The North: Jon’s willingness to have women and girls trained is not unlike his willingness to have women defend themselves on the Wall, whether it’s the prostitute Zei or spearwives helping to garrison Night’s Watch castles. He also shows the same interest in using wildlings to help defend the Wall and the North. Alys Karstark is not directly heir to Karhold in the novels, but her importance to the rule of the ancestral Karstark seat is still significant in the books.
The Citadel: Sam being at the Citadel is without question from the books, and presumably his efforts to inform the maesters of the threat beyond the Wall will be a feature of his chapters in The Winds of Winter.
Possible Developments in Future Books
The Riverlands: It’s unlikely a great mass of Freys will die due to poisoning, but it does seem probable that more Freys will be killed off by various individuals with a grudge in the novels. Arya’s list has included Cersei for a long time, and it seems quite possible that she will someday set out to try and remove her from the list. Also, despite Sandor likely not keeping the same company, if he has a further role in the novels it does not seem out of the question that he may find himself drawn to wherever Sansa Stark can be found.
The Wall: Although our personal belief is Bran will never leave the hollow hill beneath the great weirwood, it’s entirely possible we’re wrong, in which case it seems it would be inevitable that he’d go south and eventually reach the Wall.
Winterfell: It is plausible that there will be tensions between Stark claimants to Winterfell, in the situation where Jon Snow is seen as a claimant while Sansa Stark also lays claim to it. That said, the show has likely gone in a very different direction from what Martin envisioned.
King’s Landing: It cannot be ruled out that Euron Greyjoy will somehow strike an alliance with the Lannisters, although it seems unlikely.
Dragonstone: Daenerys will reach Westeros eventually, and landing first at Dragonstone—the place of her birth, and that of Aegon the Conqueror and his sisters—seems as good a place as any.
Entirely Different
The North: The Karstark family situation is quite different on the show, as Alys Karstark is named to rule Karhold. In the novels her great-uncle, Arnolf Karstark, was a disloyal castellan who attempted to wed his son to Alys to lay claim to Karhold despite the fact that his nephew’s son and heir, Harrion, was at least ostensibly still alive at Maidenpool. The show invented a Harald Karstark to stand in Harrion’s place, and it seems from events here that he died last season (it was never made explicit at the time). Other family changes have taken place as well: Lord Glover does not have a granddaughter in the novels—in fact, Glover (who is not a lord, but is called Master of Deepwood Motte, as we noted last season) in the novels has no children, but the show has replaced Lord Galbart with his brother Robett, who has children but no grandchildren—while Martin has noted that Greatjon Umber had other sons besides the Smalljon, who apparently had no sons of his own in the novels, unlike the traitorous Smalljon on the show.
The Riverlands: As noted last season, Beric is no longer a part of the story at this point in time, and it seems incredibly unlikely that Sandor will join up with his band.
The Citadel: Jorah does not have greyscale in the novels, and is unlikely to ever go to the Citadel.