Game of Thrones Season 5 Releases First 2 Clips

In less than a month, millions of premium cable subscribers and fantasy enthusiasts will be back in Westeros (or in the Free Cities of Essos), savoring the sights of dragons, White Walkers, and a particularly bitter exiled dwarf. Yes, Game of Thrones season five is upon us, and HBO is pulling out all the stops to make sure that while the night is dark and full of terrors, it will also be filled with the sounds of Ramin Djawadi reverberating from your TV.

Thus below we have for your enjoyment the first two Game of Thrones season five clips. One is of Jon Snow (Kit Harington) meeting with Mance Rayder (Ciaran Hinds) in the hopes of convincing him to join Stannis’ cause with the common threat of winter—and White Walkers—almost upon them. The latter video is of Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) and Varys (Conleth Hill) at a familiar looking Pentos balcony, discussing the youngest Lannister’s future career prospects.

Also enjoy the latest batch of photos that HBO has been releasing all week.

Game of Thrones season five picks up right after the madness of the season four cliffhanger. King’s Landing is in mourning and upheaval after the death of Tywin Lannister, which leaves his two eldest children, Cersei and Jaime, in grief and at odds. As Cersei takes on a more commanding role of governance as her son’s regent, the capital’s religious community grows more fervent with the arrival of a new Septon; meanwhile an uneasy alliance is formed between the men of the Night’s Watch and King Stannis Baratheon, who has come to “liberate” the North from the Boltons and Lannisters.

Across the Narrow Sea, Arya Stark arrives in Braavos to start a life with a new evocation, and Tyrion is set on his own quest to find a new queen that rules over the former slave city of Meereen. But he should be careful, because there will be dragons out there.

Game of Thrones season five premieres on April 12, 2015 in a global simulcast.