'Game of Thrones' Preview: Are You Ready for the Battle of Eastwatch?

Back in the Game of Thrones season seven premiere, the Hound (Rory McCann) confronted his lifelong fear of fire and experienced something that will likely alter his worldview forever.

The famously skeptical swordsman peered into the flames, on the suggestion of Beric Dondarrion (Richard Dormer) and Thoros of Myr (Paul Kaye), and saw "ice — a wall of ice. The Wall." He described a castle that very much fits the description of Eastwatch by the Sea, the Night's Watch fortress on the easternmost edge of the enormous Wall that separates the Seven Kingdoms from the uncharted frozen lands beyond, a cold wasteland that makes the North's talk of winter look like a midsummer dream. With such a cynical man having such an emotionally charged reaction to such an undeniable display of magic, the Hound and his fellows' fateful collision with the Army of the Dead suddenly felt more even inevitable and powerful than it did before.

In the same episode, Jon Snow (Kit Harington) made some executive decisions that weren't exactly warmly received by his constituents. Among them: deputizing Tormund Giantsbane (Kristofer Hivju) and the Wildlings as veritable members of the Night's Watch, sending them to guard the closest place to the Night King's last known whereabouts: Eastwatch by the Sea, the very same place where the Brotherhood Without Banners are headed.

For several episodes, then, we've been building toward something — hopefully not an overly horrible something, but probably at least moderately horrible — happening at Eastwatch. And it looks like such an event will occur as soon as tonight's episode, which sports the same name as this fateful destination: "Eastwatch." If last week's focus was the fiery side of the song, "Eastwatch" should be an hour that's heavy on the ice.

Read the rest of this article at The Hollywood Reporter.

Game of Thrones also stars Peter Dinklage and Emilia Clarke.