The Crypts Are the Safest Place in Winterfell

Submission 7,038

Part of a series on Game of Thrones. [View Related Entries]

Editor's Note: This entry contains spoilers for Game of Thrones; read at your own caution.

About

The Crypts Are the Safest Place in Winterfell refers to a series of jokes and memes regarding a plot point on the American fantasy television series Game of Thrones. On the show, as the characters await a league of villains, women and children are instructed to wait out a battle in the crypts of the city of Winterfell. However, many online joked that this area is likely not as safe as the characters believe.

Origin

On April 21st, 2019, HBO aired the Game of Thrones episode "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms." In the episode, the characters announced a plan to defeat the antagonists "the White Walkers," and protecting the citizens of Winterfell by hiding them in the crypts of the city (supercut below).^[1]

Following the airing of the episode, fans and critics of the show speculated that this could be the setup for a battle in crypts in which dead characters rise from their graves. For example, Twitter ^[2] user @FumRasmussen tweeted, "Seriously no one in Winterfell foresees an issue with hiding everyone in the crypts from an army that raises the dead Dany in trailer 'the dead are already here' oh damn." The tweet received more than 100 retweets and 760 likes in four days (shown below).

Spread

Throughout the day, people continued to joke about the plot point. Twitter^[3] user @ChrisStoney tweeted, "I really loved the subtle foreshadowing in #GoT last night. No place in Winterfell is safer than the crypts. All the women and children are in the crypts, because of how safe they are. Nothing will happen to them down there. In the crypts. The safest place in Winterfell." The post received more than 10,000 retweets and 74,000 likes in three days (shown below, left).

Over the next few days, others posted memes using the jokes. For example, Twitter^[4] user @jake_metz posted a Lisa Simpson's Dinner meme to post about the theories (shown below, center). Twitter^[5] user @OhNoSheTwitnt posted a Trump Yelling at Lawn-mowing Boy meme. The post received more than 100 retweets and 775 likes in two days (shown below, right).

On April 22nd, Twitter user @ghostlikecrime captioned a clip from the Michael Jackson music video for the song "Thrill" with Winterfell Crypts when the Night King arrives." The post received more than 5,000 retweets and 22,000 likes in three days (shown below).

That day, Redditor ^[6] IgnorantSportsFan posted about a theory about the crypt. The post received more than 8,000 points (96% upvoted) and 2,000 comments in three days.

Several media outlets covered the theories and memes, including The Daily Dot, ^[7] Mashable, ^[8] Thrillist,^[9] Harper's Bazaar,^[10] Polygon^[11] and more.