‘Game Of Thrones’ Actor Teases Gyroscope’s Connection To Opening Credits After Season 6 Finale

Move over, R+L=J! We’ve got a new theory to obsess over — and it involves the future of everyone’s favorite “Game of Thrones” underdog Samwell Tarly.

Sam’s (John Bradley) journey hasn’t been an easy one. After being banished from Hornhill by his cruel father in Season 1 of the hit HBO series, Sam reluctantly made his was the Castle Black to serve on the Night’s Watch. But it was at The Wall that Sam found his true purpose … and it didn’t involve a sword. Instead, Sam learned — thanks to a little help from Jon Snow (Kit Harington) — that his ultimate weapon was his brain, a tool that helped him transform from a coward into a brave and courageous leader.

Sam’s new confidence (in addition to his love for Gilly [Hannah Murray] and little Sam) helped him make the next leap in his career, which would bring the book-loving character to Oldtown. In Season 6, fans watched Sam arrive at the second largest city in the Westeros to begin his training as a master of the Citadel. The maesters are learned men who study books to inform and update the Seven Kingdoms on scientific, medical and historical matters — aka the perfect job for Sam.

“He's not going just because he likes books and he wants to read books for the rest of his life. He's going because he can make a difference, more than he could make haphazardly wielding a sword around Castle Black,” Bradley told Vulture in May, explaining why Sam was making the trek to Oldtown.

But when Sam finally arrived to his destination, viewers noticed something about the Citadel that left them scratching their heads. As the maester-in-training wandered through the Citadel’s gigantic library, fans spotted an enormous gyroscope hanging — the same spherical structure that can be seen in the opening credits of the HBO series. Coincidence? Bradley thinks not!

“The one thing I found moving about that object being the same in the Citadel and in the opening titles is that it's a testament to [showrunner David Benioff and Dan Weiss'] foresight, that they can plan something that only comes to fruition much later on. It shows an incredible kind of long game, in terms of giving people drips of information and being brave enough to puzzle people for a while,” the actor said to the Hollywood Reporter after the Season 6 finale.

The actor also added his theories on what Sam’s connection to the gyroscope could be.

“I think it could mean any number of things,” Bradley began. “One theory is that what we’re seeing now and how we’re experiencing ‘Game of Thrones’ is Sam telling the story of ‘Game of Thrones.”

Bradley explained further, stating that it’s possible the show that fans are watching is the history Sam documented as a maester of the Citadel in one of the library’s many books. “ If you take the logic of the story now, the story of Westeros and the story of the battle for the Iron Throne, it would be a book in that library. The visual motif of that is you're about to be told a story — the sense of an idea of being told a story, and people gaining that knowledge, the way Sam is absorbing knowledge in the library.”

What connection do you think Sam has to the gyroscope in the opening credits of “Game of Thrones”? Sound off with your theories in the comments section below. “Game of Thrones” Season 7 will premiere in 2017.​