Warning: This post contains spoilers about Game of Thrones season eight premiere.
Game of Thrones might have the best opening credits sequence in television history, and now it’s better than ever. A more detailed, sharper intro debuted ahead of the show’s season eight premiere. And not only does this new sequence look cooler, but it might also be hiding some clues about what we can expect from the series’ final season.
1. The Winterfell Crypt
We’ve wondered if the final resting place for important Starks was destined to play a major role since we saw this pre-season promo. The teaser sent us digging through the crypt’s recesses to unearth its ancient secrets. Now that the crypt has been included in the new opening credits, we’re convinced something major, and most likely devastating, will happen there.
2. The Dragon-Killing Scorpion Bolt
Qyburn had a giant crossbow built in season seven, like the one the Dornish used to shoot down Aegon the Conqueror’s dragon-riding sister-queen Rhaenys and her dragon Meraxes. Bronn managed to hit Drogon with a scorpion bolt during the Loot Train Attack, but Drogon survived and burned the crossbow. The opening credits hints at Qyburn having built another one (maybe even multiple ones), and with it still pointed at Balerion the Dread’s skull, that;s an ominous sign for any dragons, alive or dead, who might come to King’s Landing.
3. The Iron Throne
How will the show end? With the final showdown between the living and the dead, when Jon or Daenerys faces the Night King? Or instead will it end with the question that has dominated the entire series: who will end up on the Iron Throne? If the new opening credits, whose last shot shows the Iron Throne towering over the camera, is a sign, the show will end in King’s Landing.
4. New Decorations on the Astrolabe
Even with all of the locations that have been added and removed over the first seven seasons, the engraved images on the opening credits astrolabe have always been the same. Not only did season eight’s intro change them and show them in greater detail, it lingered on them. And that’s terrifying if you are a loyal bannerman to House Stark.
Two images showed dragons breathing fire and being menacing (as dragons are wont to do).
The other new astrolabe engraving is far more specific, and far more haunting. It has a headless direwolf that has been hanged from a castle wall, surrounded by a large lion on one side and a man with a dagger, proudly holding the wolf’s head, on the other.
Uh… that’s not great for Winterfell, with Cersei to the south and the White Walkers to the north, or for any members of House Stark.
If these new opening credits offers clues for how Game of Thrones will end, it might look awesome, but it’s terrifying what it has to say.
Images: HBO
