NB: A spoiler for last night's Game of Thrones Season 7 premiere episode follows.
It shouldn't have been such a big surprise that Ed Sheeran was going to appear in Game of Thrones's seventh season, after all showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss confirmed the news earlier this year, while Sheeran himself verified it with a tweet.
Nevertheless, it was still a little jarring to see old mate Ed on last night's Season 7 premiere, crooning away, no less. What surprised fans the most is the proximity his role had with Maisie Williams' Arya Stark, who is the reason he's on the show at all – getting the singer on the show to surprise Williams (who is a huge fan) was something the showrunners were trying to do for a few years now.
“For years, we tried to get Ed Sheeran on the show to surprise Maisie [Williams], and this year we finally did it,” Benioff said at a panel during SXSW in March.
What is interesting about the feature is the song which Sheeran sings in the scene. Called "Hands of Gold", it originally appeared in George RR Martin's A Storm of Swords novel, the third in his A Song of Ice and Fire series. The song alludes to Tyrion Lannister's illicit tryst with the prostitute Shae, and was used as a form of blackmail against him. The lyrics explain:
He rode through the streets of the city, Down from his hill on high, O’er the wynds and the steps and the cobbles, He rode to a woman’s sigh. For she was his secret treasure, She was his shame and his bliss. And a chain and a keep are nothing, Compared to a woman's kiss For hands of gold are always cold, But a woman’s hands are warm.
There are a few theories out that the song's original intention could make its way into the series, not involving Tyrion specifically, but Jaime Lannister and his incestuous relationship with Cersei.
But for now we'll just have to keep watching and see if it leads us anywhere, or if it was just Sheeran's new Westeros chart-topper.
If you can't get enough Game of Thrones action now that it's back on our screens, read our answers to the most Googled questions about the show.
