On Friday, 93 days until the premiere of Game of Thrones new season, HBO decided to throw all of us GOT fans another bone with three 25 second videos promoting the new season. Let’s take a look at each one of them individually, breaking down what they could mean for Season Six (Spoiler alert: if your not caught up through Season 5, stop reading now):
1. The North
@12_yazeeeed28 "Winterfell is mine." #GoTSeason6 #GameofThroneshttps://t.co/MatHGpeAuk
— Game of Thrones (@GameOfThrones) January 22, 2016
The voice in this one belongs to Iwan Rheon (you know him as Ramsay Bolton). The Bolton’s further cemented their claim to the North by defeating Stannis at the end of Season 5. But that boat carrying the Banner of Stark looks ready to challenge the Bolton claim.
But who is left from the Stark house to pose any threat to the Roose and his crazy bastard son? Last we saw her, Sansa was fleeing Winterfell (assuming she survived the fall). Arya is blind in Braavos. And Bran is somewhere far North learning from the GOT version of Yoda. And Rickon (remember that guy???) hasn’t been seen since Season 3. Could the threat to Bolton rule in the North be the “deader than dead” Jon Snow returning to life?
2. King’s Landing
@bluntcuzicar365 “Together we can overthrow an empire.” #GoTSeason6 #GameofThroneshttps://t.co/DLJ61pYW00
— Game of Thrones (@GameOfThrones) January 22, 2016
The voices here are the High Sparrow (played by Jonathan Price) and Septa Unella (Shame, shame, shame!!!). And that banner is obviously the Lion of Lannister. Could their be a showdown of peasants lead by the High Sparrow vs. the Lannisters and their place on the Iron Throne?
3. The Tattered Targaryen Banner
@lauriasdaniel “Queen of nothing.” #GoTSeason6 #GameofThroneshttps://t.co/TgY4G9GcvR
— Game of Thrones (@GameOfThrones) January 22, 2016
Who out there also missed hearing Dothraki spoken on Game of Thrones? I’m not sure who this is, but it’s clearly a Dothraki mocking Daenarys (“Queen of Nothing, Millionth of her Name”) while a tattered Targaryen flag flies with smoke billowing in the background. Dany was in a very rough spot when we last left her, dragonless and surrounded by a Dothraki horde. Will Dany be made to pay for the death of Khal Drogo from Season 1? And who (or what) is responsible for all those flames that created that smoke in the background?
Conclusion
The clear theme is conflict:
Bolton vs. Stark(???)
Lannister vs. The High Sparrow
Dany vs. The Dothraki
But still missing from these promo pieces: actual footage!!! Never has HBO kept a tighter lid on scenes (or any actual information, for that matter) for an upcoming season of Game of Thrones than they have for Season 6. Let’s all hope that changes soon.