WARNING: Ice Zombies And Spoilers Ahead
HBOThe director of the Game of Thrones episode ‘Beyond The Wall’ has been forced to appease his hawk-eyed viewers, yet again, after a fleeting moment got theorists’ collective tongues wagging.
Between incest, dragon murder and ice zombies, there’s a lot to play for in Game of Thrones right now. But the threat of the Night King didn’t stop viewers noticing something strange about Jon Snow’s trusty Valerian steel sword, Longclaw.
Reddit user miba 54 mused, ‘I can’t be the only one who noticed this about Longclaw’:
Longclaw opened its eyes when Jon got out of the water. #GameOfThones
pic.twitter.com/5N32rog5SM— Lace (@LaceyPutman) August 21, 2017
Viewers immediately began reading into the significance of this eye-opening detail, believing Longclaw awakening was a sign marking the return of Uncle Benjen at the behest of the Three-Eyed Raven.
Alas, in a recent interview with Insider, ‘Beyond the Wall’ director Alan Taylor, who’d returned to the series years after directing Season 1’s final two episodes, poured cold, icy water all over the theory.
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He said:
That is so funny, somebody else mentioned that to me and I haven’t got a clue what they’re talking about. So either this sword is magic and it’s doing stuff on its own or something happened.
I’m going to have to go back and watch that moment close up and in slow motion to see what’s going on there. I can say that there was no intention for that to be the case.
HBOTaylor also shed light on the Dany and Jon tensions, saying:
I think it’s become more official but it’s been coming for a while, so much so that it’s not only starting to happen but Tyrion sees it coming enough that he’s making fun of her for it. He can see what’s brewing.
I can’t say much more about what [Martin] said about where we’re going with Dany and Jon because that leaps ahead into the next season, but to me the revelation was that, at the time, we had a hundred characters and yet he knew it’s about these two.
So in my episode we get to take a big step forward in that Jon is no longer competing with her — he was willing to bow down and recognize [sic] her as queen. That’s a huge step. And also they’re holding hands, and the look that she gives him in that scene where she almost swoons and draws back… it’s pretty clear where this is headed, but it’s not there yet.
HBOCredit where credit is due: these theories are spreading like wildfire over the Internet – and each is a tiny little homage to the artistry of Game of Thrones.
In this fantasy, after all, anything is possible.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.