Creepy images of Game of Thrones characters as wights

Since the beginning of the series, we’ve been promised that “Winter is Coming,” but winter always seems to get stalled at the border. When “Hardhome” landed on our television screens at the end of May, the show finally looked like it was going to make good on its promise, as the Night’s King drafted several new recruits into the army of the dead and taunted Jon Snow with his vastly superior firepower.

The White Walkers, in short, at long last look like they’re on their way south, and it seems like a good time to point everyone toward these terrifying, disturbing, borderline-distasteful renderings of what various Game of Thrones characters would like like if they killed and brought back from the dead as wights. Here’s a sample.

I mean, is Hodor holding Bran’s severed leg? Is Bran tugging on what remains of Hodor’s ruined brain as a rider tugs on the reins of a horse? That is disgusting. It’s great.

The images come courtesy of concept artist and illustrator Austen Mengler, whose other work is equally unsettling (Cookie Monster eating children, undead unicorns…Mengler has a wonderfully messed up imagination). There are eight images in all, each of which depicts an undead version of a different character: Bran, Arya, Jon Snow (sans face), Daenerys, Khal Drogo (note that this series was done some time ago), Tyrion, and Jaime. Finally, there’s one of a White Walker holding up a pair of severed heads. He’s smiling. It’s creepy.

Click here to see the full set, and here’s some more nightmare fuel for the road.