KATHRYN WAY

- FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION -

I dropped out of college because someone farted in class and nobody laughed but me. I wanted to be an actor but wasn't prepared for the pretentious self-seriousness of the Theatre Department. We had a class called “Math for Liberal Arts Majors” and a class called “Emotional Exploration.” In tai chi class, littered with white empaths in dreadlocks, a student ripped ass so profoundly that it sounded like someone dropped an armful of dictionaries down the stairs. I collapsed in a fit of laughter because I am not made of wood. My professor barrels down the studio, barking, “You think it’s funny that he pushed his body to the physical limit?” Sagely, I retort, “...yeah.” She asks me to leave class, and I do. I literally never go back. It was a classic $30,000 prank on Sallie Mae, but it was a moral imperative. I move to Chicago to be a comedian because I am clinically incapable of taking myself this seriously.

Living in Chicago, I called myself a woman for the first time and it felt foreign in my mouth. I was 18 and spit it out in a panic like I misspoke. Paranoia consumed me like someone would call me out on still being a girl. I felt the same way a year later about calling myself a comedian. Someone might jump out behind a tree and taze me for appropriating this term I didn’t deserve. It felt like the world around me didn’t give me permission. The same lack of permission haunts me when timidly calling myself a writer. Imposter syndrome follows me as I write for My Gay Houston, my city’s LGBTQIA tourism publication. The absence of a college degree is an insistent fly buzzing in my ear as my first article appears in print, in the August issue of Outsmart Magazine. Currently working on my first piece for the Houston Chronicle, I am often deflated by a vacuum in credentials.

As a comedian and fervent lover of pop culture, I constantly cover the media I consume. I’m a feminist, a socialist, a survivor of assault. I’m disabled, I’m queer and polyamorous, all of which converge to form a very specific lens. Though I’m thankful for the rising literary representation and perspective of the physically disabled, I long for more nuanced coverage through the lens of severe mental illness. I long to see someone more like me.

Without a degree, a modern workplace is already an uphill battle. Hurling further professional obstacles onto that path like a Mario Kart villain from hell is my diagnosis of severe PTSD and depression. Corporate employment rhetoric suggests that disability status should be disclosed immediately, but my lived experience suggests that disclosing disability status is unpalatable to Corporate America. Many companies won’t meet your accommodations if they don’t feel like it. It’s easy to evade the letter of the law by inventing a convenient excuse to oust someone with a bothersome constitution and replace them with a shiny and new model that doesn’t faint from hyperventilation or cry in empty conference rooms.

While capitalism implies that my productivity indicates the value of my very existence, I am left forging my own way. Instead of fighting the unjust fifth circuit court for social security benefits because I’ve been deemed unsuitable for a cubicle, I persist by creating in the environment I feel safe. Working from home and writing about the things I legitimately care about is the light at the end of my tunnel. I give myself permission. KATHRYN WAY [email protected] 281-627-8314 www.kathrynway.com

Kathryn Way is a comedian and writer seeking work in Houston, Texas. Her content has appeared in BuzzFeed, Huffington Post, OBJECTIVE › Funny or Die, Playboy, and unauthorized t-shirts from companies that steal jokes from the internet and sell them to teens for $30 a pop. Kathryn wouldn’t even pay $30 for her own joke. The first time her mom found her Twitter account, she asked, “Katie, are you trying to ruin my fucking life?” Only her mom can call her Katie. Covering topics like pop culture, sex and relationships, politics, and history, Kathryn's comedy and writing are not for the faint of heart. Her work is of the feminist, personal, political, subversive, and sometimes absurd variety, that punches up, not down. Kathryn also writes frankly and openly about living with mental illness, surviving assault, and her struggle with PTSD and depression. She was an Artist in Residence for the year of 2017 at Houston’s premier art, comedy, and performance venue, Rec Room. Currently looking to expand her digital horizons, Ms. Way seeks opportunity covering the material closest to her heart through the lens of the very specific intersection of her existence.

www.mygayhouston.com PUBLISHED WORKS › My Gay Houston May 2018 — Present Vocal Local: JanieWhateva September 10, 2018 https://www.mygayhouston.com/blog/post/vocal-local-janiewhateva/ The Woodlands First Pride Festival August 30, 2018 https://www.mygayhouston.com/blog/post/the-woodlands-first-pride-festival/

