Game of Thrones Season 8, Episode 3
Writers: David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
Director: Miguel Sapochnik
Runtime: 1 hr 22 minutes
Content Warnings: TV-MA: Adult Content, Adult Language, Graphic Violence
Video Preview: Season 8 Episode 3 Trailer
Join us now for live discussion, filled with hopes and predictions, in advance of tonight’s episode, with the Night’s Cast:
For those new to Watchers on the Wall or needing a refresher on the guidelines, here is our spoiler policy for open chat:
Please use spoiler coding when discussing ASOIAF/book or filming spoilers- any material that has not aired or been discussed on Game of Thrones. Instructions on coding/showing/hiding spoilers are found at the top of the Comments section.
Spoiler coding is required in the Open Chat post prior to the episode official airing (9PM EDT tonight!). We ask that fans use consideration for your fellow viewers- please cover and label your spoilers appropriately. After the episode has aired, you don’t have to cover spoilers from the episode anymore!
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bwz6M7IArGB/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=mrato83pyu6j
Hmmmm…
I can’t believe the Night is here… Unreal
Can’t wait for the longest episode in GoT history (And probably the best of them all). I’m watching it tomorrow, special drinks and food will be present.
And no leaks? Looks like HBO fixed it.
This night will be dark and full of terrors, indeed!
Buckle up folks, this is it.. what we’ve all been waiting for! 💀😭
Jack Bauer 24,
Interesting- I actually thought we’d seen the last of Yara, her last scene seemed kinda final. Wonder if this is from later in the season?
Anyone else feel like no main character will die tonight? AeJon, Dany, Arya, Sansa, Bran, Tyrion and Sam are all safe. Only one I’m unsure about is Jaime.
I think they’ll do away with a lot of secondary characters, but even those I’m only confident about are Pod, Theon and Jorah.
Dragons are safe for now too.
I don’t see the big deal with this war. They could hire me and I’d beat the zombie horde with no problem. Fire. Have lots of fire. They burn real easy. Dragon glass or valyrian for the walkers. A snap. Dany’s got lots of fire. Those zombies are sitting ducks as we saw last season to dragons strafing them up and down and burning them by the hundreds. I can take care of the big scary ice dragon. A dragon stone pebble can shatter him. I’m pretty certain he’s a walker dragon, he’s got blue eyes. A dragon stone rock and a sling shot and he’s a goner. Now the major problem I see is the fire dragons seems susceptible to ice javelins. Not sure if all the walkers can throw one as good as the Night King can so you’d have to watch out for them. But it’s clear none of the other fire dragons can be anywhere near the Nights King and any of those ice spears. That shouldn’t be too tough to just be aware of where he is and keep the dragons away.
War won!
Same. I’m not sure what to make of that.
Jack Bauer 24,
I actually think we’ll lose a load of characters, and some main cast..
Pod, Tormund, Jorah, Beric, Theon, Davos, Grey Worm, Brienne or Jaime and Bran.
It’s here. After all these years. Episode 70, the fight for the Dawn.
The clash between the living and the dead. I can’t believe it’s actually here now. I started watching this show in November 2012. Then I read the novels before Season 3 came out. I could never have imagined how invested I’d become in this story, this world, these characters.
And for all these years, the thing I’ve most been anticipating, most been looking forward to, is this. The White Walkers VS the World of Men and Women.
Being in Europe, I won’t be able to see the episode until tomorrow morning, as I can’t afford to stay up until 3 AM to watch it live. But I will be getting up around 5:30 or 6:00 so I can watch it first thing while it’s still dark.
With that in mind, I honestly am not sure how I’m going to sleep tonight. My heart is already beating slightly fast from the anticipation and anxiety.
It’s going to be a long night, for me, for the characters, for everyone.
Let the watch being.
Could it be ? Will Yara somehow show up at Winterfell ? Or will they actually cut to other locations ? “Hmm”, indeed.
I love it one of the best episode in GOT…
Potential titles for tonight
The Great War
The Long Night
Battle (or War) of Ice and Fire
Battle (or War) for the Dawn
Battle of Winterfell
Craster’s Bastards
Gilly and Little Sam’s Family Reunion
Hodor: The Return of His or
We’re F#*%@d!
Carice posting on Instagram means she’s going to show up tonight, maybe even doing the Gandalf thing.
1. That’s Gemma’s baby, not an actor.
2. Cover any spoilers. I think that’s pretty thoroughly covered up above, and yet here we are, 11 comments in.
Very excited. Tbh whilst I was was looking forward to the first two episodes (and subsequently enjoyed both of them) I knew that they were more or less set-up, and didn’t expect anything major to happen. However, starting with this episode I have no idea what is going to happen, and I expect some pretty major things to happen in each of them. It is incredibly exciting, and I’ve been counting the days down slowly. Unfortunately, I can’t stay up to watch, so it is probably going to be a good nine hours or so before I see the episode, but I’m hopeful that it lives up to my high expectations.
How big are you expecting this battle to be? There should be THOUSANDS of Unsullied and Dothraki. Wonder how they’ll pull this off.
I’m excited and nervous. I was going to take a nap (I’m in the UK and it airs at 2am here), but I too hyped!
Just suck it up and hope you all enjoy tonights show. As the 3ER said to Bran, “The past (read that S8 Ep3) is already written – The ink is dry”.
We’re gonna lose a few of our favorites for sure, but that’s par for the course for Game of Thrones… Shit happens 😉
Well, in the last three episodes they mentioned the Iron Islands (and how safe they SHOULD be) quite a lot, so I still hope they might play a role in the future…
I’d also love to see Rodrik Harlaw, but alas I doubt this is going to happen.
Nick20,
In interviews they’ve always consistently said the battle would last about an hour, with some estimates being closer to being 50 minutes (which still makes it the longest battle in cinema history).
The episode is 82 minutes long. While I wouldn’t necessarily read into Gemma’s comments that she’ll be appearing, there has to be other material aside from it.
I thought it basically set up some refugees from Winterfell winding up in the Iron Islands.
This is one of two reasons that I think Theon might survive: he was the one told this and he’s the only character that we know is aware of the fact that there are “Executive Use Only” escape tunnels from Winterfell. However, Theon obviously would have told Daenerys & Sansa, and it is possible that the escape tunnels will not come into play. (Still, why mention them even the once if that was to be the case.)
Moderately ironic fact: I avoided this place for nearly a year to avoid Series 8 spoilers. I’ve been hiding here since Friday to avoid Endgame spoilers. One more hour!
(I am just hoping that my phone doesn’t post updates the way that it does for baseball games: i.e., “Jon Snow kills 5 White Walkers in single combat; White Walkers still lead Westerosi 17 Major Kills -12 Major Kills.”)
Probably check in at KL?
Jack Bauer 24,
Hundreds and hundreds of extras, tiling and some massive green screen action
I suppose it was optimistic to hope “graphic violence” wouldn’t be in the content warning.
Commence wincing, everybody. This one is gonna sting.
Stories require reverse survivorship; the more that a story invests in a character, the more important that it is that they be present at the apex. Put another way: storytellers know who is important at the apex, so they should put more emphasis on those characters as they tell the tale.
(I.e.: your list makes sense!)
Tonight’s Game of Thrones, Battle of Winterfell: Meat Sheet Prediction™:
1. Daenerys Targaryen: Lives
2. Jon Snow/Aegon Targaryen: Lives
3. Arya Stark: Lives
4. Sansa Stark: Lives
5. Bran Stark: DIES (but wargs a dragon first!)
6. Theon Greyjoy: DIES
7. Jaime Lannister: Lives
8. Ser Brienne of Tarth: DIES
9. The Hound: Lives
10. Jorah Mormont: DIES
11. Grey Worm: DIES
12. Ser Davos Seaworth: DIES
13. Bronze Yohn Royce: DIES
14. Gendry Storm: DIES
15. Podrick Payne: DIES
16. Beric Dondarrion: DIES
17. Tormund Giantsbane: DIES
18. Lyanna Mormont: Lives
19. Dolorous Edd: DIES
20. Tyrion Lannister: Lives
21. Missandei: DIES
22. Samwell Tarly: Lives
23. Varys: Lives (keeps on paddling)
24. Gilly and Little Sam: DIE
25. Ghost: DIES
26. Drogon: Lives (but is secretly warged)
27. Rhaegal: DIES
28: Viserion the Undead Dragon: DIES (again)
29. The Night King: DIES
**Bonus: Does she even show up? Melisandre: Lives
Hodor 🍻
Jack Bauer 24,
However Dan Portman’s…
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bwz8PQ0g3oP/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=1imqief8rjcc6
Jack Bauer 24,
Everyone has their own definitions of who they consider a main character, but if you’re talking about the top book POVs present (the Starks, Lannisters, and Dany), then no, you’re certainly not alone in thinking none of them will die.
In terms of deaths from people who are series regulars (another definition of main character), there’ll be a few, such as Jorah, Theon, and Tormund (I’m guessing).
Wimsey,
I responded to Jack Bauer that
– think my (covered) comment is in moderation though.
But that theory make sense. I’d read somewhere that one of the shots in the trailer is Dany at
But perhaps they flee to the Iron Islands.. it’s easier to reach from Winterfell..
The show has never set up that possibility. At this point, if the show has not shown it happening, then it is not going to happen. (At the very least, they should have shown us Bran warging into one of the dragons already; but then they also would have needed to show us that a Greenseer can keep his/her mind intact after death in an animal. Of course, the books themselves provide no evidence of that!)
It seems a little early for that. I would be really surprised if the NK is resolved prior to the penultimate episode.
Raven,
She will return I hope it at least… Tonight is is going to be epic!
I don’t think the NK will die tonight. I don’t expect to even see him in 803.
I have a feeling there will be some definite cliffhangers at the end of this episode.
I’m also going to hide under my bed now.
Wish me luck, as I don’t have a bed frame- my mattress and boxspring just sit on the floor.
I would not read too much into that. The reason that Pyke and Winterfell’s main hall look so similar is because it’s the same set, just slightly reconfigured. And the Greyjoy squid is not in that fireplace. It otherwise looks the same because it IS the same; simply at Winterfell, that’s all.
My bet is that different groups of refugees will wind up in different places. If nothing else, then we have not seen any sort of concrete plan for whence people should retreat: they really did seem to just assume that they could hold Winterfell. My bet is that will be a big “whoops!” 😬
To this end, I expect that some people will wind up taking up Yara’s offer, and that this might become an important plot-point in the penultimate or ultimate episode.
A main character needs to die in my opinion, I feel Jamie is going either this episode or the next. Theon for sure is dying, then probably minor/secondary characters like Jorah/Missandei/Royce/Lyanna Mormont/Podrick.
Not that I wish it, this should be carnage and truly epic.
Again, I don’t see the problem with beating this army of zombies. And the ice dragon. But of course they have to have a big drawn out battle to make it interesting and they will have to kill off some characters to get the tear jerk types to shed a tear I suppose. But it lacks credibility.
And speaking of credibility, can the zombies drown? No, right? So if not why would anyplace on the entire globe be safe from them? They simply walk along the bottom of the ocean(s) until they get to where they want to get to. They got all eternity to do it.
I’ve been hoping for a leak all day because I can’t wait to watch the bloody thing! For now, I am going to settle in with a late lunch and watch Hardhome, to remind me of a) Sapochnik’s brilliance with battle sequences and b) the true terror of the AotD.
Everyone enjoy tonight! I raise a glass of the finest Dornish Red to you and to the characters we’ve all come to love.
heh, the “I’d like to return some very overdue books” conjecture? 😝
Why not just use the diagnoses that we learned in high school/secondary school literature class?
I think we can get too easily distracted by theories and the preview trailer.
The council scene in Episode 02 this season was to set the stage for the battle and what viewers should expect as the battle unfolds.
That was not misdirection. That was the purest of exposition.
The show lives in its characters. The Battle for the Iron Throne is not over. There is treachery afoot, a resurrecting Priestess, a Faceless girl, a mercenary with a crossbow, an UnDead Queensguard, and a city that is still wired up with caches of wildfire.
Plenty to fuel 3 episodes and wrap up this story.
No: the Night King buys it tonight I think.
Sue the Fury,
Yeah I was wondering how no one was getting it. sweet pic!
For whatever reasons, it seems that they do not cross water easily. Otherwise, they could have marched around the Wall.
Thats a point I guess.
I disagree? I don’t think it’s going to happen but the only thing the show needs to show are Bran’s eyes going white and the Dragon’s eyes going white at the same time and most viewers would immediately understand visually what that meant.
Will we see Ice Spiders?
No, but they sink. And they can be eaten by what lurks below the sea. The Walkers themselves will be frozen in place if they venture into the water. There is a REASON the NK does not pursue the boats and ships at Hardhome.
That which is dead cannot die… but sinks **gurgle gurgle**
Nibble nibble… Nibble, nibble. Nibble nibble, nibble…
Wimsey,
Because such things are inherently subjective and not reducible to a formula, particularly in an ensemble TV show. There are people who regard only GRRM’s original five main POVs as having that status, for instance (though on the show that’s much harder to sustain even than in the books since Bran at this point is pretty much just a plot device, not a character); for others it can be very expansive.
I’m getting scared!
Now, is tonight the entirety of the battle against the WW? Or just the battle portion with a magical conclusion in the last three episodes? It doesn’t seem like this is the kind of enemy you can defeat on the battlefield. Plus it’d be sort of anti-climatic to have the whole series build up to a one episode final fight.
What is everyone thinking?
Well I actually won’t read “anything” into that.. because the comment you’ve posted is not what was said at all, and- it was covered by spoiler code.
No. If they were going to do that, we would have seen them already I think. It’s a little too fantastical for the show – and it distracts from the undead horror of the Army of the Dead.
The Night King being defeated/killed in Episode 3 and Jaime NOT being the one to kill Cersei are literally the only two things that would disappoint me this season.
I really hope they don’t go that route.
Not a chance.
I hope Ghost isn’t ghosted. 🙁 I wonder if he’ll be with Jon or Sam?
Jack Bauer 24,
Why do you think not? Certainly not budget.
Steel_Wind,
Well they’re mentioned in the show 3 times including at Hardhome 5.08 and D&D usually eventually show what they mention…so there’s that.
I had a thought that the battle doesn’t have to wrap up in one episode. If it’s truly epic it can and perhaps even should span episodes. A war as opposed to a battle would.
And if the good guys don’t employ massive amounts of fire I will be disappointed and kinda pissed. It’s a nobrainer. The zombies light and burn real easily.
Except elephants…
S8Ep3 Synopsis:
Winterfell welcomes the return of Hodor. Arya and Gendry play hide and seek. Gilly anxiously prepares for a family reunion. Tyrion and Varys seek answers from sculptures. Bran and Theon compare adventures while waiting for a cold friend. Jon and Dany’s love is tested.
George,
The Ice spiders are simply wights. Seen from a distance, and with the gravity defying scrambling that we saw in “The Door” it became clear that they were simply a distortion of the facts over many centuries.
Also-they sound cheesy as hell.
I had a thought that the battle doesn’t have to wrap up in one episode. If it’s truly epic it can and perhaps even should span episodes. A war as opposed to a battle would.
That didn’t work right. Or something I did wrong.
Bostondave,
There are sure to be lots of cliffhangers, at the least.
Steel_Wind,
Not to be that guy, but, if Gendry has a last name, it would be “Waters”, not “Storm”. Gendry was born and raised in King’s Landing; bastards of the Crownlands are given the surname of “Waters”.
Yes, Hodor is a huge wight now. Not as huge as a giant though.
No one particular reason. Just don’t think we’ll see them.
Screenshots from Ep3 are now all over the Twitter. Lots of spoilers. Stay away from social media, guys.
Stay off Twitter people – I think someone just posted spoilerly screen caps from the upcoming episode. ☠️
Sean C.,
Thank you. A million times thank you.
It’s out. Please do not mention any leaks/spoilers, and for my lovely unsullied friends – avoid the interwebs.
Regular show watchers don’t know/give two sh*ts about ice spiders. It would be a huge expense just to give the readers something to lose their shit over. I say no.
Also, there are pics of the ep out there now so everyone tread carefully. I only saw a thread title so thank god no pics but I imagine twitter will soon be full of them.
Do you remember that in a recent interview that David and Dan got the usual question and said something like , paraphrasing, ‘that’s the surprise, nobody dies!’, I am sure they were kidding … but it was like they were gonna turn things on its head and do something totally unexpected. They do like to prank. Could they have been talking about this episode?
I think that was on the 60 min. piece?
Pigeon,
DAMMIT HBO! 🤦🏼♂️ 🙄
Ladies & gentlemen place your bets. Odds on favourite to bite it . I say (redacted) and (redacted) oh and definitely (redacted) for sure.
What a joke. HBO can’t get a handle on their distributors. Who leaked it this time? Was it Prime Video again? Sucks that the finale will get leaked.
I am assuming that the “warging” to which Steel_Wind is referring is not typical warging, but something that we see only in the books: a “final” warging in which a dying warg puts his/her mind in an animal and has a short after-semi-life attached to that animal. A lot of people were convinced that Jon was going to do this with Ghost (despite Jon’s failure to ever develop his warging skills either on TV or in the books), and that a big part of bringing Jon back would be finding some way to use Ghost as Time Machine to restore Jon fully into his body.
The show has never introduced this as a possibility, so we should not expect to see Drogon start speaking with Issac Hempstead’s voice next Sunday!
They were mentioned by Old Nan in Season 1 Episode 3 and at Hardhome as you said, when was the 3rd time ? I don’t remember.
It doesn’t look like the episode has leaked widespread, yet, just some screen captures I won’t look at. I’m not digging into it further than that.
The leaks are from Portugal and apparently the pirated episode is being uploaded rn.
It’s not where they are “raised”, it’s where they are from, in the family line sense. Gendry was sired by the Lord of the Stormlands. *ahem* I choose not to legitimize usurpers as part of the Targaryen Restoration. Gendry is merely the last potential heir to the Stormlands.
And now that we know where your true loyalties lie, step forward and kneel, traitor.
How do their distributors always leak GoT episodes early, but never Westworld or any of their other shows?
No: there is nothing “subjective” about what is necessary and sufficient for a character to be a protagonist. Regardless of the medium, the storytellers want and need you to know who the primary protagonists are: otherwise, you will not understand the story. Now, there might be a question of how well the storytellers do their job, and poor character development obfuscating the story is a common criticism of stories widely perceived as poorly told. However, that has never been a criticism of this show.
Hodors Bastard,
“And HB is happy to see Daddy again!”
It’s because it’s GoT. The most popular show ever. Not that surprising IMO.
Put me down for no ice spiders. To me, it makes sense that even though some of the folklore told by northerners would be true, some is bound to be fake or an exaggeration. I don’t think we’ll be seeing any snarks and grumpkins either.
Somehow these fuckers get their hands on it a couple hours early all the time. What is done at (that time) to make it possible? Still don’t know why assholes can’t wait until the official time
Wimsey,
It’s a very old theory and the main reason many people think this could happen is the Three-Eyed Raven’s “No, but you will fly” line in response to Bran asking if he’ll ever walk again (which was included in the show). In all likelihood this was metaphorically referring to him becoming the Raven himself–and indeed, Bran has indeed seen through the eyes of ravens before, but to be fair much of the metaphor and foreshadowing in the story has had multiple layers of meaning.
Do I personally think it’s happening? Probably not, but I also don’t discount the possibility and if it were to happen, I wouldn’t say that it completely came out of nowhere.
