The Missing Piece That Explains The GoT Opening Credits

As a whole, the season 6 finale of Game of Thrones was full of surprises and long-awaited action. But there was one subtle reveal that we overlooked! Thankfully, HelloGiggles spotted the crucial overlap that just may provide us with a bevy of possibilities to look forward to when the series returns early next year. Let's get into it. And, yes, spoilers are ahead. In the midst of the madness that occurred last night (The fire! The stabbing! The torture! Oh my!), one character seemed to find himself a nice, warm, safe space — Samwell Tarly. Sam, along with Gilly and her baby, made it to Oldtown and to the Citadel. Once inside the grand building, Sam enters one of the most opulent spaces we have seen in the series.

The library is breathtaking, full of golden chandeliers and dazzling glass structures hanging from the ceiling. His amazement reminded the internet of Belle in Beauty & The Beast with her books.

BUT — setting aside the millions of books and rich history that Sam is about to learn in his new role of maester, let's turn our attention back to those shiny things dangling from the ceiling. Do the light fixtures and engraved orbs look vaguely familiar? As in...could they possibly have been in the opening credits of the series since day one? Whoa.

Below, a comparison of the library and the opening credits.

And now the whirling chandeliers in action. Trippy.

But on top of that, the magnifying glass seen in the library also gives us a major clue to why the opening credits seem to zoom in on a map of the Seven Kingdoms. It's because they are swirling around and showing us the map THROUGH said magnifiers.

So this whole time, we've been starting our episodes inside the Citadel, and we finally got to see it ourselves. As HelloGiggles also points out, this could give us insight on what Sam's role will be, and the role of the maesters themselves. Their role is probably much bigger than we anticipated, and it's been right under our noses this whole time. Watch the season 6 opening sequence here, and see all the cameos of the gadgets for yourself.