White Linen Nights in The Heights August 1, 2018 https://www.mygayhouston.com/blog/post/white-linen-night-in-the-heights/

Lounge on the Lawn in Midtown July 19, 2018 https://www.mygayhouston.com/blog/post/lounge-on-the-lawn-in-midtown/ Vocal Local: Honey Moonpie July 16, 2018 https://www.mygayhouston.com/blog/post/vocal-local-honey-moonpie/

Summer Lewks: Montrose Thrifts and Boutiques June 21, 2018 https://www.mygayhouston.com/blog/post/summer-lewks/

Visitor's Guide to Pride Houston May 29, 2018 https://www.mygayhouston.com/blog/post/visitors-guide-to-pride-houston/

Pup-Friendly Patios in Houston May 21, 2018 https://www.mygayhouston.com/blog/post/pup-friendly-patios-in-houston/

Boogie Down in H-Town May 14, 2018 https://www.mygayhouston.com/blog/post/boogie-down-in-h-town/

First Annual Lez Prom May 19 May 9, 2018 https://www.mygayhouston.com/blog/post/first-annual-lez-prom-may-19/ www.outsmartmagazine.com Outsmart Magazine July 2018 — Present Wade in the Sonic Joy Is the Rihanna They Wish to See in the World July 12, 2018 (Appearing in print August 2018) http://www.outsmartmagazine.com/2018/08/houstons-wade-in-the-sonic- joy-wants-to-be-the-non-binary-rihanna/ via www.visithouston.com Associated Press September 2018 — Present From crawfish boils to bánh mì and beyond — How Houston became an award-winning melting pot for foodies October 1, 2018 https://apnews.com/direct/?prx_t=HxwEAAAAAAbbUQA&prx_ro=s www.chron.com September 2018 — Present Houston Chronicle

Protecting Houston's Black History - The Luckie School To be published October-November 2018 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1b6rmf5Ayoc8QRqPuFTtxlwB-zq- RoxwAns-fBcBHSiM/edit?usp=sharing

PERSONAL WORKS › On the Business of Being Sad A zine compiled of works from 2014-2016 sold at Houston's Zine Fest 2016 Pieces Included: Anatomy of a House Fire On the Dying Kind of Sad Your Voice is a Weapon Mental Illness & Poverty Walk into a Bar This is My Rapist. There Are Many Like it, But This One is Mine. The Aftermath that is Also the Backstory On Invisible Illness & Being Human What if Sadness is Malignant https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-ttVuKGhtI5GlT2Lut_66_VXfNZ- j8zrjGLAg1gcOBE/edit?usp=sharing

COMEDIC WORKS › Story Hole: Woods Porn October 2017 piece read at the acclaimed LGBTQIA storytelling show I host and produce https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sEQPnlPxXPFfQDe9VyeppbNy0l5i9P2t64jMpCpJgiQ/edit? usp=sharing

Yellow Rose Comedy Festival Set Stand up set I wrote and performed in April 2017 at Houston's all women comedy festival https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ptWhHzW4XsUwfCuFOL3ugVLHFxnXoovd/view?usp=sharing

Pussy Rickets Parody commercial script written in June 2017 for my sketch comedy show, ShitShow https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rUAKUrOU_ZQPjg1RX5nP1zWUp5OZOItqbB4e3nheivE/edit? usp=sharing

The Sorting Tampon Live sketch written in June 2016 for my comedy sketch show, Stalk Show. A parody of Harry Potter's sorting hat that sorts our characters into "houses" that are different neighborhoods in Houston https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V1zwbswbDk6vNlDyUo2HZYMyserUY7d0SKTos3EACt8/edit? usp=sharing

EDUCATION › Saint Edward's University Theatre Arts August 2002 — May 2005 Austin, Texas, United States Theatre Major, Women's Studies Minor

