The long winter is here. Throughout seven thrilling episodes, the penultimate Season 7 focuses on a convergence of armies and attitudes that have been brewing for years. As the season begins, Daenerys Targaryen–accompanied by her Unsullied army and emboldened by Dothraki/Ironborn allies and her lethal trio of dragons–has finally set sail for Westeros with Tyrion Lannister, her newly appointed Hand. Jon Snow has apparently consolidated power in the North after his spectacular conquest of Ramsay Bolton and the return of Winterfell to Stark control. In King’s Landing, Cersei Lannister, bereft of any surviving heirs, has successfully seized the Iron Throne. But as these and other factions drive towards new alliances or (more likely) violent conflicts, the cold spectre of another, apocalyptic threat–in the form of an army of undead White Walker–threatens to undermine the status quo and obliterate the outcome of these smaller, all-too-human rivalries.