Who Does The Voiceover In The New 'GoT' Trailer?

Stop obsessively checking your email and obsess over the new trailer for Game of Thrones Season 6. Even though it’s only a frustratingly short 40 seconds, the trailer is both telling and extremely vague all at once, especially with the voiceover. The trailer begins with Jon Snow right before his “death” (still hotly debated), with an ominous, grainy voice speaking a warning about the past, then flashing back to some of the show’s most awful deaths. Bran Stark appears again, finally, and has the last, ominous line: “They have no idea what’s coming.” But, whose voice is it delivering the ominous GoT trailer monologue?

The warning about the past is the first introduction to Max von Sydow as the Three-Eyed Raven, Bran’s wizened tutor who teaches him to see. “We watch, we listen, and we remember,” Von Sydow’s voice, which sounds as old as time, begins. “The past is already written. The ink is dry.” Shots flash of Ned Stark’s beheading, the Red Wedding massacre that took both Rob and Catelyn Stark, and Joffrey’s swollen dead face, among others.

The flashbacks are both a sign of the horrifying and imminent gloom and doom to come in Season 6, and also ONLY looks back without providing any new scenes from the new season. I see what you’re doing there, HBO. But von Sydow’s voice in the trailer can incite a little hope that the Three-Eyed Raven and Bran will have big roles to play in Season 6, especially since the trailer ends with Bran saying, “They have no idea what’s going to happen,” as an image of a bleeding Jon Snow in the snow flashes to Bran’s warging eyes.

It’s good to see and hear Bran again, even if it is when he’s uttering a prophecy of the past coming back to haunt Westeros. It’s also a reminder to fans that HBO is so loving the anticipation and frustration of fans not having a clue about Season 6, since George R.R. Martin’s book series has caught up to the show and now all bets are off for future plots. But, as the Three-Eyed Raven says in the trailer, “The past is already written.” There is already heavy speculation that Season 6 could solve the mystery of Jon Snow’s parentage, and the deaths of so many being shown again hint that this season will have dire consequences and come to a climax with the past meeting the present and determining the future.

The Three-Eyed Raven and Bran have strong, supernatural connections to the past and future. The raven, who has appeared in Bran’s dreams from the very beginning, is who Bran finally reached at the Weirwood in Season 4 after a long and turbulent quest with Meera and Jojen. The Raven teaches Bran how to harness his magical powers through greensight and skinchanging, which will allow him to see the future and take over the mind and bodies of animals.

Not only that, but the Three-Eyed Raven is important to the Stark family and their fate. His guidance is prophetic about all the Starks, including Arya — in A Dance With Dragons, the Raven tells Bran: "Though the Raven is attached to Bran, his wisdom and guidance is crucial for Bran's siblings. Bran's sister Arya was blinded in the finale of season 5, called "Mother's Mercy."

Watch the dark trailer above featuring the Three-Eyed Raven's voice, and then continue speculating constantly about Jon Snow's fate.

Images: Helen Sloan/HBO, Giphy.