SOCIAL MEDIA › Twitter Appeared in Buzzfeed, Washington Post, Slate, Huffington Post, Harper's Bazaar, Some Ecards, AskMen, Movie Fone, The Sun, AdWeek, Metro UK, NY Daily News, Playboy, Houston Press, Funny or Die, College Humor https://twitter.com/solikebasically A preview screening of The Miseducation of Cameron Post at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts ​ ​ had Brown Auditorium packed tightly with high-fashion femmes and dapper studs. The opening night of QFest, Houston’s queer film festival, is well-received. A graying elder-butch takes a knee next to my partner and me, offering political pamphlets and a rousing sermon. “This movie we’re about to see, it’s Mike Pence‘s wet dream. It’s about praying the gay away, and it’s happening right now in 2018. He wants to shock the gay out of kids.” The projection screen on the stage lowers and cuts her off, her “Trump/Pence Must Go!” button reflecting the dimming house lights. A few scenes in and the shadow of Pence’s praxis towers over the narrative. The emotional violence of modern homophobia has changed outfits often since the film’s 1993 setting, but its face is all too familiar.

Mike Pence is easily the most prominent American figure associated with gay conversion therapy. When Pence was running for Congress in 2000, his campaign website stated that federal funding for low-income people living with HIV should only be reauthorized after an audit to ensure that resources were, “directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior.” Despite the polite legalese, this is a more diplomatic version of victim blaming. Oh, you got a “gay” disease? Then you should try to stop being gay. Have you tried turning the sexuality off and back on again?

We see a similar phenomenon in white supremacist groups like the Proud Boys and other neo-fascist orgs in attendance of 2017’s deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. Most balk at the label of white supremacist while insisting they aren’t racist, but simply defending whiteness because it’s under attack. This is eugenicist semantics dressed up in a boring button up from JC Penney’s. The linguistic subterfuge adopted by the right is a patronizing and eye-rolling dog whistle only the oppressed can hear.

No matter the grammatical trickery Pence uses to distance himself from his own antagonistic policies, he remains a man who once stated that gay marriage would bring about a “societal collapse.” This is the dude who protested the Disney film Mulan for being “liberal propaganda” ​ ​ and proof that women shouldn’t serve in the military. And while he was actually correct in identifying Mulan as the most iconic cinematic anthem of bisexuality in the 90s (no offense, ​ ​ Cruel Intentions) it’s a little too easy for mainstream centrists to assign a blundering, old-fogey ​ quality to Pence. His backwardness can be laughable in a gallows-humor, coping-mechanism kind of way. Like, yes, he calls his wife “Mother” and probably doesn’t know how babies are made, but he also supports deadly policies that target vulnerable populations. The reality of religious persecution of queerness can be both hilarious in its prudish absurdity and disturbingly dark. The soon-to-be-released, The Miseducation of Cameron Post not only captures this ​ ​ paradox in the fullness of its complexity, but finds beauty in it.

Based on the 2012 novel of the same name by Emily M. Danforth, the film is a coming-of-age tale of Cameron (Chloe Grace Moretz), a high school girl who is sent to a Christian gay conversion camp after getting caught wet-handed with her best friend at the homecoming dance. The same superficial exterior of laughable and dorky backwardness we see in Pence is abundant in Cameron Post, with a knit-sweater-wearing, acoustic-guitar-playing, “ex-gay” ​ ​ Reverend Jim at the residential therapy center, God’s Promise. Other “disciples” are awkward misfits like Cameron’s roommate Erin (Emily Skeggs), a die-hard Vikings fan who believes she bonded too much with her father over sports, which led her to “gender confusion.” Devout Helen (Melanie Ehrlich) is described as tragically butch, but all she cares about is using her cherubic singing voice for God (and also that cute girl in her church choir).

The only other kids at camp who seem too cool to buy into self-hatred dressed up as piety are Jane Fonda (Sasha Lane) and Adam (Forrest Goodluck), both of whom Cameron spies smoking weed in the basement and proceeds to sheepishly befriend. Cameron’s time with them is a respite between the new-agey, ecclesiastical clinical sessions orchestrated by the camp’s founder, Dr. Lydia Marsh (Jennifer Ehle). Marsh is chilling in a highly controlled, Nurse Ratched way, at one point cooly comparing same-sex attraction to cannibalism. She explains that the cannibal consumes the part of their enemy they admire most in order to absorb those qualities — you don’t want to be with her, you simply want to be her. Marsh’s shoulder-padded, power-suited bogeyman is the face of banal, everyday hate. Hate that politely shows its teeth in a vague suggestion of a smile as it denies your marriage license. Hate that agrees to disagree as it sweetly strips you of your humanity.

