Game of Thrones season 8: A new strategy to fight the undead

Game of Thrones fans are still parsing every detail from the season 8 trailer, and one fan has seen that the Unsullied have a new way to combat the undead.

With Game of Thrones season 8’s trailer still inspiring all kinds of speculation, the fans of r/freefolk are continuing to post new details they’ve noticed. Today’s interesting tidbit comes from u/EveryFckingChicken, who noticed that the Unsullied preparing for what seems like the Battle of Winterfell have new shields covered in dragonglass.

Just in case you’d like to look for yourself, here’s the trailer again.

No, there’s no reason to stop watching it. Anyway, the question that immediately springs to mind is what point these shields have. Shields aren’t exactly killing weapons, with some very notable exceptions. As commenters over on r/freefolk have pointed out, a shield is, however, part of an Unsullied’s actual combat style. Additionally, the additional dragonglass gives them another option when it comes to killing, and when they’re so vastly outnumbered, they need all the help they can get.

Here’s a second question, now that the first has been essentially set aside: what happens if the dragonglass runs out? It’s easy to guess that this supply comes from what’s on Dragonstone, but that’s quite limited. Additionally, if the Unsullied die and rise again, it’s not like it’ll be easy for survivors to retrieve the shields and weapons to be used by others. The Night King could even order his grunts to destroy the weapons, no matter the cost. It seems like a costly investment to make on the side of the living.

On another note, is that what Gendry is spending his time smithing in Winterfell? One imagines that it wouldn’t just be his workshop producing all of these dragonglass modifications, but the show’s attention will likely focus specifically on him. After all, he’s the only blacksmith we really know who’s still alive by season 8.

We definitely don’t expect there to be much in the way of screen time dedicated to this process aside from showing Gendry hard at work before picking up his hammer and getting to the walls himself. However, it’s another detail that shows just how serious this threat is being taken — and for good reason.

Game of Thrones season 8 premieres on April 14.