‘Game of Thrones’ Season 5 Trailer: What Secrets Are Revealed in the New Footage?

This past weekend saw HBO conjuring its first official trailer for ‘Game of Thrones,’ season 5, bringing plenty of battles, boobs and magical teases of the new episodes premiering Sunday, April 12. We couldn’t help diving a little deeper into every frame of footage for literary details, so what secrets of ‘Game of Thrones’ season 5 have we unlocked?

Beware of major spoilers, and check out everything we found in our inside look at the secrets of the ‘Game of Thrones’ season 5 trailer!

Tywin Lannister Returns!

Charles Dance has made no secret of the fact that Tywin Lannister would be seen in some capacity, and the first shot seems to confirm Jaime and Cersei overseeing his body in the Sept of Baelor, seeming only slightly friendlier than the last time they got together over a corpse. That said, later shots of the trailer open up the possibility we might see a still-living Tywin once again…

The Wildlings Get Wilder

There’s a great deal of Wildling and Night’s Watch landscapes visible throughout the trailer, certainly moreso than we’d expect, given the source material post-Battle of Castle Black. Not only do we see Rattleshirt and Jon Snow leading a number of battles against one another, but here appears to be “HardHome,” a ruined Free Folk outpost that many take refuge in after their defeat at the Wall.

Sand, Snakes and Scorpions

Though we’ll see them in several spots throughout the trailer, here we have our first good look at the Sand Snakes, bastard daughters to the fallen Prince Oberyn Martell. Can’t say who the unlucky bucket-head is, or what he did to deserve the scorpion treatment, though from left to right we appear to have Nymeria Sand, Obara Sand, and Tyene Sand, along with Indira Varma’s Ellaria Sand.

Cersei Lannister Begins

This little lady would appear to be Nell Williams’ young Cersei Lannister, our first flashbacks of the series. Here we see her offering up a bit of blood (likely to Maggy the Frog, in exchange for a prophecy), while a later shot of two girls in the woods likely belongs to the same flashback.

A Less Purple Wedding

Baratheon-Tyrell wedding, take two! That lucky duck Tommen gets to marry Margaery after Joffrey had a little bit too much wine at the wedding, and Cersei seems none-too-happy about it, as per usual. And while we may not spy Ser Pounce at the nuptials, a later shot sees Margaery smugly enveloped in what appears to be Tommen, giving an offscreen figure a knowing look.

Fire at Castle Black

Not that Castle Black scenes haven’t always proven riveting, but the arrival of Stannis, Davos and Melisandre should certainly liven things up for Jon Snow and his ilk. Not only does it appear that the Red Woman has brought along her penchant for burning folk at the stake, but also random nudity! And why shouldn’t she have?

The Bear Returns

Hey, Jorah’s back! Though no closer to escaping Team FriendZone, good ol’ Mormont appears to be drowning his sorrows in combat, taking on various fighters in the pit. The HBO show hasn’t delved too deeply into the fighting pit arcs, but with trouble springing up around every Mereen corner, Jorah appears to find himself on Dany’s side again before long.

Dorne in Our Side

What a lovely gift! By most accounts, this creepy memento appears to be a message from Dorne (the pendant in the serpent’s mouth likely belonging to Princess Myrcella). Might Dorne be making a play for the throne, or perhaps some other kind of threat? We know Jaime and Bronn end up undercover in Dorne, and we suspect this threatening gesture might have something to do with it.

Kill the Masters

It’s hard to say if we’re looking at the “Brazen Beasts” (on Daenerys’ side) or their masked rivals the “Sons of the Harpy,” but considering the chaos glimpsed, and the giant gold harpy destroyed by the end of the trailer, we’d imagine Daenerys’ rule isn’t going quite so smoothly as she might have hoped. Not only that, but these masked hooligans also appear to confront Daenerys herself in the pit, which we’ll get back to.

Theon Still Reeks

Theon Greyjoy, making his a sole appearance in the trailer, though we do see House Bolton map markers being utilized later on. Considering we know some of the major Iron Islands stories to have been excised, it’s hard to say what Theon will get up to this season.

High Seven Party Fouls

These booze-hating folk appear to be the Poor Fellows, or more accurately the “Sparrows,” a resurgent group devoted to the High Seven that takes root once more in Kings’ Landing. Led by the High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce, heard  but not seen), with whom Cersei will likely clash, leading to that much-discussed public stroll that seemed to have everyone up in arms.

It Don’t Matter If You’re…

Here we see Arya at least reaching her destination at the House of Black and White in Braavos, home to the “Faceless Men” (we miss you, Jaquen!). The mysterious organization usually asks its entrants to discard their personality and possessions, but the next shot sees Arya (complete with new wardrobe) seeming awful possessive of her old pal Needle.

Dragons, Dragons, Dragons

Judging by the color, we’d guess that this is one of the two dragons poor Dany had to lock up for the safety of Mereen, and one likely not too happy to see its mother. We don’t yet have a full indication of how big these babies have gotten, but knowing that Drogon remains on the loose, we’re likely to see an even bigger threat from the winged shadow than ever before.

Brienne and Pod, On the Road Again…

However brief, this quick shot sees one of our few appearances from Brienne and Podrick, racing around what looks to be a rural inn or pub, possibly still in search of Arya. The major omission from season 4 muddies what we can expect Brienne to get up to this season, so Tarth’s loveliest lady may be charting her own course.

Daenerys Down?

Money shots of the Harpy’s fall not withstanding, her we have what might be the trailer’s most intriguing shot, as Daenerys and her entourage are surrounded in the pit by those gold-masked baddies. Note what seems to be Jorah Mormont defending his Khaleesi, possibly not long after we’d seen him in the earlier pit-fighting shots.

Perhaps most interesting of all however, and be warned of some potentially MAJOR SPOILERS for the season (seriously, look away now), but we can’t help noticing a conspicuously open space in the center, a broken link in the chain formed by Jorah, Daenerys, Daario Naharis and Missandei. Might this shot have a little digital deception going on, so as not to reveal a certain other member of Daenerys’ party we’ve seen spoiled by set photos?

Well, what do you think? Does season 5 of HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’ look like the most exciting year yet? What else caught your eye from the first full trailer? Stay tuned for the latest, and tell us what you want to see from ‘Game of Thrones’ season 5 when new episodes hit April 12 on HBO!