Three things you might have missed in those new Game of Thrones pics
By Corey Smith
At the end of season 7, Samwell Tarly found Bran Stark in a room at Winterfell, and together they pieced together the truth of Jon Snow’s parentage. Looking at the new photos at a glance, it doesn’t look like they’ve moved. Bran especially looks like he’s in the exact same spot:
But look closer at the photo of Sam. Look at the columns behind him. That’s not Bran’s cozy little room with the fireplace:
Columns, a candle, a torch on the wall, a high ceiling…we can’t be absolutely sure, but we think Sam is in the Winterfell crypts in this shot. Look at how closely the arches behind Sam match with the footage of Jon, Arya and Sansa in the Winterfell crypts in the season 8 teaser from a while back:
So Sam is in the crypts. But why? Our guess is that he’s taken Jon Snow down there to divulge the big secret, that Jon is not the bastard child of Ned Stark and some random woman but rather the trueborn son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark. That’ll be a major mind-blower, and Jon will need somewhere private he can process. As we saw on the last slide, Winterfell will be crowded with Daenerys’ followers, none of whom would be thrilled to hear that Jon is suddenly a serious contender for the Iron Throne. The crypts are the ideal place to share this momentous news, and to plan next steps.
There’s also a fan theory that posits that there’s some physical proof of Jon’s parentage around Lyanna’s grave, perhaps Rhaegar’s harp or a letter from Lyanna herself, placed there by Ned Stark years ago in preparation for the day he would tell Jon about his real parents. Perhaps Sam has learned of this proof from Bran and is showing it to Jon to underline his point. But either way, we’re saying that this is where Jon learns that he’s sleeping with his aunt.
Either that, or Sam was taking in some exercise and got lost, but we like the other thing more.