Disclaimer: There are no spoilers in this article. I have no knowledge of what is to transpire in this story. Any views or content expressed are solely personal theories, opinions and insights.

In the very first season, we were introduced to Old Nan, the grandmother-like figure who would look after the Stark children, especially young Bran. She often told Bran whimsical fairytale stories as he lay in bed. Early in the first season, Old Nan told Bran a fairytale, and after Old Nan left the room, Bran’s older brother, Robb entered. Robb told Bran that Old Nan’s stories were just fictional tales. He added “One time, she told me the sky is blue because we live inside the eye of a blue-eyed giant named Macumber.” Acknowledging the possible truth to Old Nan’s story, Bran responds “For all we know, maybe everybody does.”

This dialogue is significant for several reasons. First, it introduced the idea of Macumber, who is referenced several times in the books, as a legendary giant with beautiful blue eyes. According to legend, the reason the sky is blue is because the entire world is merely a tiny object floating in the eye of a cosmically immense, blue-eyed giant named Macumber. What is even more interesting about this dialogue, is Bran’s response, which suggests that perhaps there is truth to Old Nan’s story and the possibility that everybody is in fact living inside the eye of a blue-eyed giant. It is significant that George R.R. Martin would choose to have Bran suggest the plausibility of this story, after his older brother, Robb, presented it as folklore. What make’s Bran commentary even more critical, is that fast forward many years, Bran has become the all-knowing Three-Eyed Raven. So, in short, anything Bran has suggested, especially about the truth of the world, carries even more weight.

And yet, the idea of the world existing within the eye of a blue-eyed giant comes up again in season four. Again, we must ask ourselves, why George R.R. Martin would choose to mention this legend, several seasons later, if it is only an irrelevant fairytale? In the fourth season, after Joffrey is poisoned at the Red Wedding, Lord Tywin is discussing the cause of Joffrey’s death with Prince Oberyn (aka The Red Viper). Tywin notes, “Some believe the king choked,” to which Oberyn responds, “Some believe the sky is blue because we live inside the eye of a blue-eyed giant.” Oberyn’s remark, like Robb’s, was meant to cast doubt upon this legend. Even so, that another set of characters allude to the idea of living inside the eye of a giant, is important.

Sure, the idea that this entire story is taking place in a world that is inside the eye of a blue-eyed giant sounds ridiculous… Until we examine the season seven teaser and trailer that were released back in March. See below and focus on what we see in the last few seconds:

In this trailer, we see Cersei, Daenerys and Jon Snow ascending their respective thrones, before the scene briefly fades to black — that black quickly becomes the pupil of an eye, surrounded by a sea of blue. If you watch again, you will see that this trailer is quite literally positioning everything that happens inside this deep blue eye that we see at the end.

But it didn’t stop there. Below is a season seven teaser which presents a similar circumstance:

This (very cool/powerful) teaser shows the various sigils of the major houses, with sound bites that capture some of the most significant events to date (i.e. The Red Wedding, Ned’s beheading, etc…) The sigils then begin to crumble apart, and the scene fades into a layout of the fragmented pieces of the sigils, arranged in the shape of that mysterious spiral. We won’t go back into the significance of this spiral shape right now, but if you did not catch this week’s episode recap, read it here, as it presents an in-depth explanation of the importance of these spirals. As the camera pulls out on this spiral of broken sigils, Jon Snow tells that “There is only one war that matters — The Great War — and it is here.” Of course, he is referring to the imminent war against the White Walkers. As the camera pulls out even further, we once again realize that the scene we saw prior is actually presented inside a deep blue eye. And, the significance of this one is arguably even greater than the previous trailer, as this one presents that mysterious (and likely very significant) spiral just before zooming out to the blue eye.

Quickly watching these teasers/trailers, most viewers probably assumed we were merely seeing the eye of the Night King, but further examination of these two eyes shows that these could be an entirely different eyes we are seeing.

The eye we see in the second video above is below:

The eyes of the Night King can be seen below:

When comparing the first eye, we see that the nose looks much larger, almost that of a giant or monster, whereas the nose seen above on the Night King does not seem to be as wide or giant-like. So, one idea is that we are in fact seeing the eye of Macumber, the blue-eyed giant referenced several times throughout the show, and in his eye exists the entire world that we are seeing today.

Another simpler explanation is that perhaps we are seeing the blue eye of Wun Wun the Giant, or another giant that was killed and turned into a zombie to join the army of the dead. If you recall, Wun Wun was one of the Wildling giants that fought alongside Jon Snow and the Wildlings. He was killed in the Battle of the Bastards and in the first episode of this season, we see that he (or another giant) has been turned by the White Walkers into the army of the dead. See below:

It is possible that the eye we are seeing is not that of Macumber, but rather the eye of a giant that has joined the Night King’s army of the dead. Below, you can see that eye super-imposed onto the face of Wun Wun — it fits pretty well. And below that is a side by side comparison, showing that this eye seems to fit a lot better on the face of a giant (whether that giant is Macumber or a present-day giant in the show), than it does on the Night King.

But what is more interesting than the eye we analyzed above from the second trailer, is the eye we see in the first one — the one that we see just after seeing that mysterious spiral. The reason this eye perhaps has deeper meaning, is that it looks completely different than the eye of any other White Walker we have seen. Below are a handful of the eyes we have seen, including the human who was turned into the Night King by the Children of the Forest, one of the traditional White Walkers we’ve seen, and the baby we saw the Night King transform into a White Walker. You will notice that all of their eyes are a very deep blue with little beams of light running through them, almost like ripples:

However, if you watch the teaser again (second video), you will see that the eye in that video looks entirely different. This eye is considerably less blue than the eye of every other White Walker we have seen. Furthermore, it does not have those little ripples of light running through it in all different directions. Rather, this eye has very straight and organized  lines extending from the pupil out. See below: