“Game of Thrones” Season 5 Trailer Frame by Frame

Unsurprisingly, the first full feature trailer for Game of Thrones Season 5 found its way online. After months of cryptic, ambiguous, trickling tripe, we get to finally sink out teeth into a rapturous 120 seconds of jam-packed footage. Get out your Tyrion POP! vinyls and your favorite house sigil t-shirts, Thrones fans! This book reader is about to break down this trailer frame by frame!

WHEN YOU SPOIL THE GAME OF THRONES, YOU DIE!

0:00 – 0:07 Jaime and Cersei dealing with the devastating loss of Tywin Lannister. Tywin has been such a dominant influence over the Lannister’s royal ascendance and rule over the Seven Kingdoms that his sudden murder is going to send shockwaves through the power dynamics of the whole show. Some of that concern and uncertainly looks apparent in Jaime and Cersei’s faces. It’s hard to tell who the voice over belongs too. It’s too low tempered to be Cersei’s, dare I suspect it’s Lady Stone Heart’s? I would expect her voice to be more grotesque sounding, but I do think it could be Catelyn’s Stark’s voice by the sound of it. Maybe an unknown character.

Also hard to tell what House that carriage belongs to. The surroundings are too mountainous to be anywhere in the South so it’s likely not Tywin’s.

0:10 – 0:12 A boat of characters, more than likely one we would recognize in a closer shot, pull up to a lakeside encampment. My guess is Wildlings, judging by the snowy, mountainous north and the snow covered furs.

0:12 Bronn, without a doubt. It looks like Jaime standing to his side. Bronn was actually bribed not to champion Tyrion in Season 4 and instead married into the wealthy House Stokeworth. In A Feast for Crows, Cersei’s paranoia about Tyrion doesn’t exclude his greedy former first sellsword. But Bronn proves too cunning to be dealt with by the prim Stokeworths on Cersei’s orders.

0:13 Comparing the aesthetics of these masks to previous visual cues from the show. It’s a sure bet that the scene is taking place in the East, perhaps even in Meereen. From there, we can infer that this masked group sneaking by torchlight are The Sons of the Harpy, a guerilla resistance movement fighting to preserve the slavery/caste system that Daenerys is determined to overthrow.

0:14 and 0:18 – 0:19 Petyr Baelish continuing his cynical, manipulative mentoring Sansa, who’s hair is quite a noticeably darker shade since we last saw her. She’s looking more and more regal, sure to be trying Petyr’s careful discipline. How exactly might he be encouraging Sansa to avenger her family? Well, in Feast for Crows, he does clue her into a plot that might lead her to reclaim the North as one of the last heirs of House Stark, which would be a powerful and personal ally for him as the new Lord of the Vale.

0:16 Dorne. Ellaria Sand, the now “widowed” paramour of Oberyn Martell, stands with some of Oberyn’s bastard daughters, the Sand Snakes. We don’t get a look at the poor sap who gets introduced to a scorpion by way of a barrel getting whipped off his head, but you can bet the Martells and his family of Sands are brooding for vengeance. Too far to tell who is walking through that tropical garden in the next shot but that scene is in Sunspear, the Capital of Dorne.

0:20 Looks like the same shot from earlier of the dirty, northern lake. Definitely Wildlings, they may be crossing around the Wall by way of the sea.

0:22 – 0:23 Best guess here? Young Cersei. In her youth, the Lannister first daughter had an ominous encounter with a soothsayer called Maggy the Frog, who prophesized that she would one day marry the King, but that she would one day be replaced by a younger more beautiful woman. This sort of deliberate bloodletting looks exactly like the procedure for ominous fortune telling. Cersei broods on this old fortuneteller’s prophesy a lot as Margaery and the Tyrells increase in Royal prominence.

0:24 – 0:25 Doesn’t this look familiar? This time it’s Tommen standing at the Altar with Margaery. Along with a shot of the Audience. Tommen, though certainly less cruel and volatile than Joffrey, will present plenty of challenges as the king to both his mother and his wife.

0:26 The Lord of Bones leading a small Wildling Host. We didn’t see him during the attack on Castle Black, but he’s sure to have some play to make now that the King Beyond the Wall, Mance Rayder, has been taken captive.

0:28 – 0:31 Catching up with Lord Varys and Tyrion in Pentos across the Narrow Sea, if the show keeps with the books on that detail. Varys, in his enigmatic ways, begins to unveil his cunning plan to Tyrion, who is understandably bleak about his prospects of ever returning to a position of power in Westeros. I still like the change for Varys from the books. Instead of slinking into the shadows for two books, he gets to play a few small but important bit parts and stay on screen.

