The long-promised winter is finally upon us, as well as the many Game of Thrones characters. Naturally, we are all sitting tight waiting for any news we can get about the upcoming season 8. But before we get too ahead of ourselves, I say we sit back and reflect on the sumptuous season 7 finale from which we are still reeling. If it’s any consolation during the long wait, the cast is just as anxious to get rolling on the next season as we are to watch them do it! Several of them (eight, to be precise), offer a little further insight into their characters’ ‘The Dragon and the Wolf’ storylines. Making Game of Thrones has assembled a plethora of actor quotes, in which those interviewed offer thoughts into the many friend/enemy/frenemey encounters and reunions that the finale had in store for us.
“The feelings she had about the Hound were very immature, and I feel like she’s grown up since then. If they met again, she’d hopefully just be an effective killer with him, rather than against him,” reflects Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) on the Hound’s conversation with Brienne. I hope that if Arya ever reunites with the Hound (fingers crossed for season 8!), they put their enmities aside (thanks, Davos), and revisit the buddy-comedy ‘Stark and the Hound’ duo we all know and love. (credit to our own Oz for that title)
“I didn’t see it coming. The way I acted it is, ‘It’s gone. I’m out. See you guys,’” says Pilou Asbæk (Euron Greyjoy) about his feigned exit during the meeting at the Dragonpit. In order to fully convince the other characters (as well as the viewing audience) that Euron really is ditching Cersei, Euron needs to act as if there is no trick up his sleeve…and clearly it worked as his backdoor plotting with Cersei surprised a lot of people (including myself).
“What they’ve got to offer is unique; something that no one else can bring to the table…Sam knows he and Bran possess skills nobody else will ever get. That makes this such an interesting partnership,” muses John Bradley, about the unique pairing of Sam and Bran. And he has a fair point – Bran is all-knowing, but only insofar as knowing what to look for, and Sam (with no small contribution from Gilly!) has lots of knowledge and historical tidbits tucked away in his brain. Together they could make an unlikely, yet surprisingly helpful pair for season 8.
Read the full article for more quotes from Jerome Flynn (Bronn), Alfie Allen (Theon Greyjoy), Isaac Hempstead Wright (The Three-Eyed Raven), Richard Dormer (Beric Dondarrion), and Kristofer Hivju (Tormund Giantsbane).
In an interview with Vulture, Kristofer Hivju plays coy on whether Tormund is alive or not, following the calamitous events of the episode’s final Wall-crumbling sequence.
“Well, isn’t that the mystery? I don’t know! [Laughs.] Last time I saw him, I was inside a Wall, hundreds of meters of ice that was falling apart!”
With the hope that his character is still alive, Hivju is quite the optimist, and quotes his very poetic mother:
“…My mother said to me today, actually: ‘Forgiveness is the most difficult way to go forward, but it’s still the only way.’ You have to turn the page and let bygones be bygones. It’s nice to play a character who has that ability, because there’s so much revenge and the wish to kill each other in this show. It’s nice to have a character that’s able to turn the page and get the overall view. And it’s a skill of necessity, because you have to adapt or else you’re lost.”
He also shares some insight into what it was like shooting the sequence where the Wall collapses:
“Well, they built a fantastic set of the top of the Wall. We had real crows, real birds. And it was pretty cold in that studio. But you know, because I’d seen the army of the dead, I know what it is to imagine it.”
Same, Tormund. Same. I imagine our imaginations will only get wilder as GOT into season 8. Read the full article for the rest of the interview.
Lastly, the final Beautiful Death poster for season 7 has been released. Artist Robert Ball has shared his process for its creation:
“Petyr Baelish was one of my favorite characters, and if I were a betting man, my money would have been on him sitting on the Iron Throne at the saga’s end — which is why I never gamble, and why I was doubly upset when his schemes finally caught up with him…When I saw Littlefinger fall to the Great Hall floor, my immediate idea was to use the floor’s flagstones to make a web with Baelish finally caught in the lies that have spun out of control…Then I decided, as it’s the last poster of the season, to cram in as much symbolism as the image could take.”
Here’s the result of his labor of love, and what a treat it is:
Hodor!!!!
Why has one of the wolves got blue eyes?
Bran is not the NK.
Violator,
Meant to indicate gender difference, perhaps. Or else it’s meant to be Bran’s powers.
I really don’t know where this whole “Bran is the Night King” idea is coming from. If Bran was the Night King, he wouldn’t bother stopping his sisters from killing each other.