As I already illustrated, “main character” means different things to different people. Some people use it as a synonym for “main cast”; others consider the POVs to all be main characters (book context); on the show, likewise, characters like Theon or Brienne might be main characters depending on how you look at it.
I do think Bran could end up warging into a dragon. It’s long been theorized since the 3-eyed raven told Bran, “You’ll never walk again, but you will fly” that this was a possibility.
No I don’t think it would be quite so easy as warging into Summer or Orell warging into his eagle, because there’s no preexisting bond. But maybe because Viseryon is “compromised” it could be done. I also keep thinking back to Jojen warning Bran about warging into an animal for too long. At the time it seemed like a simple warning to not stay in Summer too long, but it could have also been long-game foreshadowing.
Jack Bauer 24,
I wouldn’t say there’s NO chance of either elephants or Ice Spiders. Just because they let us think there will be no elephants, doesn’t necessarily mean there’ll be no elephants.
Small chance, I know, but still…
Didn’t we already see “ice spiders” in the form of ceiling-skittering limbs-akimbo frozen zombies in “The Door”? Zombies who can run across ceilings can probably scale walls like spiders.
Speaking of, whatever happened to Old Nan? She was never confirmed dead.
Actually, no. When Bran and Sam are discussing Jon’s birth at the end of last season initially Bran is saying that he’s not a Snow, he’s a Sand because he was born in Dorne.
Thanks y’all for the warnings about the Twitter spoilers/leaks. I think I’ll go take a nap :.
ThisGirlHasNoName,
I’m inclined to agree. Bran must surely hold the key to the NKs destruction (alongside Jon and Dany), otherwise why is the NK so hellbent on coming for him and what was his arc all about.. Was he simply destined to reveal Jon’s identity?
I reckon he’ll either warg Viserion or possibly the NK himself, but will die whilst still inside him.
ShameShameShame,
All the people of WF were put to the sword in season 2.
Well, off to see Avengers! Don’t lose Winterfell while I’m gone….
Its more common to be after the region they’re raised. Robert’s bastards that were given a surname weren’t all given Storm. Edric Storm, who was raised in the Stormlands did. Mya Stone did not and she was raised in the Vale.. Gendry was born in KL to a whore and grew up in Flea Bottom as apprentice to Tobho Mott and living with him after his mother died. He had no name that we know, but had he been given one it most likely would have been Waters since he appears to have been unrecognized by Robert.
Just about to go to bed, it’s midnight here. No way on earth I”m watching this without knowing what happens in advance, my nerves can’t take it. Haven’t had a chance to read any comments, so in case this isn’t already common knowledge, a load of screen shots have leaked which show at least one death, so everyone beware! (Not saying more than one person dies, just that there’s one apparent death, possibly more in the pics. It looks fantastic though, should be well worth the wait! I wish you all well in the viewing to come and catch up with everyone tomorrow. Got to try and sleep now.
Yes, but this was a mistake by both Bran and the writers of the show.
Jon was never thought to have been born in the North. Everyone always knew he was born in the South, during the rebellion. Littlefinger even calls him a “bastard born in the South” in Season 6 Episode 10 when speaking to Sansa in the Godswood.
Everyone always knew that Ned went south for the war and came back with Jon.
Yet despite all of this, his surname was Snow, because his family was from the North.
Same goes for Oberyn’s daughters. A couple of them were not born in Dorne, yet they were still called Sand, because their father was from Dorne.
There are other examples in the books as well.
Last name is based on your family or where you were raised. The rules are not always clear, but one thing is certain, and that is that place of birth is basically irrelevant.
Clob,
Exactly right. You seem to be among the few who remember Mya Stone.
Lulus Mum,
☺️ The opposite of basically any GoT fan I’ve seen! Cannot handle ep unspoiled unless you’re reading about it first. I can relate, I still read the last pages at most of the books before reading them. It’s true for me as it ever was, it’s not about the end, it’s really about the journey. See you around Lulu’s Mom 🤗
Sue, I hope you and the WotW staff are ready to pull out the big guns for writing Curtain Calls. The number of obits will make the Red Wedding look like a picnic!
Wimsey,
You’re right about the apex. It’s been building since season and book 1. I get so miffed whenever shock-obessessed fans whinge about plot armour every time a main character has a narrow escape from death or the cavalry comes to the rescue. (Admittedly, variations of that trope are overused by D&D).
On another note, narratively speaking, do you think it likely that Arya will get pregnant? I do, though Cogman said it just a normal thing to do when the end of the world is approaching. But that way is pregnant (!) with irony and possibilities. I hope you enjoy Avengers. I’ve heard it’s quite good.
I predict that Bran will warg into Falkor, enter the Chamber of Secrets through Fanghorn Forest, and retrieve at least three of the Infinity Stones.
They wouldn’t drown, but they’d also barely be able to move and couldn’t fight currents or anything. They’d get eaten by sea life, too. I doubt they’d actually make it anywhere. Their weapons would rust and dissolve even if they did. Of course, even on land, they’d be liable to get eaten by worms, flies, birds. It’s one of the central weaknesses of zombie stories in general. They’re not very survivable. At least this story gets around this a bit by having them bring the winter with them, as ice would preserve them. But something like The Walking Dead? Exposed corpses would be gone in weeks at best in Georgia in the middle of summer.
Nick20,
So my understanding was that Jon was a Snow because he was Ned’s recognised bastard.
Without knowing about the wedding, wouldn’t Bran be reverting to the assumption that Jon’s Rhaeghar’s unrecognised bastard and therefore assigning Sand as the most likely surname?
It really is quiet confusing and inconsistent in any case…
In the book, she’s taken prisoner by Ramsey. In the show, it’s heavily implied, but never outright stated, that Ramsey took no prisoners and killed everyone in Winterfell.
Another leak? Those companies that leaked should pay hbo money for this. This should never be possible. Screaming sites always use servertime for the release of the episodes. It’s all automatic. Or they all did use a wrong timer or somebody is doing this on purpose.
And how many deaths will we get? Meaning characters we know by name. I guess around 20.
Raven,
Maybe Mel
I know that we’ll lose lots of “secondary characters” tonight, but my gut is scared for Arya. Anyone else think that Arya may go tonight?
For what it’s worth, Miguel Sapochnik, who also directed episode 5, said episodes 3, 4, and 5 make up a distinct mini-story with a beginning, middle, and end. That reads to me like the Night King is finally defeated in episode 5, with the Battle of Winterfell only the beginning of the “long” night, not that it will ultimately be very long either way.
I know this is addressed to Wimsey, but I just wanted to chime in and say I really hope Arya doesn’t get pregnant, especially not if Gendry dies in the battle and she has to raise a bastard alone. I just don’t see this as a satisfying end to her arc at all. I also would find it stretching the realms of reality if she has sex once and happens to get pregnant. It obviously can and does happen after just one time, but the odds of the timing being just right are quite slim and would it feel a bit cheesy to me if she were to become pregnant. If they’d had a few weeks together, it would be more believable, but one night?
I find it odd how as soon as a female character has sex on this show, everyone assumes they’re pregnant. Dany, Sansa (after season 5) and now Arya. Yet after the male characters have sex, no one then discusses the likelihood that they’ve just fathered a bastard. I don’t know, it feels a bit like double standards, that the female plot lines require a pregnancy to fully evolve or make them interesting whereas with the male ones it is never mentioned (aside from Jon, but that is because it’s with Dany).
Can someone help me out here. I’m not the most knowledgeable GOT person. But FIRE dammit. Fire. Lots and lots of fire. The wights catch easily and quickly and they don’t avoid anything. They’re all offense. They run into every attack. Fire fire and more fire.
Or am I wrong?
I didn’t think I was going to make it to 2am this time, but here we are, an hour to go and I’m still up. I’m not ready for this! I don’t actually know if I want to watch it. I may wait till tomorrow evening to watch with my husband because I fear I am going to need some moral support to get through the numerous deaths we’re bound to see.
Stay safe Winterfell crew!!
The solution writes itself matter of fact. It’s stupid NOT to burn the wights because anything short of hacking them to bits they just reanimate.
A man does not get pregnant.
Same! It’s going to be a really long night, I’m going to watch Episode 2 now, then switch over to episode 3 at 2am!
jennyemelie,
Bran’s line to Sam was basically show dialogue to get to the point that Jon isn’t a bastard. It wasn’t completely accurate though. Yes, bastards are named to the region they’re born, but generally they are born to mothers of the region and raised there. Neither Rhaegar nor Lyanna were from Dorne, she just happened to give birth there. In a different history if they hadn’t married and she didn’t die she probably wouldn’t have stayed in Dorne after the war. He probably would have still been raised in Winterfell as a Snow. Nobody really cares what they’re called anyway since they’re bastards.
No, but a man does impregnate.
I wish I were that hyped!! I think I’ll watch at 2am, but I am really not feeling it despite still being up. I am so pre-upset!
Che,
Well I didn’t start thinking about a pregnancy after Arya & Gendry heated up the forge. Yeah, I’ve been shipping those two since reading the books but a baby at this point didn’t cross my mind.
The tension is unbearable !
Theon: Dead
Bran: Dead
Jon: Alive
Dany: Alive
NK: Dead, finally.
Beric: Dead
The Hound: Alive
Grey Worm: Alive
Missandei: Alive
Sansa: Alive
Tyrion: Alive
Jorah: Dead
Lyanna: Dead…could they kill a little girl? Again? Probably.
Arya: Alive
Jamie: Alive
Brienne: Alive … against all hope.
Pod: Alive … against all hope.
Sam: Alive
Crypt folk: Mostly dead.
Lord Royce: Alive? Seems they need someone to make decisions for the Vale.
Talking of TkotV, their BoB moment…. Mel and the LoL’s fire army.
Mel: Dead
Davos: Alive
I’m all set to shout triumphantly AND collapse in grief.
Che,
We didn’t have many main male characters in that position in the story. We already knew Jon’s fling with Ygritte wasn’t going to have that result. We knew Robb’s did. We already knew Tyrion didn’t while he was still… going at it. Who else has really gotten it on that would make a difference?
So why I a nervous wreck? Enjoy everyone.
Watching Ep 2 again as lead in to tonight’s epic. Not relevant but I noticed an interesting little “hiccup” I had missed on earlier viewings. When they first show Davos serving soup, it seems to be Gilly next to him serving as well. The moment the farmer comes up, she gets changed out for an old lady. Must have had a change of script right there to include her more in the scene with the little girl. Oh well. On with the real show!
OMG ITS HERE…..SHIT is about to go down… I’ll be watching with one eye open unless I start crying ….
In the Official Trump-Authorized Gold-Bound Edition® of the books, published by the Trump University of Self-Declared Genius©, Ramsey is Azor Ahai and can do no wrong.
😉
25 minutes to go!
I’m wondering what it is that triggers a long night? Obviously breaching the wall didn’t cause it. So what does? The death of Bran maybe? Something to do with some buried artifact in the crypts somewhere?
I wonder if the sun is not coming up for another few episodes?
Rewatching the forge sex scene now… Gendry about to make a bastard! 😜 Sorry. Nah, they aren’t going to have a baby… yet.
In my timezone it’s almost time!
Don’t think I have ever been this nervous and anxious before a TV show.
Just about time for Pod to sing. So, yes, I officially went the entire week singing that song in my head.
Anyone have predictions on the first character to fall? My guess is Pod as he’s in the Van guard. Beric, Theon, Lyanna and Jamie all to do in the later stages of the battle. I think Missandei and Varys die mid way through when the crypts are over run.
if I were jon, I would send a raven to Undertaker!!!!
My little birds tell me that the all-male board of HBO has canceled Game of Thrones starting tonight, citing “an udder lack of boobies.”
And, as usual, I will see myself out…
At least for now.
Ditto. Can’t wait to see what they pull off, but not quite enough wine for this!
I’m going to barf or have a panic attack. Possibly both.
Jon Snowed,
Varys will survive, as we still need to discover what the voice in the flames said, when his parts were thrown into the fire.
Biggest swerve ever. Just as it gets darkest, all of a sudden the gongs ring and the dead man makes his way to the godswood. Finishes NK with a tombstone piledriver.
Pigeon,
Xanax would be ideal right now.
Isabelle,
Stand your ground!
(I’m also pacing my beverage for 80 minutes)
ShameShameShame,
I want to have a beer but…no bathroom breaks during tonight’s show.
IT’S HERE!!!! Enjoy all!
Apollo,
Varys has been such a non-character for so many episodes. I expect him to rip off his face to reveal… I dunno, the Waif? Hot Pie? It’s all about the gravy.
omg 2 mins
You make a good point. I’m just so over the pregnancy talk with every female that has sex. I feel they ought to finish their stories on their own merit without procreating.
4 a.m. in my country and the episode is going to be uploaded only at 7 a.m. Still, I’m here with you;)
😂
I wish you all good fortune in the war to come 🥶💀
I’m already teary-eyed and it’s just the ads before it starts. That doesn’t bode well right?
ShameShameShame,
The actress passqa away prior to the airing of episode 1. D&D decided to retire the character out of respect.
I am both excited and anxious to how this all plays out.
Carice is in the credits!!! Mel!!
Kill count prediction!
Gendry is dead; gets blue eyes chases arya (the only reason she would run in terror like that)
Edd is dead.
Brienne is dead.
Jaime is dead.
Giantsbane is dead.
Ghost is dead (to save on FX costs lol)
Carice in credits… bring in the Fiery Hand!!
where is melisandre???
Sandor late in formation lol like Sam
Well take that Beric! lol
Mel hah in the 12th hour lift your sword sounds dirty
Fuuuuuuuu that’s the biggest fire Mance promised!
Holy fuck!!! So fucking cool!
There has been so many complaints about how dark this season is, I can’t believe HBO didn’t fix the brightness prior to this episode. I am already seeing lots of complaints about it and the episode just started.
Ghoooooost
If that bastard NK makes him a zombie I’ll cut a bitch or smth
I can’t take this 🙁 my heart is pounding.
Edd 😢
This is terrifying
I’m terrified
Jesus, Edd! I still didn’t expect that.
Please tell me Bran told them about Undead Vyserion.
Me neither, I’m totally shaking!
Now I feel really dolorous, Dolores.
Now, back to the show.
He told them when Dany and Jon arrived that the Night King as Viseryon
Gh3ttoK!nG.,
Totally forgot.
That being said Jon and Dany are flying blind! It’s horrible
The NK is crushing them with his C Team 🙁
I watch the episodes later but I do watch the reactions to episodes as they air live and I am seeing TONS of complaints about the lighting. I hope that doesn’t ruin the episode.
Laura,
Thank Goodness for Mel(?)
JamesL,
FYI, Pitch black. I think that’s what they went for here. Very realistic I think.
Omg Sansa and Tyrion so good!
Missandei loyal makes and exceptional point too ☺️ Can I say how much I like her?!?!
I have Ativan. It’s not working. 😆
My poor heart. 😭
I’m having a weird thought I will laugh at tomorrow but is Melisandre…the Night Queen gone rogue? lol Is she who the NK is coming for??
“I’m going to go now” to make a PBJ within eyesight of the tube of course.
what a night
Holy crap is anyone seeing this?! Man the Walls!
Winterfell is toast 🙁
Where’s Dany, chugging Sangria with Cersei?
Turns out Jaime’s mystery line was “Draw”.
TormundsWoman,
I think it was a conscious but misguided decision to increase the horror element but people would rather be able to see what is happening.
YES! ASSASSIN ARYA!
Arya don’t you die girl
Lyanna took an undead giant down. Don’t anyone say anything bad about the little girl. Ok?!
Honestly, millions of dollars and I see about half of what’s going on. I don’t care if people are bitching about the lack of light, count me in.
Arya & Lyanna f***ing superstars!!
Ok lil Lyanna, you may have been an annoying little turd, but boy did you make up for it. What a way to go out!
This is utterly spectacular!
I’m watching on my laptop in a dark room. Lighting is fine that way. Have you guys turned your lights off (not that you should have to of course)?
This is just stupid. I mean really really stupid.
The first 10-15 mins are eery scary, just silence until the Dothraki get obliterated. I didn’t like how Jorah rose back alive though that felt unrealistic. Presumably Ghost died with the Dothraki.
got done so dirty.
Also, Javier Botet is amazing.
Okay, this is honestly too intense. How are they going to survive this?!
Also, Lyanna’s death made my lower lip tremble like crazy. Weirdest emotional reaction as I find her pretty annoying.
I think we’re definitely still going to lose Jorah and Tormund. Greyworm and Theon too probably.
I am sure i’ll Enjoy it more on a rewatch, but this is not fun for me right now.
NO. I AM NOT OK.
Finally yeah Dany on Drogon at least got a break! but is the fire not working?!
Oh shit! They need another plan
Seriously dude! LEAVE JON ALONE WOTH ALL THE DEAD EYE SEXY
I think this is the very definition of “we’re fucked” also: crypts are very safe.
Calling it now. Arya kills the NK.
As Mel says.. she’ll shut blue eyes.
What do we say to the God of death?
Does Dany suffer from narcolepsy?
Asking for a zzzzzzz
With that talk from Mel is Arya going after the Night King??
Arya’s prince/ess that was promised, uses longclaw from a fallen Jon to make light bringer from Mel????
This. Is. EXHAUSTING. Come on Team NotDead!
Okay, so that wasn’t a surprise – after Arya asked would it work (dragon fire), it was clear it wouldn’t. So is Arya going to kill him? But if Mel knew that, why believe Stannis and then Jon are the Prince Who Was Promised? Unless it will be many acting together to take down NK. Arya, Jon, Bran etc.
My heart rate has just not slowed down. This is probably not good for me!! I’m watching with over-war headphones and during quiet moments all I can hear is my own pounding heartbeat!
Devastated and relieved.
Holy shit. They told us the ending in Season 4. I am blown away that Arya was the key but I love it. Also that’s why Bran gave her the dagger. Hidden right in front of our faces.
The princess that was promised was Arya!
NOT TODAY
So did Tormund die? I was so stressed I must have missed it ? I didn’t see him after like 30 mins in though
Okay that was way better than what I predicted. \o/
Laura,
I saw him get swarmed at some point, but I couldn’t tell if he died.
80 minutes of pure anxiety.
Wow, just wow.
Wow…I was so wrong, didn’t think that war would all be over in this episode. Now we know why Bran gave Arya that dagger and what her purpose was.
Screw all the moronic theories. Winterfell stands! 🙂
WOW! I’m speechless…
Apollo,
Once Mel said that this time it was crystal clear. Till we had the context though it was a bit difficult to say that since we all expected Dany or Jon to be Azor Ahai. Turns out it was a FM Stark and a Red Witch who turned the tide of War.
I’m rarely ever crying but this is the third time now after Shireen & Hodor (I started watching GOT in real time with the start of season 4).
I don’t even know what to think about.. I’m overwhelmed.. Not sure I liked how it went
No spoilers so just…. OH MY GOD
Promo for Episode 4 and BTS for Episode 3.
Wow!!!!!!
I can’t believe the Big Bad died already!
Laura,
No! Didnt see him dead so he’s alive. Luka needs to make a formal apology and everything ☺️
My death predictions were mostly accurate, though I didn’t necessarily expect them to kill the Night King this soon.
I had no problems at all. Maybe people should consider their equipment.
95% of the episode was a surprise, which happens to be a much less surprise rate than the surprise rate of will Ginger and the Professor do the funky chicken on Gilligan’s Island.
