19 details you might have missed in Game Of Thrones Season 8 premiere

Game Of Thrones Season 8 finally aired last night and the fans weren’t disappointed. It’s been almost 600 days since season 7 got over and the fans had to wait a really long time to watch a new episode. As expected, the episode had a lot of details that were hidden in plain sight and many callbacks to the earlier seasons, especially the pilot episode, where Robert Baratheon visited Winterfell and asked Ned Stark to become the Hand of the King.

So let’s take a look at these details that you might have missed while watching Game Of Thrones season 8 premiere.

1. New opening credits

Season 8 started with new opening credits and we can see that the Wall has collapsed and also got to see Last Hearth, along with a tour of Winterfell and the Red Keep. It’s the final season and now all the important characters have come together and as a result we saw only 3 places, rather than traveling all across Westeros and Essos during the opening credits.

However, that’s not the only thing that has changed in the opening credits. Even the details that we have been seeing all these years on the Astrolabe have changed. Let’s take a look at it.

In the first image, we can see the undead Viserion taking down the Wall and we can also see the Wights waiting for the Wall to collapse.

The second image depicts the Red Wedding. We can see the Twins in the center, and a Direwolf hangs from the arch. On one end we can see a flayed man holding the head of a Wolf, which indicates Robb Stark, while on the other end, a Lion holds a Tully Trout in it’s mouth. So that represents Tywin Lannister who planned the Red Wedding.

The last image shows 4 dragons with the Red Comet in the background. It shows us the birth of the dragons, with Daenerys being represented by the largest dragon, while the 3 smaller ones are Drogon, Rhaegal and Viserion.

We are then taken to King’s Landing, where we can see the map of Westeros that Cersei had commissioned in season 7.

2. Bran climbing the walls of Winterfell

The episode starts with a young boy who wants to take a look at Daenerys’ army that’s arriving at Winterfell and he manages to climb on the top of a tree to get a good view.

This is a callback to the scene from the pilot episode where Bran had climbed on the walls of Winterfell to get a better view of Robert Baratheon’s procession arriving towards Winterfell.

3. The King’s arrival

We then get a good look at Daenerys’ Dothraki and Unsullied armies and a familiar soundtrack starts playing. The last time we heard the same music was during the pilot episode when Robert arrived at Winterfell.

4. Arya standing outside the walls of Winterfell

During the episode we saw that Arya was standing in Winter Town, that’s just outside the walls of Winterfell and it’s a callback to season 1, when Arya did the same thing.

5. Jon Snow greets Bran Stark

The moment Jon sees Bran, he rushes towards Bran and plants a kiss on his forehead. This is a callback to the scene where Jon said good bye to Bran while leaving for the Wall. Bran was in coma and Jon visited his room and told him, “We can go out walking beyond the Wall if you are not afraid.” When Catelyn Stark told him to leave the room, Jon kissed Bran on the forehead and left.

6. Winterfell is yours

Daenerys is given a cold welcome by the Sansa Stark, who is the Lady of Winterfell and she greets her by saying, “Winterfell is yours, your grace.”

During the season 1 premiere, the then Lord of Winterfell, Ned Stark welcomed Robert Baratheon by saying, “Guarding the North for you, your grace. Winterfell is yours.”

7. Jon and Arya hug each other

Jon and Arya have an emotional reunion and when Jon sees Arya standing right behind him, he goes hugs her by picking her off her feet.

During the 2nd episode of season 1, Jon gifted Arya a sword and then Arya hugged him Jon the same way she hugged him in the latest episode.

8. A possible reference to Ed Sheeran’s character

Ed Sheeran made a guest appearance as a Lannister soldier during the season 7 premiere and after that everyone was guessing whether his character was alive or if he died fighting against Daenerys’ forces. The latest episode might have given us a clue. While in the brothel, one of the character talks about a Lannister soldier named Eddie, who’s a ginger and came back with his face burned right off and has no eyelids now.

There’s a good possibility that Game Of Thrones sneaked in a reference to Ed Sheeran’s character in the latest episode.

9. Cersei’s deadly plan for her brothers

During the episode, Qyburn came to meet Bronn and offered him chests filled with gold as an advance payment for killing Tyrion and Jaime Lannister. He even handed him the crossbow that Tyrion had used to murder Tywin Lannister.

10. Cersei is drinking Wine

During the season 7 finale, Tyrion went to meet Cersei to convince her to join forces to fight against the White Walkers. She had refused to drink wine and Tyrion realized that she was pregnant. However, in the latest episode, Cersei is drinking wine and when Euron touches her belly and says, “I am going to put a prince in your belly,” Cersei suddenly gets emotional and there are tears in her eyes. Does this mean that she has miscarried and is no longer pregnant?

