HBO has just put out a teaser trailer for Game of Thrones Season 7 called Sigils.
The video touches on some important plot points and conflicts from the story so far, while
hinting at the broader themes we’ll see in the seasons to come.
It begins with a three-headed dragon, the sigil of House Targaryen – the family of
Daenerys.
We hear Dany talk about her father, the Mad King Aerys who was notoriously crazy and cruel.
One of the central conflicts of Daenerys’ character is the tension between her trying
to be a peaceful and compassionate ruler, but also having a need for violence and vengeance,
fire and blood – some fans worry she’s becoming like her father.
We then see a stag, sigil of House Baratheon, fighting the Targaryen dragon.
This represents Robert’s Rebellion, the war twenty years ago where Robert Baratheon
defeated Aerys Targaryen and became the King of Westeros.
We hear Robert say he’ll kill every Targaryen he gets his hands on, he hates them, partly
because Dany’s brother Prince Rhaegar ran off with the woman Robert loved, Lyanna Stark
– who we saw in Season 6 giving birth to Jon Snow.
We might find out more about Jon’s parents this next season.
We then see a lion, sigil of House Lannister, savaging a stag.
This represents the death of King Robert, which was brought about by Cersei and Lancel
Lannister.
Also remember that Robert’s brothers Renly and Stannis Baratheon were a thing for a while,
until Stannis was killed by Brienne, and Renly killed by a shadowy vagina monster.
So it’s been a rough couple a years for the Baratheon family – though Robert’s
bastard Gendry is still out there.
We see the head of a direwolf, sigil of House Stark, and hear King Joffrey ordering the
execution of Lord Eddard.
Things only get worse for the Starks from there – with the deaths of Robb and Catelyn
at the Red Wedding, and the loss of Winterfell to ironborn then Boltons…
In the books, there’s a huge complex conspiracy to return the Starks to power – go watch
that video – but in the show Jon and Sansa take back the north in a battle with the Boltons.
Bran Stark, meanwhile, has become a psychic tree-boy, Arya Stark has become a face-changing
Frey-slaying ninja assassin and Rickon Stark has become a pincushion.
We see the tentacles of the kraken of House Greyjoy.
King Balon Greyjoy tried to make to the Iron Islands great again, but he was kind of an
idiot and failed, ended up killed by his brother Euron, who now leads the ironborn towards
Dany, though Balon’s kids Yara and Theon get there first.
Euron is a seriously scary dude in the books and there’s no doubt he’ll be a major
bad guy in Season 7 of Thrones.
We then see a bear, sigil of House Mormont, which is kind of odd, cause the Mormonts aren’t
a major house – they’re the family of Lyanna, Maege, Jeor and Jorah.
Jorah of course has that disease, greyscale, and is currently out looking for a cure.
Funnily enough, Sam Tarly has just arrived at the Citadel, the university of Westeros.
If anyone can heal Jorah, that’s where they’d be.
We see a lion’s paw tangled in the thorny growths of a rose, sigil of House Tyrell.
The Tyrells were involved in many plots to gain power over the Lannisters, but ultimately
couldn’t scheme their way out of being blown up by Cersei.
Olenna still lives though, and she joins an alliance with the Sand Snakes of Dorne and
Varys and Daenerys to fight against Cersei, who crowns herself Queen of Westeros beside
her cronies Qyburn and the zombie-Mountain.
There’s a nice irony hearing Qyburn proclaiming Cersei “Protector of the Seven Kingdoms”
when she’s done far more damage than good to the realm.
Cersei’s brother and lover Jaime might finally question his relationship with her.
Meanwhile the other brother Tyrion is on board with Dany.
We then get this wide, sweeping view of the whole complex political clusterfuck that is
the last six seasons of Thrones.
Daenerys speaks of “spokes on a wheel” which alludes to the ultimate pointlessness
of these petty fights for power – the sigils crack and crumble to dust and we zoom out
to show the “one war that matters”, the real enemy, lookin like a blue-eyed Sauron
on the screen – the Others, the white walkers, and their army of the dead marching from beyond
the Wall to destroy everyone – no matter their sigil.
There are just two short seasons left in Game of Thrones, and shit is rapidly getting real.
Once-separate plotlines are crashing together, major characters are dropping like flies,
new revelations are solving old mysteries – this seventh season of the show should
be spectacular.
We’ll speculate in more detail when more trailers and stuff come out, but for now,
check out our other videos – there’re summaries, detailed analyses of theories and
characters, and videos on every episode of Thrones Season 6 – there will be a similar
series for Season 7.
Also, Alt Shift X now has some side-channels, including Alt Shift ZZZ, where I read long,
boring texts including fairy tales, Bible verses and 18th century erotica.
And there’s also Alt Shwift X, featuring Game of Thrones Abridged, where I give a-
loose reading of the Game of Thrones books – there’s more of that coming soon.
If any of this sounds good to you, there are link to these channels in the description.
Thank you to the translators who have been translating the captions of Alt Shift X videos
so people can enjoy them in other languages.
I can’t thank you all individually, or properly pronounce your names, but Cata Thielemann,
Felipe Garcia, Weronika Lach – your work is very much appreciated.
If you’d like contribute translated captions – there’s a link to a guide to do it in
the description.
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@Vineyarddawg, David Howe, LightCraft Miniature Studios, Dominykas Sikorskas, Stephanie Nasti,
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Cheers.