Entertainment

Here's Everything We Know About Arya After Watching The 'GOT' Season 8 Trailer

by Ani Bundel
HBO

Game of Thrones has taken many dark turns over the course of seven seasons, but none so dark as the Season 8 trailer. Not dark as in the subject matter, but literally dark. It's not your computer making it hard to see, the trailer is dark. It's so dark, the only way to see what's happening is if someone screenshots it and uses the "auto adjust colors brighter" function, which is why, two days after it arrived, fans are still finding things and asking questions like, Arya running from in the Game of Thrones Season 8 trailer? It turns out it's not one but two men behind her.

Despite my complaining about the underlit nature of the trailer, the opening sequence of Arya racing through the hallways in terror is quite effective. It's just bright enough to see she's bleeding freely, and the lamps suggest she's in the halls of Winterfell, or perhaps the crypts, but honestly could be King's Landing at a push.

It's the nightmare of running from an unseen assailant and Arya's terror is palatable. Most assume whatever is pursuing her is a white walker. Perhaps it was even her dead relatives, risen from their graves by the Night King.

Check it out in all it's half-lit glory.

Arya's running from assailants no one can see, right? Except, you can see them. The scene just needs to be brighter.

That's precisely what one blessed Redditor did. Check out the "Lord of the Light" edition. (Yes, it autoplays, I'm sorry.)

Specifically this moment here:

Now, they could be White Walkers or wights, sure. But look at the silhouettes. They're not slouching and shambling like wights have a tendency to do. Also, they're not skeletal. They're filled out and fleshy.

They could be part of the newly-made dead. However, it could be something else entirely.

Shows like Game of Thrones and films like Star Wars live in fear of giving away spoilers. A trailer, by its very nature, contains spoilers. It is there to show you the plot, and give you a reason to tune into the show or go to the theater. This has lead to an uptick of "false" or "edited" shots in trailers. Consider, for instance, in Thor: Ragnarok, the trailer edited Chris Hemsworth's eyepatch out to keep the plot point under wraps. In the same vein, many fans believe the shot of the two dragons flying over the snowy landscape in this new Game of Thrones Season 8 trailer has edited out Dany and Jon from their backs to keep fans from realizing that's what the scene is.

However, this Arya scene could be good old misdirection. Everything else focuses on the Battle of Winterfell. Therefore, viewers assume Arya's chase scene is in Winterfell, and her pursuers are wights. There's even a clip later on where Arys is definitely fighting on Winterfell's battlements.

But what if this isn't related? What if she's running through the halls of the Red Keep, with Cersei's dead body lying in front of the Iron Throne?

Fans will find out where this scene really happens and hopefully see it brighter and clearer come April.

Game of Thrones Season 8 premiere on April 14, 2019.