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| source// HBO |
We’re now less than a month away from the start of Game of Thrones Season 6, and HBO are really starting to peel back the layers with plenty of new footage and images over the past few weeks.
At the beginning of March we finally received a fantastic full-length trailer for the new season, and it would’ve been a fair expectation that it was the last we got to see before April 24. Thankfully, though, that wasn’t the case.
Airing during March Madness, and since making its way online, HBO have unleashed a new teaser for Season 6, and, well, it’s incredibly exciting.
While the first trailer focused heavily on Jon Snow, and reinforcing the fact that he’s coming back just by reinforcing the fact that he’s deader than dead, there’s no sign of the former Lord Commander here.
Instead it packs a hell of a lot of action into its 30-second runtime, with battles, intrigue, and what may be the best and most tantalising single shot of Thrones we’ve received so far in 2016.
Game of Thrones Season 6 may not be airing in March, but this trailer is certainly promising us a lot of madness, and here’s an analysis of everything you need to see.
21. Dany Enters Vaes Dothrak
The trailer opens with Daenerys, having been captured by a new khalasar, being led into the Dothraki city of Vaes Dothrak.
We get a new shot of the Mother of Dragons here, looking on in shock as she approaches the city, which certainly looks bigger than the last time we saw it back in Season 1. The camera then flips round to show us Dany’s walk to the city, showing her capture and just how many people she’s surrounded by.
20. The Great Game
“Are you afraid? You should be. You’re in the great game now, and the great game is terrifying.”
We’d already heard the latter part of Tyrion’s speech, but it’s extended in this trailer to make it into an even starker warning, although who he’s talking to isn’t exactly clear. Obviously it’s cut to make it seem like Daenerys, once they’re reunited, but it could feasibly be Grey Worm or Missandei (neither of whom have really been involved in ‘the game’ yet), Varys (though he’s a master of it), or the envoy he’s greeting in Meereen in the shot above, which looks like it’s probably Meereenese folk come to talk to their new ruler.
Of course, the contention here is whether the first part of that quote is actually Tyrion. There is, on repeated listens, a subtle difference to the voice. For now Tyrion may still be the best bet, but it could well be a character who haven’t heard yet, such as the Three-Eyed Raven or Euron Greyjoy.
19. Grey Worm’s New Threads
Some things are guaranteed in Game of Thrones, and Tyrion drinking wine is as surefire a bet as sex and death.
Here we see the new leader of Meereen drinking away his troubles, with a less-than-impressed Grey Worm looking on, presumably not taken by Tyrion getting drunk on the job. Also notable is Grey Worm’s new outfit, which is a little less ‘soldier’ and a bit fancier, which perhaps reflects him moving up the ladder with Jorah and Daario out of town.
18. Ramsay Rides Into Battle
Following on from Ramsay seemingly getting a bit of a telling him from his father in the previous trailer, here we see the former bastard (he still is one in the other sense of the word, of course) ready to lead his Bolton troops into battle, which promises to be pretty darn epic.
This is a nice reverse of the shot we see in the previous trailer of the flayed man burning, this time simply showing us the flames before transitioning to Ramsay and his army.
17. Are We Out Of The Woods
These woods are going to be crucial in the early stages of Season 6, if their prominence in the trailers is anything to go by.
We get another new look at them here, as we see Theon and Sansa still very much together at this point, and fleeing through the woods together, probably being chased by Bolton men. After that we get a close-up of Sansa, and things don’t look too good for the eldest Stark. Then again, do they ever?
16. An Unhappy Reunion
A couple of shots that are carried over from the previous trailer, first with Jaime arriving back at King’s Landing, and then Cersei waiting at the harbour for the ship’s arrival.
It’s clear, then, that this is going to be an important scene. For a start, it’ll mark the reunion between Jaime and Cersei, and we’re promised their relationship is going to some really weird places this year (yes, weirder than plain ol’ twincest), while it’s also when Cersei will discover the dead body of her only daughter.
