It all began in Winterfell. It may all end in Winterfell.
When a man of Night's Watch runs away after a fearful encounter with the White Walkers and arrives at Winterfell, the honourble Ned Stark sentences him to death for deserting. Thus begins The Game of Thrones, a intriguing tale of hunger for power, position and one-upmanship to occupy a horribly uncomfortable throne on which King of the Andals and the First Men sits—a throne forged by the breath of the greatest dragon and "the swords of the vanquished, a thousand of them, melted together like so many candles”.
Ever since Robert's Rebellion, every major house in the Seven Kingdoms joined sides, ditched sides and killed with gay abandon, all the while harboring a desire to sit on the throne (okay, maybe the Starks were an exception; and who needs to sit on an iron throne when there can be a King in the North). The men and women plotted and killed even as an army of the dead was gathering forces and coming to take on the living, “riding their dead horses, hunting with their packs of pale spiders big as hounds”.
A pig with a little help from a Lannister snatched the throne from Robert and gave it to Joffrey Baratheon. The grand old Tyrell woman made sure that Joffrey didn't have the throne for long. Tommen Baratheon's stint, too, was short-lived. Two half-Lannisters later, the throne now belongs to Cersei Lannister, queen of the Andals and the First Men, Cersei Lannister. Cersei is not going to give up the throne without a fight, even if it would mean taking on Drogon and Rhaegal, and their mother Daenerys Targaryen, the Breaker of Chains and the Mother of Dragons, and everyone who sides with her, including her brother Tyrion Lannister.
The ultimate battle, the one that the trailer shows taking place in Winterfell, however, is not for the throne, it is for survival.
Jon Snow is back home with Daenerys Targaryen and her Army of Unsullied and two dragons. He has reunited with his siblings Sansa, Arya and Bran. The trailer opens with Arya Stark retreating in fear, and we can be sure that it can't be a mere mortal that she is running away from. The girl, who has been trained by the Faceless Men, won't be beaten back by a few White Walkers. Has the Night King, perhaps, just perhaps, managed to get to his army of dead one of the Starks? What else can instil such fear in a girl who once said her one true god is death?
There is Lord Varys, with trepidation written all over the face, sitting among what appears to be a group of women and children. The last time we saw a group of women and children huddled together in fear was during the Battle of the Blackwater. Considering that Lord Varys was with Daenerys Targaryen, who has arrived at Winterfell, it is possible that Varys is hiding in Crypt of Winterfell. Is Varys looking at a White Walker, or a few of them, who managed to get into the crypt?
The trailer then cuts to a ship full of mercenaries of the Golden Company. Euron Greyjoy had sailed to Essos to seek the help of mercenaries of Golden Company—the largest and most skilled sellsword companies in the Free Cities—in Cersei Lannister's war against the mother of dragons. We then get to see Cersei Lannister, accompanied by Qyburn, waiting for the arrival of the Golden Company. But what good is a band of mercenaries against an army of the dead as the real threat to the realm is the Night King. And besides, was it wise for Cersei to trust a Greyjoy— that too Euron Greyjoy? The backstabbing, double-crossing Euron could very well use the Golden Company to snatch the throne from Cersei.
And there's some good news for fans of Tormund. The man is alive and well, or so the trailer tells us. He is seen with none other than Beric Dondarrion, the man who cheated death one too many times.
In season one of the series, there was an army marching to Winterfell and it is Bran who first spots them from the rooftops. In what could look like a tribute, a boy is seen announcing the arrival of Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow with the Army of Unsullied and the two dragons. The dragons have caught the fancy of the Stark sisters as both look at them in amazement.
“They are coming. Our enemy doesn't tire. Doesn't stop. Doesn't feel,” Jon Snow gets to have a little monologue interspersed with Gendry busy forging arms for the battle, Jorah Mormont struggling to rein his horse and Missandei and Grey Worm kissing (perhaps, for the last time?). We also see Jaime Lannister engaged in battle even as fire rages all around him. Have the dragons been used to defend Winterfell? Given the fact that it didn't go well for Daenerys the last time dragons were deployed against the White Walkers, will she be able to defend Winterfell without putting Drogon and Rhaegal at risk?
We also hear Jaime Lannister saying he has promised to fight for the living. I am unable to figure out if he is saying this to his sister or if he reached Winterfell to help Starks and Daenerys help in the battle against the dead.
We do see Jon and Danny heading towards the two dragons. Is Jon going to ride one of them? Is it going to be Rhaegal, named after his father Rhaegar Targaryen?
There are the close-up shots of some of the leading characters of the show—Sansa Stark, Danny, Tyrion Lannister and Arya and a dragon spewing fore. How many of these beloved characters who you have loved and adored for long, will survive the final battle?
It is only by the fag end of the trailer that we see anything of the army of the dead. Even as the defenders of Winterfell line up to face the enemy they have been dreading for long, we get to see the two legs of the undead horse.
“When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives,” Ned Stark always said. But can the pack survive against the White Walkers?