Goodness gracious…what an episode.
I did not expect that…I really did not.
Mother fucking Aryaaaaa!
Is there an episode 4 teaser ? Where I’m watching, they never chose to stream it
Take a bow Supochnik on this Masterpiece!
I guess dealing with Cersei will be the Show’s equivalent of The Scouring of the Shire.
Apollo,
Yeahhhhh baybeeee
Well that was bullshit.
That was incredible, Hell Yes Ayra
Hodors Bastard,
I am super happy! I feared the worst and so far we got off fairly easy. Hard to say that considering we lost Theon, Jorah, Edd, Beric, Lyanna and I don’t know who else.
Sooooo
Night King an WW’s are gone
There is some kind of sick twist coming right at the end
I could not stand to watch all of the battle scenes….is Ghost dead?
Just OMG! So many great moments. What a show!!!!!
I didn’t see THAT coming!
GoT FTW!
MAISIE! MAISIE! Maisie gets all the props, those were some of the best scenes I’ve ever seen on TV.
Alfie and Rory in a tie for second best.
Wow. NOT TODAY!
ASNAWPNKS!
I’m honestly so disappointed what just happened lol
I didn’t catch her meaning, I admit it. Wow!!
I have not watched yet. Is the White Walker threat really over? Not sure how I feel about that. I assume it will be Cersei army that now comes to destroy Winterfell.
Cryptic I’ll give it that, ties Arya’s season 1 arc up, starting with Syrio Forel and then a journey through death and House of Black and White
I anticipate there will be consequences though for Arya, she robbed the god of death etc so I reckon Jagen H’Gar will have to pay that debt
If you think this has a happy ending we are all kidding
That was amazing. Absolutely amazing. Now on to some Dany/Aegon drama!!!
Wonder how many will complain that not only did the NK show up (not going to KL or Oldtown) but that he fell in one episode?
Two questions.
Is Tormund alive?
Is Ghost alive?
That episode was insane! The darkness was an issue in the first half but the latter half was much better.
They prioritized so many character relationships and didn’t sacrifice any of the interpersonal drama even despite the frantic action. This is why Sapochnik is the king. He has a keen understanding of point of view and never fails in bringing us into the heat of the conflict.
Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow
I’m am so disappointed. 🙁
Clob,
Really? I thought that was obvious now. NK had blue eyes and he’s pretty much the God of Death in this universe. And Arya is best at assassin work and she automatically got Mel’s meaning and got out of there like a girl with a mission. I knew she’s going I just didn’t think she’ll do it since Dany and Jon were supposedly on it.
Yeah same here
I’m happy enough with that. Makes sense and takes us back to earlier seasons
Nothing cheesy either
Can someone that had a large screen (I’m in a damn hotel) give a single line per character list of the dead good guys/gals?
Now that was something to see. GO ARYA!!!!!!
Utterly incredible – much less bloody than I was expecting, but any more deaths and it would have cheapened those that did happen.
Moment of little hand kiss between Sansa & Tyrion beautiful.
*big sigh*
And now we rest.
Yes, I have those questions, too.
What was the death toll for named characters? Edd, Jorah, Lyanna Mormont, Theon, Mel.
If GRRM ends I like that I burn my books. I didn’t think they could do worse than Stannis’s end, but they did.
Tormund = Alive
Ghost = never seen after the initial charge
Ambidextrousness for the win. Now we know why Bran gave her the dagger.
I am not ok about Jorah, guys. Not one bit. And if that was Ghost’s “lots of action” this season, I’ma ask to speak to the manager.
The 2 beautiful voices are gone.
Can I just say, +10 points to Missandei?
Proud of Houndie.
Sansa & Tyrion, very good.
POD DIDN’T DIE.
That was a rather anticlimactic end to the Night King. It is still unclear what his motives was, or why the White Walkers suddenly decided to rise again. The White Walkers were not a threat to the rest of Westeros. It is only the North that had to suffer. There is no reason to meet the army of the dead on an open field. There are castle walls, that is a more defensible position. Bran still hasn’t done anything worthwhile with his powers.
JSchmeh,
I couldn’t cope with more than one episode that was traumatic
I believe he lives, but I’m not 100% sure
Yeah after the Dragonfire I figured Jon would have needed Dawn
I was like “where the heck is Arya going” at the time
Let me start of by saying I don’t know what to say – I just can’t WTF WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF
NK dead? No explain action on why now what he want, his 10.000 years waiting for revenge, his first defeat . Nothing…
Starting and ending with Mel was good too
She had served her purpose so it was time to go
Same with Beric, which is fascinating as she could have done a Thoros
Flora Linden,
That really makes it sound like the showrunners came up with the entire ending to the White Walker story by themselves.
Which would explain why none of that had anything to do with the Azor Ahai prophecy.
Flora Linden,
Thanks! 0:20 – looks like Rhaegal survived, huzzah!!!! Now just need Ghost.
Trarecar,
That’s because he’s not the Big Bad. Cersei is. I have to say, that doesn’t make a lot of sense with the story George was telling.
Ghost’s Lunch,
Kind of left Ghost ambiguous. At least looked that way to me.
So, Arya stabs the Night King, and all the zombies keel over. If only my personal problems could be solved so simply. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
We got a dance with dragons too! Yeah!
That was completely bonkers! Wow. Surprised NK is dead already though and he died from just a stab of valyrian steel? Thought there would be more to it then that.
But he was undead…
Ghost is dead (assumption, since we never saw it) and Tormund is alive, he was standing on a pile of bodies at end.
I think you got the death list correct. My one question is Greyworm.
Now Goddamn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That’s what I’m talking ’bout!!!
They delivered!!!!….
The best hour or so of television we’ve ever seen! I would not change a thing! Visually it was a stunner. I need another drink.
Bravo!
What an episode. Thank the Seven I lived to witness it.
Ser Jaime and Ser Brienne — Wassup with them? Dead, alive, or much worse, working at 7-Eleven?
Boudica,
I couldn’t agree more. I’m very disappointed.
Boudica,
His motive was to kill all humans, as we’ve known since Season 5. Despite what some argued here, where was never suggested to be anything more to it than that. Indeed, the showrunners were extremely upfront that he was death, nothing more.
So much for the direwolves getting much more action this season huh? Joe Bauer over at the vfx studios must have seen a different cut then they put out. Ghost charged into battle and….did bite a single wight 🤦♂️
Yeah, I have to say I am a bit let down that the thing that everyone’s been talking about is dead and we’ve got three more episodes. But the intrigue als manipulations is what made people love the show in the first place so I guess that’s okay.
Didn’t they say Ghost was gonna do some cool stuff? LOL. I hope he made it.
Tormund was standing on top of the body pile that Sam was lying against. He’s okay. They wouldn’t not show his death.
It was only Jorah, Theon, Edd, Beric, Mel and Lyanna in the end – I really read expecting more, so that was a pleasant surprise!!!
Where the hell did Arya come from? Was she in the tree?? That’s the only bit I find dubious afterwards (at the time I tremble-sploded and cried from relief) – it was worth it for the surprise factor, and I loved the double-handed kill shot that we saw her practice on Brienne – so I am going to assume she was just sitting in that tree waiting for the NK. Props to the people who guessed Arya to kill the NK. I didn’t see that coming!!
What an episode. I need to rewatch that without my heart going a thousand beats per minute.
Totally gobsmacked! I thought NK was going to kill her and I was screaming at the tv like a fool! My Arya did it👏🏻
RIP Baby Bear 😢
As it turned out, we didn’t have as many deaths as people expected. I did suggest that might be the case. But damn, I thought every single one of them was gone for multiple times.
Tyrion and Sansa in the crypt at the end there… yep, thought they were done.
Deaths
Gendry is in the e4 preview so he made it.
I’ll have to watch that again to spot others.
I guess Bran was helping Ayra get through undetected?
JSchmeh,
I think Beric died too?
Body Count:
Melisandre
Edd
Theon
Beric
Little Bear
Ser Jorah
THE NIGHT KING AND HIS ARMY!!!
Not Sure:
Gendry
Tormund
Sam
Gilly
Grey Worm
Brienne
Pod
Rhaegal
All Good:
Jon
Daenarys
Arya
Bran
Tyrion
Varys
Sansa
Davos
Jaimie
Drogon
The Hound
Am I forgetting anyone?
I suspect Ghost is alive, Dany still has Drogon, Rhaegal is dead, but Jon will still have Ghost
Is Rhaegal dead?
WHAT
DO
WE
SAY
TO
THE
GOD
OF
DEATH?!?!?!
ARYAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The True Princess Who Was Promised and the Light That Brings the Dawn!
Just quickly, perhaps one of the biggest moments for me was Jon having to notice half his friends were fighting for their lives and still had to push on towards Bran
So, the night king was a targarean.
Clob,
Ghost and Tormund are on the scene wear they are walking to burn the dead next episode.
Aryah Freaking Stark!!!!!!!!!
Jack Bauer 24,
He’s in the trailer for episode 4, I saw 2 dragons in the clip.
Clob,
ASNAWP, ASNAWP, ASNAWP!!!!! Twenty bloody years I’ve been wanting to see why she was so smart, Brave, talented….NOW WE KNOW!!!!
Well that ending was a surprise!
Now I am totally in the dark as to how episodes 3,4 and 5 make a beginning middle and end! God know what the story is in 6!
The good news is Winterfell survived.
The bad news is their Florsheim Shoes outlet went verklempt.
I think if they didn’t show their deaths and it’s not explicit that they’re dead, then they’re not dead (yet!). They may start next episode with some mortally wounded characters dying still (probably Rhaegar and Ghost), but they wouldn’t off-screen their deaths. Jon’s POV montage of them all fighting is who was alive at the end.
Did the NK smile when Dany tried roasting him?
So is Arya Azor Ahai/tPWWP? Is she our smoked ham? The scene of Beric/The Hound alternately protecting her was so good. Did Beric suspect there near the end?
This was all staring us in the face for years btw. The faceless men were protecting her/training her for this moment under all our watchful eyes and we never detected it. That’s why Jaqen smiled so big at her when she said she was going home – exactly where she needed to be to fulfill her destiny. Honestly, slow clap. I really love it.
What are those of you who are disappointed bummed out by? Just that they were so easy to kill? They really weren’t.
80 minutes of suspense, anxiety and terror and 2 minutes of wtf, it’s over and only two minor mains fell (RIP Theon and Jorah), no Starks fell, big strikeout. I guess D&D didn’t want fan favorites falling, I’m sure GRRM’s true story will be quite different. It just didn’t have the powerful ending it needed. I mean Ser Brienne, Ser Jaime and Pod survived, Tormond and Gendry, GW/Miss both, Davos too; obviously D&D were to timid to kill more off, cowards, GRRM isn’t though. The impact of the war was lessened considerably with no major mains martyred.
Shout to Arya, the true hero of GoT!
Jack Bauer 24,
Rheagal is in the preview for next week. Alive!
It looked fabulous on my TV. Not even remotely too dark.
Ghost’s Lunch,
It felt such a parallel to how Drogon was flying away from Dany. It’s liek there was nothing they could do since they had their own shit to deal with.
I think at the end when Drogon lands protectively around Dany I almost cried. And Jorah was in her arms dying.
Was Sam crying because AeJon saw him being attacked and he kept going instead of helping him?
Ghost’s Lunch,
Are you sure Rhaegal is dead?
Sean C.,
They have always been upfront. But that still does not explain why the White Walkers suddenly appeared again. Basically if they kill everyone they would kill themselves because they used human babies to create new White Walkers, so it is somewhat nonsensical.
I was completely unsurprised by the end of the Night King, it has been heavily telegraphed since last season. However, I was hoping for some small easter egg to the real ending of the story. And Bran still hasn’t done anything of value. So I guess we will just remain clueless forever.
Boudica,
I assume they could not all fit inside Winterfell walls. Anyway, Dohtrakis are best on horses…
Ghost, Tormund, GreyWorm, are all alive the scene next episode where they are burning the dead outside of Winterfell.
Jon, leaving friends and family to keep fighting……wow!!!!
ARYAH FREAKING STARK!!!!!!!!
GottahaveGOT,
Watch the trailer for next episode, pause when Sansa is looking up – 2 dragons in the air.
who’s watching the re-broadcast tomorrow? Hands up! Wow, and there’s 3 more episodes to go.
All I can say is…ASNAWP!!!!!!
That could be true still, but D&D heavily imply that ***they*** made the Arya decision ***3 years*** ago, which seems like it would have been independent of whom GRRM said was AAR or TPTWP. At least, that’s how I interpret these D&D quotes from Inside the Episode, 8:55 in:
So I guess the question is, can Dany muster 20,000 men from the survivors to take on Cersei? I’m guessing no, judging from the people left standing at the end and the mass carnage and slaughter. So where will she get her army from? Will the next episode be her touring the realm to mass the other lords against Cersei? She’s going to need a new army. If Sapo is directing 5 too, I guess the battle with Cersei will happen then?
I don’t even know what I just watched. Like I need to understand what happened. This was epic it was sooooooooo amazing I am speeexhless right now !!!!!!
I couldn’t stop screaming. It was the most astounding battle ever ever.
Here I stand.
–Baby Bear, Slayer of Giants
Yes, he is alive. There were 2 dragons in the preview for next episode.
As for the rest of the season, I think 4 will be character drama and setup for 5, which will be a battle at KL, and 6 will be aftermath with possible time jump.
I. CAN’T. BREATHE. So so goooood, although I’m a bit surprised the NK is dead this episode after reading that 3, 4, and 5 are sort of one story. So perhaps a time jump for the last episode?
“Williams agrees: “I’d say the key players this season are all female,[. . .] – from the March Vogue article earlier this year.
Yes they are Maisie. YES👏🏽THEY👏🏽ARE👏🏽
The music was fantastic and that Tyrion and Sansa scene was beautiful (“You were the best of them.”)!!! I also need to process Jorah dying.
Now, it’s nearly 4am and this is the latest I have stayed up in a long while so with that goodnight. IF I CAN EVEN SLEEP!!
Long Night was just a joke. I don’t think this is going to be very good final season for this series. Three episodes and nothing. Why?
Sean C.,
You truly think that? That would be a huge difference. I mean it would be a different story ending. The books and show are supposed to converge on these huge plot points and endings according to both Benioff and Weiss and Martin as well. Though Martin lately is all over the place with this line.
I need to watch that vid for myself.
The shot of the one and only Dolorous Edd going down like the hero he was, was, well, fecking dolorously brilliant.
R.I.P,, my fave character/ We’ll meet again one day, Edd. First 100,000 rounds on me bro.
Ghost’s Lunch,
Thank you. I was wondering about Rhaegal. A friend of mine spotted Ghost in the E4 trailer.
HOLY HODOR!
Kudos to the folks at Winterfell. After all that, stomping out Cersei and (ugh) Euron, ought to be a (lemon)cake walk. Congrats to Arya Stark and Theon Greyjoy – tonight’s MVPs! There were many other worthy contenders for the honor, but those two … no spoilers … but WOW! I feel like my team just won the Superbowl, World Series, Stanley Cup, World Cup and the NBA all at once! Cannot wait until the reviews roll in. They are going to be good reading.
Laura,
Is that why they threw one hint at “The Princess That Was Promised”
Misdirection to Dany when it was Aryah Freaking Stark all along.
I can live in that world haha
There should have been more to killing the NK.
Also Ep title officially The Long Night!
https://www.hbo.com/game-of-thrones/season-8/3-the-long-night
Good for you. Feel better? Go pound sand.
Gilly, Little Sam? It sure looked like a crypt wight was dragging her away.
I could barely take the tension, holding my head mumbling, “This is horrible.” but fucking amazing.
Disappointed
Really good and…. devastating. All the forces fought bravely, but they better write some damn songs for the Unsullied and Dothraki. I’m glad Dany and Jon lived and worked together . Hopefully, Rhaegal’s only injured.
Awesome that Arya got to be the one to beat back Death another day.
Jorah, Melissandre, Beric, Edd, Theon, Lyanna, the Unsullied, the Dothraki, and probably half the North just saved Westeros and the rest of Planetos.
I missed the whole damn thing – but I see that the Nk is dead. Yes! I hoped/thought they could put away the monster bits and get back to the core GOT.
I will catch up on the battle later in the week! Great!
I’ve been crying for an hour, I think. That silence in the beginning made me want for the episode to end. Just escape terror. I can’t say I enjoyed it, it was awesome and terrifying. Knowing Jorah and Beric and Theon would die didn’t make it easier. I somehow expected Jorah to make it, knowing at the same time that he was meant to die for his Khaleesi. I’m so sorry, Pigeon!
I didn’t expect Lyanna to die, I guess this name doesn’t bring any luck. So House Mormont is extinct. Will I be able to wear the Mormont tee again?
I’m weeping for Edd. And what about Ghost?
She was one of George’s original main five, so her doing THAT certainly proved her worth!
When he caught her though I was still, “OH SHIT, NO!!” Even then I wasn’t thinking she’d be the one and she was dead, especially when they kept showing Jon as he was blocked by Viserion.
Too bad Ten Bears is closed off for a couple days. 😜
WTF? Wasn’t the Night King like, Jon’s whole story arc?! So what the hell did I just watch?!
If the show says Arya was always meant to kill the NK per GRRM, I say horseshit. If GRRM himself says, “Yeah this is how it was always suppose to go down”, I say horseshit. This girl-power Hollywood trend is a plague!
Where’s ghost?!
Laura,
I thought it was great – so unexpected and intense !! I have listed to a lot of channels on UTube with a lot of theories but never heard this one, they were all wrong lol… WHAT DO WE SAY TO THE GOD OF DEATH …….Not frekin today !!
TormundsWoman,
Well, it’s not terribly surprising in a lot of ways, because the Night King is pretty clearly a show invention to give the White Walkers a leader whose instant-kill can get rid of the Army of the Dead. So the person who killed the Night King would necessarily also have to be an invention.
Some people will never be happy. F Them.
That was an amazing episode.
I’m expecting some major twists the last few episodes, but at long as there is a quality ending, I will be happy.
It is funny that the ending of this episode was talked about time and time again in season 1 and nobody picked up on it.
I have a feeling we are still going to see Naharas come back over the next few episodes.
Not gonna lie. NK dead and Cersei/Euron being the Big Bad is utterly disappointing to me. And Bran?? Eight years of Buildup and he did literally NOTHING except warg some crows in the big Battle? WTF?
People say bran didn’t do anything but he gave Arya the dagger
Maybe there is something more to that dagger than we know
Tormund lives. We do not know what happened to Ghost. My guess is he lives.
The only one I picked to live who did not was Lyanna Mormont. But I picked a whole lot more to die than apparently did.
There’s a wolf standing between Sam and Varys in the promo, so I guess Ghost lived.
I’m literally shaking and my head is pounding. What an episode.
Visually stunning, heart renching and shit your pants terrifying from start to finish!
Highlights: Theon’s blaze of glory and Sansa and Tyrion’s moment of realisation.
I do have some questions that we’ll all no doubt be debating once we recover:
So- what is Jon’s destiny special actually meant to be?
Guess same could be said for Dany- and possibly Bran too.
Are they all simply wingmen for Arya, the true saviour of mankind?
Do you honestly believe that D&D just decided to have Arya do it? Something that big is endgame… In other words, that’s something they’d get from George.
Arya Stark Ninja Assassin Warrior Princess That Was Promised NightKingSlayer
I’m not sure how I feel about the NK getting vanquished so easily.
