Last year, Game Of Thrones debuted with the tag line “Winter Is Coming”. Well, winter is a touch closer in Westeros, and a teaser trailer for Game Of Thrones Season 2 has appeared online.

The grim Northern voice you hear narrating the clip is Stephen Dillane, who will be playing Stannis Baratheon in Season 2. Fans of the show already know that Stannis is the brother of King Robert (Mark Addy), who was nefariously killed off by his wife Cersei in Season 1. In the clip, Stannis declares his intent to rule the seven kingdoms:

My brother left no true born heirs. By right and birth and blood, I do this day lay claim to the Iron Throne of Westeros. Let all true men declare their loyalty. The Iron Throne is mine by right. They will bend the knee or I will destroy them.

Of course, this is where things in Westeros get hugely complicated and all kinds of power struggles come into play. Since Cersei’s children are the illigitimate product of her incestuous relationship with her brother Jaime, they don’t have a direct claim to the throne. Not that such a trivial matter will stop our Cersei, oh no! The second season of Game Of Thrones will loosely follow the story of A Clash Of Kings, the second novel in George R.R. Martin’s A Song Of Ice And Fire series.

But there are a range of players vying to rest their arses on the Iron Throne at King’s Landing. Stannis is just one, aided and abetted by a strange mystic woman dressed in red and a former pirate missing a few fingers due to Stannis’ unrelenting sense of justice. Renly, the younger and far more flamboyant Baratheon brother is also challenging for the throne. In the North, Robb Stark is carving up his own little kingdom. We also get glimpses of Catelyn Stark, Cersei Lannister, Tyrion and Joffrey.

Excited? Absolutely. As one YouTube commenter said:

I’m not ashamed to admit, I’m a 30 year old guy who just squealed like a Japanese school girl.

And eagle-eared fans of Game Of Thrones will be able to hear the three horn blasts that signify something altogether more sinister…