Narrator: The first teaser for the final
season of Game of Thrones debuted on HBO.
[Crowd Yells]
So far, the only footage we've seen from
the season was in a trailer for
HBO's 2019 lineup.
There, we saw Daenerys Targaryen
and Sansa Stark meeting for the very first time.
Rather than giving us a clip of new footage
we instead got an extended scene that will
not actually end up in the final season.
Naturally, it left us with a lot more
questions than answers.
The teaser is called "The Crypts of Winterfell."
The first thing we see is Jon Snow walking down
a dark hallway in Winterfell's crypts with
torch in hand.
He walks past a statue of Lyanna Stark.
That's when we hear:
Lyanna: You have to protect him.
Narrator: This is a call back to season six
episode 10, "The Winds of Winter."
It's in the Tower of Joy, which we see
in a flashback of sorts thanks to Bran Stark
who is now the Three-Eyed Raven.
In the scene, Lyanna has just given birth
to Jon, and Ned arrives at the guarded fortress.
Lyanna: Ned?
Ned: Lyanna?
Lyanna: If Robert finds out he'll
kill him. You know he will.
You have to protect him.
Narrator: Lyanna is asking Ned
to protect Jon from Robert Baratheon.
Robert, at that time, was supposed to marry Lyanna
but Jon isn't Robert's child.
No, he's Rhaegar Targaryen's son.
Lyanna and Rhaegar's affair, of course
made Robert mad, leading to Robert's rebellion
which ended with Robert on the Iron Throne.
But more than anything, this scene
is definitive proof that Jon is a Stark by blood
and also has a claim to the throne because he's
Rhaegar Targaryen's son, which makes
John a Targaryen, descendant of Aerys Targaryen
the Mad King.
Aerys:Burn them all.
Narrator: Obviously at this point,
Jon doesn't know he has Targaryen blood
because he wouldn't have, you know.
Lyanna: You have to protect him.
Narrator: Now the next one
might seem like a minor detail
but it's actually very important.
In the teaser, we see a feather
land on the ground.
Later in the teaser we'll see
that same feather freeze.
The feather is actually a callback
all the way to the pilot
when then-King Robert Baratheon places
it on Lyanna's crypt statue.
We saw it again in the fourth episode of
season five, "Sons of the Harpy," in which Sansa
visiting her aunt's statue
sees it and picks it up.
The truth about Jon Snow is hinted
at in both episodes featuring the feather.
In the pilot, King Robert and Ned discuss
Rhaegar and Lyanna for the first time.
When Robert says he dreams of
killing Rhaegar every night
Ned replies by saying, "The Targaryens are gone."
"Not all of them," Robert replies.
The episode then cuts to Daenerys
and Viserys Targaryen
but we now know that they weren't
the last surviving Targaryens.
The feather's second appearance is in season five
when Sansa visits the crypts after
returning to Winterfell.
While standing at Lyanna's crypt
she notices the feather and picks it up.
She and Littlefinger discuss
what happened between Rhaegar and Lyanna.
Sansa repeats a widely accepted
falsehood about Rhaegar and Lyanna.
Sansa: He kidnapped her and raped her.
Narrator: That he captured her
against her will, and brought her
to the Tower of Joy, but Rhaegar and Lyanna were
actually in love and secretly eloped together.
Rhaegar: I am her's Lyanna: I am his
Rhaegar: and she is mine Lyanna: and he is mine
Both: from this day
Both: until the end of my days.
Bran: Robert's rebellion was
built on a lie.
Narrator: Littlefinger doesn't correct Sansa
but instead gives her a knowing smirk.
Catelyn: All this horror has come to my family.
Narrator: Next in the teaser
we cut to see Sansa walking down
that same passageway.
She walks past the Catelyn statue
which seems to almost whisper to her.
Catelyn: All this horror has come to my family.
Narrator: We then see Arya Stark.
In the background, we hear the rest of this quote.
Catelyn: It's only because I couldn't
love a motherless child.
Narrator: The full quote is:
Catelyn: All this horror has
come to my family.
It's all because I couldn't
love a motherless child.
Narrator: This comes from season three
episode two, "Dark Wings, Dark Words."
She's talking to Talisa, Robb Stark's love
in the woods on the way to
Lord [Hoster] Tully's funeral.
Catelyn is under the impression that Jon
is Ned's illegitimate child from an affair.
In this quote, she regrets not
being a real mother to Jon and
letting jealousy take over.
Catelyn: When my husband brought
that baby home from the war
I couldn't bear to look at him.
Narrator: Catelyn died never knowing
the truth about Jon
but she's right about how Jon's entrance
into her family has complicated things.
But it could also be the thing that
sets things right
if Jon takes the throne at King's Landing.
Then, the teaser gives us a cameo from
another character that we haven't
heard from in ages.
It's a statue of Ned Stark whose season one death
in the episode "Baylor" shocked the world
and set the tone for the entire series.
Jon turns to the statue as we hear
Ned: You are a Stark.
You might not have my name, but you
have my blood.
Narrator: This was from season one
episode two, "Kingsroad."
It's an important line.
Ned: You are a Stark.
You might not have my name, but you
have my blood.
Narrator: This was perhaps our first hint
in the show at Jon's true parentage.
Back in season one, a lot of us thought
this was confirmation that Jon was Ned's son
but turns out it's a bit more
complicated than that.
Ned said this as he sent Jon off
to become part of the Night's Watch
prompting Jon to ask if his
mother is still alive.
Then, Ned promises that the next time
they see each other
they'll talk about his mother.
They never see each other again.
Finally, Jon, Sansa, and Arya unite.
The three of them look upon statues of themselves
as if they'll be next among Winterfell's dead.
So we know the three siblings will
probably unite at Winterfell
and based on the earlier snippet
Daenarys will be there as well.
Sansa: Winterfell is yours, Your Grace.
Narrator: Next, they draw their swords
and face off against the coming ice storm.
This feels like fairly obvious foreshadowing
to the show's final epic battle.
The stage for this was set in the
season seven finale, "The Dragon and the Wolf."
In the episode before this one, "Beyond the Wall,"
the wights and White Walkers successfully
killed Daenerys' dragon Viserion.
The Night King then reanimates the dragon
finally giving them a weapon powerful enough
to bust through the wall and
make their way into Westeros.
This teaser was just a taste
of what season eight will be like.
And while it didn't even show us
any actual footage from the new season
it seems to perfectly set the tone.
But this was the most important
piece of information
from the teaser, the eighth and final season
of Game of Thrones premieres on Sunday, April 14.
Until then, we'll just have to wait
for the first trailer to debut.
So what did you think of the first teaser?
Does it give you any hints about what's to come?
Let us know in the comments.