New Game of Thrones Teaser Envisions the Victorious Dead
The tattered sigil of House Stark flies over what appears a destroyed Winterfell. Considering this new Game of Thrones teaser is entitled “Aftermath,” you would be forgiven for assuming the Night King and his army of the dead have already won.
HBO has been releasing Game of Thrones promos, behind-the-scenes featurettes, and videos that look back at previous seasons at a breakneck pace. This new teaser doesn’t offer any actual footage from season 8 (we don’t think) but rather envisions what Westeros will look like if the Night King is victorious. This vision of Winterfell is all the more unsettling because there aren’t a bunch of dead bodies strewn around. Instead, one can infer that all the people—including Jon Snow and possibly Dany—that fought and lost to the Night King are now members of his army. That’s always been the most horrific rub of fighting the dead; they kill you and then recruit you.
That’s what makes this teaser so arresting. When we think of the coming war we often think of mutilated bodies, dying soldiers and shrieking dragons. Yet a victory for the Night King would mean quiet. The dead don’t talk. The defeated simply rise up in their zombie-like forms and follow the White Walkers’ silent commands. The future of a dead-led Westeros would be nearly silent.
We’ve got less than two weeks before the season eight premiere. We’ll know soon enough whether or not this vision of an abandoned, vanquished Winterfell becomes reality. HBO has been dropping artfully directed teasers that play with our expectations for years. It’s all about hinting at what might come to pass, without outright offering any clues whether these teasers depict what will actually unfold.
Check out the teaser below. Game of Thrones 8th and final season premieres on April 14.
Featured image: The Night King. Photo courtesy of HBO