It looks more like a crow than a mockingbird, but I like the ‘ladder’ of blood.
Violator,
The full article says that the wolf representing Bran has white eyes to represent his warging powers. They do look blue though.
Pigeon,
The message the bird is carrying makes me think of ravens. It’s a nice nod to his downfall, yes, but it does conflate the raven with the mockingbird. The ladder is freaking awesome! The web is nice, and I love the wolves! I think everything white in the poster looks blue because of the overall blue hue.
I prefer “The Wolf & the Hound” or simply “Wolfhound” as the spinoff title.
Sandor: Stop your whinging, wolf pup!
Arya: You ain’t nothing but a hound dog, crying all the time.
Violator,
Sean C.,
It symbolizes Bran’s warging abilities.
Hmmm – Benjen was a wolf – I don’t know if being semi-saved gave him any dispensation from turning to a wight, but most likely …
Beautiful poster! Best of the season and one of the best in general.
Tormund is definitely alive and so is Beric in my opinion.
I like Arya’s hand holding the dagger slucing the mockingbird’s neck (though as others have commented, it does look like a raven or crow, and has a scroll in its talons).
Still, a great Beautiful Death poster. And because there’s no ice dragon spewing blue flames, I’m assuming Tormund is alive. S8e1 cold open: Winds howling. Snow drift piled high against the breach in the Wall. Tormund’s head pops out of the snow, he bellows “Har!” – theme music and intro segment.
Flayed Potatoes,
They’d better be alive. If S8 starts with wightTormund and wightBeric I’ll stop watching. (No I won’t. But I will not be happy.)
Q: Was Sandor on board the SS Incest headed to WF?
Violator,
What color are Sansa’s eyes again?
Ever since the episode aired, I’ve been picturing Tormund and Beric popping out of the snow like the huns burried by the avalanche in the Mulan cartoon.
But to be honest. I’d bet that they didn’t even fall and are on a section of the wall beyond the collapsed portion.
I hope Needle hasn’t been too jealous of the Catspaw dagger this season. Poor Needle, you’ll shine again next season!
Pilou tweeted he starts shooting in a few months
https://twitter.com/PilouAsbaek/status/903861146591080449
Maybe they will shoot Winterfell scenes first
Ten Bears,
I think he was there. I wonder where Gendry is.
So , we were left with Dany going North, is she going to Winterfell? Seems.
Are all the Unsullied and Dothraki marching ? Dany seems to have a big fleet still, maybe even larger than Euron’s.
Elsewise how did 50,000 , is it 100,000 Dothraki get to Westeros?
So the Dothraki and Unsullied encamp at Winterfell? i guess so , seems the Knights of the Vale (not clear) are camped there. i hope they brought their own supplies.
I suppose Jon expected the NK to be stopped by the Wall, for a while, what is the strategy now?
I thought it was interesting that Jon had that dragon-glass dagger , do they now have like 100,000 dragon glass spears and other edged weapons?
Bran presents an interesting element in the equation. If prompted he could divine all Cersei’s plans (she is not the NK after all).
At this point if the Golden Company went North would have to go up against the NK and I will bet that is not in the contract! If they stay at KL the NK will come after them!
I thought it was clear from the scene that Tormund and Beric survived as they looked back and saw a section of the wall begin to collapse and some of the crows go with it. We then see a wide view of a section of the wall coming down.
It’s not unreasonable to infer that Giantsbane and Beric were on the section still standing.
Otherwise, we’d have seen them die. GoT has a history of killing main characters but it usually shows us when they die.
Flayed Potatoes,
Gendry should be on the way to Winterfell. In Ep 5 Davos clearly planned to send him there: Gendry was supposed to pay respects to Jon and then go to the Winterfel smithies, before he volunteered to the wight hunt. So, it’s legit to assume that, after the mission was accomplished, the initial plan was resumed and Gendry went to Winterfell smithies where he could be of the best use.
Plotwise, Gendry is really needed in Winterfell: he has to reunite with Arya, he has to reinvent Valyrian steel (together with Sam and probably Bran), and finally scorpions. Winterfell will be in a dire need of some anti-wight-dragon weaponry, and I assume that being a blacksmith in King’s Landing Gendry have worked on or at least heard of the Qyburn’s scorpion. Being as tallented as he is he should be able to recreate it and forge a proper bolt. Maybe, that’s where Heartsbane goes?
