There's less than two months till the new season of Game of Thrones hits HBO, and fans had their appetites whetted when the new trailer dropped on Wednesday.
After being teased with a high-on-dramatics, low-on-details teaser earlier this year, HBO served up almost two minutes of intriguing preview for viewers to sink their teeth into.
GoMN has taken a look through the trailer and picked out some of what to expect.
Battles...lots of 'em
This is the season where it seems all the big actors from the prior seasons will finally converge, as Danaerys arrives in Westeros (reclaiming her family seat of Dragonstone, an island off the eastern coast), and new alliances form (check out the kiss between Ellaria Sand of Dorne and a woman who appears to be Yara Greyjoy of the Iron Islands).
It's all going to reach a breaking point, judging by the pitched battles that appear in the trailer. There are glimpses of Dany's dragons backing up a horde of charging Dothraki horsemen, a tight battle beneath city gates (which city is hard to say), and Jon Snow and Tormund Giantsbane on the run in the snowy North.
The start of the trailer hears the newly anointed Queen Cersei describe how she's beset on every compass point by enemies, and in one quick cut, someone tips over a lion piece on a battle map that was earlier shown with Dany and Tyrion next to it. This signifies tough times ahead for the Lannisters.
Littlefinger + Sansa = Bad news for Jon Snow
It was hinted at toward the end of season 6, but Jon Snow's new role as the King of the North doesn't sit well with Petyr Baelish, aka Littlefinger. Many fans suspect he'll act as the devil on Stansa Stark's shoulder, hinting that it should be she who has the crown, not her bastard brother.
It's going to lead to an interesting dynamic between the two, but it's clear that Jon at some point figures out Littlefinger's machinations, as according to eagle-eyed GoMN writer Declan Desmond, there's a brief clip showing Snow lunge at the Machiavellian genius.
The wall opens...but for whom?
One significant character not appearing in the trailer is Bran, whose scenes I thought were the best of last season, but what fans are shown is a tantalizing glimpse of a gate opening in an icy location that we can only assume is The Wall.
Since Bran's north of The Wall, it would make sense that the gate would open for him. However, it could be that it could also open for The Night King – the leader of the White Walkers – who fans believe now has the ability to broach The Wall because he managed to place his hand on Bran during season 6.
I expect the Night King's appearance at the Wall would predicate its fall, though, rather than just going through the gate.
Davos delivering the most significant line
About halfway through the trailer, Davos Seaworth is heard. He's lost his master, Stannis Baratheon, and he continues to play his role as one of the few voices of reason left in the show.
"If we don't put aside our enmities and be bound together we will die, and then it doesn't matter whose skeleton sits on the Iron Throne."
That signifies the move towards the endgame, where at some point, whoever is left standing from the civil war that tears Westeros apart will have to band together to fight the White Walkers.
"The great war begins," Jon Snow says, ending the trailer.
This story is part of our Best of the Web section – which is just interesting stuff we find online and think is worth your time.
