Ravens arrived on Twitter yesterday (February 28), carrying photos of 20 – yes twenty – of our favourite characters sat upon the Iron Throne, yet they could be carrying morbid news.
With Cersei’s troops riding north to help the cause of men (read: shaft them, so she can keep her Lannister can on the throne), Daenerys Targaryen and nephew/lover Jon Snow bringing a Dothraki army across the Narrow Sea, and the Night King dropping the Wall with some zombie dragon magic, all we know so far is the final season is going to be bloody good.
Hence all our favourites getting a sexy shot for folk to share on Twitter in the viral #ForTheThrone campaign – I mean, they’ve even given Theon Greyjoy one. Show me someone who thinks he’s fit for the Iron Throne and I’ll show you someone who doesn’t read the Bottom End Times.
But alas, it’s not castration’s finest embodiment of hubris and redemption’s press shot which has got fans excited about hidden meanings.
No, we’re looking closer to home – where in this case I’m going to assume the majority of Game of Thrones fans see Winterfell as home, because, well, that’s where this whole saga started, and I’ll be damned if things don’t come full circle like a narrative device I feel like I’m entitled to. It’s 2019. Get over it.
It’s Jon Snow’s pic which fans think is letting slip a vital piece of the puzzle:
Can you see it? No, it’s not tucked down there. It’s definitely not that. Where are you looking?
Alright, I’ll give you a clue. It’s not exactly something hiding in the picture.
Ah for seven hells, let me rephrase. Does it remind you of anything? Anyone? How about now:
It’s practically a mirror image of Jon slumped over to one side, with Longclaw gripped in both hands.
Doesn’t he look like his (not actual) dad? But that might not be a good thing.
If you can cast you memory back to season one, which seems like a thousand lifetimes ago – which considering the kill count of this show would be a conservative estimate – salt of the earth Ned Stark didn’t last too long while in proximity to the Iron Throne.
Do foreboding things lie ahead for our King in the North? I wouldn’t put too much stock in it. This is no accident on the part of HBO. And as they’ve proved masters of storytelling over the last eight years, it’s unlikely they’d let slip like this.
It smells like a red herring big enough to feed the Iron Islands a thousand times over.
The final season of Game of Thrones begins in the US on April 14 and early morning April 15 on Sky Atlantic in the UK.
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Tim Horner is a sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated with a BA Journalism from University College Falmouth before most his colleagues were born. A previous editor of adult mags, he now enjoys bringing the tone down in the viral news sector.