15. High Sparrow And The Boy King
Speaking of Cersei’s children, the next shot gives us King Tommen having a rather, er, pleasant chat with the boy King.
“We are sinful creatures, we deserve death. We all do.”
That’s just a lovely thing to say to anyone, nevermind someone who is still a child, but it does indicate the High Sparrow trying to get his message across to Tommen and win him to his cause, leading to Tommen joining the Faith – and his wife Margaery – and positioning him against his own mother.
14. Jaime Faces The Faith
Jaime, all gold-suited up and riding on horseback, is an image we’ve seen before in the Season 6 promotion, but this is our best look yet at it, and puts it in more context.
In this trailer we can really see those Tyrell soldiers that he’s leading into battle, and given the previous trailer showed the Tyrell army at the bottom of the steps of the Sept of Baelor, we can assume that Jaime is the one leading them into a potential clash against the Faith.
13. Brienne In The Woods
Brienne is in the woods, a very similar location to where we’ve seen Theon and Sansa, which is a very obvious choice to lead us into thinking that she’ll come to their rescue.
No doubt that’s her plan, at least, though whether it’ll actually happen or not is another matter. The version of the trailer shown on TV had a longer sequence here, with Brienne fighting Bolton men, but the full quality version released online replaced that with the shot of Theon below, which we’re probably supposed to think is part of the same sequence, and thus means it’s probably something different.
12. Drogon To The Rescue
One of this trailer’s money shots, we get to see Drogon in-action and up-close. Daenerys’ largest dragon seems to get bigger every year, and even in this brief scene the sheer scale (no pun intended) of him is impressive.
Even more impressive is just where he is, as he flies over what is likely Vaes Dothrak. Does this mean that Drogon will be flying in to rescue his mother? Things haven’t looked too good for Dany with her being captured, but a dragon by her side would be very persuasive in winning the Dothraki to her cause, or at least winning her freedom.
11. Wild Horses
Speaking about the big battle sequence of Season 6, showrunner David Benioff told EW:
“Miguel [Sapochnik] did such a fantastic job with Hardhome we thought we should bring him back – this time with horses. Horses are not easy, at all…”
Here we get to see those horses in action, first lined-up and raring to go, and the next in full-flow. It’s not entirely clear who is riding them at this point, but it seems a given that it’s the army opposing the Boltons, which would mean some combination of Northmen and wildlings.
10. Tower Of Joy
Few elements, if any, of Season 6 are as exciting as this: the Tower of Joy sequence.
We saw a couple of quick shots of it in the previous trailer, and it’s expanded here to give us a better look at a couple of its participants. The main person in the images above and below definitely seem to be a younger Ned Stark, who is of course the man leading the soldiers into battle against the Kingsguard, in order to rescue his sister Lyanna.
And then there’s the man with two swords. From what we’ve seen of the Tower of Joy so far, he’s the most prominent of those fighting in Targaryen armour, so there’s a very good chance this is Ser Arthur Dayne. Unfortunately it seems as though he won’t have his greatsword Dawn, but then maybe two swords are better than one. (They’re not, we want to see Dawn, dammit!)
Not clearly seen here is the man we’ve all been waiting to meet: Howland Reed. The only other known survivor of the Tower of Joy, and now the last one standing after Ned’s death, there’s been no confirmation on his appearance, but he has to be here. Could that be him on the left of this shot?
9. Wun Wun At The Gates
Did someone order a giant? Yes, Wun Wun is back, and he’s crashing whatever party is going on as he bursts through the gate of – where? It certainly looks most like Castle Black, which makes plenty of sense, although there’s an outside chance this is Winterfell we’re seeing, and that would tally with reports of the giant being involved in the major battle.
Just about visible in this scene, if you pause and look closely anyway, are some mysterious figures in the background. Presumably these are wildlings, and they’re following Wun Wun through that gate to take on the people on the other side.
8. Tyrion Visits The Dragons
We saw Tyrion creeping around Meereen by torchlight in the last trailer, but this version is a much better, more front-on look at the Imp.