But I liked that it was dark. It’s frustrating to not be able to see everything, but that’s not a bad thing. That frustration adds to the tension. If we could see everything clearly, it would be cheesy.
Is it weird and bad that I’m kind of shipping Sansa and Tyrion now?
Anyway, with three episodes to go, there’s a lot of plot left. Could it really all be spent on Cersei/Euron? I’m thinking no. I’d say the chances of Mad Queen Dany being a thing increased by a lot. She’s lost Jorah. She’s lost the Dothraki and I think most of the Unsullied. She’s found out that she’s not the heir to the Iron Throne. The ingredients are there for her to lose her shit.
How is this “girl power”? The books started in the 1990’s. Arya was set up to kill the Night King since the first book, and there was even clues about it which were talked about this episode. “What do we say to the god of death?” “Not today”.
Some people’s sexism gets in the way of any sort of logic.
I’m not waiting for tomorrow. As is my ritual, I’ll be watching again tonight!
I think Alys Karstark is dead too, although I don’t recall seeing it happen. She was with Theon and the others guarding Bran at the start and I think all of them died.
That was intense! I’m going to need some time to process what we just watched. I was surprised the Night King was taken out so early but, at the same time…ASNAWP!
I had to watch the preview 5 times to finally see both dragons over Winterfell.
I am not convinced that Drogon would of had much trouble with ‘piling on’.
Seems he and Dany should have been more of a factor in the end game even considering the NK would not be flambéed.
And gee that company of White Walkers seemed kind of useless.
lucy,
It took all of them fighting to give the living a chance. Arya killing the Night King was an awesome part of that collective undertaking.
We saw John kill one of the NK’s generals at Hard Home with the Valarian steel sword. Why would the NK himself be any different? They derived out of the same source, I would imagine.
The scenes with the dragons above the clouds with the moon shining above was just absolutely stunning. One of the best scenes I have ever seen cinematically on TV. That would have looked awesome in a theater.
What a weekend. Endgame and the Battle of Winterfell.
By the way, did we get a Ned cameo in the crypts?
Correct. Ghost survived based on the Ep 4 trailer.
RBloodworth,
Makes sense to me. The story George is telling has more to do with how humanity treats itself than how humanity adapts to outside forces.
Great episode! Had no problems with darkness on my screen, but the pace of the editing was hella fast.
Very relieved that my bad feelings about Arya’s demise were just my subconscious telling me that she was going to KICK. SOME. ASS!
I sobbed during Theon’ s death. Alfie rocks!
Proud of my beautiful bear dying a hero for his queen. 😢
Now, back to the petty politics in KL…
Those lines are show-only. Syrio’s motto in the books is “Fear cuts deeper than swords.”
And there isn’t a Night King in the books, to all appearances, that’s a show invention.
I predict that Ser Jorah and Ser Brienne will have a baby and name it Rock ‘n’ Roll.
😉
In the preview for episode 4 one of the dragons that Sansa is looking up at has holes in their wings…
The Bastard,
No. Not sexism. This was Jon’s story arc. If it had been Arya’s story arc, then I would feel differently.
Super disappointed.
Lola,
What would be the proper way to kill the Night King. I agree that it would have been better for it to be Jon or Bran but either way the Night King would have to die from some magical dagger or sword.
That may or may not come to pass. Certainly, there will be tension over it. If there is a real concern, it is that she is prepared to become Queen of the Ashes. “Be a dragon”.
And there are some allies around who are not prepared to let that happen.
Some people need better TV’s if the scenes looked too dark to you.
JamesL,
A beautifully choreographed ice-sword vs longclaw fight would have been my preference.
Yeah. I liked the episode and I loved that it was Arya with the VS dagger to take out the NK (That was my favorite “crackpot theory” from when she first got the dagger, thought I thought her faceless man disguise skills would also play a part)
But, I really wish they would have had some of the characters with VS weapons go up against some White Walkers. Like you say, they didn’t show the WW’s doing much of anything.
People bitching about Arya killing the NK. 🤦♀️
Because it was super easy, it’s not like there wasn’t a massive battle, thousands killed, dearly loved characters lost. No effort whatsoever, right.
SHE HAS BEEN TRAINING FOR YEARS, IN THE DARK, SILENT, BLIND, MULTIPLE WEAPONS, ETC. Jon didn’t hear her in the Godswood when they reunited. Do you know how hard it is to be silent on snow? Yup, she totally just pulled it out of her ass, alright.
Get over yourselves. It’s not shaming or taking away from other characters, geez.
For everyone asking what is the point of Jon/Aegon, his whole arc was the NK. I think you were misdirected. I think Aegon’s whole arc is to reluctantly sit on the throne. Every time he has been in a leadership position it has been not by his choice. It is other people pushing him there. I think that it will be the same with the Iron Throne.
Does anyone know the name of the episode?
Sean C.,
The show definitely fleshed out the Night King but to be specific, he doesn’t make an *appearance* in the books. He’s definitely mentioned and referred to as the Night’s King or the Great Other.
Also I do wonder if this is where GRRM is heading as well. There was that moment in ACoK or ASoS where the ghost of high heart is angry at the Brotherhood without Banners for bringing Arya to her. I don’t remember the exact lines but it was something like why bring this dark creature shrouded in death to her. I’ll try to dig it up for the postmortem. Ok , goodnight, for real now.
Actually, Ten Bears did make a post that the final blow to the Nk may come from an unexpected source like Arya or Sam. And it makes sense, she is an assassin and Bran did give her that dagger.
Uhmm. That’s not the book you are recalling. It’s a great line. But your mixing your mediums here.
FWIW, I think we are seeing a divergence in the ending of the war against the Army of the Dead in a manner different than it will be in the novel — if that novel is ever written. And to be candid, we all know that it might not ever be finished.
So for now, this is what we have.
I don’t know what this all means in terms of the prophecy being very specific in the books that TPWWP is born of the line of Aerys/Rhaella. Maybe they’re going with the conceit that prophecies are hooey and if they turn out to be right, it’s all coincidence. Who know? I’m just reveling in the moment 😛
I’m sorry, but I’m not pleased.
The long Winter was alwys a synonym for climate change, so I had hoped that the Night King would win or would have had a tie, because that would have been a big slap on all our faces to do something about it.
We cannot defeat Climate Change easy like this.
This easy defeat sends a really wrong message.
Because now they are doing all the king-stuff again, this was the reason why they cared not about the long night.
Here is a place you can shed your tears…. https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/forum/142-e03/
You will be in good company.
Tryptych,
It’s. “The Long Night”
I thought I had a chance for Not Today but I am watching the revealed behind the scenes on hbo go and they have the title.
Of course, it makes sense. She is a trained assassin. And Bran did give her the dagger.
I’d love to see Syrio show up. Even if its first Jaqen and he takes off his face. Maybe Syrio has been watching over Arya all along.
Pigeon,
Preach! 🙌
Tryptych,
Officially The Long Night.
https://www.hbo.com/game-of-thrones/season-8/3-the-long-night
And oh my goodness – This week’s The Game Revealed is nearly 40 minutes!
On reflection, I have to kinda agree… Wasn’t there like 100 of them last week?
We never got to see any of them do some crazy ass WW shit. Nor the NK for that matter, other than raise the dead and smirk a little but hey, that is soooo 2015!! 🤷🏼♂️🤨
Still- I can’t complain too much because that was so damn good, I feel like I lost my virginity again! 🥰
The Episode was SPETACULAR until the the end, the NK death was so retarded, só cheap, so easy…
Build up: winter is coming for 7 Seasons for this??? Lost in his First battle and so easily?? Nah
Thank God we have the books. And the
Books are by a fact wayyyyyyy better.
I love how people are acting like this was the series finale. We have THREE more movie length eps left and I suspect that’s where a lot of the bitter will come from after getting some sweet this episode. Like for sure Dany the conquering hero shown in the previews won’t last long lol
The Long Night
On the other hand, my dream that Tyrion and Sansa will end up married by the end is still very much alive, so there’s that, at least!
A bit of a misnomer, eh? During the first Long Night, Old Nan said that babes were born, grew old, and died never seeing the light of day. This one lasted, what, twelve hours? Nights at our poles can last for months. Something about this feels strange. Hmm.
I got a lot of flak a while back when I suggested that Sansa might ultimately decide that Tyrion would make a good husband after all, and that this would be perfectly cool storywise and characterwise as long as they framed it as being totally a matter of Sansa exercising her own agency this time. Now I’m feeling vindicated. If a reconciliation between those two, with romantic potential, wasn’t foreshadowed for us tonight, them I’m a grumpkin.
What they did was hide how many steps ahead of the NK Bran actually was and I am at peace with that.
One of the benefits for GRRM not finishing the story is that he doesn’t have to do the hardest part which is give it a satisfying conclusion. This is especially an issue for the mysterious plot aspects like White Walkers and the 3 Eyed Raven which fans like to theorize over. Just like with Lost, it is easy to create these mysterious elements for a story but is much harder to give satisfying conclusions to them.
Despite the lower quality of the last 2 books and the fact that it has been almost a decade since he released a new one people will assume that GRRM knows where the story is going and has satisfying conclusions for these mystical elements of the story.
I’m sorry, too. *hugs* RIP House Mormont and my dear sweet bear Jorah. I kept hoping too, without REALLY thinking he’d make it. But then I have for years. Ugh it breaks my heart.
Somehow, I had this picture of Edd, sitting on the throne at the end, looking around in exasperation and finally proclaiming, “Well, it fucking figures!!!” ❤
7 Seasons and the White Walker or his army have been a small component of it. The vast majority of the story lines had nothing to do with the Northern Threat.
Yep, I think the chances of Tyrion-Sansa as an end pairing just shot up a 1,000 percent after this episode.
Some hate on here but that’s to be expected since its the same people who complain.
Sapo did an amazing job. Really well done suspense at beginning and build up. Excellent deaths by main characters No cheesy last lines. Very real feeling.
That Theon ending…dang. Such good music. His ending was well done and I’m happy they did it that way.
NK dying so early and easily….THAT was easy?? that was an epic battle with a lot of deaths. I know some of u wanted bigger deaths like Jaime but relax, there is much more death to come!!
I always thought they’d be a great couple if they both wanted to be – they bring out each other’s strong qualities very well. He always respected her, she always spoke well of him.
I love all the people who guessed wrong upset that they guessed wrong.
What makes for good entertainment, whether you read the books multiple times and have watched every episode numerous times or just the show once…..is guessing wrong.
Very few people anticipated or hoped Arya would kill the Knight King. Tons of people wanted, suspected and demanded that Jon kill the knight king. Where would be the fun in that?
Everybody realizes this is fiction, right?
Thronetender,
I think it was not Gilly, but another woman. Or I want to believe that.
I thought so, too! But D&D are absolutely claiming exactly that here, almost 9 minutes in. Are they lying?
Lol,
Okay, I’ll agree with that.
JamesL,
How would I do the final battle wigh NK. How abiut this? Bren tries to do some weirdo eyes thing with him, but NK resists. Then Bren gets into other White walkers, one by one (as he did with Hodor before) and each one fights the NK. NK kills them all, but in the process parts of the undead army shutt off. Then, finally, it’s just NK against Bren. Some conversation should reveal things about why the hell the undead even exist, and then Arya can jump in and save the day. How about that?
Still, AWESOME episode!
Felt like i held my breath the whole time. Amazing pacing and can see what Sapochnik meant about shifting genres between action, horror and drama. Loved it. Honestly was more thrilling than any movie i’ve seen in a theater in the last decade.
You nailed it on the head.
I suspect Varys’ Little Birds will come in mighty handy in the war to come.
If not, his less-known Little Pliers will come in handy with removing pesky nails and brads.
The 99% has a place in this fight, no?
I’d guess that they were both injured/damaged with all the fighting. They’ll have battle scars now too.
Yeah there is more to come with the sword Dawn too.
Could be about rebuilding, eg Prince that was Promised is about the new Dawn. Dany is the new dawn of Dragons and magic?
As it stands i reckon Cersei looks the goods to end on the Iron Throne…
As for prophecy talk, Cersei could end up pregnant so the prophecy of only 3 children could be wrong?
So Prophecy may be innacurate?
Melisandre was fascinating, not least because she approached from the same direction as the WW’s
And all that with Stannis and someone pulling a flaming sword from a fire.
Speaking of flaming swords, so we are to understand Berics point of being resurrected 6 times or whayever was to save arya at a very specific moment lol
So much to dissect
Ed was the 999th and last Lord Commander…and did rise as a Wight for not being burned….
I guess Sam can be Lord of Horn Hill now that his NW vows are void
They said they knew for 3 years that Arya would kill the Night King. They met with George around that time.
I’m conflicted.
On the one hand, that was one of the most epic episodes of television I’ve ever seen. Arya killing the Night King was a great twist, and when you look back over the seasons you can see that they laid the groundwork for it in several places.
And yet, I can’t help feeling a little bit disappointed that the Night King and White Walkers are dealt with this early. They were literally the first thing we saw in the pilot, I was sure they’d be there till the end.
I guess having only an hour to process what I just saw, my take is that if this had been the ultimate or penultimate episode, I would have no reservations whatsoever. Having more than half the season to go, I can’t help but worry that the Night King will feel so far in the past by the time we reach the denouement.
But these guys have done a fantastic job with this story, by and large, so I will reserve final judgment until I see the ending they have in store for us.
For tonight, all I can say is, hell yeah Arya Stark. To think she started the day a virgin who hadn’t saved the world!
There was a NK in the books, a thousand years or more ago. George said he should be long dead in this time.
Sean C.,
They said in that vid they knew 3 years ago that Arya has to kill their leader. Let’s call him a “leader of the Others” since NK is really just what they decided to go with as a constant ruler of the Others while Martin went on record and said that NK as we understood it from the books is really a very specific leader of the Others and no it’s not the same one all the time.
Going back to the point: 3 years means that Martin only told them in 2015-2016 that Arya is the one that has the largest / most important part in wiping out the Others and their wights army. It would still make her the Princess that a was promised per role definition no? but completely out of synch with the whole prophecy thing.
Or it would mean they took Jon’s part and decided to let Arya have that role. Which is a huge divergence. That would make me much happier to be honest because the books are heavily invested in these things while the show only sort off. And it would be a bit of an odd writing for Martin who likes to foreshadow his character actions so much.
I have to say though that it worked out wonderful for Benioff and Weiss if they did it in their own incorporating old phrases (from Mel to Arya from season 2 or 3) That scene is older than 3 years and was always a head scratcher on its own for me.
Pigeon,
Right On Pigeon! We’ve seen over the seasons Arya gain all the skills, confidence, and nerve she needed to pull that off. Plus, Bran made sure she had the right weapon to do it too.
Also, I may be mis-remembering, but didn’t Arya do a “dagger switching hands” move when she was sparring with Brienne way back when they first were at Winterfell a few seasons ago? I think Arya being the one to kill the NK is great, and even though it was a surprise, it makes sense to me that she could and did do it.
Lol,
Good luck waiting on the books you speak of…..
The Bastard,
Yes exactly. They did but let’s be honest such a big item is not something he’d keep from them in the first “big meeting” when he gave them the whole layout. That was in the first or second season, no?
These book readers are funny. The same author who gave us the Red Wedding…. And you think the story is as simple as Jon Snow killing the Night King in single combat? GRRM doesn’t work like that.
Thanks for the laugh.
The story meeting with George was in 2013, Not three years ago.
Yeah i loved everything from the camera angles he took (eg at the start), and how it really did filter through genres
H
e did it very well in Hardhome where halfway he went from drama to horror and now here as well
So the dagger sent to kill Bran ended up killing the NK. Came full circle.
I was also hoping for Tyrion and Sansa to be together.
Actually Tyrion/ Sansa and Jaime /Brienne – make for a tightly interlinked family unit if they all survive.
Ginevra,
I think George told them how the series ends. That is, who wins the Game of Thrones. Not precisely how we would get there.
She sure did. She didn’t even have to flip it, this time.
I figured everyone would be bitching about that.
So Arya is both Meriadoc and Eowyn, taking down the Witch-King of Angmar to everyone’s surprise. The little person and the female person.
Clob,
Drogon got a wing tear during the rescue of Dany in S5, and that healed.
Beric went out like a straight Boss. And they made his death hit even harder by not letting us get one last word from him. Same with Jorah. Well played.
My heart aches. They killed Jorah.
I may never be the same.
But at least he died a manly and heroic death.
But no, I am verklempt
One thing I do fee a bit disappointed by is how little we saw Jon in this battle. Considering he is the figurehead of the NK/AOTD storyline, and this was its climax, he really didn’t do all that much. I don’t have too big a problem with Arya being the one to deliver the final blow, as there has been the set-up with her assassin training and her being given the blade by Bran, but I do feel a loss that Jon didn’t really do much. It feels like his character was a bit short-changed. He is the one who brought them all together to be fight, it’s true, and they are there because of him as Tyrion stated, but I really thought he would have a more active role in the battle itself. It has been almost his entire arc so far and I feel like it’s ended on a bit of a cliffhanger for him. I guess his secondary arc, the reveal of R+L=J and his place in the line of succession, are going to take over for him, but I have to say, I am not happy that he played very little part in this final battle in the AOTD story.
I can see why they said fans were going to be divided (and we’re not even at the end yet!).
They met with him once after that. Get up to date on your facts.
I just now finally finished. It was so intense I had to take breaks just to absorb everything (and bring my heart rate down).
Will share more thoughts once I catch my breath, but in the meantime…
WOW, what a musical score by Ramin Djawadi!!! Masterful.
The Bastard,
You sound lovely.
So House Mormont is extinct?
Jack Bauer 24,
I still think getting the CGI right on reality based animals like wolves must be a huge undertaking. I suspect if they couldn’t get it to look believable enough then they wouldn’t air that footage. Also, I was fine with Ghost and Nymeria not partaking in the carnage. I really don’t like seeing animals get hurt/killed.
Also, Those.Damn.Crypts!!! Hope Gilly and baby Sam made it. I also hope they don’t gloss over the extent of loss suffered by the Northern alliance. I I think them dealing with the dead and wounded should be a huge plot point from here until the end of the series.
So I have to say, we have a LOT to dissect WRT the Azor Ahai/PTWP/Jon/Dany/Brans real purpose.
But Arya killing the NK was a truly excellent twist. The fact alone that we’re all debating it already is pretty telling.
It’s now clear why the LOL brought back Beric and indeed he did have plans for Sandor: to protect Arya and deliver her as the saviour of mankind.
Take. A. Bow.
He told them how the main character arcs ended. He admits he doesn’t even have an ending for a lot of the secondary characters. So that will be different in the books.
It is highly likely that Arya kills The Great Other in the books.
This episode had the scariest start of a battle I have ever seen. When Mel lit the Dothraki swords I cheered, but when they all went out while charging a faceless storm I just about passed out. I think Ghost bit the dust…but Jorah came back so you never know! I am about to watch it again, but I remember so many great moments during this battle. I cheered several times and never sat back in my chair. Arya’s fight on the battlements was incredible as Davos watched in amazement.
I’m not going to write a full review right now other than saying I’m satisfied with how it ended, because everyone was f’kd. I couldn’t see how anyone would have survived if the NK survived. There were just too many of them and they were raising all of the dead soldiers. It would have been game over after episode 3…the end! It just didn’t make sense to me that anyone would have made it out.
