Dave Hill, the writer behind the opening episode of Game of Thrones‘s eighth season, has revealed the meaning behind The Night King’s spirals.

The symbol has been seen multiple times throughout the show and featured prominently during the premiere – when Tormund (Kristofer Hivju) and Beric Dondarrion (Richard Dormer) discovered 10-year-old Ned Umber nailed to a wall, surrounded by severed body parts.

“As we saw with Bran and the Three-Eyed Raven, the spiral pattern was sacred to the Children of the Forest, who created the Night King by sacrificing a captured man in a spiral ‘henge of stones’,” the writer told The New York Post.

“The Night King then adopted the symbol as a sort of blasphemy, like Satan with the upside-down cross.”

Game of Thrones season 8 episode 2 photos Show all 14 1 /14 Game of Thrones season 8 episode 2 photos Game of Thrones season 8 episode 2 photos Varys (Conleth Hill), Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) and Ser Jorah (Iain Glen) HBO Game of Thrones season 8 episode 2 photos Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Samwell Tarly (John Bradley) HBO Game of Thrones season 8 episode 2 photos Gilly (Hannah Murray) Game of Thrones Season 8, Episdoe 2 HBO Game of Thrones season 8 episode 2 photos Gilly (Hannah Murray), baby Sam, and Samwell Tarly (John Bradley) Game of Thrones Season 8, Episdoe 2 HBO Game of Thrones season 8 episode 2 photos Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) Game of Thrones Season 8, Episdoe 2 HBO Game of Thrones season 8 episode 2 photos Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright) Game of Thrones Season 8, Episdoe 2 HBO Game of Thrones season 8 episode 2 photos Ser Davos (Liam Cunningham) Game of Thrones Season 8, Episdoe 2 HBO Game of Thrones season 8 episode 2 photos Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) Game of Thrones Season 8, Episdoe 2 HBO Game of Thrones season 8 episode 2 photos Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright) HBO Game of Thrones season 8 episode 2 photos Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) HBO Game of Thrones season 8 episode 2 photos Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) HBO Game of Thrones season 8 episode 2 photos Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson) and Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel) HBO Game of Thrones season 8 episode 2 photos Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) HBO Game of Thrones season 8 episode 2 photos Lyanna Mormont (Bella Ramsey) HBO

Game of Thrones co-showrunner David Benioff previously said of the Night King’s symbols: “One of the things we learn from these cave paintings is that the White Walkers didn’t come up with those images, they derived them from their creators, the Children of the Forest.

“These are patterns that have mystical significance for the Children of the Forest.”

Another theory that has recently been circulating around the internet highlights the similarities between the symbol and the sigil of House Targaryen. Some fans even believe the Night King could actually be a Targaryen and true heir to the Iron Throne.