Before I attempt to disengage from the engrossing fantasy world that is GOT until it returns, I would like to suggest to those who think the whole R+L=J reveal will not result in anything because “Jon won’t want the throne” could be wrong. I was thinking back to Maester Aemon’s speech when he reveals who he really is and that he passed on the throne and has to live with that decision for the rest of his days. IF Aemon had ascended the throne everything could have been avoided. No king Aerys=all the terrible events would never have happened. Surely, that conversation with Aemon might for whatever reason play some part in Jon’s decision. The thing is, in order for him to even claim the throne there must be something important at stake if he doesn’t. Does Dany lose her dragons and Westeros refuses to bend the knee to her???
Didn’t care for much of the posters this year. Previous years were better
ygritte,
Well there has to be something there, because without it, there’s no drama. The heir to the IT doesn’t want it and we’re not sure whether Dany would be bothered if her nephew claimed it anyway.
I think the revelation is going to be more of a personal challenge. The two will almost certainly wrestle with their feelings for one another, end up together, die separately as a result of their tragic romance, or die together as a confirmation of it.
I’m less in favour of an outcome where they suddenly hate themselves and grow resentful of one another, because that’s just cheap writing.
The strong possibility of a child complicates things too. Dany wants an heir and Jon would not allow himself to father a bastard.
Are you bragging or complaining?
But does not the narrative depend on what happens as everything get pulled through the knothole that is the battle with the NK?
Everybody seems to forget this!
Nothing is settled until the Great War is won.
Winning it may eliminate some important characters , if not that make petty considerations like getting the Iron Throne moot.
I didn’t care for any of your comments this year. Previous years were no better.
Grandmaester Flash,
Haha. I saw you being snarky in the comments. You looked beautiful.
Btw I agree with you Jack I haven’t really paid much attention to them this year but don’t much care for this one.
Boojam,
I have no idea how it would play out. But somehow it will probably be that Dany is going to abdicate to Jon. You know how she always felt entitled to power, it her life’s goal, her destiny. And how Jon always trying to prove himself worthy but never expecting any title or power, just wanting to do what’s right. Somehow or other this will end up as tale of reversal I think. Maybe the north does get depleted, dragons are lost, but the NK defeated, and at the end someone has to lead a war against Cercei and/or Euron. Dany doesn’t have the heart, and she is pregnant, but Jon does it for the sake of his family including child to be and the realm because now he feels a duty. I dunno. Is there even time in 6 episodes for this??
I meant the beautiful death posters.
ygritte,
The joke is that Jon’s parentage revelation changes practically nothing. The concept of medieval ruling was a royal couple rather than a sole monarch. A sole monarch was a trend of the Early Modern Times caused by the rise of the state’s apparatus and the emerging collision between the national interests and the ones of the ruling dynasties. Meanwhile, in the Middle Ages both the king and the queen were members of the familial system of government and it didn’t matter which of the royal spouses was regnant or consort.
Therefore, if the showrunners behold to the whole medieval setup, it shouldn’t matter in the show as well. If Jon and Dany get married (practically, they already are), she will have to share power with him one way or another. So, the whole drama of Jon’s true identity revelation will be on a personal level. Dany will be shattered by the fact that she wasn’t born to rule the Seven Kingdoms, Jon will have to accept his new identity ect. But with the WW knocking on the doors, both of them should deal with this crisis pretty quickly and concentrate on the survival. I just hope that the showrunners won’t overplay this drama for a shock value and some contrived suspense like they did with Sansa and Arya last season but who knows. I can fully imagine them forcing Dany to do something stupid and out of character like burning Jon for an alleged treason only to have him emerging from the flames unburnt.
Needle = Castle-forged steel in Winterfell
Dagger = Valaryan steel forged in old Valarya
Needle + Dagger = Song of Ice & Fire
That’s a great call – ashamed I didn’t consider that!!
Thought so too. Too many elements in my view. Should have been simpler.
ygritte,
I think that all of the dragons will die and that magic will leave the world at the end. If that happens, I hope Dany has twins or triplets to compensate for the loss. (Death pays for life?)
I’m afraid that even if Jon accepts the crown (or co-crown), he would be an inept ruler (despite his best intentions) due to his “stupid Ned Stark” tendencies (which got him killed as LC of the Night’s Watch). Dany would be much more savvy.
Violator,
I wonder if they’ve decided to get engaged while on the boat and they announce it when they get to White Harbor. Dany will likely find out she’s pregnant some time after they get to Winterfell (convenient that there’s a maester there she can discuss her pregnancy symptoms with (e.g. morning sickness) and Bran/Sam spill the beans to Jon. I agree that despite whatever tension between them the writers dream up, they will marry once Jon finds out she’s pregnant. As you say, fathering a bastard is not on his “to do” list. Moreover, since Jon loves her and one or both of them could die in battle, they have nothing to lose by getting married, even if they haven’t yet come to an agreement about ruling in the event of victory.
