Callbacks and Easter Eggs in Game of Thrones Episode 801, “Winterfell”

It’s the final season of Game of Thrones, and everything is coming back around again. We’re here to go on a treasure hunt through the season 8 premiere — “Winterfell” — to pick out the moments that recalled earlier scenes from the series, as well as fun Easter Eggs you may not have noticed.

This week in particular was chock-full of callbacks, with the arrival of Daenerys Targaryen and her retinue at Winterfell recalling when King Robert Baratheon did the same thing in the very first episode of the series. This side-by-side comparison video from Redditor u/BcusImHappy lays it out nicely, with the little boy from the opening subbing in for the young Bran and Arya:

"[Spoilers] Side-by-side comparison of S1E1 and S8E1 in line with the song from gameofthrones"

Notice that the score from Ramin Djawadi is the same in both episodes.

Now as before, the Starks line up to greet their monarch:

Although the greeting is a bit chillier this time:

"[SPOILERS] Lady Of Winterfell from gameofthrones"

More series premiere callbacks: you’ve got the two Ladies of Winterfell reading a raven scroll:

If you really want to dig into the series premiere callbacks, Redditor u/DaemonXHUN has you covered:

"[SPOILERS] It’s like poetry, it rhymes from gameofthrones"

Man, the whole structure is the same, isn’t it?

Moving on to the second episode of the series, Jon lifted Arya into their hug in the exact same way he did when they parted back in season 1:

It also recalled Jon’s reunion with Sansa in season 6, which may still be the most emotional Stark reunion, since it was first:

Jon must have had some deja vu when he and Daenerys made out in front of that waterfall. “We could stay a thousand years,” Daenerys said. “No one would find us.” That sounds awfully similar to what his ex said:

"[SPOILERS] Foreshadowing for Bittersweet Ending. Someone is going to die. from gameofthrones"

And that’s going to be among the least awkward conversations these two have about their relationship.

Remember when we watched the season 8 trailer and wondered if someone had been digitally removed from the shots of the dragons flying through the air? As you can see below, someone definitely was:

Lyanna Mormont made her return this week, as did her death stare:

"[Spoilers] Is Lyanna Mormont foreshadowing the final villain? from gameofthrones"

Moving on to celebrity cameos, did anyone notice It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star Rob McElhenney as one of Euron’s mute crew members? He got an arrow through they eye courtesy of Theon Greyjoy.

And while he didn’t actually make an appearance, remember when everyone freaked out because Ed Sheeran appeared for eight seconds as a Lannister solider in season 7?

Well, Game of Thrones couldn’t resist poking that hornet’s nest a bit and telling us what became of Sheeran’s character, as Sheeran himself explained:

"[SPOILERS] Ed sheeran just posted this! from gameofthrones"

Speaking of that scene, it ended with Qyburn offering Bronn a gold in exchange for killing the Lannister brothers. Did the show foreshadow this after the Loot Train Attack?

"[SPOILERS]Looks like Jamie should have taken Bronn’s threat more seriously from gameofthrones"

If Bronn does go through with it, he’ll be using the same weapon that killed Tywin Lannister. That crossbow has seen some s**t:

Moving on to poor little Ned Umber, some fans think his terrifying flaming spiral death resembled the Targaryen sigil:

Personally, we think it’s just another reference to the bizarre spiral shapes the White Walkers have been making out of body parts since season 1:

And here are the cave drawings Jon found in season 7:

For whatever reason, it seems the Night King and his White Walker brethren are emulating the Children of the Forest’s symbols. I hope this gets explained this season.

Redditor u/MysterySeeker2000 noticed this bit of possible foreshadowing:

Were there any callbacks or Easter eggs we missed? Let us know!

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