly related if you interpret The Hound to to be the little brother referred to in the prophecy. A safer pick might be something about the Seven.

Honorable Mention:

All That You Hold Dear

Episode Eight

Top picks specifically for this episode:

Family, Duty, Honor 51

Trial (of the Seven, of the Faith, by Combat…) 37

Tower of Joy 32

Valonqar 26

(Siege of) Riverrun/Riverlands 17 Riverrun/Riverlands 17

Warrior of Light 15

Those fishy words make a return appearance at the top here, so we go with the second item on the list, the combined “Trial…” answers.

From overall picks, with speculation:

Family, Duty, Honor 237

Riverlands/ (Siege of) Riverrun 67 67

Blackfish 27

“Tully/Riverrun” group total: 331

This could be the episode with the siege of Riverrun — it appears to be happening in Episode 7 or 8, and since Jaime is still in Kings Landing in Episode 6, he’d need one fast jetpack to reach the Riverrlands, get settled in his tent and fight all in one episode. So we’ll use our Tully-themed title here. Have to wonder, though, if we’ll have parallel Lannister battles in the same episode. If Cersei’s trial is in this season, would it be in this episode as well?

Honorable Mention:

River’s End

Episode Nine

Okay, these are all spoiler-y. Look away if you don’t want to know anything about the big episode 9!

Top picks specifically for this episode:

Battle of the Bastards 69

The Winds Of Winter 64

A Time For Wolves 37

Winterfell 31

Battle Of Ice 29

Battle Of/for Winterfell 28

The Long Night 28

The Battle Of Six Armies 27

Lord Of Winterfell 25

Snow 23

Valonqar 20

Bastards 18

Battle Of/for the North 17

Whew. That’s a lot of battles, Winterfells and bastards, with some ice and north thrown in. A wintry mix, if you will. In case you’re wondering (and I know you are), we had 192 guesses involving “Battle ___________,” 140 with “________ Winterfell,” and 114 that incorporated the word “Bastard.” This includes guesses that fit more than one of those categories, though I don’t think anyone put “The Battle of the Winterfell Bastards.”

From overall picks, with speculation:

Battle of the Bastards 81

The Lord Of Winterfell 44

The Battle of Winterfell 36

Winterfell 33

Battle of Ice 33

A Ghost In Winterfell 31

Battle of Six Armies 28

Bastards 28

“Episode 9 extravaganza and related geographical places” group total: 314

We know there’s an insane battle in the north (sorry Stannis, bigger than “great”) in Episode 9. In the entire survey, the totals were 211 guesses for “Battle ____________,” 209 for “________ Winterfell,” and 144 involving Bastard. Now watch, the episode title will involve Dorne instead.

Honorable Mention:

The Hell We Live In

Episode Ten

Top picks specifically for this episode:

The Winds Of Winter 231

The Long Night 84

Winter 69

Valonqar 41

Winter Has Come (or similar) 40

A Time For Wolves 25

Horn Of Winter/Joramun 21

Well, these are largely nice and vague. Would it be cruel of D&D to title an episode “The Winds of Winter” before the book by that name is released? Or just cruelly appropriate. Well, we’ll see.

From overall picks, with speculation:

The Winds Of Winter 342

The Long Night 147

Winter/Winter Has Come 126

Horn Of Winter/Joramun 43

“Winter is really coming now” group total: 658

Anyway, there’s no real speculation here, other than by the end of the season we should at least have a White Raven sighting.

Honorable Mention:

Stormborn

Outtakes

Finally, here are some amusing, or possibly confusing, entries:

2 Girls, 1 Glass Candle

Olly vs. Longclaw

The Last Piebender

Weekend at Balon’s

Brienne Beats a Great Fighter Who Is Injured

Dany Finally F***ing Starts Coming to Westeros

Dark Wings, Darkwing Duck

Davos Seaworth: Undercover Administrative Assistant

Greyworm and the Angry Inches

Guess Who’s Coming to the Iron Islands?

Hype Gathers

Just Trolling, He’s Fine

Least Surprising Reveal of All Time

Let’s Ruin Jaime Now That We’re Done With Stannis

Make America Great Again

Melisandre Burns Davos for No Reason At All

Rickon and a Unicorn Attack

The North Kinda Remembers

The One About the Martells That No One Cares About

The One That Makes National Headlines and You End Up Having to Explain to Your Grandma Why You Watch That Show

The One Where Cersei’s Hair Grows Back Extremely Quickly

The One Where They Try to Top Hardhome but Don’t

Sand Snakes on a Plane

Tom Bombadil

Trystane’s Very Awkward Boat Trip

Tyrion Actually Makes Us Care About Meereen

You Say You Want a Resurrection…

A few more with spoilers:



Mysterious Woman in a Cloak (You Actually Thought It Was Her, Didn’t You?)

Bastard Bowl 2016 #noregrets

The Resurrection of Jon Snow

Sam’s Journey, but Without Aemon, Braavos or the Fat Pink Mast

And that’s all for this year! It won’t be too much longer before we learn how accurate we were with our guesses.