Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Game of Thrones season 8 premiere.
It’s been a day since episode 1 of season 8 of Game of Thrones premiered, and I think we can all agree that Bran is still sitting in Winterfell’s courtyard and someone needs to… move him.
He keeps staring at everyone and making confusing comments about being ‘almost’ a man and no one knows whether he’s a raven or a Night King and it’s all very unsettling.
While Bran was sitting ominously, however, lots of other things happened. And because we were excited and yelling and eating our snacks, it's likely we missed important details.
So I've gone deep on the tiny moments you definitely didn't see, that are super significant because obviously.
When Daenerys, Jon Snow, the Unsullied/Dothraki armies and a few hangers-on like Tyrion and Varys arrive at Winterfell, there's a sense of déjà vu. The scene very intentionally mirrors the pilot episode of Game of Thrones which aired EIGHT YEARS AGO (kill me).
Just as Arya ran around trying to get a view in the very first episode, a young boy climbs a tree to watch as Daenerys (bearing a striking resemblance to Cersei), and Jon Snow (in a similar vein to Robert Baratheon) arrive in Winterfell.
Sansa Stark, looking very similar to her mother Catelyn Stark, addresses Daenerys with the words: "Winterfell is yours, Your Grace," the same words Ned Stark said to Robert Baratheon.
Listen: Clare Stephens and Holly Wainwright recap season 8 episode 1 of Game of Thrones. Post continues after audio.
Of course, these families coming together can only mean one thing: everyone's gon' die.
You might remember Ed Sheeran's not-at-all subtle cameo last season, which disproportionately outraged most all people.
But Ed got his own reference in the premiere episode of season 8.
During Bronn's brothel scene, one of the women mentions in passing that a Lannister soldier named Eddie "came back with his face burned right off".
"He's got no eyelids now," she adds, which seems... unnecessary, but also entirely unsurprising in the context of this show.
It's important to acknowledge that while there's a lot to admire about Daenerys, she plays favourites with her dragons, and I don't like it.
Drogon (the red one) has always been a mummy's boy and Rhaegal (the green one) gets neglected. Don't even get me started on poor Viserion (the white one... and now... dead one), who is now a zombie and Daenerys doesn't seem to care nearly enough.
But thankfully, Rhaegal now has what seems like a father-figure in Jon Snow, who rides him in the season premiere.
Does it all feel a 'lil bit like Harry Potter? Yes. Is it odd that Jon and Daenerys are flying dragons when they're meant to be planning to fight the White Walkers who have already destroyed the wall? Definitely.
But it's important to note that the dragon Jon rides is, without his knowledge, named after his father - Rhaegar Targaryen - who also happens to be his girlfriend's brother.
It's in the crypts at Winterfell that a very stressed Samwell Tarly tells Jon the truth about his identity.
For those of us who don't have PhDs in Game of Thrones lineage, he explains it very clearly:
You not Jon Snow.
You Aegon Targaryen.
Your dad not your dad, your mum his sister. Lyanna. Your dad Rhaegar.
Ned did a help by caring for you.
It's telling that the identity of 'Jon Snow' effectively dies in the burial place of the Starks. By his lineage, Jon isn't a bastard, or a Stark. He's a Targaryen.
While Samwell is delivering this profound news (and omitting the elephant in the room, which is that Jon has been sleeping with his... aunt), Ned Stark's statue can be seen in the background.
As he steps towards Samwell during the revelation, he comes closer to the statue of Lyanna Stark - his birth mother.
When we see Tormund and Beric, as well as a group of men from the Night's Watch creeping around in the dark at Last Hearth, we know something scary is going to happen.
Is an army of White Walkers going to descend on them? Is the Night King going to emerge from behind a door and yell 'BOO'?
No.
Instead, an innocent child's murdered body is strung up on a wall, with a bunch of severed limbs (arms, specifically) surrounding him.
But once you get over the fact that the apparently dead young boy then starts SCREAMING, symbol of the the spiral becomes clear.
We've seen it many times before - always in relation to the White Walkers.
Jon also saw the symbolism in the caves at Dragonstone, and it's eerily similar to the Targaryen's... dragon symbol.
Top Comments
I love how you tied it all together at the end! Made me laugh too! Well written. Not sure about "6 things" I didn't notice but the humor associated with Bran creepin' in the courtyard was not lost on me!
“6 things you didn’t notice” - do you really think anyone who watched didn’t notice the bit with Jon and the dragon? It wasn’t exactly some sneaky, subtle little plot point!