To build hype for Game of Thrones’ seventh season, HBO launched a Facebook Live event to reveal the premiere date. That event involved watching a block of ice melt which concealed the premiere date. That is, of course, before the stream was taken down due to technical difficulties.

Let me be extra clear about this: fans and journalists came in by the tens of thousands to watch a block of ice melt for Game of Thrones.

Viewers were invited to type in FIRE to summon an offscreen flamethrower to melt the block. At one point, Bran himself (Isaac Hempstead Wright) appeared to cheer people on. And then he breathed fire.

People were confused:

I'm old enough to remember when melting a giant block of ice was how all information was disseminated. Then the Internet happened. — Scott Tobias (@scott_tobias) March 9, 2017

Literally watching a facebook live of a giant block of ice melting



for work reasons



fucking hell — James Whitbrook (@Jwhitbrook) March 9, 2017

But overall, things were going well during the stream for its first 15 minutes. Then the feed was cut due to technical difficulties. It’s not clear what those difficulties are (Is the ice too thick? Is the flamethrower not strong enough? Is this really just a silly idea?), but HBO assures us the problem is being resolved.

We will be back and ready for more fire soon. #GoTS7 — Game Of Thrones (@GameOfThrones) March 9, 2017

I’m starting to feel a little like Reek right now.

LEARNING THE GAME OF THRONES THEME SONG ON A FUTURISTIC KEYBOARD