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Ah: the map room. Watching Cersei arrogantly tramping over the seven kingdoms of Westeros in the Red Keep's courtyard was perhaps the most apt metaphor for her rise to power.

We left Cersei in Season 7 with her armies in shambles,Watch Exotic Forbidden Pleasures Online the imminent threat of a white walker marching closer to the city, and her golden right-handed man (pun intended) headed North. It seemed like she should retire her carefully mapped plans for conquestt.

But new information indicates that the map room still has a role to play. And all signs point to it being part of a pivotal scene at that.

SEE ALSO: Fan images from set of 'Game of Thrones' Season 8 possibly reveal devastating spoiler

New DVD commentary from Season 7 (spotted by Winter is Coming) zeroes in on a discussion between the producers about the veryspecific design requirements for the map room given by showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss (see concept art below). It needed to be roofless, and visible to the sky. And the reason for that? Setting up a plot point in the upcoming final season.

VFX producer Steve Kullback said that the creators, "Asked us to make [the map room] an exterior location in an upcoming episode, but I can’t tell you why... But that’ll pay off."

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

What a tease!

More hints at this tantalizing pay off can be gleamed from another exchange between features producer Chris Newman, VFX supervisor Joe Bauer, and Kullback:

Newman:“The courtyard always was thought of as being an exterior courtyard, even before she had the map painted, hence the sunlight.”Bauer: “It used to be at least a story taller, but there was a need to see the sky in this coverage.”Kullback: “Forthcoming coverage.”

For vigilant Game of Thronesfans, the need for an exterior courtyard brings one of the show's earliest, recurring, and most ominous prophetic visions to mind.

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SEE ALSO: 'Game of Thrones' star Lena Headey on how cast reacted to final script

That's right: those massive dragon wings casting a dark shadow over King's Landing. The fact that the map room in the Red Keep specifically needed to be in an open courtyard can only mean we're in store for another metaphor for the seven kingdoms. We can already see it now: Cersei, still plotting away, interrupted by a screech that makes her look up only to see the fire-breathing monster that will destroy her city.

Watching the courtyard map of the seven kingdoms turn to ash will be apt foreshadowing indeed.

But the question, then, is what kindof dragon are we talking about? The fire-breathing type, or the undead kind? For a long time, we thought the wings seen over King's Landing from Bran's visions were Drogons: a sign of Daenery's inevitable take over.

But now that Viserion is in the hands of a new undead rider, we're starting to understand why they avoided showing exactly whichdragon was invading the city.

Which leads us to yet another iconic prophecy we'll see fulfilled by the end of Season 8. In Season 2, Daenerys visits the House of the Undying, where she walks across a vision of the throne room in ruins, burned to a crisp and covered in snow. Importantly, Dany reaches out and almosttouch the Iron Throne -- before being pulled away by the cries of her dragon babies.

This heavily implies that the dragon Cersei will face in the map room in Season 8 will be Viserion, ridden by the Night King, who will finally bring winter along with his army of the dead to King's Landing. Leaked images from the set of Winterfell also support the theory that the destruction of Westerosi castles will be a recurring theme in Season 8.

The white walker take over will wipe out all the institutions (AKA noble houses and their regions) that held up the social norms of Westerosi life. Some even believe this is further support for the theory that Cersei will become the "Night Queen."

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Others still speculate against the Viserion version of events, pointing out that the shadow in the prophecy doesn't show any holes in the wings -- which contradicts Viserion's undead makeover. But back when the show introduced the vision several years ago, the design team probably wasn't thinking that far ahead.

So, in summary, it's likely that all the major castles and strongholds of Westeros are in for a harsh, cold awakening in Season 8. And the iconic opening credits with a 3D map of all the regions will never look the same.

Just don't tell Bronn -- he's still holding out for all those castles and wives Jaime promised.

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Topics Game Of Thrones