This One Image Sums Up 'GoT's' New Season

It's getting to the point where fans have been cooped up without the world of Westeros for so long that we're all going a wee bit stir crazy. Seriously, it's been forever. How many times have you watched the teasers, studied the trailers, and looked over the promotional photos in anticipation of Game of Thrones' new season? Be honest: it's a lot. That's OK, though. Considering that GoT fans are pretty well versed with the promotional material by now, we've all gotten to see the one image that sums up Game of Thrones' new season the most, whether you've realized it or not.

Yes, I know— just one image? But believe me, it exists. I've found the one piece of evidence that will set the tone for the sixth, and hopefully best, season of Game of Thrones yet. You're free to disagree with me, of course, but given what I have seen so far, I believe that fans can base the entirety of Season 6 on this extremely telling piece of information — the image (at the end of the trailer below) of many beloved living characters ominously resting in the Hall of Faces among those fans know to be dead.

Why did I chose the "Hall of Faces Tease," you ask? Is it because I'm evil? Well, maybe a bit. But, other than my slight villainous inclination, I chose this because of two things. Firstly, because the plethora of individual characters in the Hall of Faces, coupled with the rest of this teaser is, without a doubt, an omen in the form of a neon blinking sign. And secondly, because of what the Hall of Faces represents metaphorically.

The GoT powers that be clearly want fans to focus on the Hall of Faces, but why? Is it because they're killing off every single character on the show, as that promo would imply? No, of course not. George R.R. Martin and showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, can be cruel, yes, but they need characters left in the story for there to be a story. They only showed this type of promo because they want you to feel unsafe in regards to your favorite characters, the ones you think that even they can't or won't kill off. How did the GoT team prove this? By lumping them together with the sort of, kind of, maybe dead Jon Snow.

I think what the promo is trying to tell fans is that in this impending Game of Thrones season, prepare for the worst for the characters you assume are safest. But, in the same token, because they are mixing the dead, like Joffrey and Catelyn, and the living, like Tyrion and Sansa, in the Hall of Faces, they're insinuating that anything is possible. Meaning that as much as characters can die, others that are long dead can also return. Dun dun dun...

And who could be coming back to life? Don't rule out Catelyn Stark. As Bustle previously explained,

In the end of the third book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, A Song of Swords, Catelyn Stark's dead body gets pulled out of the river by Beric Dondarrion, who gives her a life-giving smooch. In the next few books, she becomes the leader of The Brotherhood Without Banners, a ragtag crew of outlaws who hang Freys left and right. But just who, or what, is she? This zombie-fied woman is not exactly Catelyn Stark but a figure known as Lady Stoneheart, and while she hasn't appeared in Game of Thrones yet, this season could be her time to shine...

Intrigued by the level playing field for the dead and living in the "Hall of Faces" now? Me too, friend. Me too.

Image: HBO