0:32 Likely an execution pyre in the courtyard of Castle Black. Stannis Baratheon, the exemplar of Lawful-Neutral, is duty bound to execute Mance Rayder for treason and desertion of his former post at the Night’s Watch.

0:34 Cersei, looking a little too maniacally pleased with herself than her or her family’s recent luck may warrant. My suspicion is that this scene will be close to a moment from the books where Cersei has the Tower of the Hand burned, razed to the ground, a symbolic gesture of her unequaled regency and to destroy the structure in which Tyrion dealt such a blow to her family by Killing Tywin.

0:35 Varys and Tyrion walking through Pentos. “You could help another climb those steps and take that seat.” Who pray tell!?

0:37 Shot is too quick and too obscure to make out. Looks like in Westeros though, and as though all the riders are together instead of giving chase.

0:38 – 0:40 Jon Snow. It looks as though he may be standing at the bow of a boat. The momentous hero of the Night’s Watch has a lot weighing on him. He knows that the Wight Walkers are on the March and he must figure out a way to ensure the realm can survive the coming winter, all with King Stannis presiding over his fortifications and men.

0:41 Why is this shot in the trailer? What is the purpose of this shot at all? Nudity and even implied nudity is not a requisite of showing a female character in a vulnerable state of mind. Yes, Sophie Turner will be 18 eventually but I hope HBO keeps it tasteful and don’t force Sansa’s character into ham-handed contrived nudity.

0:43 Probably another scene from Cersei’s marking childhood, she’s probably the shorter on the right, with the more delicate posture. We’ll see how significant her companion turns out to be.

0:45 – 0:47 Wildlings at a gate, perhaps to one of the Night’s Watch fortifications. And for once, not trying to break it down or overrun it. No identifiable characters but it does reflect the changing relations between the Night’s Watch and the Wildlings. Jon Snow will be trying to arrange some unprecedented cooperation between the two groups.

0:49 Daenerys. “I’m not going to stop the wheel. I’m going to break the wheel.” It wouldn’t be a Game of Thrones trailer without Daenerys looking regal and making a counter-establishment threat. Not my favorite line of hers in this vein, but appropriate for this stage in the story.

0:50 – 0:51 Poor Jorah Mormont, exiled from the service of the queen he loves for getting back his conscience too late. We catch up with him in an Eastern fighting pit against an armored opponent. Hard to tell where and when this may be exactly, but in Dance with Dragons he does cross paths with Tyrion; he thinks he can get back in Daenerys’s good graces if he brings Daenerys such an influential and informed Lannister for a prisoner.

0:53 This is probably a thinly veiled threat from Dorne. Like I said, Ellaria and the Sand Snakes are PISSED! Not positive what that coin hanging from the snake’s fangs may be.

0:55 Little Monster seems to be a popular derogative for Tyrion among the Lannisters. Cersei isn’t happy he escaped her vengeance. Jaime is in a tight spot since he was the one who set Tyrion free. So far as the books have gotten, Cersei has never discovered this particular treachery. We’ll see if that changes in the show.

0:56 – 0:58 Melisandre presiding over a huge pyre, likely the same one as seen before. She pulls a trick that ensures Mance Rayder does not in fact burn at this stake, believing him to have a divine purpose in her Lord of Light’s plan.

0:59 Justice has a price, the trailer proclaims. But Tyrion doesn’t think he’s ready for what he deserves. Certainly not keeping him from the drink.

1:00 – 1:02 Jon Snow rallying some forces. It certainly looks like the wildlings charging someone but my visual gut tells me it’s not the Night’s Watch. The Watch has never worn helmets in all the time we’ve seen them, not even during the siege of their own Castle. I’m thinking the forces on the rleft might be the Boltons. Roose Bolton, you’ll remember was anointed the new Warden of the North by Tywin and his influence is spreading. Since we’ve already seen that Roose was willing to send Locke to take out Jon Snow for being a Stark Bastard, Jon making even bigger and more influential waves in the Night’s Watch and Stannis looking to subjugate the North is a recipe for conflict.

1:03 A very distinct change up from the books, Jaime is sent to Dorne to shore up the phony alliance between the Lannisters and the Martells. Sure to be a source of much tension and intrigue and unexpected character interactions. Jaime may even get a glimpse of his daughter Myrcella who is in an arranged Marriage with Trystane Martell, from Tyrion’s making.

