I Can't Possibly Be Wrong All the Time

HBO recently released a trailer for the upcoming sixth season of Game of Thrones. There are a million trailer breakdowns and analyses already available, but I’ve already written and scheduled all of the Game of Thrones blog posts I was planning on writing leading up to season 6, but I didn’t want to miss out on talking about the trailer. (I just wasn’t going to kill myself getting all the screen caps and so on, immediately – I have a day job… and a family… anyway…)

What follows will be a non-spoilery analysis. By that I mean, I’ll be showing each scene from the trailer and making some observations based on the content of the frame. I’ve read the books, so I also have provided a SPOILERY analysis on my secret double-probation backup blog where I am more free with book spoilers and speculation.

Let’s begin.

Opening shot cranes in on Castle Black. (The is the first time I think the Night’s Watch Headquarters has ever been approached from a view parallel to the Wall.)

We see the dead Jon Snow, lying in the reddening snow, next to the Traitor pole. I assume Alliser Thorne and his men (and that adorable Olly) have just stabbed Jon.

Davos: He’s gone.

That’s a ship from Dorne (Martell sigil on the sails) sailing towards King’s Landing. Presumably with Jaime. Does he have Prince Trystane with him? Perhaps the most awkward of sea voyages ever.

Jaime explaining things to Cersei. He’s got a bad track record of seeing daughters home safely to mothers.

Jaime: We’re the only ones that matter…

I admit to feeling a bit sorry for the Lannister lioness.

… and everything they’ve taken from us, we’re going to take back. And more.

Ser Davos the Onion Knight, chilling out on top of a snowy escarpment. Is he planning on making a fire? It looks like either dusk or dawn.

Team Bolton. They just won against Stannis, but lost Sansa. The Queen in the North!

That’s a Flayed Man on fire. Every year from then on, a festival known as Burning Man was attended.

Melisandre: The great victory I saw in the flame…

Melisandre is starting to doubt the visions that she’s seen in the flames. (That’s usually when they come true, but not as expected.)

… all of it was a lie.

The searchers.

Jorah’s going to find Dany’s ring. But I’m wondering about his yellow scarf wrapped around his hand. What’s up with that?

Jorah’s thinking that Dany will be so so so so so so so happy when he saves her. But it’d be better if Daario wasn’t around when he does. For so so so so so many reasons.

Dany is on the march with the Dothraki, but not large and in charge on a horse.

They’re marching towards Vaes Dothrak, the center of the Dothraki world.

High Sparrow: Every one of us is poor and powerless…

The High Sparrow is addressing a member of the Kingsguard, based on the shoulder armor.

… yet we can overthrow an empire.

That’s a windswept hill on the Iron Islands (see the Greyjoy kraken banners?)

Sansa looking regal. THE QUEEN IN THE NORTH! She doesn’t look afraid, so that’s encouraging.

Tyrion you’re in the great game now…

Tyrion needs a torch, so he’s somewhere dark. This is our only shot of the Imp in the entire trailer. He looks uneasy…

… and the great game is terrifying.

Dragon! Drogon?

This might be my favorite exchange in the trailer. Oh Lancel.

Lancel: Order your man to step aside, or their will be violence.

It’s Silent Bob.

And here’s where I began to root for Cersei. Make a note of this day. It’s quite unusual for me.

Cersei: I choose violence.

Here’s a collection of northern fighting men, but it doesn’t look like they’re in the North.

Up in the North, Alliser Thorne is having a dude smash down a door.

King Tommen, strolling through the throne room with his attendant Kingsguard.

Queen Cersei, strolling along with her one-man army, Ser Robert Strong (who has taken a vow of silence, by the way. If you didn’t get my Silent Bob reference earlier. Yes, I shouldn’t explain my jokes.)

So, the way these shots coincide, are they from the same scene? Are Tommen and Cersei about to have a public confrontation? (Probably not.)

Cavalry. I want to say northern forces of some type, from the drabby browns, but I can’t prove that.

Some ships in dark stormy water.

Arya is getting slapped around by the Waif.

So, this guy’s still around. Apparently no longer in King’s Landing. I swear he can teleport or something.

Margaery is still in durance vile.

That guy on horseback either has a flaming flail or a really sturdy lantern-on-a-chain. He clobbers the guy on foot.