Jon won’t want to live in Kings Landing if they win. Maybe it will be totally destroyed by then. Could he/she/they rule from the North? Personally, I vote for Highgarden.
ygritte,
I could see him letting her run things while he takes charge of rebuilding a devastated Westeros, if they both survive.
By the way, I’m hoping the NK doesn’t destroy the Citadel. Will anyone think of saving humanity’s store of knowledge, or are we headed to the Dark Ages?
Inga,
I don’t think she’ll burn him, but I’m hoping to find out that post-resurrection, he’s fireproof. I’m ok with him going through a fire and coming out unburnt. Will not turn down an excuse to see Kit in the altogether.
Why would he need to be ‘fireproof?’ It’s not an inherent Targaryen trait, so why attribute it to his resurrection? Is it because you’ve seen no change in his character to show that he “lost” something, like Beric said he did? He said he loses something every time Thoros brings him back, but we don’t even know what Beric lost. We just know he did because he says so.
Again, I say: dragon riding could be inherent, but not immunity to fire. (Summerhall, anyone?)
Erica,
Beric has lost memory of his first life, a bit more with each resurrection.
There’s no evidence yet that Jon was changed by his resurrection. He hasn’t lost any memory or changed his personality or world view. So I’m wondering if there’s a physical change, some ability he didn’t have before that we’ll find out about at some point. If Dany sees him come out of a fire unburnt, that would be concrete proof (to her) of his dragon blood. Seeing with her own eyes is better than hearing things from Bran/Sam.
Violator:
Why has one of the wolves got blue eyes?
Bran is not the NK.
Its what they call – ‘artist license’ 😛
Hahaha – Well stated 😀
My eyeballs keep going to the chunk of ice/frosted fencepost/whatever to the right of Beric in the top photo. I swear it’s imitating Tormund’s expression.
I think you are right, I certainly hope you are right. Like Beric told Jon, the Lord of Light didn’t bring them back just to see them freeze to death. He specifically said “freeze to death” which I think buys him a load of plot armor, seeing that unless he got bopped on the head by chunks of ice, freezing would be the most likely form of death; Tormund being so close to him has to partake of that armor, I would think. Maybe he is shown pulling Beric out of the debris, or something like that.
Jack Bauer 24,
You know, I thought about what distinguishes a great Beautiful Death poster from a decent one. I went back and looked at them all.
The best ones focus on a main character, with plot details, supporting characters, or symbols in the background.
For example, (I thought) one of the best from last season waa 6×09, because it had an image of Sansa in silhouette with her red braids front and center.
I would’ve liked 7×01 (“Winter Came for House Frey”) to feature Arya instead of Walder.
Also, when the visuals get too “abstract”, with no character connection, they’re not as powerful. The poster for “Watchers on the Wall” (Battle of Castle Black) had what looked like waves of flame, and the caption “You Know Nothing, Jon Snow.” A rendering of Ygritte in Jon’s arms would’ve been memorable… but what do I know. (Nothing.). Damn it, Jim! I’m a fanboy, not an art critic!
BTW: I love them ALL. We’re talking about tiny gradients of quality and personal preference here.
What is “artist license”? How does it differ from “artistic license” (which doesn’t apply here)?
I must say that I preferred the earlier “Beautiful Death” posters. They were more clear, crisp, to the point. I find this new style crammed with “symbolism” and too many things going on too cluttered. Not as pleasing aesthetically. YMMV.
I’m pretty sure the wolf on the right is Bran with warged eyes. It just is shaded blue instead of fully white because the whole picture has a blue wash over it and the artist probably didn’t want them to stand out too much in the whole composition.
I love it, especially all the symbolic details. Didn’t even notice the ladder of blood until it was mentioned here in the comments.
From the Kristofer Hivju interview.
Arya, take note.
talvikorppi,
But Arya turned away from traveling south to kill Cersei. And if her interplay with Lady Crane taught her anything, it was to have some measure of empathy for Cersei as a mother. Finally, if Arya logs on to Bran-O-Vision 8.0™, she’ll discover that Cersei agreed to spare Ned and send him to the Wall, but jackass Joffrey decided to execute him.
According to a death count of the Arbor Gold Toast in S7e1, Arya took out 51 Freys, bringing her total kill count to 64 though the end of S7. (That includes 2 kills via Jaqen 1.0 at Harrenhall.)