1:04 Who is this? Where is this? Who is watching her? Judging by hair and clothes and architecture, it’s likely in the South. Since the back of the viewer’s head is distinctly and understandably out of focus we don’t really have an idea of who the viewer may be since I don’t recognize the woman. It’s possible this scene may be part of the underhanded subterfuge game that Cersei play’s with Margaery as she tries to get Margaery in trouble for her rumored debauchery.

1:06 “I’ll never even find what’s left of you.” Olenna, showing once again that she has no qualms and no illusions about the nature of the Game of Thrones. This warning is likely given to Margaery, who’m she truly cares about and understandably fears for with Cersei plotting the death of any one who looks at her funny. In Feast for Crows, Olenna departs Kings Landing for her home of High Garden after Margaery marries Tommen.

1:07 Supercut time! Jon Snow for sure, cutting down somebody in Castle Black, likely a wildling, judging from just this short cut.

1:08 Looks like shoring things up isn’t going so well. Jaime for sure, taking a tumble. Without his good sword hand and against the unconventional long range whip, the odds aren’t in his favor for fighting the Sand Snakes. Likely Obara Sand, the eldest, and most renown in her capability with the whip.

1:09 “Kill the masters” a hastily crucified Son of the Harpy (if I am correct in assumption). Daenerys is ferocious in her defense and pursuit of what she perceives as justice. We’ll have to see the exact circumstances surrounding this execution.

1:10 Theon Greyjoy. Hair growing a bit long and wispy and still under the cruel thumb of Ramsay Bolton. In Dance with Dragons he is subjected to even more humiliation and torture, but he does get some opportunities to undermine the Boltons and escape. We’ll see if that plays out in the show.

1:11 – 1:12 A duo of Dornish, perhaps, cavalry charging, Bronn? I think that’s him. The next shot suggests that Bronn’s just as good at besting charging cavalry as a charging knight.

1:13 – 1:14 Black robed figures making their way through stony outdoors to break barrels of wine. Judging by the various skin tones in the second shot it’s likely these scenes take place in the East, maybe Meereen.

1:15 Arya Stark arrives at the door step of the House of Black and White. It is here at last where she will learn the secrets of her enigmatic, deadly idol Jaqen H’ghar. We also see Arya lay down her possessions all but her prized needle. In Feast for Crows, this scene actually has Arya strip bare on the pier. But I’m glad to see HBO decided to allow simple rags for filming, since the scene is an important character moment.

“Strip away the gold, knock down the statues and this is what remains.” After much thought I finally recognized this voice. It is the voice of actor Jonathan Pryce, who has been cast as the High Septon, the figurehead of the Faith of the Seven in Westeros. He comes into play when Cersei’s scheming to get Margaery imprisoned for infidelity backfire something dreadful. This is likely part of a speech to Cersei about vulnerability once the trappings of power are stripped away.

1:25 This is almost certainly that carriage shot we saw in the very beginning of the trailer, and the shields on the back of the mounted knights bare the sigil of House Arryn. Who may be riding in the carriage is difficult to guess. It may be the frail Robin Arryn, although the books never saw him leave anywhere far from the Vale or accessible enough to warrant a carriage ride.

1:27 A War table, once likely to be spread with wolf-heads now bears a formidable number of flayed crosses. Bolton’s hold on the North is getting more and more secured. Could be Ramsay, could be Roose surveying this table.

1:30 “The Seven Kingdoms needs a ruler loved by millions with a powerful army and the right family name.”

“Good luck finding him.”

“Who said anything about him?”

In a Dance with Dragons, Tyrion doesn’t quite get to present himself to Daenerys yet, though he does rally a few supporters for her. I suspect that Season 5 will similarly carry us right to the cusp of Daenerys and Tyrion’s official introduction and leave that turning point for early Season 6. But that doesn’t make it any less amazing to think about.

1:33 Cut to Daenerys. Judging by the flickering shadows on her face there are some fires in this scene, but it’s too limited and too focused to see what’s actually going on.  But hold that thought….

1:34 HOLY [email protected] MOLY! DRAGONS! I have a confident suspicion about the actual scene this moment is from. I’m going to throw up another SPOILER WARNING here.

Dorne was closely related to the Targaryens by marriage. After they were dethroned, Doran and Oberyn Martell made a secret pact promising to wed the exiled Viserys with Arianne Martell. But since Viserys was too dumb to live, and Doran still wants to see the Targaryens returned to the Iron Throne in vengeance against the Lannisters, he dispatches his arrogant son Quentyn to court Daenerys instead. It doesn’t go well. Quentyn makes the mistake of trying to tame one of Daenerys’s dragons to prove himself. You can bet that in the eventual showing, we will be seeing this column of dragonfire through Quentyn’s eyes.

