What secrets lie buried beneath Winterfell?
Well it’s almost here. And if you just said aloud some variant of the phrase “Winter is Coming,” I want you to stop reading, take a good hard look in the mirror, and smack yourself in the face. Not hard, mind you, but enough to knock that shit off. Better? Good.
We are down to the last 3 months of our 596 day Game of Thrones Free jail sentence and the hype for the final season is, like an excruciating case of appendicitis, about to burst. And in many respects rightly so. Since the shows debut in 2011, Game of Thrones has become the most pirated show in the world, introduced millions of people to the fantasy genre, and in many ways, helped buck the stereotypical idea that Tolkienesque, high fantasy is only for children and cannot have deeper, more adult themes.
The show in particular has been a platform to allow dozens of actors to deliver career defining performances and launched them into the limelight. Many of whom have worked tirelessly on their craft for years without a fraction of the recognition they received in one episode. It has broken numerous Guinness World records, received 47 Primetime Emmy Awards, created a new spoken language, and has firmly claimed a foothold in common pop culture parlance.
So will the final season be a rousing success? The triumphant swan song to an epic tale, cementing its place in the pantheon of Arts and Pop Culture, culminating as a story to echo through time for generations? Or will it have come all this way only to trip at the final hurdle, crashing headfirst into the unforgiving pavement with a thunderous, bone chilling crack that we feel in our very soul? Only time will tell. But until then, let us speculate wildly because it’s more fun.
The newest teaser Trailer “Crypts of Winterfell” gives us few concrete details, but does provide a glimpse of what may be to come. While the dark and cold crypt is visually beautiful, more important is the dialogue that we hear throughout the trailer. At the end of Season 7 we learn from Bran’s brief stint as a Time Lord that Jon Snow’s real parentage is not Ned Stark and some low born maid, but the son of Ned’s sister, Lyanna Stark, and Prince Rhaegar Targaryen. Until this time, the history that all the people of Westeros were lead to believe was that Prince Rhaegar kidnapped and raped Lyanna, Ned’s sister and Robert’s betrothed. This started the war of Robert’s Rebellion and resulted in the destruction of the Mad King and the last of the Targaryen bloodline. Come to find out the two were in love and ran off together to be married in secret. And much like Romeo & Juliet, that secret ends in tragedy, with Lyanna dying in childbirth, Rhaegar falling at the hands of Robert in the Battle at the Trident, and the truth of their love lost to time and twisted into a horror story of cruelty and perversion.
The first images are of Jon walking through the crypts of Winterfell, the place where all Starks are laid to rest. He walks past the statue of his mother Lyanna when we hear her final words, “Promise me Ned” where she asks Ned to promise to keep her son, Jon, a Targaryen, safe from Robert’s vengeful wrath and his hatred of the Targaryen bloodline. This is the same secret that forever stains his immutable code of honor and becomes a burden he bears for the rest of his life out of the love he has for his sister. As Jon walks past the statue, the feather originally placed there by Robert in the very first episode, and seen again by Sansa in Season 5, falls to the floor and Jon turns as if he hears something. While we as the audience know the truth behind Jon’s lineage, he remains unaware. Could this be a sign that the truth of who Jon is will finally be revealed to him? Could this secret, something so delicate and carefully guarded by Lyanna and Ned, finally be dropped, and with it that secret burden? If it does, will it change anything about Jon? Will he be torn between his two families? Or will he embody the perfect blend of Ice and Fire and put an end to the Long Night?
Next we see Sansa as she walks past the effigy of her mother, Catelyn Stark, and Arya as she too traverses the hallowed halls. We hear the whispers of Catelyn, blaming herself for her families misfortunes because she “could not love a motherless child” referring to Jon Snow. This was always Catelyn’s biggest regret and obstacle as a person; despite knowing that Jon himself had done nothing wrong, she could never look at him with anything but hate her entire life. To a greater extend, she could not move past the wrongs committed against her in her life, and in many ways that inability to forgive would go on to cause a great deal of pain she would experience in her last few years. Much of the terrible misfortune she experienced was brought about by her own hand, her the inability to let things go for the greater good, despite how wrong the actions of others towards you were.
Conversely, Sansa was been molded by the horror she experienced and took a lesson from each of those atrocities. She is a character that has undergone more growth than two dozen others due to the things she has endured. She has become strong and powerful in her own right, and perhaps the greatest political player on the field (next to Tyrion) still standing. Arya has been forged into a violent killer and charged herself with righting the wrongs committed against her family. She has even gone as far as to distance herself from her own face, her very being, in order to achieve what she wants. Perhaps she will be better able to accept Jon for who he truly is, as she herself knows that the face we wear, and who we are, are not always the same.
But will the secret promise of Ned’s to keep Jon safe, the sin of the father, further drive a wedge between Sansa, Arya, and Jon when it is finally revealed? Or will they be able to do what their mother was not and accept him for who he truly is and as the brother they have always known regardless of his bloodline? Have the few remaining Starks finally grown outside of the shadow of sin that their parents could never escape?
It seems that the Night King is there to force the issue as the creeping frost moves throughout the crypt, consuming the same feather and perhaps symbolically burying the truth beneath the ice as well. For what will any of it matter if they do not live through the coming storm? A statement that seems all the more relevant as they stand before effigies of their own, possibly symbolizing their own demise. Game of Thrones has never been one to spare those we love, so the idea that these main characters and others might die, no matter how important they are to the story is very possible. In fact it would be safe to say that any and all characters are on the chopping block this season more so than ever before. And from the looks of things, the Night King may make an appearance in Winterfell sooner than any of us could hope. My question is, will the crypt remain a crypt? Or will the Night King’s very presence mean he has some recently awoken soldiers on the inside?
Perhaps we see an army of undead Winterfell family members rise from the ground for an unholy family reunion. Perhaps there are other secrets hidden in the crypt, buried beneath snow and mud and time. Or perhaps the crypt will get a new addition to the family before the show is over? Whatever the case we know that death is creeping in, both for our characters, and the show as a whole. I for one hope it goes out in a brilliant blaze of glory. I know others can only see darkness in the shows future. But whatever the end result, I think we can all agree: it has been one hell of a ride.
