New 'Game of Thrones' calendar teases a mysterious beast of legend
The World of Ice and Fire books are filled with so much that never makes it onto Game of Thrones. But newly released art for the 2020 calendar has renewed hope that we'll see a fan-favorite beast mentioned only once on the show.
Giant. Goddamn. Ice. Spiders.
In Season 1, Old Nan (a true prophet ahead of her time) tells Bran of all the horrors living beyond the Wall. She describes how long ago White Walkers (#BelieveOldNan), "swept through cities and kingdoms, riding their dead horses, hunting with their packs of pale spiders big as hounds.”
Sweet summer children disregard Old Nan's wisdoms as silly bedtime stories. Until Bran goes beyond the Wall and discovers she was right more times than she was wrong.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
While neither the books nor the show confirm that giant ice spiders actually exist, they are fan favorites. And there's hope we'll see HBO bring them to horrifying life in two ways.
For one, they could be the White Walkers' secret weapon in the inevitable battle(s) to come in Season 8. After all, every season has introduced at least one new CGI beast, like the direwolves, undead horses, dragons, giants, etc.
And I mean, how rad would it be to see giant ice spider legs crawling up the walls of Winterfell like they were nothing? It's more likely than you think.
With the Wall down, we'll now finally see the full capacity of the White Walker's ice magic march South with them. And perhaps we never saw the ice spiders before because they were kept in the Lands of Always Winter, which is way further north than any human has ever traveled.
Also the show randomly introduced that undead polar bear in Season 7, which we saw all the way back in book one of A Song of Ice and Fire series. Fans had lost hope they'd ever make an appearance in HBO's Game of Thrones. But they're late-game arrival could've been priming us for the real game-changers -- a.k.a. giant fucking ice spiders in Season 8.
Another, even more likely way we'll see them in glorious CGI is through one of HBO's upcoming prequels, which Martin is tentatively calling The Long Night.
The Long Night describes the time when White Walkers first came to Westeros, roughly eight thousand years before the events of Game of Thrones. With them, they brought a winter that lasted generations, darkness that spread across the entire world, and untold creatures of horror.
Until the hero Azor Ahai beat them. Or so the legends say.
But Northern legends, especially those mentioned by Old Nan, have been proving to be much more than made up kid stories. They likely describe beasts that went extinct long ago -- you know, kinda like how the dragons were thought to have been before Dany came along.
So prepare yourself, for The Long Night will be dark and full of unknown terrors.
Until then, you can purchase the 2019 Song of Ice and Fire calendar now. But you'll also have to wait until 2020 to get the creature-themed calendar featuring those badass giant ice spiders.
Topics Game Of Thrones
Jess is an LA-based culture critic who covers intimacy in the digital age, from sex and relationship to weed and all media (tv, games, film, the web). Previously associate editor at Kill Screen, you can also find her words on Vice, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, Vox, and others. She is a Brazilian-Swiss American immigrant with a love for all things weird and magical.