I daresay she won’t be the one to whack The Mountain. I’m not sure if there’s anyone else on her List. Yet.
Taking out the Night King with her VS dagger wouldn’t count as a “kill”, would it?
She did turn away from KL/Cersei, but only because she heard Jon was King in the north. Meeting the Lannister soldiers after wiping out House Frey didn’t persuade her, either.
While she may not realize that Cersei wants her dead, Arya had no qualms about who/what Cersei is as summed up by her response to Hot Pie telling her he couldn’t believe Cersei would blow up the Sept of Baelor. She told him, “Cersei would do that.”
I don’t see empathy for Cersei here. I see an opportunity to go home.
As the saying goes, blood will out, especially on GOT.
I wager she’s going to give Jon the dagger. It’s passed through every Stark hand but Robb’s and Rickon’s, and Jon’s should be next. But more important, a page Sam was reading showed the dagger and associated it with the Targaryens,. Once Arya learns Jon is one, she’d reciprocate for Needle. Some YouTubers theorise that it had passed down to Rhaegar, and Robert took it after killing him and probably lost it to LF in a bet. If so, its hidden provenance is that it’s truly part of Jon’s heritage.
BTW, if she does, she’ll no longer have a VS weapon. She’ll need one to fight the Others. though she could excel in taking out Walkers (and thus wights) firing Dragonglass tipped arrows from the ramparts of Winterfell.
Why? She’s home and without Creepyfinger, home is starting to be Home. Her vengeance is essentially done with. The only people still on her List are Cersei and Gregor, and they are now the enemies of Mankind. I doubt she’d leave the Pack and Winterfell except on assignment to remove Cersei because she’s running a second front against the North’s rear guard.
You seem to think Arya has turned evil–she hasn’t. Prior to Winterfell, her whole season was about her turning from revenge/justice to just wanting to be part of the Pack with Jon and any other Starks left. All her humanity, which was always there, was coming to the fore before those oafish guards blocked her from entering her longed-for haven. And when she initiated a hug with Sansa, it was clear they would overcome troubles and be united eventually. But Sansa kept a venomous snake in the garden.
Prior to and after Episodes 5 and 6, her behaviour was normal, though subdued. She knew what LF was from having heard him conspire with Tywin and even mention Chaos as the path to opportunity. A man like that is dangerous. Her death glare at LF in Episode 4 shows she had decided to take him on. In effect, she went into Faceless Man mode. Leaving the door open so anyone could hear, she soon started a lie detection quarrel which assured her of Sansa’s loyalty to Jon. Next, we saw her surveilling him. She needed to flush out LF, but in a way that would make him think he was in control so he would not lash out at anyone. So she chose her favourite tactic, a ruse. She’s good at ruses—as Trant, the Waif, and the Freys (twice!) all learned. On the practice yard balcony, both sisters aired legitimate gripes, but Arya was deliberately putting on an act of creepy aggression. Sansa ran to LF for advice. Later, by leaving the bag of Faces and dagger easily findable, Arya seems to have expected Sansa’s search. Closing the door and surprisingly calm about the snooping and the Faces, she escalated the creepiness and for the first time actually, though obliquely, was a bit threatening. Then she silently gave the dagger to Sansa, who probably realised it was a signal. (Perhaps by now Sansa was ‘playing’ LF too.) She fearfully mentioned the Faceless Men but not the dagger to him. Finally, LF made his fatal mistake: insinuating she should kill Arya because Arya wanted to be Lady of Winterfell. I believe that after this Sansa went to Bran. It’s clear all three had conspired to trap LF at the trial. On the battlements afterwards, Arya speaks first (in her normal subdued manner), inquiring kindly, “Are you all right?” In their low-key but fond conversation, Sansa calls her “the strongest person I know.” I doubt she would have said that if she didn’t know by then that Arya had been playing a role and that her only target was Littlefinger.
Violator,
Blackfish
Stark Raven’ Rad,
I agree. And however ambiguous the S7 WF plot line was, by the time of that (lovely) scene between the sisters on the battlements, it was clear to me that Arya was back to being Arya.
I wonder if we are watching the same show, Dany more savvy than Jon really? They both have their faults but Dany clearly wouldn’t make a good ruler certainly not better than Jon. Whilst she does want to do well she has some pretty nasty tendencies and impulses.
I like the strand of Sansa’s/Catelyn’s hair tied around the letter (Ned loves my hair).