Ah, that glorious, glorious theme song has returned. After 10 months of waiting, the tune welcomes us back to the high stakes power-play and mortal combat of the realm of Westeros like an old friend.
But before you settle yourself down for the emotional roller coaster that is GOT, here are some important facts gleaned from the first three episodes that you might want to know:
1. The flashback: It's a narrative technique that GOT hasn't tried before, and to quote show creators Weiss and Benioff, tried to completely avoid. But with George R.R. Martin still polishing the sixth book in the Song of Ice and Fire series, the writers are running out of new material and have been unable to pull the plot from multiple books like they have been doing in previous seasons. Which leads to the fun fact that:
2. Characters who don't die in the books will die in Season 5: According to the great author, himself: "people are going to die who don't die in the books, so even the book readers will be unhappy. So everybody better be on their toes. [The show's creators] are even bloodier than I am." And [spoiler] in the very first episode a character who is still alive in the books dies in the show.
3. Your favorites are still not safe: Many fans were excited to find out that a number of the principle cast members were contracted to appear through season 7. Falsely believing this to be an assurance that their favorites will be staying alive at least that long; but, with the new presence of flashbacks and the fact that the writers are steering away from the books, this means that our favorites' lives are still very much at risk - now more than ever. And while we can assume that Martin has communicated with the GOT creators to let them know who survives the series, this means that anyone who isn't essential to the plot is still fair game.