And it didn’t come out of no where. It gave a purpose for Arya’s training other than just the revenge of checking off people on her list. And Sandor came to her rescue. Perhaps that was his purpose as well and why he could see visions in the flame.
OK. I gotta go back to the TV and watch again… The most amazing looking battle I’ve even seen. The way it looked the the storm of the dead just absorbed the armies was really frightening. I thought everyone was f’d.
When Rhaegal went down throwing Jon to the ground, he had lots of holes in his wings from the battle with undead Viserion. I thought it was Viserion at first, but then Jon fell off.
Well, you got that one wrong 😉
Firannion,
I almost laughed when she said Tyrion was the best of them. I think it was the only moment of levity I found in the whole ep. and him kissing her hand. I said when I first read the books that this power couple will sit the IT. That changed a few times during the years but looks like they just went at the top of the list again! Sooo happy ☺️
If they aren’t lying about the 3 years, then I’m 99% sure they didn’t find out from George. George told them all of the endgame many years ago. I don’t understand how this can all be. I hope we do get more explanation. Obviously, Arya won’t kill the NK in the books, and probably one Other won’t domino every single other Other and wight in the entire world. But will Arya deal the final blow to end the Great War in the books?
I want more closure. I hope we get that in the next three episodes and beyond.
😀😀
Drogon mourning Jorah’s death with Daenerys has ripped me to pieces.
Is Rhaegal dead?
Lyanna and Jorah dead…..no more House Mormont ?
I agree, most epic episode ever – of any TV show or movie. But I also agree that eliminating the biggest threat that the show has centered around in one episode feels off. You’re right, as a penultimate episode it would have been perfect.
Cercei seems like such a minor threat compared to what we just saw. I was totally convinced that Winterfell would fall and there would be a future reckoning with the Night King. All this does is prove to Cercei that she was right to stay in the South and drink wine.
All that said, from about 1:05 on (until Arya lept into the picture), I started to believe that *everyone* was gonna to die and they’d all be wights marching to KL next week LOL. So yeah, masterful job on the episode.
I kept waiting for either AeJon or Daenerys to do a strafing run when they started getting through the fire trench. Jon and Rhaegal were just sitting on the wall. I realize he was waiting for the NK but geez…
I would have loved more Arya stick twirling fighting. I liked seeing Davos I’mNotMuchOfAFighter watching her with his mouth practically hanging open.
Good point! I love how some of these details are coming around again.
Ghost is fine!! He’s fine, guys!1 Fine!!! Finefinefinefinefine!!
I hate to say I was right. But…ding dong, the zombies are gone! ASNAWP stuck him with the pointy end!
I have no idea who died other than Jorah,Theon,Lyanna, and the zombies and their pale king who didn’t speak. I had to turn the brightness up on the TV. So if anyone else died, I missed it.
The episode was okay. Too dark. Too good vs evil. I’m glad that whole storyline is over. Now, I’m ready for the GRRM twist at the end.
No, silly – you DON´T have the books. Not for THIS part. And will never get them, in all likelihood.
Didn’t they spend days or weeks together? Didn’t George and D&D say that all of the ends of the major characters would be the same in the books as in the show? If Arya ends the Great War and the Long Night, that is a key element to the end of her story. Just. So. Confused.
Ramin just posted his epic track that played towards the end called “The Night King” https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw0yFkRFY7q/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=1sqkuvxx8kr3e
Ahem, could some-one tell me exactly what happened btw Sansa and Tyrion?
I still have not seen the episode…..
I did expect them to couple up by the end of the series.
But I am so happy that this monster battle is done.
More real GOT with politics and infighting upcoming with the Cersei gang.
I totally agree. I also think that the GOT prequel should be called “I Don’t Know Jack.”
😉
Agree, Dany also seemed sidelined. I mean it seemed that a delaying action by everyone played a part in victory, but thought it would have been better if each had of played a more integral part in victory than the sacrifices that were made.
All the Dothraki lost?, there were a few survivors …. but still… that seemed goofy.
Ginevra,
Well if you and Sean are right -and it looks like you two might be about having it from Martin that someone else is the main “dealer of fatal blow” to the Others and Wight army and deciding to go their own way- then the domino effect type of sired vampirism may very well have been show only.
Regardless, I’m in the camp of “from your keyboard to Martin’s ear. I like these kind of surprises. ☺️
So is “The Night King” better then “Light of the Seven”?
Is nobody thinking about the grunt Dany made when the night king through his magic javelin? Why have her make a sound? She was hit. Me thinks she will carry on as Night Queen.
Shhhhh….. Don’t ruin the surprise for them.
The series will never be finished. No Book 7. Dunk & Egg will never be finished. 50/50 on whether or not Fire and Blood Vol 2 gets finished.
You were right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am happy you were!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In the e4 preview Daenerys says they “will rip her out, root and stem.” Is she calling Cersei a dick? ☺
They really need to get Sapochnik and Ramin on board for the prequel.
Dang, this gives *This won´t be in the books* a whole new meaning.
I agree, it was piss poor! Couldn’t see hardly any of the action and or in the dragon flying scences either. Was better when there was an orange afterglow which illuminated some of the scenes. Arya fighting with her staff in the crypts was too dark also 🙁
Lol. With what army though? They’re in no position to fight 20,000 strong.
Too bad GRRM didn’t have many children. Then his 3rd oldest son could collect all his notes and complete his body of work for him.
I still believe that the leadership of Westeros will be drawn from among – Jaime, Brienne, Tyrion, and Sansa. I stand by it!
They killed Edd, dammit, they killed Edd!
We’re coming for you, Cersei. It’s payback time, bitch!!
George,
D&D change things around, for one Cersei is not the big bad in the books, D&D admitted years ago they majorly increased her role and importance. The NK isn’t in the books or WW, the Others are an ancient race from a forgotten civilization with cities, etc beyond the northern wastes. D&D said in interview George’s vision was too high fantasy, they wanted to ground their version, therefore CotF created a NK in D&D adaptation. I’m sure GRRM will kill a Stark in his authorized version of WF, because he knows as both a historian and storyteller, that the battle loses its impact w/o the House losing a member while defending their home. This makes me want George to finish the books all the more, so I can read the authors vision and not an adaptation that changes due to outside forces.
Get a better TV. I have a 4K TV and had no problem with the darkness levels.
Biggest shocker of the night…Pod lived!
I don’t think killing the NK was Jon’s arc. Not at all. The NK represented the end of humanity and the battle to defend humanity is the arc of every character at Winterfell. Dany’s arc started about power but became about saving Westeros as a whole. Jon’s story has always been about protecting the realm. All of the “good guys” have been driven by the same goal, even if they arrived at that goal at different times. Arya isn’t anymore a “hero” than Jon or Theon or Beric or insert name here. She brought an end to the onslaught but every character played a part to that end.
I know the main protagonists have always been Dany and Jon but neither would be in that spot without the others. I think it would’ve been easy, and predictable, to have one of them kill the NK. I like that the hero changes hands in this show.
Maisie was absolutely amazing. She should win every fucking award for this episode alone. Actually, we are spoiled with how good this cast is. We felt that intensity and that has everything to do with how vested these actors are. Beric and Sandor protecting Arya and the three of them fighting off the undead was my favorite sequence. I love that Sandor snapped out of his fear and defeat and went after her. Beginning to end, this was some of the most intense shit ever.
RIP to the fallen. Damn…Dany holding Jorah was beautiful. This show knows how to stun.
I’m not seeing how Jon didn’t play a role. He brought everyone together. He got the NW, the Wildlings, the BWB, Dany and her Army, Stannis’ people and Jaime Lannister to all unite. If he hadn’t, Arya wouldn’t have been able to survive long enough to take out the NK. Jon was always a good fighter, but it’s not his main strength. That’s what Arya’s path is. Not his. Jon is the leader and lead is what he did. With a big and crucial assist from Sansa, who’s also a good leader.
Also, lets not assume that this means the rest of the show will be Cersei as the big bad. There are some twists in store.
I really enjoyed the episode but at the same time I feel a little underwhelmed by it. I fine with Arya delivering the final blow but I feel the execution of the scene wasn’t that great and why didn’t we see any of the WWs do anything, except for the NK?
Two things I would’ve liked to see:
Sansa have a Maegor’s Holdfast moment with the people in the crypts or if not kill an undead Stark, otherwise what was the point of giving her a dragonglass dagger?
Bran having a mental battle with the NK, I think that was a missed opportunity.
A satisfying enough ending, but a little underwhelming.
Auuuggghhh, so much.
I thought she gave that to Sansa?
I thought she activated the detachment on the staff Gendry made and “stuck him with the pointy end”
I didn’t guess this and didn’t expect it in E3, but i can see how it makes sense so am pleased enough it was something intelligent
Makes one look at the inn of Crossroads differently too, eg she could have gone south to “kill the Queen” but went north instead to “kill the King”
I am guessing we’ve just finished Winds of Winter and last 3 episodes are Dream of Spring?
If it ends with her damn smirk, I will do terrible things….ok, think terrible thoughts….ok, probably not do anything, but be super pissed off.
Saw this somewhere online and found it interesting, it’s getting a bit ridiculous with Jon though, I know he’s integral to the plot but the writers should have done a better job with using and abusing Jon’s ‘plot armor’ abilities since this is GoT and most characters both major and minor have died for less. And this man has died once now so it’s really getting ridiculous.
When Jon Snow charged towards Ramsay’s army in Battle of the Bastards after failing to save Rickon and SURVIVED. I was fine with it, I was rooting for him to win anyway.
When Jon Snow was then pulled into freezing water by wights in Beyond the Wall and SURVIVED. I thought well the NK’s army will finish him off but at least he’ll die heroically.
When Jon Snow was bout to die fighting off wights also in Beyond the Wall and SAVED BY BENJEN. I thought well that was convenient as hell and odd since this is Game of Thrones and people usually die by the consequences of their actions.
But now in the latest episode where Jon Snow foolishly tried to come at the NK while he was raising the dead and charged at Viserion and SURVIVED. I only had one thought, “Jon Snow has the thickest, unapologetically in your face PLOT ARMOR OF ALL TIME.” Wish Robb and Ned had even an inch of his plot armor lol
Good luck on that one!
For those of you on Twitter, The Ringer’s live video of their office when our Assassin Princess took out the NK is amazing: https://twitter.com/ringer/status/1122701644213260290
Boudica,
What do you mean? Night King’s motives were addressed by Bran in the previous episode. He wants an “endless night”. To destroy all men. Now the reasoning for that is never blatantly addressed but to me that doesn’t need to be heavy handed to the viewers anyways as long as you’ve been paying attention.
His reasoning for wanting to destroy all men is because that’s the purpose of his creation. Remember the exposition scene to when he was created by the children of the forest? It was specifically said he was created to fight back against “men”, who were invading/destroying their lands and the children themselves.
Flash forward to now and that is still his main purpose of existence. It’s obvious the Night King has sentience. He’s not just a mindless killing machine. And even after all these thousands of years his mission is still to eradicate men from the world. Why? Because I feel that its a vengeance type of thing. He has become this being when he used to be a man. He can’t unchange his current existence so he wants to erase men and all its history and begin “an endless night” so that history moving forward will be where he created it. And that is destroying mankind.
Well that gets a meh from me but I come for the characters and intrigue, not the battles. White Walkers had a good battle plan. Send in all the conscripts first before risking the knights. Humanity had a stupid battle plan. No one in history has ever put the artillery in front of the infantry. The artillery fired about two rounds and that was it. The artillery goes INSIDE the castle, not in front of the army, which also doesn’t go in front of the castle. Upon retreating into the castle, everyone waits until the fire barricade fails to decide to man the walls, which is the whole fucking point of there being a castle there. Everyone just stands there doing nothing rather than firing arrows down on them. The castle walls held for all of 30 seconds. But then almost every character with a name survives for a good half hour after the castle has been overrun. It was nice of the undead to start fighting one at a time once all the red shirts were dead.
Really it doesn’t matter how they defended the castle, it was all going to come down to killing the Night King regardless. But Winterfell deserves better than that. It’s been captured by Theon and a handful of Ironborn before and it’s walls were in play for 1 minute out of a hour long battle that had two episodes of build up before it.
Bran is sitting under a tree but it doesn’t occur to anyone to have any trap in the damn tree. Glad to be right about the dead Starks rising in the crypts but it was ultimately irrelevant. Oh well. Good moments for me were Lyanna and “You’re a good man, Theon”. Worst: Arya breaking down to being scared shitless even though she’s not remotely getting the worst of it.
But anyway…. do I hear wedding bells for Sansa and Tyrion again?
On to better things next week.
Jack Bauer 24,
I don’t think Sam saw him. Jon looked pretty torn but seemed focused on getting to Bran in time.
Che,
I’m also surprised by that! Him and Dany. It seemed a bit weird, considering this has been Jon’s storyline from season 1 but we barely saw him. He was doing the aerial fighting stuff with Dany and was then pursuing the Night King on foot and ground combat there — but we really didn’t see much of him.
However, I think much of Jon’s role and arc in the story is more about unifying people and bringing different factions together. A bit like Mance? But from a defensive point.
Also, we’ve never had this many mains fighting the same battle before. Speaking of, Brienne and Jaime survived, right??
I’ll save most of my raving for the curtain call, but lets all give some love to Alfie Allen. He’s been one of my favorite, and IMO underrated actor in the series. Even though there’s only a few episodes left, I will really miss him.
Pod is alive? Really? Praises!
Jack Bauer 24,
Indeed… in fact I expected to see a much higher death toll.
Well, it’s was a good episode, but I liked the “human” battles more. It was a lot “all or nothing”. But kudos to those who predicted the dagger last season. Now back to (political) GoT!
In the preview: two dragons survived.
“Rip them out, root and stem” sounds an awful lot like Cersei in season 2.
We might another dance of the dragons in episode 6 with Jon choosing between the realm and Dany… (I hope not, but…) Especially after she burns Varys for lack of loyalty.
Wish we had seen WW’s in battle instead of just wights.
A weed.
Or a plant or tree
Season 3 episode 6
D&D need to lock them down for their SW movies.
So if Arya got to take out the NK then that pretty much confirms Jaime will take out Cersei.
No way can Arya get the two biggest kills of the series..
I reckon we’ll have a Rickard/Brandon type end for Brienne/Jaime, with Jaime surviving and killing Cersei.
Leuf,
> Humanity had a stupid battle plan.
Maybe the heavy tome by Archmaester Chyvalton, or how he was called, should be read for tactical inspiration in Hollywood.
Dark Sister,
No, in the books the Night’s King was a human Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch seduced by the Others generations after the Long Night. He’s not the original Other or the leader of the Others, as the show depicts the Night King.
I loved the episode
Maybe they do. The Prince/Princess that was Promised could refer to all of thrm as a team
Arya, Sansa, Bran and Rickon became Princes and Princesses when Robbs Kingdom was declared
I can see how it makes sense, starts with Syrio Forel who can perhaps see through glamours and defend First Sealord from Faceless Men and the attitide of “not today” to death. Then it goes to her being consumed with Death but when she decided to head north she chose life again and her family amd Gendry etc etc
As for Jon, starts off as a bastard wanting to wander around as an isolated Ranger, and slowly builds up more responsibility and leadership and that will be continuing
WE WILL NEVER SEE ANYTHING LIKE THAT AGAIN. Truly incredible. Can’t believe this is the end. 3 episodes to go 😥
Clob,
I kept repeating to myself that Arya couldn’t die, but this didn’t stop me from fearing for her life. I couldn’t feel any joy when the episode ended but somehow, with my mind, and not my exhausted heart, I cheered for Arya.
It slipped my mind regarding the 3 flaming swords we saw in those night shoots. I guess the entire Dothraki army having them will do that.
I am a little bummed the Fiery Hand didn’t come. I guess Mel just went to Volantis only to be out of the rest of S6 after all.
Aryakills,
Somehow I had the impression Melisandre said in S3E6 “brown, blue, green” (sounds more like Cersei) and now “brown, green… blue”. I should check.
I think GRRM might want it to end differently (e.g. thruce, new Wall), with more backstory for the WW.
I have the feeling all the deaths in this episode would have been dead in the books by that point. And maybe the NK never gets a dragon, and they just walk around (“when the seas run dry”)
Arya being the one to defeat the Night King is such an extremely underwhelming payoff.
I’m not interested in fighting about the differences between books and show. It’s just a reality that we must face. The Night King was a show creation. So of course his ending is different. It makes you wonder what this means for Jon and Dany and all the arguments about Azor Ahai and The Prince Who Was Promised. I just do not believe it is Arya in the books. So I was thrown for a loop at how sidelined Dany and Jon were at the end.
So Arya single handily wiped out the entire Frey family and dealt the decisive blow to defeat the Others. And people thought Jon and Dany were the ones who were too special/overpowered? I was hoping for a combination of forces to take out the NK, but Arya sneaked past countless WW and took him out.
It makes you wonder what the point of Jon is. He’s not the savior. D&D have made a point of telling us he’s not that bright. Is his story that he fails upward? Because D&D have yet to give him a single solely triumphant moment in the entire series.
Be aware: I feel like this is gonna be a very looooong rant.
Okay so it’s 6 am here in Spain, I am tired because of the elections and I couldnt sleep because I was too nervous for what I though would be the best episode in the history of TV…. and oh boy was I disappointed.
and I watched the episode for the second time in a row, basically because it was so damm dark that I couldn’t see anything the first time.
And, honestly, I am about to cry, and not out of sadness but out of absolute and utter disappointment.
The episode made no sense whatsoever.
– Bran doesn’t do anything during the episode and he is supposed to be this great god like future. Seriously, it was SO frustrating.
– Jon doing… stuff, he was just fighting and running around, he is far from my favourite character but it felt so wrong that he didn’t kill the NK himself, his whole journey has been about that.
– which leads me to this point, Arya killing the NK, honestly, this was so so so bad’, are we supposed to believe that Arya sneaked into the NKs massive army that was gathered around him and jump on his back with no one noticing? Come on! I love Arya and all but this wasn’t her time to shine, it was Jon’s! I just… that just felt so anticlimatic.
– NK… so, we have been preparing for this final battle, an epic showdown and….. it did not deliver. Not at all by any means.
– I have to say that it was really cool to see Daenerys fighting but dude, she was wearing an haute couture winter coat and was using a sword for the first time in her life and was surrounded by hundreds of corpses! How the hell did she survive that? Truly!
– But then again, she was not the only character with heavy plot armor… every single character had lots of it, too much for my taste. Only red shirts and 4 characters (two very minor and two beloved “main” characters). How he hell did they survive a horde of thousands of zombies? It truly felt like the threat of the WW wasn’t a threat at all tbh.
– And Sansa…. dude, she is my absolute favorite character and I loved her in episodes 1 & 2, but in this episode she did nothing, and not only that, but she was useless AND annoying. Complaining about Daenerys while she is sacrificing her armies, dragons and her own life doesn’t really seem very smart, and also, while all the female characters (12 year old Lyanna commanding armies, I already explained my case with Daenerys and Arya and Brienne who was fitting with her character) are fighting like true badasses…. Sansa…. runs and hides? Seriously? She is the proud lady of winterfell and she did nothing to protect her own people! Wtf?, all of the other female characters were crazily overpowered and Sansa was just… nothing, honestly, I don’t even know why the hell did they keep her alive tbh. And I repeat, she is my favourite character. Is, Was, I don’t know what to think anymore.
I hope that she is the one who has a master plan to defeat Cersei, I mean, if Arya became the hero of the story, Sansa should, at least, outmaneuver Cersei. It only seems fair.
