'Game of Thrones' Season 7 Trailer Breakdown: A Guide to the Upcoming Battles

With less than a month to go until the seventh season of Game of Thrones begins, the gods old and new have blessed us with a brand new trailer.

The penultimate season of Thrones finds Westeros in the the throes of the long-awaited winter that we've been told is coming. Now, winter is finally here and it seems the plunging temperatures have made our favorite players more bloodthirsty than ever.

The new trailer glimpses scenes from some of the big battles that viewers can expect this season, including the long-speculated war pitting Queen Cersei's Lannister troops against Daenerys Targaryen's army of Unsullied.

Based on my observations and various fan theories, here are some of the battles to expect in Season 7 involving the great houses of Westeros. Note: There may be spoilers ahead.

Targaryens vs Lannisters

The inevitable war between Cersei and Dany is coming this season, as Dany finally returns to Westeros, her army in tow, to reclaim the Iron Throne that was usurped from her family.

Based on the first trailer released in May, I assumed scenes showing the Unsullied storming Lannister territory to be a castle siege of King's Landing. However, clues in the latest trailer suggested the scenes could also be depicting the Unsullied attacking the Lannisters' ancestral home of Casterly Rock, which, according to fansite Watchers on the Wall, will be seen for the very first time on the HBO series this year.

Grey Worm in Game of Thrones Season 7 trailer
Grey Worm in "Game of Thrones" Season 7 trailer. HBO

Dany's righthand man Grey Worm is seen adorned in full armor and inching closer to a rock formation with a crevice in it by sea. He gives a knowing nod to someone—presumably a non-verbal command to one of his fellow soldiers. Perhaps the crevice is an entryway into Casterly Rock for the army, allowing them to besiege the Lannisters' stronghold.

In the books, Casterly Rock is described as an almost impenetrable castle that was built into a giant rock formation. In the bowels of the castle are various catacombs and dungeons, which Tyrion Lannister, who grew up there and now serves as the Hand of the Queen to Dany, would likely be able to help the Unsullied navigate.

More war scenes later in the trailer show the Khaleesi's dragons charging into war with her Dothraki army. We also see an angry Jaime Lannister charging horseback through a fiery battlefield strewn with dead bodies. I'm guessing that he's peeved because, well, dragon fire always trumps swords.

Greyjoy vs Greyjoys

An attack by land and sea seems to be Daenerys' game plan for taking Westeros. While her Unsullied attack Casterly Rock/King's Landing and her Dothraki army fight Jaime's Lannister army on land, her other allies Yara and Theon Greyjoy are seen in the trailer looking concerned as fiery arrows attack their naval fleet.

Who are they fighting? Watchers on the Wall reported in September 2016 that they will take on their treacherous uncle Euron Greyjoy, who tried to kill them in his quest to become king of the Iron Islands last season. Yara and Theon paid fealty to Daenerys in Season 6, stealing many ships and men from their uncle in the process. In Season 7, it's rumored that Euron will ally himself with Cersei and the Lannisters, which hints at an an extension of the larger war.

Spoiler pictures from the set also show that Euron captures one of the younger Greyjoy. Hasn't Theon been through enough with Ramsay Bolton?

Jon Snow vs. the wights

The King in the North is going way north—beyond the wall. In the clip, Jon Snow is heard giving a speech about unifying the great houses against "a common enemy, despite their differences, together." That is presumably the threat of the White Walkers and the Night King, the scary ancient race with the power to reanimate the dead into blue-eyed killer zombies.

Snow, clad in his finest winter wear, is seen beyond the wall, where arctic temperatures prevail year round. He's doing battle with what appears to be some wights (the aforementioned blue-eyed killer zombies).

But he isn't the only one that the trailer shows beyond the wall: Tormund Giantsbane, The Hound and a resurrected Beric Dondarrion, the leader of the Brotherhood without Banners, are all also seen in similarly snowy conditions to Jon. Has he recruited them to take the fight to the wights?

In the case of Dondarrion, the answer is yes indeed. Early in the trailer, Beric—a believer in the Lord of Light, who has been resurrected six times—wields his flaming sword preparing for battle with someone. At the end of the clip, a similar flaming sword is seen in the background of a shot that shows Jon and two allies (perhaps Tormund or The Hound?) fending off a horde of wights.

At the end of Season 6, The Hound allied with Beric, so if Beric is beyond the wall, then there's a good chance The Hound is too.

Beric Dondarrion is back with his flaming sword
Beric Dondarrion is back with his flaming sword HBO

Jon Snow vs death, again

At the end of the trailer, a mystery figure is seen slumped on horseback retreating through the snow. The furs he wears are similar to the ones Jon is wearing in the earlier battle scene, also featuring Beric. Could he be injured—potentially fatally?

Another clue that the mystery man is Jon is Sansa Stark's ominous voiceover that plays over the snippet of the injured rider and footage of Jon staring down a gang of wights.

"When the snows fall, and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives."

That creepy nursery rhyme sounds like a reference to the heavily depleted Stark family, which has only a few surviving members. The lone wolf, in this case, is Jon; his true parentage unbeknownst to him, he and the rest of his siblings believe he is their father Ned's bastard child. The pack, meanwhile, could refer to the rest of the surviving Stark kids—Arya, Sansa and Bran.

One more thing to ponder: Is the optimism of "the pack survives" a tease that the Stark kids will finally be reunited this season?

Game of Thrones Season 7 premieres Sunday July 16 on HBO

Uncommon Knowledge

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