'Tis the season for trailers to drop for April releases. HBO went very vague with its Game of Thrones Season 8 "Dragonstone" teaser, but it too shared hints for its own endgame. A full official final season trailer is definitely coming later, but here's the brief new teaser:
No new footage. No voice-over. Doesn't seem like much, right? Well! It's a good thing Game of Thrones fans take after Tyrion Lannister -- they drink and they know things. They dissected the Targaryen out of the teaser and came away with some good nuggets.
First, the teaser title. Dragonstone is where Daenerys Targaryen was born, and her current headquarters. It's also the home of the table we're looking at in the teaser, with a detailed map of Westeros. That's where Aegon the Conqueror planned the invasion of Westeros.
The teaser shows ice coming down the map from the North. Obviously, that's meant to show the White Walkers moving south, with the frozen dragon a sad reminder of our beloved Viserion, and a frozen direwolf representing Winterfell.
However, we also have fire coming up from the South, taking out a Lion, which could represent the fall of House Lannister.
George R.R Martin is the author of these novels, and the series is called A Song of Ice and Fire. Game of Thrones was just the title of the first book. At this point, the ice is embodied by King in the North Jon Snow, with the fire as Queen Daenerys Targaryen and her (now two) dragons.
Is this tease a clash of fire and ice? Hopefully it wouldn't mean Team Targaryen vs. Team Stark (especially considering Dany and Jon are technically both Targaryens).
If anything, the clash of ice and fire in this teaser suggests the forming of dragonglass. We know dragonglass is one way to take down the White Walkers.
Another takeaway is where the ice and fire seem to meet. Based on the map, it looks like they are teasing a major showdown at the Trident, which is located toward the middle of Westeros.
The Trident is also where Robert Baratheon killed Rhaegar Targaryen, and started much of the Game of Thrones storyline.
By now, we know that Jon Snow is Rhaegar's son, Aegon Targaryen. Since Rhaegar was Dany's brother, that makes Jon her nephew. (If only that were the weirdest incestuous couple in Westeros.)
As Watchers on the Wall explained, there's a lot of key history to the Trident -- including the original fire vs. ice conflict, when King Torrhen Stark of the North kneeled to Aegon, his sisters, and their dragons. So it would make sense for this teaser to literally be teasing a major event there in the final season.
So far, this is only the second Game of Thrones Season 8 teaser. The first one was part of an overall HBO promo, but it at least did have some new footage. Still, it was only Jon reuniting with Sansa Stark at Winterfell, as Sansa gave someone the stink eye. That someone was probably Dany, with Sansa likely wary -- at least initially -- about Jon kneeling to Dany as queen.
Bran and Sam are both at Winterfell at this point, and they know the truth about Jon's heritage. It's going to be awk-ward when the story comes out -- and not just because Dany and Jon are aunt and nephew. He technically has a better claim to the Iron Throne, although having a strong claim is kind of an afterthought when it comes to the throne. You just take it. You win or you die.
Currently, Queen Cersei Lannister is sitting on the Iron Throne. She doesn't have much interest in helping Dany and Jon in the Great War against the White Walkers. Instead, Season 7 ended with Cersei teaming up with Euron Greyjoy, who was last seen on his way to Essos to bring back the Golden Company to fight for her. Jaime Lannister is not by his twin's side anymore, leaving King's Landing alone in disgust to ride North.
So the stage is set for a lot of exciting meetings and reunions in Season 8, which only has six episodes. They are meant to all be over an hour, at least, and it sounds like they will be jam-packed. Here's more of what we know so far about Season 8, which premieres in April 2019. Here are more midseason 2019 TV premieres to look forward to, in the meantime.