I am severely disappointed. I don’t know what to think anymore. I just want the show to end once for all so I can re read the books or watch the first seasons, when it all made sense and it wasn’t avengers 2.0.
Jack Bauer 24,
Oh my god, I had totally forgotten that somehow!!! I’m not ready, not ready for episode 6 with no next ep preview or spending a year awaiting next season 🙁
Pigeon,
Drogon’s wing looked like a comforting arm around Dany.
I don’t know how to feel about the episode yet, I spent the entirety of it in complete anxiety which was made worse because it was so hard to see. I have to watch it again to try to catch what I missed. I lost track of most characters – did Pod survive? The Lyanna Mormont moment was awesome, hail to the real Queen! I was also cheering when Daenerys picked up a weapon and defended herself, well done. And Theon? Best character arc of all of them, including Jamie. The Prince of Winterfell died defending his real family, he more than redeemed himself. The crypt attack was a blur, need to re-watch. Not sure if Arya will be the one taking out the Night’s King in the books, doesn’t seem likely, but if you were going to go with an assassination attempt then Arya is the one character that makes the more sense. No one else has her set of skills but yeah, I’m surprised that the White Walker threat was only a real threat to the North. Doesn’t seem fair. No one south of the Neck, with the exception of the Vale and a few Ironborn, bled for survival. This should have posed a threat and sacrifice for everyone not just the North and the foreign armies from Essos. And now it seems that we are going to go back to the Game of Thrones which will be played by Cersei, Daenerys and Sansa with loyalties being switch around. I hope Jon gets on Rhaegal and leaves for Essos, things are going to get ugly and he’s going to be put in the middle of it.
I think Dany is the main villain of this story. Watch the first season episode where she’s eating the heart. I think she’s the stallion who mounts the world. That prophecy is terrifying and doesn’t sound like a hero. I’m a wee bit scared for Jon
Jack Bauer 24,
Fuck knows! The dragons fighting each other was so dark (or in cloud and smoke) I couldn’t work that one out 🙁
Indeed! Comments from Ten Bears are going to be overwhelming regarding this 🙂
I loved how Mel was the center of much of the story, and how badass she was, but not as much as I was surprised by how she was the only Red Woman who bothered to show up to save the North. I was expecting several more.
Screw you, Asshai, you inglorious basterds!
Seriously? I really don’t get how people come up with this stuff. There was no evidence that she was hit, and if he had turned her, she would have fallen when he died. I’m sorry people, but the NK is dead.
Don’t forget the two dragons.
Amen. I got yelled at pretty good in another thread. Posters saying that the NK wouldn’t die this episode was fact. And that we were crazy and retarded to think that the living would win tonight.
Hells yeah!!! What do we say to death? Not F&^%ing today!!!!
ASNAWP!!!!!!
I have no words right now.. I’m exhausted from watching that episode. I’m spent. Thanks for the 7 heart attacks, HBO, but Arya disintegrating the Night King into ice cubes made it all worth it. Give her everything. Just f&@king everything!
So…can we now draw any conclusions about what Bran told Tyrion that made him feel a little more hopeful? Something about there being a more-magical-than-most VS dagger in play? I’m still puzzling over that one.
I fought the Battle of Winterfell and all I got was this lousy blood-drenched t-shirt.
That was a very surprise ending – Arya killing NK. But as soon as it happened, suddenly, a light bulb went off in my head regarding her entire arc in Braavos. I used to wonder why that arc was important, why she had to be isolated and trained to be an assassin, the purpose of Jaqen, why they ultimately let her go, to go back to Westeros. It ALL finally became clear! Except the enmity with The Waif.
The scene where Mel lights the Dothraki arakhs was beautiful. Fruitless, but pretty all the same. Drogon and Rhaegal flying above the clouds in the moonlight over the clouds was very beautiful too. Theon had a wonderful death! What a story he had. Jorah’s death brought a few tears, especially Dany sobbing over him and Drogon laying around them both. It’s the kind of death he would have wanted. I have no idea at all, what Bran’s actual purpose is. Perhaps be a record keeper? Evidence for all the deeds and misdeeds in the world? Sam is so useless in a fight that he should have stayed in the crypts.
That was an awesome episode..
Bit of disappointed with how sidelined jon and dany were..
I don’t mind Arya killing NK because she is equipped to do so and It was set up as well but the interview with showrunners show that it was done so because having dragon or dany and jon will be top easy and bore …that I don’t agree with..
They could have still made it interesting with either jon or dany killing NK..
Shout out to Jorah…he was the one true advisor for dany and dany will miss him…I choked when Drogon and dany wept for him..
Shout out to missandei..someone needed to say that out loud and iam glad it was Missandei who defended Dany..
Let’s see what is the reaction of how Sansa is behaving…
Can we talk about dany picking up the sword and defending herself..and she didn’t kill jon in fact we saved him…who would have thought about it..
I do not know what else she must to do to prove herself ..
Tyrion Pimpslap,
The way Jon is handled in these later seasons is a case-in-point for how the show itself has changed. He makes one boneheaded move after another (in this episode, following the Night King out onto a field full of corpses and then acting surprised when the Night King…raises the dead, which is his whole deal) but yet always survives basically just ’cause. Ned and Robb died for way less, while Jon has Valyrian steel plot armour.
Though there was a lot of that going around this week, epitomized by the crypt zombies (incidentally, that nobody thought of that makes everyone on Team Good Guy unforgivably stupid; they had tons of time to cremate all the remains in the crypts, literally years) killing basically everyone but the named characters, who all huddle in a corner. There wasn’t even a token casualty.
I researched the Dagger when it appeared on the EW cover. It had very magical components, and showed up in SAm’s book in 7.01. Also, all Starks except Robb and Rickon touched it. It clearly carried a destiny of its own. My theory is that it was Rhaegar’s and I think she will give it to Jon towards the end. Isaac recently said that Bran knew it was meant for her to have it. I posited that she was going to use it to kill him to enable Jon to kill the NK. Her personally killing the NK was the surprise.
fdr,
“…“Rip them out, root and stem” does sound like Cersei, but actually Arya said it as Walder, telling the Frey men that’s what they should have done with the Starks.
Holy shitballs. I could’ve used an oxygen tank for that episode.
I honestly think I sat on my couch for 30% of it and stood for the rest.
This was the most INTENSE HOUR+ OF TV IVE EVER WATCHED
was it perfect, no, but did it blow me away absofugginlutely.
Where the heck do we go from here..? Wow
Just got done watching the episode. Wow. I’m going to read the comments now. So Arya becomes the new Red woman Lord of light champion to live hundreds of years and fight against the next long night? Who saw that coming? What a twist!
So yeah I’m still processing. That episode was insane! SO MUCH I was not expecting and several things I was 100% wrong about (mostly how quickly the NK died)
The deaths yes, I got several of those right. But the rest? Holy ****
Arya was one of the first characters created for ASOIAF, and if you look at her story line “Stick em with the pointy end” “What do we say to the God of Death?” “You remember where the heart is?” “Only death may pay for life”
And think of how long she’s been training, then you have to give it up to her-forget her list, THAT was the BEST possible use of her skills!
Here’s the other thing. LF had that dagger originally, and he actually brought it back and handed it to Bran. So any LF fans out there can claim that in a way, he helped bring down the NK lol
In a twisted, totally didn’t mean to do it way.
Jorah and Theon and Edd broke my heart. Lyanna was a badass to the end. The Mormonts were one of my favorite houses. Now they’re all gone. *sob*
(And the crypts! Clearly no one knows about the escape tunnels. Wtf?)
MVPs for me tonight were definitely Arya, Sandor, Beric and Arya again. Did I mention Jorah using his body as a human shield out in apocalypse land?! Drogon and Dany crying over him just killed me.
Oh and special mention to Craster’s sons, for avoiding all the Valyrian steel and the finest warriors in Westeros until Daddy NK told them it was safe to come in.
The other cool thing. Winter fell again at Winterfell. So 2-0. They better rebuild that place. Just in case.
Here is my dilemma.
I kind of love that we were so focused on Jon or Dany being TPWP that we were sideswiped by my favorite ninja assassin.
But is that it? Is Cersei the bigger darkness? Really? Is Euron, despite how oddly nonthreatening he currently feels? is it Qyburn? Ultimate twist mad scientist villain?
Cersei was right-she let them practically get wiped out and she still has Ironborn and Lannister men and no grumpkins and snarks in sight in KL, so I get it won’t be easy.
But still. I was not expecting her to be right and I don’t like her so I’m grumpy about it 🙂
So why did it have to be Bran specifically?
There was really a lot of emphasis placed on Bran and Jon via the Cotf and 3ER.
Also-is that a special dagger? Or just special because it was what Arya would use?
Poor Jon. I feel like he’s really going to have an identity crisis now. Why is he still alive? What was the point?
Also Sam needs a hug. So do I because I guess we aren’t planning a trip to the God’s Eye anytime soon. The magic portion of our saga is winding down again. Maybe.
Before anyone misunderstands, I’m not unhappy the NK is dead. AT ALL. And I love Arya madly, and I loved that the Hound and Beric saved her so she could do what she needed to do.
I just wish we’d had more info about it if that makes sense. I was sure those books Sam stole or some vision Bran had would give us something to sort of fill it out.
I mean 8k+ years and a giant wall and all those LCs. How did the other 3ERs hold him back without killing him? How did the last hero end the long night? Is there more than one NK? Probably not, but you see where I’m going with this. 🙂
Speaking of Bran, did anyone else notice that he spent an inordinately long time in white eye mode? Basically the whole battle. Was he doing or seeing other things after he caught the NK warging his zombies?
What will he do now? Run the Citadel or be the best small counsel member ever? Master of everything. Sansa may end up running the show in that case lol
On the bright side, Brienne and Jaime live! Davos lives! Tormund Giantsbane lives! Pod actually survived! I’m sorry I doubted you Pod.
PS Tyrion was right. Everyone at that fire survived. (I might go watch that episode again, for warm feel good feelings after that horrific battle)
“Theon. You’re a good man. Thank you.” *sob*
very disappointing conclusion for the night king. night king dies without even a single fight, by arya. totally ruined the whole episode for me. I can’t even describe how mad I am now at writers. excellent visual effecst. so intense. but the conclusion was a total let down.
what was the point of white walkers? just to watch the battle?
how daenerys and jorah survived single handedly against hundreds of wights. same for jaime, pod and briene and tormand and sam. if you want to save them, just give them more realistic plot.
and arya suddenly realized that she should kill the night king and sneak among lines of wights without anyone noticing that. probably wights were focused on night king’s over-confident encounter with bran.
it was too soon for night king to die. 8 years of hype and built-up ends in one single episode.
Dan & david. if you are reading this comment section, I have to tell you that you ruined the most important mission and responsibility you had.
I think Bran’s purpose was to get everyone and everything in place for that battle and possibly for the rest of the season. I get the impression that Bran was at least expecting this to unfold like this at the very least. If he had told everyone what was going to happen, the it would change the outcome, people would behave differently and the outcome would be different.
Rizzo T,
Same Rizzo, same. Edge of my seat (partly I think due to much of it being REALLY hard to see lol), then standing up, short of breath here and there lol.
I enjoyed the episode very much but like a few on here I wish Jon had been more involved beyond the dragon-fight. I was hoping he’d kill undead Viserion in that moment and it would’ve been equally badass to Lyanna Mormont’s moment. Idk, just seemed kind of dull that he didn’t get to do any major kill during “the greatest battle sequence in TV history”. Also, no white walker lieutenant fights either? Was hoping we’d see at least one fight involving Jaime and Brienne vs. a white walker lieutenant. I liked the twist of Arya killing the Night King though.
Katpin,
Yes she will surely…
Who will not be if people will never give her enough credi but keep demanding more and more out of her…
FYI Dothraki are the ones who charged at AOtD for their TSWMTW
500 comments in and this is what people come up with..
Only 3 more episodes to go…… I have been waiting so very long for Mad Queen Dany, touted for so very long by so many ………
I suspect that people misinterpreted the TPWWP’s purpose. They thought his/her destiny was to defeat the WWs. I think actually that was The Last Hero‘s job – Arya’s. TPWWP may have a different purpose, which will become clear in the next three episodes. I’ve always thought it interesting that the prophecy talks about a PRINCE, not a King or a Queen. I suspect TPWWP will destroy the monarchy and usher in a new age.
Also, we still have no explanation for why the seasons are weird.
River,
You forget a key point in this: Jon died at the Wall and was resurrected by divine powers. Whether the Lord of Light or the Old Gods, Jon is meant to die when those divine powers say it’s time. He’s protected until then, watching all those arrows coming at him and missing him should have given you a clue about that. Westeros and Essos are still places of magic, everything that has ever surrounded Jon is related to magic. Whatever he needs to do, even if that is dying at the correct time, is still pending. Everything in Jon’s life has always been decided by everyone else but him, even his death. Jon will only die when the Gods say he dies. Chosen ones don’t really have much say in their destinies.
Wait a sec, are you telling me that at least 90% of the theories of what would happen in tonight’s episode were wrong?
Oh, the huge manatee!!!
(Sorry, but I’ve been wanting to use that line for eight years now. Signed, Euron Greyjoy)
Firannion,
It has been my wish for Tyrion and Sansa to find solace together, so I’m also pleased for the moments and feelings shared in this episode. I have always thought that friendship and communication would be a good start for a marriage. Thinking at the beginning of Tudor dynasty is another reason for shipping Sansa and Tyrion.
Man, people complaining Jon and Dany didn’t have a big enough role because neither of them personally struck the killing blow? Dany amasses the greatest army the world has ever. Jon convinced her to bring it north, and united all of the people who were there. He’s been fighting this whole time to convince others that human wars don’t matter and they needed to band together to fight the dead, and he succeeded. Even Arya herself only abandoned her quest to kill Cersei and decided to return to Winterfell instead when she heard Jon was there. Beyond that, even just in the battle, they grounded Viserion and forced the Night King to proceed on foot. That was huge, as otherwise Viserion could have just flown into the godswood and roasted everyone. This was a true team effort. I think I liked that more than any other way they could have ended this. It’s pretty clear the Night King was never going to be defeated in single combat, man to man on the field. He won’t be beaten by an attack he sees coming. It’s only when he think it’s down to just him and Bran that he finally exposes himself, and little stealth girl’s been hiding in the tree waiting for him. Jon couldn’t have done that. No one could have done that except Arya.
Who was the Prince that was promised? We’re still waiting to find out, because dawn isn’t here just yet. The realm is still ruled by tyranny and infighting and humans who don’t really deserve to survive. The true dawn is ending that, not ending the Long Night. The last Long Night was ended, too, and what difference did it make? Westeros survived and wasn’t overrun, but the people in it have done more destruction to each other than outside forces have ever done. There is still a role to be played for the person who can play the great uniter. The assassin did her part, but it’s not even the most important part. As of right now, the War of the Five Kings has killed more people than the Long Night.
Arya Stark can’t unite the realm. There are bigger battles that killing can’t win. And killing Cersei would still be trivial, even with the much reduced forces. They still have the two dragons, and an all-seeing wizard who can tell exactly where Cersei is and what she’s planning at any minute. The show probably resolves the latter by making Bran so indifferent that he takes no part, and the surviving advisers have to continue convincing Daenerys that simply scorching the Red Keep and everyone in it is not a viable option because of all the collateral damage it would do.
What should they do? Honestly, let Cersei keep her city. Put Sansa in charge of the North. Lord Arryn remains in charge of the Vale, but with strong guidance from Royce (assuming he survived). Put House Tully back in charge of the Riverlands. Yara keeps control of the Iron Islands. Give Dorne its independence. With no Tyrells around, send Sam back to Horn Hill to rule the Reach as the head of House Tarly. Legitimize Gendry and give him Storm’s End to hold the Stormlands. Send Jaime back to Casterly Rock to rule the Westerlands. Daenerys and Jon marry and establish a new capital on Dragonstone. They’ll have the loyalty of the Lords and Ladies Paramount of six of seven kingdoms after saving those kingdoms from the apocalypse.
If Cersei wants to keep calling herself Queen, let her. She can be Queen of a starving city that no one sends any food to or pays any taxes to. She can hole up with her Golden Company for as long as she can continue paying them, while everyone else ignores her.
Of course, they won’t do that. They’ll fight her and try to take King’s Landing even though it’s effectively a meaningless symbol if no one actually bows to the person sitting the Iron Throne.
RG,
I noticed that about Bran being in white eye mode for ages too. It seems like he saw the end of the WW battle before this episode. His confirming Jon’s parentage had absolutely no impact on that fight. So, what was he looking at? His role isn’t over I don’t think.
You know that video we all watch in high school or college and we’re asked to count how many times the ball is passed and we’re all so involved with that we don’t see the gorilla saunter through the middle of the scene? They pulled that shit off and Arya was the gorilla and I’ve never heard one theory about her being TPWWP. But she’s kind of not. See below.
People seem so mad Jon didn’t kill the NK. Prophecies are shit. I think that’s what I learned tonight. Cersei stopped at 3 golden haired kids because she thought that was where she should stop. The Valonqar could be literally ~50% of the characters on the show. Robert had way more than 16 bastards right?
So is Arya TPWWP? Well in this scenario she kind of is. But there are probably many people it could apply to, or no people. We will shape her story to that narrative because it’s a prophesy. What’s a prophesy? Nothing more than a bible verse in another time/planet/dimension wherever they are.
So, stop thinking Cersei will be easily defeated and that the Golden Company will automatically turn on her. Well, they may, but I don’t think it would be for the reasons most people here think. But do believe that Chekhov’s Crossbolt will go off. And it will be another time like tonight, when we all forgot about Arya in our stress about Theon. We’re all going to forget about Bronn until he’s firing a crossbolt into Jaime’s* heart (likely after he promises Brienne to sail to Tarth and be her guard there.
*I fully expect Tyrion to offer Bronn twice as much and that Cersei is just as likely on the receiving end of that bolt.
I also don’t have a problem with Arya dealing the death blow to the NK, given what he represents in the show. I don’t expect George planned for it to be that simple in his story. But we’ll probably never see that story.
Yet, the disappointment comes in the how it happened. Jon fucked up yet again, resulting in Dany having to save him, and in the process get swarmed by zombies and knocked from Drogon. Thus, eliminating both from being involved in the final showdown. I feel like all of the prophecy that was debated ad nauseam for over a decade was a complete waste of time. So, I guess they got us!
Well, Avengers: Endgame wins the weekend battle for meaningful consequences and tragedy demise of major characters. Critics are agreeing with my interpretation of these two entertainment juggernauts and which wins the weekend. Not one major major fell, just redshirts and supporting roles. D&D didn’t have the courage to really shake things up, and make viewers cry, like the former. I expected to be teary eyed and speechless at the carnage of characters I have followed over years, not one, not one from the fireplace chat fell, that was a major storytelling misstep, D&D really failed in this aspect of the episode, and critics are pointing this out.
Shy Lady Dragon,
Yeah they really humanized Drogon there. Which will make it all the more sad when and if he dies. Surprisingly I teared up the most at Lyanna’s death, even though she was not a character I felt any real affinity for prior. I think it’s because she’s just a child and seemed so vulnerable yet brave in that scene.
I wanted to stay away from this site until the show was over, the tears had all dried up and the therapy sessions ended… before I could have some coherent thoughts expressed, some conclusions drawn and even some good-byes said…but tonight merits a visit just to say:
Holy Shit! and Wow!
