5 details in the 'Game of Thrones' pilot that were wrapped up in the series finale - and 3 that were never explained

The cold open of the pilot shows three rangers of the Night's Watch heading beyond the Wall (and to their doom). They're hunting down wildlings, the believed primary enemy of the Night's Watch. Little they did they know that the White Walkers had returned to try and wipe out humanity.

This is why Jon Snow's last moments in the finale are so poignant. Not only is he once again venturing beyond the Wall, but this time he's surrounded by wildlings and their children.

Now all of humanity is once again united on the same side, and Jon Snow is starting a new life among the very people the Night's Watch once considered their enemies.

"You can interpret it like he's starting a new life," the show's composer, Ramin Djawadi, told Insider. "He's a changed man, and he's leaving the past behind, and so it's definitely supposed to be something positive."

Also, the "Game of Thrones" pilot begins when Westeros is just ending its summer and heading towards winter. But the finale episode shows that a peek of greenery is emerging from the snow by the Wall, a hint that spring is almost there at last.

The Starks believed the discovery of the six direwolf pups to be an omen. Because the direwolf is the sigil of House Stark, having them find the same number of wolves as there were Stark children was an auspicious way to open the show.

Sadly by the series finale, all but two of the direwolves had been killed. While we don't know where Nymeria and her wolfpack went, it's perhaps unlikely they stuck around Westeros and may have headed for the wild north.

If both Nymeria and Ghost went back beyond the Wall, then that means there are once again no more direwolves south of the border, bringing this pilot-episode scene full circle.

In the pilot, Ned Stark tells Bran an important lesson about leadership.

"The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword," he says after executing a Night's Watch deserter.

This is a key aspect of House Stark's moral code. If a leader decides to execute someone, they must have the conviction to follow-through on the choice by doing it themselves.

In the series finale, Jon sees Grey Worm executing Lannister soldiers on Dany's behalf. This doesn't sit right with him, given that he thinks those men should be prisoners. But it was also likely bothering him that his Queen was not there to do the dirty work herself.

Jon ultimately kills Dany after Tyrion tells him it's the only way to ensure true freedom for the people of Westeros. The decision agonizes Jon, but unlike Tyrion, he's able to follow-through on it himself.

Daenerys is introduced to her husband-to-be and the other horselords in the pilot episode. She's intimidated by them, and later tells her brother Viserys that she doesn't want to be married to the Khal.

By the series finale, Khal Drogo was long dead and Daenerys was first Khaleesi to rule all the Dothraki in Essos. She spoke to them from her victorious position in King's Landing, with a head full of braids that indicated how she had never lost a battle.

Tragically, she was murdered by Jon just minutes later, leaving the remaining Dothraki without their Khaleesi.

After finding out she was going to be betrothed to Joffrey in the "Game of Thrones" pilot episode, Sansa was giddy with excitement and begged her mother to tell Ned Stark she could go to the capital.

"I'd be queen someday," Sansa tells Catelyn. "Please make father say yes, please please! It's the only thing I ever wanted."

Though Sansa had to endure years of torture and learn harsh lessons about life in King's Landing first, she eventually did become queen — but without the nuisance of a husband at her side.

Sansa was crowned Queen in the North after she earned her leadership position in Winterfell and secured north as an independent kingdom.

In the pilot, Benjen and Jon talk about him joining the Night's Watch one day. Benjen tries to dissuade Jon at first, telling him that he'd never be able to have a family with children.

When Jon says he doesn't care, Benjen replies: "You might, if you knew what it meant."

For years, book readers took this to be an extra cryptic hint at the fact that Jon was descended from Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark (Benjen's sister), making him the arguable heir to the Iron Throne.

Did Benjen, like his brother Ned, know the truth about who Jon's parents were? And if so, was this what he was getting at when he tried to tell Jon he might want to be able to marry and have kids one day?

When Benjen and Jon finally reunited in season seven, they didn't have time to talk about much of anything, so unfortunately this mystery will never be solved for show fans.

Illyrio was plotting with Varys to bring down the Baratheon reign in Westeros and reinstall a Targaryen on the Iron Throne. But Illyrio basically vanished from the show after season one, only to be mentioned in passing in season five.

Though Varys continued his advocacy for the realm on both of their behalf, it's a bit strange that Illyrio never appeared in the show again. He was the one who gifted Daenerys her dragon eggs, and certainly would have been curious to see the legendary creatures in real life once again.

Between the above pattern and spiral shape seen in the later seasons, the show kept having the White Walkers arrange dead body parts into seemingly cryptic messages. But there never wound up being a deeper meaning to these patterns.

Instead, this was presumably the show's way of hinting at the way White Walkers had their own sentience and culture — they weren't just mindless zombies. But the show never really made that point clear, and therefore some fans may still be confused about these pattern shapes to this day.

For more deep dives in the final season of "Game of Thrones," read our full list of questions the series finale left unanswered here.