Archers. The helmets suggest Boltons.

This is Dany’s apartments in Meereen. Bombs don’t exist, per se, so is someone using a catapult against Dany’s pyramid?

Theon has been tracked down by Boltons and Reek’s littermates.

(Sorry for the super blurry shots.) A guy who looks a bit like Theon (but isn’t) being baptized over on the Iron Islands. That’s an Ironborn soldier behind him (the bailing-pail helmet is distinctive.)

Awww, it’s nice to see them not fighting. And… ick.

One of the Boltons getting the business end of a blade…

Brienne’s the one making the Bolton bleed! Booyah! ❤ ❤ ❤

Someone’s touching a brazier. I don’t think that’s the same ring as Dany’s, but who knows? Normally, Melisandre is the one who watches fires…

The face database in the House of Black and White.

Speaking of faces, Melisandre’s worried I’m-not-in-control-of-this face is making me worried.

Those eyes are shut forever. (Or are they???)

Arya is going full-on Assassin’s Creed over in Braavos. Pretty spry for a blind girl.

That’s a Bolton shield wall on the left, they look like they’re encircling the other guys. I thought the dudes on the right are Wildlings but there are some banners, which implies rebellious northern troops, or a mix. Right?

Yara is enjoying some Rest and Recreation.

That’s a better look of the guy being baptized earlier.

Northern soldiers are fighting a guy in armor that looks vaguely Kingsguard-ish. Armor that has a Targaryen crest on the breastplate.

Tormund seems worried. Those are Bolton shields in the background. Is he fighting with them, against them? Did the Boltons bring along their bear from Harrenhal? Tormund has a relationship with bears.

Cavalry. As usual, not everyone is wearing a helmet. Safety, people!

Margaery and the High Sparrow.

A bunch of women in rags are beating up on someone.

Arya is still super blind.

Jaime, and a ton of non-Lannister looking troops, are meeting up with the High Sparrow outside the sept. Probably as part of a religious observance. You know. Totally usual.

Sansa is being chased in the woods.

I assume Sansa is not being chased by these Dothraki, who are charging into battle.

I assume these guys are Wildlings, but maybe not, could be some northern guys.

A standing Bran appears to be seeing horrors.

The horrors seem to be seeing him!

Final scene: Davos is pulling Longclaw out, and giving a kind of self-deprecating battle speech for his Night’s Watch companions. Oh, and there’s Ghost too! Yay Ghost! (And a dead Jon Snow.)

Davos: I’ve never been much of a fighter. Apologies for what you are about to see.

Boom. Okay, so what does the trailer imply? (This is all stuff not covered in the books, so this is just clean speculation from the trailer. I swear.)

There’s going to be a showdown of traditional military forces versus the Sparrows, it certainly looks like, but in particular, Cersei has had just enough of this business.

There’s a big battle brewing up North, that will involve at least Boltons and Wildlings.

Sansa and Theon survived the cliffhangery jump from Winterfell, the Boltons will pursue them, but Brienne will kick ass. Like she does.

There’s a split happening between Alliser Thorne’s faction of Night’s Watch and the supporters of Jon Snow, who seem to have rallied with Ser Davos. The Onion Knight just rules, I love that guy.

Dany is taken off to Vaes Dothrak, so Drogon must have been really sleepy.

And, wow, that’s pretty much all the logical conclusions I can get.

It’s interesting that we see so little of Meereen. And Tyrion.

Okay, I also have a spoilery-version of the trailer, where I apply as much book knowledge as I can.

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(Comments are always welcome. Super welcome! But if you want to talk spoilery Game of Thrones talk with me (also welcome) I’d invite you to visit my Safe Spoilers page on my backup blog. That way my non-book-reading friends won’t be shocked with foreknowledge. Or leave comments on the spoilery-analysis of the trailer, that link is above.)

Images from HBO’s Game of Thrones (obviously.)

I make no claims to the artwork, but some claims to the text. Just not the dialog lifted from the trailer. So there.

If you liked this article, thank you! I have all of my Game of Thrones related articles on my handy-dandy Game of Thrones page should you want to read more but don’t want to navigate around my site.

© Patrick Sponaugle 2016 Some Rights Reserved