Game of thrones season 7 episode 4: Showrunners discuss those mysterious cave paintings

'We learn from these cave painting that the White Walkers didn’t come up with those images'

Monday 07 August 2017 06:44 EDT

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Game of Thrones’ fourth episode this season was arguably the best hour of television seen this year, featuring everything we Watchers love: dragons, battles and awkward reunions.

** Spoilers for ‘The Spoils of War’ ahead **

Following the episode, the showrunners discussed the paintings seen in the Dragonstone cave by Jon and Danny, detailing where the idea for the symbols came from.

“It's supposed to be something that’s very evocative of the thousands of years that have passed since those caves were first explored and the paintings were first made,” David Benioff said.

“And it’s quite relevant to the current storyline about how these two disparate peoples united to defeat a common enemy.”

Speaking about how the messages link with what we’ve seen before, Benioff explained how one of the geometric shapes was seen at the very beginning of season one when an array of bodies was seen, placed into a certain shape by the White Walkers.

“One of the things we learn from these cave painting is that the White Walkers didn’t come up with those images, they derived them from their creators, the Children of the Forrest.

“These are patterns that have mystical significance for the Children of the Forrest, but we’re not sure exactly what they signify. Spiral patterns have a lot of significance in our world, and it makes sense that they would in that world as well.”