11. Jon rides a dragon named after his father

Jon Snow finally did what the fans had been waiting to watch since season 7. Daenerys named her dragons after the 3 important men in her life: Drogon (Khal Drogo), Viserion (Viserys Targaryen), Rhaegal (Rhaegar Targaryen) and we know that Jon Snow is Rhaegar Targaryen’s son. So fans had been theorizing that Jon would ride the dragon that was named after his father and that’s what happened in the latest episode.

12. Reference to the Jon-Ygritte cave scene

After flying on the dragons, Jon and Daenerys had a romantic moment in front of a beautiful waterfall and Daenerys told Jon, “We could stay a thousand years. No one would find us.”

This mirrors what Ygritte had told Jon when they made love in the cave. “Let’s not go back. Let’s stay here a while longer. I don’t ever want to leave this cave, Jon Snow.” I hope that there are no further similarities and that Daenerys doesn’t die during the season.

13. As you wish, milady

Gendry and Arya finally had a reunion in Winterfell and while speaking with Arya, Gendry called her Lady Stark. Arya immediately requested him to stop calling her by that name and Gendry replied by saying, “As you wish, milady.” Arya looked at him with a serious face and then gave him a rare smile.

This is a callback to the scene from the 2nd episode of season 2 when Arya revealed her identity to Gendy. He was shocked to find out that Arya was a high born girl and immediately responded by saying, “I should be calling milady.” When he saw that Arya didn’t like it a bit, he further teased her by saying, “As milady commands.”

14. Robert Baratheon’s wish might come true

In Game Of Thrones pilot, Robert and Ned went to the crypts to pay respect to Lyanna Stark and over there Robert suggested marrying Joffrey and Sansa. “We’ll join our houses. I have a son, you have a daughter.”

This never happened but it turns out, his wish might come true as we saw a connect between Arya and Gendry. So it’s highly possible that Arya and Gendry might get married if they survive till the end of the show.

15. Ned Stark’s words came true

In the second episode of season 1, Ned Stark made a promise to Jon Snow before leaving for King’s Landing. He told Jon, “The next time we see each other, we’ll talk about your mother. I promise.” We know that Ned couldn’t fulfil that promise as he was executed by King Joffrey.

However, in the latest episode, Ned Stark’s words came true, but in a way which we never expected. After returning to Winterfell, Jon visited Ned Stark’s tomb in the crypts and at that time Samwell Tarly came to see Jon and revealed that he was Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen’s legitimate son and that made him the heir to the Iron Throne. So Ned Stark’s words did come true but not in the way we expected.

16. We got to see Last Hearth for the first time in the show

Game Of Thrones finally took us to Last Hearth, which is the castle of House Umber. The castle is close to the Wall and that proved deadly for the people who lived there as the White Walkers destroyed the castle and turned everyone into Wights. We know that as we could see blood on the floor but there wasn’t a single person in the castle, except Ned Umber, the Lord of Last Hearth.

17.  The Night King’s artwork

Over the seasons we have seen the White Walkers leaving behind some mysterious symbols and in the latest episode, the Night King did the same when he killed Ned Umber and used him and body parts from other dead people to create a similar symbol.

We only know that the symbol is related to the Children of the Forest, who were responsible for the creation of the White Walkers and we hope that the final season reveals the meaning of these mysterious symbols.

18. The Wight from the season 1 premiere

During the Game Of Thrones season 1 premiere we were introduced to the White Walkers, when 3 rangers of the Night’s Watch went beyond the Wall for ranging. A brother of the Night’s Watch came across a symbol that was created using the bodies of some Wildlings, when he turned around, he saw a young girl who was pinned to a tree trunk.

The Night King did the same thing once again during the season 8 premiere with Ned Umber.

19. The ending of season 1 premiere

The first episode of Game Of Thrones season 1 ended on a shocking note when Jaime Lannister pushed down Bran Stark from the tower, as Bran had seen him making love with Cersei. Luckily, Bran survived and he managed to become the Three-Eyed Raven and now he knows everything and he knew that Jaimie Lannister was on his way to Winterfell and he was waiting in the courtyard for Jaime to arrive.

“I’m waiting for an old friend,” said Bran to Sam, when Sam found him in the courtyard and the next day Jaime did enter Winterfell and he ensured that no one noticed him but it’s difficult to stay hidden if the Three-Eyed Raven is keeping an eye on you.

A shocked Jaime turned around to see Bran staring at him and the episode got over. So, just like season 1, even the season 8 premiere ended with a scene between Jaime Lannister and Bran Stark.

If you think I missed any important detail, do let me know in the comments section.