Cameron’s journey remains inward-facing as we see the predictable but grimly believable result of internalized homophobia play out. In a moment of despair, Cameron calls her Aunt Ruth who sent her to the camp, begging to come home. Her voice strained, Ruth shudders, “I’m doing this because I love you.” Cameron falls apart in one of those silent, body-shaking sobs. The feeling is familiar. The earnest ignorance of a true believer is difficult to place in the same category as the villains orchestrating the programs that perpetuate these beliefs, but one can’t operate without the other.

The complicity of the otherwise-well-meaning remains a ubiquitous brutality in 2018. Removal of the bigoted physical violence of yore is only a rebranding. Today’s polite white supremacy and well-intentioned homophobia are still violence. Not only is emotional abuse is still abuse, but intolerance of someone’s personhood is a veiled threat, a monstrous “or” lurking a few steps behind.

Arguably the most poignant line in Cameron Post is delivered by Moretz, who indignantly ​ ​ presses, “How is teaching someone to hate themselves not emotional abuse?” It echoed in me ​ ​ as we emptied out into the parking lot. Politeness is a means to an end — it’s the only way to make, “You are not human” sound acceptable. But there’s no such thing as civility when campaigning against a human being’s very existence.

While being interviewed recently about the queer storytelling show I co-produce, the topic of queer representation was broached. Was the show political in nature because it's a show that exclusively features queer people? My co-producer answered no, because having a specifically political theme here would just be preaching to the choir. I added that although the show is not politically-themed, it is still inherently political because we're queer people with a platform, amplifying other queer voices. Telling a story, even if it has nothing to do with being queer, is revolutionary because simply existing in a queer body is revolutionary. That led me to a similar question: can the same be said about simply being a woman?

Lately, I have grappled with where my identity fits in a liberal-minded space when my politics are further left than "liberal.” I've thought a lot about the concept of being good enough for myself, but also ideas & practices that are good enough for me & the people I love. As a comedian who happens to be both a woman & a feminist, I am constantly grappling. I grapple with my mental illness, my queerness, my romantic life that functions outside of the cookie-cutter mold of monogamy, my fatness, my womanhood on stage & on the street. I'm white, so I have it pretty easy, considering. My personal, totally anecdotal experience is that most women are inherently funnier than most men, but have to work harder for recognition than men do (just like most professional fields). For a very long time, I believed that being a woman & being a comedian was subversive "enough" to be inherently political. I don't believe that anymore.

Over 50% of white women voted for Trump in 2016. The Women's March "resisted" with pink pussy hats & white, self-serving feminism that left some of the most vulnerable populations out of the movement, in particular trans people & people of color. It also risked nothing. Their very ability to attend an event like The Women’s March in Washington DC without calling for a labor strike is itself a function of privilege — the privilege to take off work, the privilege to afford childcare, the privilege to afford transportation, etc. There are absolutely women who worked unbelievably hard to make the sacrifices to be there, but there were also scores of women who just picked up their Lululemon bags & left.

I had read enough about socialism in college to understand that I was more left-of-left than some, but I am not perfect, I’m no policy wonk & I’m not even verified on Twitter (which would give me unquestionable political authority, obvs). I was once lazy, comfy as all hell within my privilege, & I didn’t question enough because I didn’t necessarily HAVE to. But then, finally, the left & the right completely blurred together for me around 2012. The DNC become a capitalistic ouroboros, an anxious snake eating its own ass, propping up centrists who could never win, supporting so-called progressive candidates who were against reproductive justice. They advocated funding war, actively fought against accessible healthcare for all, bailed out evil corporations — generally existing at an untenable intersection, just to the right of human decency. They were basically republicans with a rainbow pride Facebook filter over their profile photos. Liberals still need to learn that non-intersectional feminism is not feminism at all. As the Women's March publicly mourns the death of Barbara Bush, a republican woman who worked to maintain a southern, "polite" version of white supremacy in a war-mongering American dynasty, it is abundantly clear that existing as a woman is no longer revolutionary or inherently political if you are complicit in upholding oppressive systems. Susan B. Anthony is the original feminist hero, & she was a tremendous racist asshole — don’t forget her infamous quote, “I will cut off this right arm of mine before I will ever work or demand the ballot for the Negro & not the woman.” White feminism is still demanding justice for me, but by definition there cannot be any justice if not justice for everyone. We have to do more. We owe it to the world to do more.

