And the reaction to the Game of Thrones Season 6 teaser was…

…very positive. Y’all loved it!

WARNING: POST CONTAINS SPOILERS

Over half the respondents said the trailer has them excited for the new season, and they’re not alone. The internet had a minor meltdown when this poster was released last Monday. “Jon Snow” trended on Twitter, and the Facebook announcement received over 1 million likes, shares, and comments—that’s the most social engagement Game of Thrones has had since 2012.

It’s not hard to figure out why. The poster apparently resolves one of the biggest cliffhangers left over from Season 5: is Jon Snow really dead? Because we shamelessly gobble up any spoiler we come across, we’ve known the answer for a while: no, he’s not. Well, he might be, but he’ll be resurrected. The poster seems to confirm this. After all, why would Jon be featured prominently on the very first promo for Season 6 if he weren’t going to play a large role in it?

A lot of our discussion revolved around our surprise that HBO would choose to break the news like this, but it’s possible we don’t have the right perspective on the situation. To us, this poster confirms what we already know: that Jon Snow will return. But what about the masses of fans who don’t dredge the internet for nuggets of information about Game of Thrones? Would it say the same thing to them? Commenter TormundGiantsbane doesn’t think so:

This poster proves nothing to the audience. To them Jon is still dead and it’s just a tribute to him, but wi[th] all the news we know the truth. They will release other poster for main characters, but this is good way to keep people talking about GOT and Jon Snow’s death.

It DID certainly get people talking, so mission accomplished, HBO. Anabasis888 had a similar thought:

Mmm, does this poster say anything more than “D’you remember Jon Snow?”

It helps to get another angle on things.

Also, although we’ve talked plenty about the implications of the poster, we haven’t really discussed the aesthetics. For instance, is it significant that there’s blood splattered around Jon’s left eye? I tend to think the designer was just going for some unsettling “crying blood” imagery, but I’d welcome other interpretations.

(Also, apologies for getting the poll up late. Things got a bit discombobulated around the Thanksgiving break.)