The suggestion the first time we saw Tyrion in this location was that he was visiting the other two dragons, and this shot goes closer to confirming that thanks to the look on his face, a mixture of awe, shock, and terror. Is he simply wanting to see them for himself, or should we prepare for him to actually unleash the winged beasts?
7. Running Down Blind Alleys
A repeated shot here of Arya running and jumping through the streets of Braavos. Again, like with the repeated viewing of the boat and Cersei, it indicates a certain degree of significance to this scene.
The belief is that here Arya is running away from the Waif, either as part of her Faceless Man training, or with the Waif gone rogue and acting independently, but either way it’s fun to see Arya indulging in some parkour, and the full version of this scene should be some nice fast-paced action.
A final point here: none of the people in this shot are looking at the person flying through the air. A girl is no one?
6. The Night’s King In The Flames
Holy. Sh*t!
That shot I mentioned in the intro, the one that is arguably the best we’ve had so far this year? Well, here it is in all its glory.
It’s an incredible image, if nothing else. There aren’t many clues to go on as to what exactly is on fire here though. Chances are this is another vision of Bran’s, but vision or not it could be the Three Eyed Raven’s cave/tree that’s on fire here, though that’s just a bit of speculation.
Notice, also, that he has his back to us, meaning he’s facing the flames. Some men just want to watch the world burn, even when those men are creepy Ice Demons.
5. The Battle Rages
More of the huge battle sequence, and those horses aren’t looking quite so good now.
We’ve seen large scale battles on Thrones before, of course, but this does look different, if not bigger, as it’s getting right into the action and has that four-legged presence.
Unlike the previous trailer there’s no potential sightings of Jon Snow in this shot, though no doubt someone will claim there is, but that soldier on the left is interesting, as he appears to be wearing Stark armour.
4. A New Face
“One way or another, the gift will be given. One way or another, a face will be added to the hall.”
Damn Jaqen, back at it again with the cryptic messages. The first part is pretty clear, with ‘the gift’ referring to death, and Jaqen once again appears to be forcing Arya to kill someone in her quest to become no one.
The latter is a bit more ambiguous, and comes across as a bit of a threat. Basically saying either you kill this person, or it’s your face that will be added to the hall.
Also, although it’s very difficult to tell in this shot, it doesn’t quite look as though Arya’s blind here, which backs up the idea that she will get her sight back at some point in Season 6, which just makes logistical sense even outside of the narrative.
3. The Potential Faces
After Jaqen’s warning/threat about a face being added to the hall, we then get some quick shots of lots of major characters, an indicator that it could be any one of them who dies in Season 6, though probably none of them.
The most interesting here is the first, with Jaime having what appears to be a rather unfriendly chat with the High Sparrow, and shows more of the conflict we can expect between that pair in Season 6.
After that there’s Daenerys, probably in front of a new Khal, Tyrion in Meereen, Cersei looking troubled, Arya in the streets of Braavos, and finally Theon, somewhere. It looks as though he’s talking to a woman, so the most likely scenario is that he’s reunited with his sister Yara.
2. Sansa In Hiding
The next face we see is Sansa’s, and, naturally, she’s still in the woods.
She does appear to have stopped running at this point, and is instead hiding out from someone. The obvious answer here is that she’s hiding from Bolton men, though it’s placement at this point in the trailer – long after the other wood shots – is a little odd.
It’s probably meant to try and confuse us with the following shot, as though Sansa is a part of that, which seems very unlikely. Still, all may not be what it seems, and the other possibility is that she’s hiding from approaching soldiers from the Wall or elsewhere in the North, or perhaps even Littlefinger.
1. Bran And The Night’s King II: This Time It’s Serious
Once again there’s a big focus on Bran and the Night’s King, because, well, it’s Bran standing next to the Night’s King!
So far it has been assumed that this is one of Bran’s visions, and that is still the most plausible scenario, but it’s the final ‘mic-drop’ moment that makes us question everything, as the Night’s King reaches out and actually grabs Bran’s arm. WTF?! We’re still dealing with a vision here, right? Or is sh*t about to get even more serious than we first feared?
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