'Game of Thrones' Season 8 Spoilers: Poster Easter Egg May Mean Tragic News

HBO released a huge batch of character posters for Game of Thrones Season 8 on Thursday, showing everyone from Melisandre the Red Priestess to the Night King posing on the show’s infamous Iron Throne. It’s a fun bit of marketing, but upon closer reflection, there’s also a clever Easter egg hidden here that could be very bad news for at least one major character in Game of Thrones Season 8.

You can check out the full image gallery over on HBO’s website. For now, though, we’re going to focus on one character poster in particular: Jon Snow. The image show’s Jon posing on the Iron Throne while holding onto his Valyrian sword, Longclaw. If this looks familiar, that’s because HBO used a very similar image to promote Game of Thrones back when the series first launched. Only that time a different Stark was sitting on the throne: Ned Stark (also holding his old Valyrian sword, Ice).

Here are the two images, side-by-side:

Of course, anyone who’s seen even the first season of Game of Thrones knows what happens to Ned Stark, and it’s easy to imagine something similar happening to his son nephew in Season 8. Ned served as Hand to a king he trusted, Robert Baratheon, but ended up dead. Jon recently pledged his allegiance to Daenerys Targaryen in his quest for the Iron Throne, and that could easily play out just as poorly.

If Dany fails, whoever ends up in charge probably won’t want to keep Jon Snow around as King of the North (or even Warden of the North). It’s even possible that Dany herself could turn on Jon if she decides he’s not trustworthy. After all, her father was “the Mad King.” Game of Thrones has often hinted that Daenerys might be just as unstable as her father, and it’s possible we could finally see that side of her character come out in Season 8.

Then again, maybe we’re reading too far into what’s essentially just an ad campaign for an HBO show. After all, Jon’s not the only one posing on the Iron Throne. Pretty much every living character gets the same treatment in these posters. So is HBO suggesting that everyone will die in Game of Thrones Season 8? Considering the show’s proven track record for bloodlust, that wouldn’t exactly come as a surprise either.

Game of Thrones Season 8 premieres April 14 on HBO.