16

Spoilers ahead for "Beyond the Wall" (Game of Thrones, S07E06)

Toward the end of the episode, "Beyond the Wall" (Game of Thrones, S07E06), we see a close-up shot of Longclaw

enter image description here

Then, once Jon Snow emerges from the water, Longclaw appears to be opening its eyes

enter image description here

You can get a much better picture of it in this imgur album, which shows the event happening, frame by frame, with comments.

Is this an Easter Egg from the Visual Effects department, or is there an in-universe explanation behind this?

Or was this not planned at all by the production team, and this is merely a coincidental, accidental lighting/water effect, that just happens to be timed with the dramatic tension of Jon Snow possibly being dead, and the relief of him being alive?

Improve this question
9
  • 12
    Wow. Well noticed. Didn't catch that one.
    – LeonX
    Aug 18, 2017 at 15:46
  • 3
    I would guess that it may be just an Easter Egg to say that he didn't die. The wolf opens the eye meaning that: Jon Snow is back... Once again. The show often uses the eyes of someone opening to show someone is back. Jon Snow's first revival. The ending of this episode and all.
    – LeonX
    Aug 18, 2017 at 15:57
  • 4
    Resurecting dead people is boring, so WW decide to turn valyrian steel swords into wights. Because why not.
    – Kepotx
    Aug 18, 2017 at 16:18
  • what a observation!! and i like your question too :) i agree with @LeonX might be possible the wolf opens the eye meaning that: Jon Snow is back... Once again.
    – Rucha Bhatt Joshi
    Aug 21, 2017 at 10:34
  • I don't have enough proof to this, but I've seen some more convincing theories today. Some people have said that Longclaw actually have gem eyes that looks like the open eyes, and when it is completely bright, the gem is actually reflecting light giving the appearance that it is closed.
    – LeonX
    Aug 21, 2017 at 13:02

5 Answers 5

Reset to default
20

This is water falling on the eyes...nothing supernatural

The Director has confirmed...

“I haven't got a clue what they're talking about. Either this sword is magic and it’s doing stuff on its own, or something happened. I’m going to have to go back and watch that moment close up and in slow motion to see what’s going on there. I can say that there was no intention for that to be the case.”

Source

enter image description here

Improve this answer
12
  • False. If you watch it frame by frame, you will see it's clearly not water. I uploaded large images, frame by frame, to imgur, for your convenience, so you can see you are incorrect, here.
    – Ghoti and Chips
    Aug 18, 2017 at 15:54
  • On VLC you can press E to view the next frame, it's so easy to see it isn't water. As for supernatural, nobody was really claiming that - it may just be an Easter Egg from the VFX department, it's not uncommon.
    – Ghoti and Chips
    Aug 18, 2017 at 15:55
  • Here: an album of Longclaw's eyes opening, Frame by Frame, it's even better than the one I uploaded. You are free to ignore evidence.
    – Ghoti and Chips
    Aug 18, 2017 at 16:04
  • @madmada What's being ignored is that it can still be an Easter Egg. It's my opinion that what we see is a gem which is conveniently lit to appear closed, and this may be an accident, but the fact that it's timed to synchronise with Jon's suspected circumstance seems, to me, to suggest that the lighting itself is something that was set up as an Easter Egg. The VFX team can then safely attribute in-universe circumstance to the water/lighting, but the fact remains that it is no accident.
    – Ghoti and Chips
    Aug 18, 2017 at 16:39
  • 1
    That was the point I was trying to bring up. To say "Oh it's the water" and "nothing supernatural" gives the false impression that it's one or the other, when there are more possibilities (hence; false equivalence fallacy) - logical fallacies are very effective in rhetoric, especially to untrained readers/audiences, because it means the opponent has to argue on his backfoot clarifying why their arguments are not logically sound, which puts them, rhetorically, at a disadvantage, but I'm happy to continue clarifying it until the cows come home.
    – Ghoti and Chips
    Aug 18, 2017 at 16:40
15

It appears to me that the eyes are probably made of some sort of clear material, and the space between them is hollow. And what we see is John's glove through it. Watch again to see if you see it.

Improve this answer
8
  • 5
    Actually the frame by frame does nothing to negate my suggestion. It looks exactly like what I said.
    – Meg Anne
    Aug 21, 2017 at 3:46
  • 1
    @GhotiandChips - I agree with Meg. The darkening coincides exactly with the change in background directly behind the eyes. Does your album require that I have the Imgur app? Whenever I click the links in a browser it tells me it can't find the page.
    – PoloHoleSet
    Aug 21, 2017 at 19:49
  • 2
    @GhotiandChips Calm your farm, Just look at this frame by frame album to see how you're wrong sounds rude and pretentious.
    – Möoz
    Aug 22, 2017 at 5:55
  • 1
    @GhotiandChips As much as I'd like to believe this was intentional or an Easter egg, both close up gallery's support that the glove refracts through the eye material.
    – Kallum Tanton
    Aug 22, 2017 at 10:17
  • 1
    Further evidence in this video - see the eyes as Jon unfastens the belt and we see the snow beneath his arm - the eyes are black when above his clothing but briefly white when above snow.
    – Kallum Tanton
    Aug 22, 2017 at 12:07
2

OK, I'm just kidding here, but here is in-universe explanation I just came up with:

Wolf ornament is made of Weirwood. So when Jon was near dead, Bran felt it and connected to Longclaw to see what's going on :D

Apart from that, it's more likely water after seeing shots. It is opened exactly at the moment when water is coming down, so could be one of the first drops hit a bullseye.

Improve this answer
2
  • The only people who claim it's water, and believe their own words, are people who haven't watched it in high-resolution, large image, frame by frame. I remain unconvinced - you have to show me that it's water, not just say it's water. When I look at it Frame by Frame, I can clearly see an eye appearing to go from closed to open - I personally think it's the way the light hits the gem, being changed for 5 frames, by the VFX team - I don't think water is a factor, I could easily tell if it were a factor.
    – Ghoti and Chips
    Aug 19, 2017 at 20:23
  • Hm, you're right. I was looking at your shots, but looking in slow motion it really looks like eye opening. Interesting indeed.
    – Marko Stanojevic
    Aug 19, 2017 at 20:41
-3

After this moment, when Jon tries to get out of the water with the support of Longclaw, we can see blue eyes of longclaw. When he was in the water, eyes were white. So I think it's the moment Longclaw opened it's eyes. Even in the beginning of the episode, when Jon gives it to Jorah, we can clearly see it's blue eyes.

Improve this answer
-3

Kinda farfetched but maybe the crystal eyes of Longclaw is imbued with something that can detect life. I was rewatching the episode and noticed that the eyes don't open and close specifically to Jon but it was also "open" when Jorah was touching it. And since he was surrounded by death, the crystals closed?

Improve this answer
1
  • not really an answer, most of it is speculation - unless you can back it up with some sources
    – Luciano
    Aug 22, 2017 at 8:52

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .