The direwolf incident from Sunday's 'Game of Thrones' has fans up in arms

Warning: Contains spoilers from Game of Thrones season 6, episode 3.

LONDON -- This one's not quite on par with reactions to the infamous Red Wedding -- but it's close.

During Sunday night's episode of Game of Thrones, we saw the return of Osha, Rickon Stark, and Shaggydog -- three characters who haven't appeared on the show since the third season. The circumstances of their comeback weren't exactly cheering, though.

Yep, SmallJon Umber's "gift" to Ramsay Stark was in fact a bound Osha and Rickon. And when Ramsay asked for proof that the boy was actually who Smalljon claimed, things got even worse.

We're not going to share an image or gif of the "proof" Smalljon offered; that wound is still too fresh. But it's fair to say that it involved the head of a certain beloved direwolf.

Twitter swiftly went into meltdown.

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Not everyone lost hope, though. For every person lamenting the loss of the big direwolf, there were just as many fans insisting that all was not what it seemed.

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So, could there be any truth to the theories?

Well, maybe. Although it's sort of hard to argue with a severed head, it is worth remembering that Theon successfully faked Bran and Rickons' deaths back in Season 2 by killing two anonymous farm boys in their place. Isn't it possible that the Umbers could have done something similar, cutting the head off of a large wild wolf to trick Ramsay?

He's also never seen Shaggydog (or any direwolf, for that matter), so he'd have no real way of knowing the difference.

[Warning: Spoilers from the books below.]

It's also worth noting that the Umbers have traditionally been very loyal to the Starks, both in A Song of Ice and fire and in the TV show.

In George R. R. Martin's novels, Smalljon Umber is actually killed during the Red Wedding, and Greatjon is held prisoner by the Freys. Half of the free, surviving Umber relatives subsequently side with Stannis -- and although the other half do side with the Boltons, it's unclear whether their loyalty is genuine. In short, the Umbers are historically no great friends of the Boltons.

Then again the TV show and the books are two different beasts, so who really knows? All we're saying is there could well be more to this whole thing than meets the eye. 

And as for whether or not Shaggydog is really dead? The debate rages on.

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