Game of Thrones season 8: Night King spiral symbol explained by premiere episode writer

'The spiral pattern was sacred to the Children of the Forest who created the Night King'

Dave Hill, the writer behind the opening episode of Game of Thrones‘s eighth season, has revealed the meaning behind The Night King’s spirals.

The symbol has been seen multiple times throughout the show and featured prominently during the premiere – when Tormund (Kristofer Hivju) and Beric Dondarrion (Richard Dormer) discovered 10-year-old Ned Umber nailed to a wall, surrounded by severed body parts.

“As we saw with Bran and the Three-Eyed Raven, the spiral pattern was sacred to the Children of the Forest, who created the Night King by sacrificing a captured man in a spiral ‘henge of stones’,” the writer told The New York Post.

“The Night King then adopted the symbol as a sort of blasphemy, like Satan with the upside-down cross.”

Game of Thrones co-showrunner David Benioff previously said of the Night King’s symbols: “One of the things we learn from these cave paintings is that the White Walkers didn’t come up with those images, they derived them from their creators, the Children of the Forest.

“These are patterns that have mystical significance for the Children of the Forest.”

Another theory that has recently been circulating around the internet highlights the similarities between the symbol and the sigil of House Targaryen. Some fans even believe the Night King could actually be a Targaryen and true heir to the Iron Throne.

Game of Thrones continues on Sunday and is available on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV in the UK. Read The Independent’s review of the premiere episode here.