That’s it…
Also can I raise my glass to the poor Dothraki? Heroes all.
Seriously, it looked like 10 came back with Jorah. Scariest thing ever watching those lights go out.
*raises another glass*
“It still only counts as one!” 🙂
Honestly I think there’s some unsated blood lust out there. This is the midway point of the season and a lot of people died. The white walkers/wights/NK were in like what, 7-8 eps of the whole show? That’s 10%. Yes, Jon and Tormund have been rallying everyone to this cause for a season and a half now. But the show has always been about the other villains, the human ones. And I am glad that’s what we will end with and that this part of the story can be put to rest. I dare one of you to stand up and say you were watching this show because of the north of the wall storyline.
I’m just willing to bet most of the sour reactions are people who are mad about Jon’s diminished importance. Don’t worry, he was still raised by the lord of light and is still special.
PS: Kit will say he was ok with this plotline but my guess is he is not ok with it at all. 😛
Al Swearengen,
It really doesn’t make any sense at this point. But, I guess we have to wait and see how the next three episodes play out. Maybe there is more to it than we realize at this point. Could be Jon has to kill Bran. I’ll just leave it there cause I can’t explain why lol.
Laura,
Also worth pointing out: Jon armed Arya in the first place. He created the sword that slew that NK. You can interpret prophecy in all kinds of ways, one of which is this: his confidence in his little “sister” forged a Lightbringer of sorts, meaning he could still be seen as Azor Ahai.
People should hold their complaints, I think, until this episode is contextualized by the final three. As you point out, things aren’t done yet. If we didn’t get big and impactful deaths here, that just means they’re still to come, and that Cersei will be harder to take down than anticipated.
I just wanna say that i loved that nod between Theon and The Night King, before he charges at him. It was like the Night King waited until Bran could say goodbye and tell Theon what he wanted to hear all his life, and then, and only then, when Theon nod him like saying “i’m ready now, you can come”, he procedees to walk towards them. I really like Night King’s character, and it’s sad we’ll never see it again.
Lol u people….anywho. Why make it a thing unless it’s used in the future, unless it’s baiting or bad writing. Love this show and the books but cmon..we will see. Knew Stark crypts would come in play. eBay else would be “bittersweet” other that having to kill a hero. U do u
Fierce as a Wolverine,
He didn’t, he armed her with Needle, but Arya killed The Night King using the valyrian steel daga that Bran gave her (the same one that was meant to kill him back in season 1). But i agree with everything else you said.
Tyjon,
Well you know Endgame was like you know Endgame, you know like the culmination of the current MCU. Episode 3 is not like the culmination of the story, Episode 3 is like Infinity War where the 5 main avengers lived and the others died but not really because you knew that Ant Man could travel through time so they were going to get a do over. So both you and the critics are wrong in that respect. You should maybe wait till episode 6 to see how GOT’s Endgame compares to MCU’s Endgame. What do you say?
Well, we’re not all millionaires like you and can afford to buy the latest ‘all singing and dancing’ TV models… I wish I could! Perhaps one day 🙂
He got stuck in that part of the video game where you’re trapped by the boss’s dragon.
lmao-I am a huge Jon fan and that’s what it reminded me of. (I know, I’m horrible)
On the other hand. Balls that clank when the NK did his hand move again and Jon started running straight at him. He is brave beyond reason.
Aside from the total lack of nudity, my only complaint was the lack of surfboarding. A wee bit o’ Dick Dale would’ve been nice.
This is the Magnum P.I. forum, innit?
Danny,
I agree
You have advanced copies of books 6 and 7?!
That’s amazing!
I mean how else would you know the end is better in the books.
BTW, what happened to Ghost?
I get that but my point is they(the writers) have pretty much overused that ‘Jon is placed in a precarious situation then survive’ Earlier I was like, really Jon going after the NK while he’s raising the dead and also trying to take out Viserion? We’ve heard it from Ygritte before ‘You know nothing, Jon Snow’ but don’t make him that dumb writers cause I feel like Jon should know better by now when it comes to knowing when to charge at an enemy.
In my humble opinion, this episode HAD to end this way. There are only 3 episodes left, and this show is called Game of Thrones for a reason. Episode 6 HAS to end with someone winning the Game of Thrones. Albeit a bittersweet ending. For that to happen, the Night King and his army HAD to be defeated here, so we could focus on the plots and battles which will conclude with someone winning the game, though perhaps not sitting on the actual Iron Throne (Throne Room in ruins, dragon shadow over KL etc etc). Remember, Episode 5 will most likely be a battle of some sort, and also the teaser from a few months ago which hinted at something happening at Dragonstone.
I disagree. I think Jon or Daenerys killing the Night King would be too predictable. The Night King is prepared for them. He expects them. He taunts them. He lures them into his trap to get himself a dragon. He knows how to defeat them. He’s been spending years stealing an army of hundreds of thousands of people from the Many-Faced God, and now a debt is owed and Arya is there to collect.
The House of Black and White didn’t train Arya just to be some petty hired killer, and they didn’t just let her walk away to do her own thing on a whim. They prepared her for what she needed to face, and sent her home to face it.
i think Dany is pregnant with Jon’s baby, hence the Prince that was Promised. 🙂
She grunted, because she had to steer Drogon to avoid the spear.
Laura,
Come on now! Be gentle to my Jon loving heart! But seriously he’s an idiot. My favorite character in the books, or at least the one I rooted for the most. But in the show, I just can’t anymore. Okay, I’ll probably come crawling back if they give him a poignant and worthy ending that somehow makes up for all of the mistakes. But I won’t forget them.
3 dragons battling and a lot of pyrotechnics
(seriously though, the last time I saw him was the initial charge, and I’m trying not to think about it)
Catspaw Assassin,
lol!
onefromaway,
That dagger was also shown in one of the books Sam was reading at the citadel in season 7 also.
So, essentially, you’re saying that Bran is Doctor Strange?
A few other posters above have written that they saw Ghost in the episode 4 preview. I was worried as well. So, it looks like he is alright.
Mass,
Now, we’re seemingly left with just Cercei, and she has become a bore to me.
Haven’t seen any of the MCU (I know, I’m probably the only person in the US that can say that) so I’m not sure if it is a fair comparison. I see Bran as a conductor. The musicians have to play the music, but he keeps everyone in the right place and on tempo.
And now they have 3 extra long episodes to show our characters moving on in the aftermath of that kind of experience. It was life-altering, horrifying, worst situation imaginable kind of battle. Men were begging to be let into the crypts. Men were fighting brothers and friends who’d just died. People saw a giant wight crush Lyanna Mormont. The Starks were coming out of their crypts.
Talk about PTSD.
Now they need to burn the bodies, clean up and go fight the Golden Company? Euron?
That could be rough.
Here’s hoping Jaime doesn’t backslide.
Oh and it just hit me. Now I know why the North Remembers. Because it literally never happens anywhere else lol
It should be The North suffers so you don’t have to.
I was almost holding it together (albeit rather tenuously) until then. 😭
Stefan,
You are right! They are really weaving that thread of the Catspaw Dagger all the way through this series. I wonder if it will be a meaningful weapon again in any of the final few episodes? Wait and see, I guess.
I’m very conflicted right now (and I truly never expected to be) but there are three episodes left so I’ll keep hoping that D&D bring this crazy saga in for a satisfactory landing.
The thing I’ve enjoyed the most about the show is the feeling that every scene and every main character. had a purpose towards an inevitable conclusion I could’ve guessed if only I had followed the clues correctly – and that’s what I feel least certain about now. Theon’s arc was beautifully realized and though I’ve never been a big Jorah fan, OF COURSE he went down saving Dany. Arya ‘s arc was revenge for the Starks and throwing off the shackles of expectations in a patriarchal society, which OK, she kinda did, but she didn’t really use any of her face switching skills to kill the NK so couldn’t she have learned what was needed with Syrio? Mel’s flaming swords/arakhs only turned the Dothraki into cannon fodder, lighting the trench barely slowed the AOTD, then she comes in at the 11th hour, reminds us she said Blue Eyes, too, and gets to claim a victory? If Cersei is the existential threat, there’s no resolution to the climate issues and Jon is basically a heroic sleight of hand to subvert fantasy tropes, I’d better brace myself.
There’s a difference with getting what you want from that episode to what would actually make sense if played out.
Arya is the only one who could sneak up and kill the NK, she’s had years of intensive ‘Faceless Men’ training, think about THAT, if Jon tried to take out the NK he’d probably do a better job than Theon but end up dead all the same. Arya is the only one that could end the long night people and I know it’s hard to accept for some Jon is the prince that was promised believers but really if you think about it, Arya killing the NK is the most realistic of all possible outcomes. Jon or Dany could not have done what she did.
ygritte,
At this point, they have to go with Jon vs Dany in some way,shape, or form, right? It can’t be all of our favorites vs Cersei. That’s too black and white, just like the NK/AOTD was.
I was listening to the Nerd Soup podcast I think it was not too long ago and one of them brought up the Melisandre/Arya scene about closing eyes forever and wondered if the blue eyes referred to the Night King. So I had that in my head when they met again this episode and Mel told her again about blue eyes, I knew Arya was going to kill NK. I just wish Theon’s death would have been a distraction leading Arya to get the drop on the NK rather than that lame charge.
onefromaway,
Yeah? Oh thank the gods for that!
I love those direwolves. Especially Ghost.
Jorah died guarding the realms of men. A fitting death. But still terribly sad.
You make an excellent point! Dany and Jon brought Viserion down, which meant that NK had to be on foot and therefore accessible to Arya. If he had been on Viserion, no way could she have stealth jumped that high. So yes, they needed to be there, and be on their dragons.
For those worried about Gilly, I’m 95% sure that’s her behind Jon and Davos at 0:22
Weren’t there 3 wight giants in the Season 7 finale when the Wall came down? Only saw 1 tonight.
That’s because the Golden Company left the mumakil…errr, the elephants home.
Yes, this is where it has to go. But yes, they will also need to confront Cersei. It will be interesting how the stories overlap.
I am glad they dealt with the monsters quickly. However, the fight has drawn together individuals that can be leaders of the major areas of Westeros. They have fought together and are more of a team.
River,
No problem with Arya doing the deed, but doing it all alone, and getting past all of the other WW’s undetected? Jon in the Godswood distracting the other WW’s would have been more believable.
At the beginning of episode 3, I absolutely cheered when I saw Ghost and then he let out a growl and I cheered again…..and then the lights went out….. I hope you are right and survived somehow for episode 4!!!
Pigeon,
Yeah, and if you pause it @ 0:18 when they are going to burn the bodies in front of Winterfell you can see Ghost behind Dany & Sam.
River,
Jon is my favorite character by far, I would sacrifice everyone else 10 times over for him, even Arya (my second fave). Having said that, let’s be honest about who Jon is. Jon is first and foremost a good/decent person, perhaps the most decent person in power in the Seven Kingdoms. He is also an incredibly brave and gifted warrior with a hero complex who is always lead by his heart. He’s not cerebral, he lacks malice and lacks the ability to detach emotionally. These are his main weaknesses. At a moment of adrenaline and despair, a warrior charges. That is what a warrior does, that is what he did. He knows he’s encountering death but he has to try. He charged to try to save Rickon, his brother, did you not think he would charge to save Bran, his brother? Jon told us who he was from the very first episode of GOT when he convinced his lord father to adopt the 5 puppies for his 5 legitimate siblings, while sacrificing himself. Jon has never wavered from who he is, I am not sure that I want him to. I kind of love the consistency of his character.
That was realistic to you? LMAO
FM use disguise to infiltrate and kill their prey. The NK had him and Bran alone in a 20 ft circle surrounded by his lts. and the army of they dead. WHERE could Arya come from not to be noticed by anyone?
RG,
We always complained about killing direwolfs. at least they died on-screen. I hope they didn’t kill Ghost just off-screen.
There’s a very quick shot of Arya kissing Gendry again in the preview for episode 4.
Did anyone else catch that? It may have just been a “I’m happy you’re alive” kiss, but it’s hard to tell…It’s about a second long in the clip.
Anyone having difficulty with HBO Now? Or as it’s working for me tonight, HBO Not Now. Maybe Later. When the Servers Come Back Up.
Definitely the Long Night out here right now.
I’m pretty taken aback by the complaints about Arya being the one to take out the NK. I’m guessing it’s the same people who were hand-wringing and cringey about her sexcapade last week?
She’s been set up for this since Season One, Episode 1. Even GGRM’s scribbled notes from two decades ago show that she’s a major character, not just the baby sister/niece of the hero.
Suck it up buttercups. Girls can be heroes too.
Yes there were, but the other two went on strike when they heard that HBO were not going to pay them enough to appear in S8 Ep3 😀
Mass,
I just saw him in that clip. He keeps getting smaller-but I don’t care because he’s still alive!
Ghost’s Lunch,
It does make u wonder why they made the NK and his army the main arc of Jon’s story then. Why did he stare down the NK in Hardhome and again beyond the Wall episode? I guess Jon is simply the messenger that alerts the living and prepares the way.
One thing I keep thinking about: what’s the role of the Three-Eyed Raven in a post NK world?
Chief Master of the Citadel?
I’m kidding, sort of. But for real, where does Bran’s story go from here?
Northstar,
I hope you were in Vegas tonight, because DAMN.
The Hound to Arya in Season 4
“That’s where the heart is.”
Just watched that scene again. I really love that he overcame his fears for her in this fight.
Danny,
You see, this view of Jon as the warrior with a lack of brains doesn’t fit the character as I knew him in the books. I’d say the books show him more as a leader and strategist than a fighter. I’m just trying to process why it was so necessary for him to be so dim in the show. It’s something I’ve never understood. Is it simply to play up the contrast between Sansa and him? I doubt it, since they started making a point to treat him and call him dumb in season 2.
fleasome,
Where would the fun be in that? I don’t know, maybe the visual and emotional payoff of seeing our expectations/hopes unfold perhaps.
Regarding the too dark to see anything…..
I’ve got neighbors and friends that will only watch GoT on my T.V.
We’ve got a seven year old, 60″ plasma television. We bought it specifically for GoT, having been book readers for years.
Our plasma (which we named George) shows black better than our new 4K-bells-and-whistles T.V. (We won the new set at a raffle and it lives in our formal living room – we never would have considered replacing George!)
We tweaked George’s brightness/color saturation/contrast settings for GoT, and saved a special setting specifically for the show. We watched tonight’s live cast with GoT settings and have watched it a second time on the factory Cinema setting – our GoT setting was better, but the factory setting was just dandy, too.
We have zero complaints about “too dark” with our watchers, and this episode was no exception – The Long Night looked fabulous on George in our candle and torch lit room.
Yes, it was riveting. Yes, it had great action, great visuals, and some awesome singular moments. But my goodness, it had some head-scratching moments and uneven resolutions too.
So NK was death, literally? The actual Grim Reaper in the icy flesh? I understand the CotF created him to wipe out mankind in defense of themselves. But where did his power come from? What was the symbol supposed to mean? I guess we’ll never know, as it didn’t matter. Just a way to get all our heroes to one spot quickly and easily for the real end game.
Was it established that the 3ER could see the future? If not, then how can Bran get any credit for anything, or only via dumb blind luck? He warged crows all battle. Why????
Mel, it seems, truly did see the future. How else to know to show right at battle opening? Ad from the direction of the AOfD, no less. How? And then end up exactly in the right room to help a bloodied, exhausted and utterly freaked out Arya realize her true ambition? Yes, she sees the future and Bran does what again? And why does Mel have to tear her necklace off and die after all that? A bargain with the Lord of Light? We don’t know.
The most realistic storyline was the Hound, Beric, and Arya in Winterfell. The failing courage, the conquering of fear for someone they care about, the sacrifice for your friends. Everybody else sort of went through predictable motions once we realized we weren’t losing any top flight characters outside the wall in the main fight. That’s when my heart pounding anticipation sort of pooped out.
Lots of swordplay and grappling and killing thousands of wights constantly for over an hour. Even Sam, on his back for most of the episode, lives to fight another day.
Brienne, one-armed Jaime and the new swordsman/cocksman Pod survive against the ramparts surrounded by hundreds of dead. And not a single other fighter upright that I could see. Amazing survivability. Same with Tormund and Gendry on the pile of bodies. No other fighters survived near them? And Grey Worm? Ah, whatever. You get the point. It just could have been done better. Wounded and dragged to safety. Anything other than wielding swords against a never ending hoard of tireless dead.
Lady She-Bear gets a glorious death but even that is a bit schmaltzy. An undead giant, moments before just swinging and smashing in undead brainless glory suddenly stops to think about having a pint-sized snack? For gods sake at least show him eating some people before you go that route to give us a reason for him picking her up and bringing her to his face instead of just squeezing her into mush.
I thought for sure that Sansa and Tyrion were doing a suicide pact, so kudos to the writers for that suspense. Then again they may not have been going for that and it was just me thinking that. Who knows.
Arya might be a stealth assassin, but getting past multiple WWs is a stretch. And why scream on the inbound? Silence is the assassins mode. Plus a dagger in the back apparently wouldn’t have done it, if after the episode is to be believed. The only opening was where the CotF put the dagger in him? You’d think he’d reenforce that spot, no?
There’s more but it’s enough. Clearly, the 99.9999% of fans do not and cannot think like the writers, so all predictions are off, now that all the mains survived. Almost anything can happen.
And plot armor kudos to Ghost, last seen charging with Dothraki? Dothraki?? What the heck was that? Not a peep again but seen in episode 4 previews. Boggling.
Oh well, still love it for the entertainment even if it’s turned a bit uneven and inconsistent in its need to wrap things up. It’s easy to nitpick after it’s over. I just would have thought the threat would last a bit longer considering it’s gravity.
Firannion,
They showed tender emotions toward each other in that scene tonight. I was a little skeptical of it having been earned but enjoyed it none the less.
I think it works for Arya to end the Long Night by killing. This is a song of Ice and Fire. The Ice is the Stark story, their long fight against Winter. Fire is the Targaryen story of uniting and ruling the Seven Kingdoms. Jon was fighting in the Ice story until he found out he was a Targaryen, then the remaining Stacks finished the story of Ice, Bran and Arya. Now Jon and Dany will finish the Fire story.
I was a little disappointed that the W W is over already. I hope in the books we get a long running battle from Last Hearth until the North make their final stand at Winterfell.
I’m not sure how to feel, I thought the NK would last longer and reach the south like in Dany’s vision in the house of the undying the throne room abandoned filled with snow but obviously that won’t be happening now. Since he was defeated in the north and none of the southern houses were involved at all would they even believe them about the dead because they never witnessed them for themselves. It is disappointing Jon didn’t at least get to fight the NK with a one on one sword battle and than when the NK was distracted Arya came in behind him. The episode was beautifully filmed though and I’m glad Arya had such a important purpose, a very depressing episode and I am still heart broken over Jorah and Theon even though I suspected they would both die it didn’t make it any easier.
Apollo,
Oh, DAMN, I hope you were in Vegas too.
Mel really was the Oracle of Delphi, wasn’t she? Unbeknownst to everyone, including herself.
Realist,
But this is a comment board for people to air their ideas and opinions. If you don’t share an opinion with someone please just say so politely, if you need to say anything at all.
