Game Of Thrones Season 8 Breakdown: What 'Winterfell' REALLY Means

4. The Heartsbane Hint

Could we have been given a major hint - red herring or otherwise - of one of the key players in taking down the Night King? There has to be a reason why Samwell so casually mentioned the fact that he'd "stolen" a sword from his own family, after all. Even for someone who might be prone to word vomit when anxious, it's a weird thing to simply drop into conversation.

It would be great if this was the show-runners' way of hinting that Samwell is going to be the one to slay the Night King. He is, after all, the closest the show has to a personification of George RR Martin himself and him triumphing would be the perfect culmination of Martin's fetish for underdogs doing unexpected things. It would also be fitting for the first character to have killed a White Walker to kill their boss too.

Fanciful? Perhaps. But you don't just drop that sort of exposition in for no reason without some sort of intended follow-through.

It could, of course, simply be that the reminder of Heartsbane's existence is just a timely reminder that the Winterfell alliance has more Valyrian steel to call upon. But that's way more boring.