While actively trying to bite my tongue & avoid the minefield that was my white (exclusively white, it should be noted) liberal friends performing online mourning rituals for Barbara Bush, I was eagerly awaiting the release of a Netflix comedy special, The Honeymoon Standup Special. ​ ​ Starring newlywed comics, Natasha Leggero & Moshe Kasher, each one doing their own 30 minute set, ending with a bit together as a couple. I have followed Natasha's comedy since about 2007, & I like more than who she is as a comedian. She recently had a baby girl & I tracked her entire pregnancy via Instagram; she has impeccable design taste, is vocally anti-republican, & is friends with some of my favorite comedians of all time, like Chelsea Peretti. Moshe is also known for his outspoken progressive views, with a short-lived political show on Comedy Central, Problematic with Moshe Kasher. Natasha's whole brand is aggressively ironic ​ ​ nouveau riche bourgeoisie, an old Hollywood glam phoenix risen from the ashes of backwoods Illinois. She's known for sauntering about in faux jewels & fur, making provocative abortion jokes into a golden microphone, a caricature of a Vicodin- & champagne-chugging Real Housewife from another era. I know her schtick.

The last time Natasha had a project coming out that I was truly excited about, it was in 2015 with the first season of her historical Downton Abbey spoof with Riki Lindhome (of Garfunkel & Oates), Another Period on Comedy Central. David Wain, one of my all-time favorites from ​ ​ childhood (I was obsessed with MTV's The State, equally obsessed with his sketch group Stella, ​ ​ & Wet Hot American Summer is one of my favorite movies) was directing & co-starring, along ​ ​ with a slew of other comedy greats I knew & loved. I am known for being a massive history nerd & have a lot of stand-up material about history, so everything about it was enticing to me. Unfortunately, the second episode of Another Period ("Divorce") is an extended rape joke. I will ​ ​ spare you the details, but essentially, a male character is “ravished,” & despite some milquetoast jabs at skewering the idea that men can’t be raped, ultimately, the event is played up for gags. I was almost immediately uncomfortable, but watched the entire episode to see if they would rectify it or say something important. They COULD have highlighted an incredibly serious issue - the issue of male victims of sexual assault not being believed or supported. I think they vaguely tried to do this, but it just didn't follow through. It was toothless & lazy. It ended up being an entire, episode-long rape joke. I stopped watching after that.

In 2015, I had not yet started comprehensive treatment for my severe PTSD from sexual assault. It would be another year & a half until I felt strong enough to report my rape. Although I reported it, I was still too scared to press charges, because I couldn't bear having to face my rapist in court. When I reported my rape, Special Victims detectives told me that like me, most victims wait several years at minimum to file a report. Although statistics state that women, especially trans women of color, are more at risk of sexual assault, 1 in 10 victims are men, & they are even less likely to report or come forward. Another Period cashed in on this statistic for ​ ​ laughs, & did nothing to help alleviate the devastating stigma. Their sin is to raise the issue & then do nothing with it. If you mention it at all & fail to do the work of social justice that comedy is capable of, then all you are doing is making a rape joke. Good for you.

Somehow, I was still looking forward to The Honeymoon Standup Special on Netflix. I'm such a ​ ​ sucker. Natasha is on first, & proceeds to make four or five jokes about sexual violence throughout her set. She does so slow & deliberately, tonguing her cheek & smirking like a saucy minx. She's so bad & she knows it! No seriously, she's bad. Throw her in the garbage! She takes it further, explaining that some Catholic altar boys were "asking for it.” The only reason her altar boy bit can even function as a bit is because we all know about the Catholic church’s history of protecting child rapists who prey disproportionately on altar boys. Comedy can function as an arm of social justice by forcing us to think about uncomfortable things, but the only uncomfortable thing here is that Leggero thinks it’s funny that altar boys get raped. The audience is not challenged in any way.