1:35 Looks like a more personal shot of the Wildlings crossing whatever body of water we’re seeing.

1:36 Missandei, Daenerys’s interpreter, making a tender move on Grey Worm, the captain of the Unsullied. This relationship is totally absent from the books, mostly because Missandei is aged up from tween to probably late teen in the show, but it is nonetheless interesting. Here’s hoping HBO is thoughtful with it!

1:37 The colors of the robes surrounding the duel here lead me to believe that the fight is taking place in Meereen, even though the surrounding trees don’t quite match. Hard to tell. The figure all in white in the stands looks like the clear shot of Daenerys we see in a few seconds so that indicates Meereen too.

Melisandre puts the moves on some one. In Dance with Dragons, she charms her way, with some difficulty, into the confidence of Jon Snow but she never tries to seduce him so directly. I’m not sure who else it could be, unless Stannis needs a little T&A reminder.

1:38 Daenerys, Grey Worm, Barristan Selmy and Daario Naharis in a procession of Unsullied, likely to the fighting we saw in a previous shot. If that’s the case, this may be her wedding ceremony to Hizdahr zo Loraq. So far in the show he’s been more of a standup guy than he turns out to be in the books. But that doesn’t mean the marriage isn’t completely opportunistic and political.

1:39 It’s a distance shot, but the silhouettes and previous scenes make this unmistakable. Bronn will go with Jaime to Dorne. Two swordsmen, terrible at diplomacy are going to preserve a royal alliance. Perfect. Should be hysterical.

Ellaria Sand, if not likely one of the Sand Snakes, surrounded by spears. In Feast for Crows, Doran Martell, Oberyn’s Older and more cautious brother, sees how fervent his family’s desire for vengeance is. He fears that the Sand Snakes being too reckless in seeking vengeance will plunge Dorne into a war with the Lannisters that it’s not ready for. So to mollify the Lannisters, for now, he has all the Sand Snakes locked up. It’s a ruse, because Doran’s desire for vengeance is in fact older and deeper than any of his nieces, but it still strains his relationship with them, most of whom inherited their father’s flair for drama.

1:40 Another tough shot to call. However, based off nothing but hunches and the garb, I’m going to guess its Arya, undergoing one of the more torturous trials of the house of Black and White, infliction of temporary blindness. I hope the show doesn’t hold us over between two whole seasons on this development like Feast for Crows and Dance with Dragons did. That was painful.

1:41 A Wildling axe man faces down some foe, not much else to go on.

We can’t see their faces but this is Brienne of Tarth and Podrick Payne, without a doubt. The armor and clothes are consistent and this looks like the inn the stopped by in Season 4. Since Brienne’s path in the show has already diverged significantly from the books, it’s hard to say what they may be doing here.

1:42 The same golden masked group form earlier attacking and killing the Unsullied in the streets of Meereen. The Sons of the Harper for sure. In the books, a fair deal is made of the fact that while the Unsullied may be the most skilled and organized fighting force in the world, their training is confined to the field of battle. They are unprepared for hidden, hit and run assassination and harassing tactics.

1:43 Margaery, clutching at the waist of someone. I might guess Tommen, but the scene looks like it could get either racy or very personal. Then again, Margaery has got quite the cunning look on.

Now this is interesting! (Attack of the Clones, anyone) Most interesting because, unless I’m much mistaken, that’s Jorah Mormont in the pit guarding Daenerys. I concede it’s also possible that the figure behind Daenerys could be Barristan with the sun catching his hair in some weird color, especially since Barristan is nowhere else to be found in this shot. But my instinct is Jorah because this looks just like the fighting pit we saw Jorah in earlier in the trailer. If that is the case, the show will end up putting Daenerys and Jorah back together much faster than the books did.

1:44 A raven, what else, landing on one flayed looking body. Another Game of Thrones trailer requirement these days.

1:46 And finally, the perfect symbolic sequence to cap off the overarching theme of Daenery’s ascendance, the toppling of the Meereenese Harpy. I expect and hope that this will be part of the climax of the power struggle in the city.

Phew. Quite a lot to go on! Spot anything I missed here? Continue the discussion in the comments below as we get psyched for the April 12 Season 5 Premiere of Game of Thrones.