'Game of Thrones' season 8's Battle of Winterfell will soon be upon us. Here's what we can expect
This article contains spoilers for 'Game of Thrones' season 8.
Game of Thrones' last and final season came out just a week ago, on April 14, and even though the Stark reunions and alliances with the Targaryens and Lannisters was a relief to witness, the promo teaser for the second episode of the season left us a little shaken and very stirred. By now, fans know that the great battle of Winterfell isn't far away. In fact, not far away at all, as the promo clip for the upcoming episode raised the alarm regarding how much time the North has left in terms of the White Walkers' attack.
Spoiler alert, but the second episode most likely ends with the North waiting for the attack, suggesting that episode three will kick off the battle. So let's take a quick look at what we already know about the upcoming war between the living and the army of the dead.
First things first, almost all of the important characters whom we have grown to love and adore over the past couple of seasons, will be directly participating in the war. Think along the lines of Jon Snow (Kit Harington), Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage), Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) and Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) will all be present, as showrunners David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, and director David Nutter have confirmed to Entertainment Weekly. Fans can also watch out for our favorite badass female warrior, Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie), hitting some moves in the battle, even though she was present in the premiere episode for literally a fraction of a second.
But while the showrunners reveal that all the main characters will be “fighting for their lives, impossibly outnumbered against a supernatural enemy," the promo has also revealed Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) will be held under trial for murdering the mad king, attempting to murder Bran Stark (Isaac H. Wright) and also for committing incest with his twin sister and the current mad queen sitting on the Iron Throne - Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey). This makes the future of the character look rather bleak, especially since the promo doesn't show him anywhere near the battle scenes either. So for all we know, Jaime is either captive during the initiation of the battle, or worse - punished with a death sentence by then.
The other big appearance to look forward to in the battle of Winterfell will be Arya. The mini stark has been trained and conditioned into becoming one of the most meticulous and efficient assassins, and what's even better is that she can kill people and take on their face as a mask to benefit her task. After all the rigorous training and practice she has been through in the last eight seasons, it's finally time for the little assassin to show her big moves on the battleground - and what better chance to prove herself than fight alongside her brother Jon, and queen Daenerys' dragons - which she already seems fascinated by!
In addition to that, Reddit user u/Lunabase15 has also suggested that we might be teased by a wholesome cameo from our beloved Hodor who was killed in a previous season while trying to "hold the door" to keep the White Walkers from killing Bran and Meera, so Bran could live on to become the next Three-eyed-raven. The user explained their theory, writing: "We will see Hodor on the battlefield in the next few episodes! So we all know hold the door! They killed him, nobody burned the body and they brought him back? Possible no? Giants back, dragons back.... poor Hodor. who will have to kill him on the battlefield? Jon?" But there has been no confirmation on that front yet, but knowing his loyalty to the North, it doesn't look all that far fetched a theory.
Thanks to Sophie Turner (who plays Sansa), we also know that the battle scene might not be 90 minutes long, as countless rumors have already suggested. But the battle will be long enough to span across two episodes - or one and a half at least - as it seemingly begins in the latter half of episode 2 and is said to have been carried on to episode 3, which will also reportedly be the longest episode of the entire season so far at one hour and 22 minutes long!
'Game of Thrones' returns with its episode 2 on Sunday, April 21, at 9 pm on HBO.