Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
- HBO's latest "Game of Thrones" season eight teaser video featured Lyanna Stark's crypt statue.
- Her burial place in Winterfell was part of scene from the pilot episode, in which King Robert Baratheon places a feather in the statue's hand.
- That same feather was later seen by Sansa Stark on the fifth season.
- Both of these scenes provided hints that Lyanna was actually Jon Snow's mother.
- Jon has yet to discover this truth, but his parentage reveal is likely a key part of the final season.
HBO continues ramping up excitement for the eighth and final season of "Game of Thrones." The newest promotional video, which you can watch here, showed Jon Snow and Arya and Sansa Stark in the crypts of Winterfell, with extra emphasis on an important feather.
The feather was placed on Lyanna Stark's crypt statue by King Robert Baratheon way back on the pilot episode of the series. The next time we saw it, Sansa Stark picked it up when she was visiting her aunt's statue.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Now the feather was part of the season eight tease in which Jon Snow's parentage was heavily referenced. The video began with Jon walking past Lyanna's statue as a snippet of her dialogue from the Tower of Joy flashback plays — "You have to protect him." This was the moment when Lyanna gave baby Jon to her brother, Ned Stark, begging him to protect her son from King Robert's wrath. Jon is of course the trueborn son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna, making him heir to the Iron Throne.
This game-changing truth was hinted at in both the show scenes featuring the feather. First, King Robert and Ned discussed Rhaegar and Lyanna for the first time back on that pilot episode.
When Robert says he dreams of killing Rhaegar every night, Ned replies by saying "the Targaryens are gone."
"Not all of them," Robert replies.
The episode then cuts to Daenerys and Viserys Targaryen, but of course we know now that there was a third Targaryen right there in Winterfell.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
The second scene featuring the feather was from season five, when Sansa visits the crypts after finally returning to Winterfell. While standing at her aunt Lyanna's statue, she notices the feather and picks it up.
Littlefinger finds her there, and the two of them discuss what happened between Rhaegar and Lyanna.
"Lord Whent had a great tourney at Harrenhall," Littlefinger said. "Lyanna was already promised to Robert [Baratheon]... the last two riders were Barristan Selmy and Rhaegar Targaryen. When Rhaegar won everyone cheered for their prince [...] until he rode right past his wife, Elia Martell, and all the smiles died [...] he rode past his wife and lay a crown of winter roses in Lyanna's lap, blue with frost [...] How many tens of thousands had to die because Rhaegar chose your aunt?"
"Yes, he chose her," Sansa relied. "And then he kidnapped her and raped her."
This is a repeat of the widely accepted story of Rhaegar and Lyanna — that he captured her against her will and brought her to the Tower of Joy. But Rhaegar and Lyanna were actually in love, and secretly eloped together.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Instead of replying when Sansa repeats this falsehood, Littlefinger gave her a knowing smirk before changing the subject. He seems to know the truth, even if Sansa didn't. That whole episode, "Sons of the Harpy," has other hints about Jon's parents. You can read those clues, along with every other major moment pointing to Jon's parentage, in our round up here.
And so the new season eight tease brings this connection between Lyanna and the feather almost full circle, with Jon passing by his mother's statue. Frost eventually creeps into the crypt, spreading over the feather and towards Jon, Arya, and Sansa.
Will Jon learn the truth about his mother and father? Will the Night King's army overtake Winterfell? Will more of the Stark children die in the great war to come?
Only season eight can answer these questions and more. The final season of "Game of Thrones"begins April 14 on HBO.
Visit INSIDER's homepage for more.
Join the conversation about this story »
NOW WATCH: I went on Beyoncé's 22-day diet — and I lost 15 pounds