HBO (which had no comment on these apparent plot details) has been more secretive than ever when it comes to Game of Thrones this season, denying screeners to press and even refusing to release plot descriptions—famously oblique though they may be—for episodes 9 and 10. But Game of Thrones fans have suspected all the same that there may be more in “Battle of the Bastards” than the titular clash between Jon and Ramsay.

Before the season even began, Game of Thrones producers touted this upcoming battle for Winterfell as the show’s “biggest [action sequence yet].” And, unlike the battles that came before it—Hardhome, the Battle of the Blackwater, and the Battle of Castle Black—this could be an entirely show-invented clash. (The battle for Hardhome took place offscreen in the books, but, still, it’s a George R. R. Martin creation.) In all likelihood, show-runners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff invented the name “Battle of the Bastards” themselves and the details of it—who lives, who dies, who tells the story—are almost certainly theirs, since Martin’s books have yet to get to this point in the story. In other words, they may be especially invested in lighting the biggest hype fire the Game of Thrones fandom has ever seen.

But at this point, Game of Thrones is likely too overstuffed with plot to have an episode entirely dedicated to one battle. With possibly only 15 episodes left in the entire series, there are just too many pieces to move for the show to press pause like it did in Season 2 for Blackwater and Season 4 for the Battle of Castle Black. It’s possible we might get a single-location episode again in the future, now that so many plotlines are converging—but it’s understandable that there’s no room for it this season.

This tantalizing alliance between Yara and Daenerys teased in TV & Satellite Week also feeds into one of the biggest themes of Game of Thrones Season 6: female domination. From the bloody, gender-driven coup in Dorne to Sansa’s ascendency in the North, Yara’s frat-girl bravado, Brienne’s crowd-pleasing love triangle, Daenerys’s Khal roast, the political machinations of the Tyrell women, and more, Season 6 has made every effort to rehabilitate the show’s reputation as an unfriendly world for women. A union between Yara and Daenerys—especially in light of Tyrion’s failed attempt to play statesman in Meereen—can only mean more female empowerment as the season comes to a close. And hey, why settle for just the Battle of the Bastards when you can have the Battle of the Babes at the same time?