The hubris of white woke-ness pushes some white liberals to make racist jokes, thinking that their status as a supposed ally makes the joke inherently ironic when they tell it, because they couldn’t possibly be racist. This appears to be the same logic at work behind Leggero’s casually hateful invocation of the very real suffering endured by the survivors of child abuse. There is absolutely no way she means any of this, deep in her heart. As a comic I know this. As a woman & a comedian, I know this. This does not make me feel better. I sank inside of myself, as one often does with the emotional bunker that is PTSD. It felt so familiar. I used to think that women are safe, safer than men, but I forgot that women can be monsters, too. Women can be capitalist war-mongers (GIRL POWER! *pussy hat emoji*), they can be murderers & rapists, & they can be fucking assholes who make rape jokes. Leggero is punching all the way down for the sake of the shock, much like Milo Yiannopoulos, much like the hundreds of rape & death threats I received online when I was doxxed a few years ago by alt-right GamerGate shitheads. She’s spinning the same wheels that every tired, shock-jock, brick-wall-background, Ed-Hardy-wearing edgelord dude-bro comic pulls. Just as Barbara Bush isn't a feminist icon for simply being a woman, neither is Natasha Leggero. This isn't revolutionary. It isn't enough. & it fucking sucks.

We’re living in a time of heightened political violence & hate crimes in America, which imposes upon us a proportional duty to condemn that violence. Natasha's bougie irony transcends her jokes & completely falls flat. It's not satire. It's shitty comedy & shitty politics, & downright pernicious. Terry Pratchett has a famous quote that says, "Satire is meant to ridicule power. If you are laughing at people who are hurting, it's not satire, it's bullying". A woman holding a mic is no longer enough. Ann Coulter holds a mic, too. Liberal politics are no longer enough. Natasha's traditional Democrat views don't excuse her harmful rhetoric, regardless of whether or not she "really means it". Leggero owns conservatives on Twitter, & then walks on stage to perpetuate the dangerous views that they espouse. We need intersectional art, we need action, & we need to amplify voices that are actively condemning the systems of oppression that are literally killing the most vulnerable of our population, not cheap gags about them.

There’s a trope with offensive jokes where people recoil in horror at the content, but dig their heels in to insist that the worst part is that the joke itself isn’t even funny. That’s a hack bit. These rape jokes aren’t even funny, true. But the worst part is the survivors in the audience watching someone they look up to & paid money to see make a punchline out of the worst thing that ever happened to them. That cannot be a joke. Work harder. Be funnier. Do better.

If the trailers for Game of Thrones Season 7 are any indication that the women of Westeros are ​ ​ about to have their time in the sun. The show has always notably put its women in positions of power, but also subjected them to staggering abuse, defeat, and loss. With winter having finally arrived, it would seem that a tide has turned as well. GoT’s downtrodden heroines are poised to ​ ​ reclaim their agency while vying for vengeance, justice, fire, and blood.

Sansa Stark Once a sacrificial lamb for Westeros’ patriarchal establishment, derided as a frivolous little girl, Ned’s eldest daughter has become a cold and cunning political powerhouse who everyone is rooting for. With one of the show’s darkest character arcs, Sansa has suffered in silence as the world around her constantly crumbles. In contrast to her sister Arya, who wields her pain as a weapon, Sansa has drawn her suffering inward, reforging and burnishing it. She now stands ready to emerge, to speak, to fight, and even to kill. The menacing strut Sansa adopted after feeding her abuser Ramsay to his own dogs looks to have stuck with her. A little dove no longer, the Lady of Winterfell just graduated from perpetual pawn to major player. Littlefinger had better watch his back.

Arya Stark Last seen at The Twins giving Walder Frey one of her most gruesome “gifts” yet, Arya is on pace to finally return to Winterfell in Season 7. Sporting the classic Stark leather armor Arya has clearly become Someone again, and while we don’t know if a family reunion lies ahead, we may at least see Arya cross paths with her long-lost direwolf, Nymeria. In a world as vicious as Westeros, we’ll take what we can get. Ned Stark always urged his children to stick together: “When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives”. A lone wolf for so long, the fall of winter is a poignant backdrop for Arya’s homecoming. For so many, winter in the North brings instability and brutality. For House Stark, winter brings certainty. Their time has arrived.

