The Season 8 trailer for Game of Throne is out!!!! First, here’s a look at the trailer:
Now here are are a couple of observations:
(Of Note: Speculative spoilers are coming. So if you don’t want any speculation ruining potential plotlines for you, stop reading now.)
- Who is Arya running from?
When the trailer starts, Arya is in a series of tunnels running from someone. Her face shows that she’s been fighting already. Who was she fighting and what has her running and looking fearful for first time since season 5?
The other shots of Arya have her in her black coat confident as she prepares for battle and as she is fighting (more on that clip later). What’s changed? And are those tunnels in Winterfell? Or in the Red Keep
- Two Distinct Battles
There are two distinct fronts for battle portrayed in the trailer:
- Soldiers, including the Unsullied, Jorah, Brienne, and Gendry, preparing to fight in the cold somewhere in the North.
- A battle on top of a Wall (Winterfell, Castle Black?) with Jamie, Arya, and skilled swordfighter that looks like Brienne (she’s in both scenes?) and a significant amount of smoke (dragonfire?).
Are these two different battles taking place at different times? Are they two fronts in the same fight? Are the two battle fronts taking place against different enemies?
- What is Cersei smirking about?
This works back to my number 2 observation: could Cersei be smirking because she has an army heading up to the North to take advantage of weakened side no matter who wins at the Wall?
Or does some other development have her smirking alone in front of the Iron Throne? And is that a tear I see on her right cheek? What event would make Cersei cry?
- Who is missing and why?
I saw no Dothraki. No Greyjoys (other than Euron’s ships) appear. There was no Gilly. And Tyrion, The Hound, Bran, and Sam make brief appearances. Is there anything we need to read into that?
- Dragons over Winterfell
This likely happens in the premiere. And it never gets old seeing people in Westeros in awe as they see dragons for the first time. We know Sansa sees them, and I assume when Arya looks at the sky and smiles, that is what she sees as well.
So unlike previous trailers, there really are no major events to unpack. We all know a major battle is happening in the North, we all know Cersei is waiting to pounce on whoever wins, and we didn’t need a trailer to tell us lots of our favorite characters will die.
But I did find Arya’s clips the most intriguing. How did she get from confident assassin to frantically running through the halls under a castle somewhere? And about those skills as an assassin? Will they be any benefit in the battle with the Whitewalkers. From the trailer, it looks like she will be doing just fine in open combat, but taking on that “No One” persona has to come into play at some point.
We’ll know the answer to that soon enough. Season 8 is almost here!!!!