With Brienne coming to the aid of Sansa and pledging her services, Sansa now has a capable soldier (with Podrick and Reek/Theon giving her some aid) in being able to take a step forward finally in possibly retaking the North. After being tormented in both King’s Landing and by Ramsay Bolton, Sansa Stark no longer is the wide eyed, air head with no real world experience. By accepting Brienne into her service, she now is starting to take charge and accept her real place as a possible heir to Winterfell and becoming a power player in the North. However, in Season 6 Episode 2, we see a brief conversation indicating that Sansa has begun to think about her sister Arya and she is aware of her brothers and half-brother (unless the R+L = J theory comes to fruition) can provide assistance.
In order for her to reclaim the North, Sansa will need many allies. Already, the person that could help her is Jon Snow (at least to her current knowledge as supplied through both Ramsay Bolton and Theon/Reek). Theon also mentioned in the last season that two of her younger brothers are still alive, giving her a great deal of motivation now to locate them. In the case of Bran, finding him will be close to impossible since he’s beyond The Wall and in an inaccessible mystical place. Sansa still has to learn about Jon Snow’s fate, which leaves Rickon as her best chance at reconnecting with her family.
My guess is that with the preview and with her newly anointed knight of Brienne by her side, she will examine the situation of each of her siblings in choosing someone to locate. The preview hints that Brienne was incapable of finding Arya after her encounter with The Hound. That will make tracking her down near impossible unless a critical clue such as the coin Arya receives for her passage to Braavos manifests.
As the show likes working with pairs of characters, I feel that they will split the group off where Podrick and Theon/Reek will aim for Rickon while Sansa/Brienne heads towards The Wall for Jon Snow. I’m hoping that the situation at Castle Black between the Jon Snow loyalists and mutineers resolves in the next episode because it’s clear that Ser Davos will eventually make his way south and possibly encounter Sansa and maybe Theon/Reek. After all, a huge part of his book story revolves around the Manderlys where he is held captive so that Wyman Manderly can protect him from the Freys and Lannisters. In turn, Ser Davos is charged with finding the younger Stark. That might imply Ser Davos encountering either pairing (or both). As Theon/Reek is partly responsible for the disappearance of the Stark boys, he probably will accompany Ser Davos.
Now, I don’t know if they’ll still do the rumored Summer Isles plot where Osha and Rickon have gone. The show has thrown a bone or two for situations like this. For instance, the Stone Men encounter with Tyrion and Ser Jorah Mormont. So the showrunners might display a small scene on the Summer Isles where they show Osha and Rickon possibly held captive by cannibals. Perhaps, if Ramsay Bolton gets word of Theon/Reek’s attempt at narrowing his search for Rickon, Ramsay might use that opportunity to personally hunt Rickon down himself in case things turned horribly south for the Boltons. If he manages to catch Rickon then he’d have an incredible bargaining chip against the Starks.
In the meantime, I expect Sansa and Brienne to form a bond this time around where Brienne unveils more in depth about her service to Sansa’s mother Catelyn. That will probably give Sansa a great deal more respect towards Brienne and make her realize that she needs to become as strong internally as Catelyn while not grieving, which caused Catelyn to misjudge the Freys and Boltons. At the same time, I believe Sansa will use more of the season to begin rallying the North. Part of her trouble will be negotiating with other houses. Here, she will be forced to employ everything she has learned in King’s Landing as most assuredly the other houses will see the destroyed Stark house as both weak and cursed. Brienne too will play a huge role in this both as someone who will speak up for the Stark household and acting on behalf of Sansa in challenging men who think better than the pair.
At any rate, there’s no doubt Sansa will come into her own this season. It won’t be without a fight but it will be glorious at the end of the day and it will redeem everything that happened to her in previous seasons.
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