Game Of Thrones: 13 Things You Learn Rewatching Season 1

4. The Bookending Of White Walkers And Dragons

The White Walkers are very much a huge part of the show now, having increasingly crept into things season upon season. Their presence has got bigger as the years have gone on, to the point they're now endgame, but it's easy to forget they started the whole thing off too. Their appearance in the Season 2 finale is the first major moment, with the very first scene of the entire show revolves around White Walkers, even if we didn't know what it'd lead to back then.

While the effects work is very different to what we see now - they've been through a couple of re-designs since, plus there's a much bigger budget to play with - the opening is quite horror-tinged, with the mystical creatures laying waste to the members of the Night's Watch. The final scene of Season 1, meanwhile, is dragons coming into the world.

As we get to the final season, there have been some complaints about it suddenly focusing on the White Walkers, and the army of the dead vs dragons being the bigger focus. And yet, for all the politics and warfare of the show, Season 1 is bookended by these two things. Right from the very beginning, it was showing us the futility of these wars and rivalries, because it's coming down to ice and fire, and death can't be stopped.

Season 1 also marks the first appearance of the mysterious patterns the White Walkers make, and it's interesting that, looking back now, while we know more about the Walkers themselves, the patterns STILL remain a mystery.