Brienne of Tarth The truest knight in the Seven Kingdoms, Brienne is also in the North, fulfilling her oath to Catelyn Stark by protecting Sansa. If Arya does reach Winterfell, it will be a long overdue win for Brienne, who failed so valiantly to find and save both Stark daughters. Brienne has always been a star-crossed character in search of her next mission. Will Season 7 see her find a purpose (and joy) outside the line of duty, achieving her full humanity? At the very least, let the woman finally hook up with her soul mate Jaime Lannister!

Ellaria Sand & Olenna Tyrell After violently usurping power with a promise that weak men will never rule Dorne again, Ellaria Sand has forged an alliance with Highgarden’s Olenna Tyrell to support Daenerys Targeryen’s bid for the Iron Throne. Dorne was once the only kingdom in Westeros to retain independence after Aegon’s Conquest, so there are some questions as to how Ellaria and the Sand Snakes will appeal to Daenerys. Will Dorne secretly seek sovereignty, or will they fully back Dany with their own female-led revolution, because game recognize game? Meanwhile, It will be interesting to see how Olenna Tyrell interacts with Daenerys, considering her general disdain for young people, yet tremendous admiration for strong women. At the very least, the Queen of Thorns has the sharpest tongue in Westeros, so there’s bound to be some great dialogue.

Yara Greyjoy Another member of Team Targaryen with a considerable endgame role approaching, The Artist Formerly Known As Theon’s Little Sister is likely the most experienced sea captain Daenerys has at her. With her murderous uncle Euron hot on their trail, it’s somewhat troublesome that the trailers show Yara frozen in fear under what looks to be a great ball of fire in the sky. Yara will no doubt have to fight her own people, whose hard-earned respect she once commanded with ease and swagger. With Euron Crow’s Eye in line to be the next great villain of the series, Yara is an invaluable asset to Daenerys in her quest for the throne.

Daenerys Targaryen At long last, Daenerys Stormborn, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains and Mother of Dragons returns to her ancestral home of Dragonstone. Speaking of dragons, Oone major concern is her ability to control them. She has a psychic bond with Drogon, yet the others, Rhaegal and Viserion, will need riders as well. Is this where her trusted advisor Tyrion becomes most useful? How will Daenerys react when face to face with Jon Snow—and will she know he’s actually her nephew?

Back in Season 2, Daenerys entered Qarth’s House of the Undying and saw the Iron Throne covered in snow (or was it ash?). The show is finally close enough to the endgame for this vision come full circle. An abandoned, wrecked throne room doesn’t seem worth winning, not with the real war against the White Walkers on the horizon. Look for Daenerys to weigh her desire to reclaim her father’s throne with her duty to save her people from a wintry un-death. With her Dothraki khalassar, army of Unsullied, Dorne, the Reach, Ironborn reavers, a host of capable advisers, and—oh yeah—dragons at her side, fire is at long last poised to clash with ice on the big stage.

Cersei Lannister In Game of Thrones, gender equality means the women can be just as monstrous as the men, ​ ​ and with nothing left to lose, Cersei is bound to be more awful than ever in Season 7. Last seen atop the Iron Throne after blowing up half of her city along with all of her enemies, Cersei looks ready for more carnage. And she’ll get it. Back in Season 5, a woods witch warned a young Cersei that a younger and more beautiful queen will cast her down. Margaery Tyrell was killed for this imagined crime, but now Daenerys is gunning straight for Cersei's seat.

Her younger sister Tyrion once promised Cersei, "A day will come when you think you’re safe and happy, and your joy will turn to ashes in your mouth." With only Jaime and her position on the throne left, Cersei's joy is certainly gone, and her Trial by Wildfire is probably not the last time King's Landing will be set ablaze. Cersei always considered herself the sibling most like her father Tywin, but will she suffer a similar downfall at the hands of Tyrion? Or (gasp) Jaime?

With only 7 episodes in the new season instead of the usual 10, all indications are that Thrones ​ will dive straight into its singular kind of action. With the Hour of Girl Power upon Westeros, look for the women to take control like never before. Valar morghulis: All men must die. But these are ​ ​ not men.