Tyrion Pimpslap,
I don’t consider ShowJon dumb by any means. I said he wasn’t cerebral which doesn’t equate to dumb, it just means that he has a hard time disentangling himself from his emotions. Book Jon is a capable leader in relative peaceful times, he is able to secure a loan from the Iron Bank and he saves Alys’ claim with a smart political move. In the show, he is smart enough to counsel Stannis into taking Mance prisoner and allowing the wildlings passage into Westeros. He is smart when he is allowed time to think. But do also remember that after the emotions of the Pink Letter, he decides to announce for all to hear that he’s marching south to Winterfell to take on Ramsay which was not the smartest thing he could do. Yet, didn’t we all book readers cheered when we read his speech? Most of us did, it was an awesome moment yet not the smartest strategy on his part. It ended up with him bleeding to death, didn’t it?
To be honest, I’m not sure that Jon was dumbed down as much as Sansa was built into a character that is far from where we left her on the books. Sansa gained malice, I don’t see Jon ever acquiring that trait. Jon is Ned come again. And I still loved Ned who was able to hide a King under all that Snow and no one ever suspected a thing.
About Jon:
He gave Arya needle. He saved Jeor Mormont and got Longclaw. He brought the Wildlings back into the fold. He or Ghost saved Sam a dozen times. He took Winterfell back from the Boltons. He made an alliance and romanced the dragon queen whose army was vital to the success of the battle. He gathered the best and brightest: Brienne of Tarth, Jaime Lannister, Jorah Mormont, Beric Dondarrion and Sandor Clegane along with Varys, Davos and Tyrion to fight together (or witness the fight) and forge the kind of bonds I imagine you can only forge with people you’ve survived zombie hordes with.
Without him, no one would have been ready. No one would have cared what Bran was saying. Sansa would have been homeless. Arya would have avoided her family in favor of her kill list. Dany would be having trouble making friends and allies. Jaime would still be with Cersei.
He’s pretty important story-wise. And now he’s also a dragon rider and potential throne contender.
But yeah. Lots of meaningful NK stares and they never actually fought each other. He’s been warning everyone, was brought back to life for it and that’s been his main cause for the entire series. Now that battle is over and it wasn’t his to win. Maybe Bran will have a little chat with him about it before the finale. A “Well the NK’s dead. What do you do now?” kind of conversation. 🙂
Jack Bauer 24,
The NK stood looking at Bran. If he really wanted him dead you’d think he would have moved quickly while having the chance. Maybe NK wanted to die. Maybe he needed to transfer something to Bran in those moments. I dunno, something tells me we have not seen the last of this story line.
Exactly! Just like Bran said to Theon goes for Arya. Everything she went through got her where she was supposed to be.
There is no way that they are lying about it, though it is not clear that Arya killing the Great Other is GRRM’s ending.
DB & D underscore this in their “Inside the Episode”. They make it sound like they knew that Valyrian steel had to be the weapon that killed NK. They then explain that Jon is the hero but it felt wrong and predictable to have him kill NK and so Arya was the twist.
Rightly or wrongly, DB & D make it sound like the choice of Arya as the destroyer of the NK was THEIR choice, not GRRM’s.
The problem that many book readers are having with this choice is that it makes mincemeat of the prophecies laid in the books — prophecies which the show has barely mentioned and rarely followed.
This is what makes the choice of using UnViserion to prevent Jon from reaching the godswood seem artificial and forced. All our hero does is run and hide from the dragon. Even at the end, when he has a choice to raise his sword and strike at the undead dragon in the head — he does nothing. So what, Jon is Samwell now?
There will be a debate about this ending for YEARS. This is the debate which GRRM referenced when he was speaking about the topic recently. Who ends up on the throne at the end was certainly known by GRRM and he told DB & Dan and Bryan Cogman those details.
But that is a long distance call from saying that Arya killing the Great Other was GRRM’s plan all along.
This is the debate GRRM told us would happen. We are having it now. We will be having it for years.
Mel,
The show’s version of the House Of The Undying has to be examined further now that we know the White Walkers weren’t the reason for the snow or the destruction. I said the night the episode first aired that the Snow on the iron throne was foreshadowing Jon as king. This was back when I was still hopeful and trying to cope with his fate at the end of ADWD. But for years now I’ve convinced myself that it wouldn’t happen. He was going to die a sacrificial death. But after tonight, it starts to make me wonder again. Which further illustrates my frustrations with his portrayal as a bit of a moron.
Jack Bauer 24,
Perhaps two or three more seasons to flesh things out? Or showing the use of being able to kill someone in complete darkness? Or…
…oh, never mind. Damn, I love it, and I suspected from the moment Bran handed her the dagger that Arya would be The One, but I’m still disappointed in S7 and S8. Spectacle, A+; writing & logic, C; pacing, D.
Sigh.
I am of course devastated. Alfie Allen killed it as always. Will be sobbing for quite some time.
Dark Sister,
“Williams agrees: “I’d say the key players this season are all female”
Really? That’s a bummer. It’s the last season, the End. I’ve been rooting for Jon the past 5 years of my viewing life, but he happens to be a male, so I guess it was all for nothing and they built the character up as hero just to fall aside in favor of “girl power.” Why wouldn’t George want at least one key end game player be a male? It’s lopsided/unrealistic otherwise. Fan service to modern liberal ideals? As is so much in life these days. And I don’t care who comes at me for that, they’re my feelings and I’m not looking to justify them.
I thought Arya was in that tree somewhere hiding and waiting? Jon could have distracted the WW’s that would have been better imo than charging at an undead, large dragon. STOP making Jon appear stupid writers! is what I hope in the last 3 episodes.
JenStar Runner,
My eyes are really strained after watching the episode and trying to make things out, and my TV is only 3 months old. I couldn’t tell you the specs cause I’m not savvy about such things but my husband is and hes the one bought it. What brand/kind do you have?
Tyrion Pimpslap,
“Kings are a rare sight in the North,” Robert snorted. “More likely they were hiding under the snow. Snow, Ned!”
“Corn,” the bird said, and “King” and Snow, Jon Snow.”
“One skinchanger can always sense another. Mance should have let me take the direwolf. There would be a second life worthy of a king.”
I think GRRM tried on several occasions to tell us that this Jon Snow fella was an actual king. Did he not? And since Jon hates ruling he is surely going to get stuck with it because someone will try to force the duty on him.
Jack Bauer 24,
Yes, yes he did 🙂
Danny,
Good for Jon for sticking to who he really is but how would he ever wish to become a great battle commander if he never learns from his mistakes? Knowing when to charge at your enemy is very much a must and if his instinct is to just ‘throw caution to the wind’ cause he’s very much a warrior. He’ll fail and will be looking out for someone to come and save his ass much like what Sansa did in BoTB. Robb was a better battle commander than Jon and he died 5 seasons ago, Jon had time and countless battle experiences now to improve and he’s shown so far that he’s not willing to.
Tyjon,
Too many characters dying in one episode would cheapen their deaths. The season is not over, main characters will be dying.
Firannion,
Perhaps my favorite moment of this batshit-crazy episode was Tyrion kissing Sansa’s hand.
On a totally different note—I’m sure I’ll figure it out on rewatch tomorrow when I’m sober, but if Arya gave Sansa the dagger, what did she kill the NK with? (Yes, I’m full of Scotch. And duck. And olive-oil cake. And Arbor gold…)
To all those worried that they are writing Jon dumb. Think about it, Jon is going to end up as the Ultimate Little Finger. Create chaos and end up as the last man standing. His conception created chaos, resulting in thousands of deaths and a change in power. His protection also led to a dismantling of established power and the war of 5 kings which will now lead to the war of queens but when all is said and done and all the players have moved their pieces and killed each other – there might be just one king to rule them all, one king to bind them. His is the song of Ice and Fire.
Or not.
River,
Sure, Robb was a better battle commander but he died for not doing his duty. Which is worst, Jon not listening to Sansa about giving Rickon for dead (don’t fall for Ramsay’s trap) or Robb not listening to Catelyn about not crossing Walder Frey? Jon did what he did for his blood, his brother, and at moment of heighten emotion. Robb did what he did because he fell in love/felt guilty about Jeyne’s virtue. Robb may have been a better battle commander but he was dumber than Jon. And since you touch on Sansa saving Jon’s ass – please don’t forget to mention how Sansa was willing to sacrifice the lives of both his brothers, Rickon and Jon, to recapture Winterfell. In keeping quiet about the possibility of the Vale forces joining the battle, keeping Jon in the dark, that is exactly what she did. That maybe “smart” on her part, it is still a pretty treacherous thing to do to a brother.
But I’m one of those who believe that I’d prefer to die with honor that live with dishonor if given the choice – so Jon is more up my alley.
Calling it, Arya will pick up and wear Melisandre’s necklace. Sansa and Dany will still be at odds with each other, or more like according what the preview looks as, everyone is happy to bow to Dany after her help in the war but Sansa might be resentful the North is not hers/independent and Tyrion, who now feels something extra for Sansa, will be stuck in the middle. Will Dany look at something he does as a betrayal? Man, I rewatched that episode on my bedroom TV and saw some things I missed like Jon leaving Sam in distress.
LL of Darkwater,
Ah nice. Now, I long for my approximately same year old plasma TV that was perfectly fine except for one line showing up in certain lighting but it got broken 6 months ago when a child threw something that hit the corner of the screen.
Made the whole thing go kerplunk. We looked to replace it with another plasma but lo and behold, for some reason they don’t sell the darn things anymore 🙁
ygritte,
I really love Lyanna because I see her as an orphan who needed to convince her and the others that she was tough and suited to rule a proud Northern house. Remember the scene when Davos convinced her to join their war against Ramsay? He identified with her internal struggle as a person who needed to prove worthy of their role. He offered her respect, but wasn’t afraid to hint at her vulnerable side. And Lyanna proved that she hadn’t just used big words – she died fighting a dead giant and managed to finish him! I sort of expected her to survive, really!
Regarding the darkness issue, if I watch the episode live or off DVR via Direct TV, I have a majour darkness issue, and also have to jack the sound up to 40+. If I stream the episode via HBO Go app on amazon stick, there’s no issue, and my sound is at 14. Same TV.
So tech geeks, what’s up with that?!?
That aside, this ep left me exhausted, with all the anxiety of this last week’s anticipation now ebbing. I wanted to be spoiled for this specific episode because of the angst factor, but now, I look forward to settling into the back stretch and waiting, blissfully unaware, for whatever comes.
Kay,
Good point Kay! There’s a lot to digest and that’s one I personally hadn’t thought about yet.
Side note: Is Samwell alive?? I’m assuming he must be but I don’t remember seeing him make it out at the end of it or in the preview for next.
What an episode! I’m exhausted!
Wolfish,
She did it with the VS dagger Bran gave her last season.
No he didn’t. Arya killed the NK with Littlefinger’s Valyrian steel dagger, not with Needle, which isn’t even Valyrian steel.
It’s at the very least an unprecedented TV spectacle. The tension and cinematography is unrivalled. I highly doubt we will ever see a battle which tops that. I was on the edge of my seat throughtout not knowing what will happen, although it was obvious Arya would kill the Night king from an early stage. She’s my second favourite character behind Jon and I always felt she would do it if not him.
That said I have some minor criticism:
– why Jorah rides back after the Dothraki are annihilated, sorry that just felt cheesy to me.
– Lyanna death was gut wrenching but again felt a little fan service orientated.
– despite thousands dying and humans getting hammered the most important character we lost was Theon. It felt unrealistic to me that hardly anyone died (RIP Jorah, Edd, Ghost, Rhaegal, Alys Karstark, Beric and Mel of course)
Ps D&D confirmed they have known ARya was the one to do it since Season 3 so clearly this is coming from gRRM.
The last three episodes likely to be dealing with Cersei, possibly Dany and restoring Westeros. I predict Cersei dies in episode 5, Dany in episode 6.
I Think we can rule out Arya killing Cersei or Dany now she’s had that moment.
Nope D&D confirmed they have known Arya kills the night king since season 3 – when George told them the ending for all characters. It’s almost certainly canon.
Jon Snowed,
Pigeon,
Yes, I recognize Gilly as well! And Ghost is visible before.
They spent a long time going through everything they know the endings for all main characters but not the minor ones like the Hound. GRRM also recently confirmed the endings will be the same – people trying to suggest this isn’t canon really can’t be persuaded otherwise.
WHy goofy for the Dothraki to be killed off? Remember they are savages who rape and pillage, they can have no meaningful role in a civilised Westeros at the end. The way they took them off the chess board was both satisfying and terrifying in my opinion.
I also liked how Grey Worm had to sacrifice the Unsullied, unlike the Dothraki they are not bad, but the way they went out was so brave and gut wrenching for greyworm to essentially kill them all to save everyone else.
I really like Pod but feel he really should have died that episode. My guess is he now dies in battle for Kings Landing.
I thought Drogon was going to die when the Whites swarmed him, presumably he’s just badly injured now which is how he will be killed off in any future battles/fighting for the throne. I am a firm believer that all the dragons need to perish along with the magical elements of the show by the conclusion.
Shy Lady Dragon,
I do remember back to that scene. It was good. She made a fun first impression. It was afterwards where she remained sort of one dimensional in a way with the stoic speeches they kept giving her. In this episode she became a tragic figure. It was a juxtaposition.
On a side note, one thing I just noticed on re-watch is right after Bran warged into the ravens and then flew off to the Night king, who reached out with his hand as if to grab onto one of the birds, the very next scene is where the wights behind the wall of fire started walking into the fire to put it out enough to let them through. Who signaled them to do so? I don’t recall right now, but do any and all of the WW have control of the wights?
I’ve watched it twice and just starting my third run through. Loved it even more on the second watch, truly outstanding television.
There is no army left, the Dothraki are gone, the unsullied had a few dozen survive, the northern forces are barely a few hundred. My assumption is that Dany will want to reign down fire and blood to take kings landing now.
Why did poor Theon have to go out that way man.
Jon Snowed,
Ha, same here lol.
Drogon was such a sweetheart when Dany was grieving poor Jorah. I don’t want him to die but I know he will 🙁
No, we were all tricked into thinking that killing the Nights King was Jon’s story arc by GRRM/D&D however the set-up for Arya doing it has been there since the earliest seasons of the books. D&D also confirm they’ve known for a few years so it’s clearly canon.
I wanted Jon to do it but always felt if it wasn’t him then it could only be Arya or maybe Dany to do it. Bottom line some times you have to accept you were wrong with your predictions and respect the writers for excellent story telling (to trick us).
I wonder if it’s not the last we have seen of NK or WWs?
I always thought that the show’s final scene will actually be at the same place as the first scene of the pilot episode- The Wall.
Good lawd I think Cercei might win this thing. That B who became one dimensional and boring starting last season probably has all of KL believing Dany and her dragons and Jon with her are the big baddies and she’s their protector. UGH. What if our heroes went through all that we just saw only to freaking die in a battle at KL??? Does GRRM think the “sweet” part of bitter is sweet enough just having just one or two characters (Arya and Gendry or Sansa) survive? If so, he will be most unpopular author.
I have sense of foreboding. Look back at cast comments for this season.
What was it he said “A villian is a hero to the other side?” I almost don’t want to watch the rest.
Jon Snowed,
Agreed! Also how they tricked us with thinking Ned to be the main character.
About the criticism that the NK/WW are already defeated.
Remember that GRRM takes a lot from LOTR and in the books after Sauron is defeated and the ring destroyed they still have to fight for the Shire and save it from Saruman.
I’ve watched the episode three times now and enjoyed it more every time. I can’t understand the people complaining about Arya, there is plenty of set-up since the earliest seasons people just didn’t pick up on it because they were fooled by D&D/GRRM.
I am really happy with how it went down last night (a couple of minor criticisms aside) and am unsure how the final three episodes play out from here – my guess is Dany wants to reign fire and blood and Jon has to stop her.
Clob,
Except, there’s no Night King in the books, so not really.
No, they said they’ve known for about 3 years now. Their meetings with George were like 6 years ago.
They also made it very clear that they decided to not have Jon do it because it was too predictable.
This is not going to happen in the books for a very simple reason : the Night King does not exist in the books. There is no dark lord in the books. No character whose death would mean the automatic destruction of the army of the dead.
I’m sure Arya will be crucial, but she won’t be single-handedly defeating the White Walkers.
I know I cannot convince everyone but James Hibberd also has an article (I think it was him by may be Kim Renfro) where it’s confirmed although not explicitly that this comes from GRRM. Sometimes you just have to accept that our preconceptions are wrong.
P.s I’ve also read the books and although there is no Night King yet it doesn’t mean there won’t be a leader who is still to be revealed.
Nick20,
“They also made it very clear that they decided to not have Jon do it because it was too predictable.”
So even if something makes the most sense for a cohesive story, and has been foreshadowed and built up over 7 years to the point of promoting endless fan discussion over a specific character or two (Dany) and how they fit prophecy and guns hung needing to be fired or whatever: They don’t want to go with it because it’s too “predictable.” Well geez guys, if you’re going to make a plot point unpredictable for unpredictability’s sake at least don’t make it into a joke (take us out of the immersion) by making a slew of scenes that have gone before it virtually useless/senseless!
I just realized if true this means they’ve been making, changing the ending it up as they go along? But I thought the show was sticking by the books for major character end games?
If I sound bitter it is only because I’ve just been reading on YT where almost everyone is bitching about this episode. Sorry! Lol.
Ghost’s Lunch,
Can she now use the NK face to scare the shit out of Cersei??!
ramses,
I too was a mess with that scene! They have done a wonderful job creating a personality for Drogon.
The Wolves of Winter,
Yeah, but what did she give Sansa? A piece of dragonglass? I won’t have a chance to rewatch until tonight at the earliest.
I had a feeling when Bran gave her the dagger that that’s what it was for, and that his (external) nonchalance when he handed it to her masked the enormity of her task. After all, he couldn’t have prepared her for it.
Well, somewhat unsurprisingly, it seems there are some that loved it and some that didn’t.
Reading these comments, has me thinking of the following:
Our predictions have been wrong (or at least not completely right) on like every episode since we left book material territory. I think this has certainly contributed to some of the vitriol we see when things don’t go as “expected”. With the books, we were omniscient viewers. Now, we think we know where the story is going and are happy/not happy when it goes there. Have we really all been that unhappy since we left existing book material? We’re halfway through the season, maybe we should give a chance and judge it as a whole. There is still what? 4 hours left to devote to…well, we don’t know what, and that’s kind of the point. Obviously there’s a battle with Cersei/KL, but other than that, we really don’t know. There could yet be plenty of exposition where we learn more about the “why” of the WW and their sudden appearance/march southward. At this point, it seems like a lot of our unhappiness (particulalry for well steeped book readers) is that we’ve transitioned from knowing everything from reading the books, to more uncharted terrirotry where the broadstrokes are in keeping with GRRM and straight up adaption for TV audiences. Let the thing play out and the story complete before hating it.
As for Arya being the one to kill the NK, if you’re just judging this as somebody who has only watched the show, it’s kind of hard not to see (now) how this hasn’t been well set up. I’d argue it was a well set up feint as we all expected something/someone else to be the one to do it. It does fit with Arya’s (TV) arc. And for those saying it was too easy, you could also make an argument that the NK’s arrogance played a role in his death (classic baddy downfall). He was pretty much unstopable up until that point, and he knew it with his knowing looks and smirks throughout the episode/series. Lastly, it’s possible that the comments D&D made on inside the episode are being read into a bit too much. Yes, they’ve known for 3 years, but I don’t think the only/last time they spoke with GRRM was 5 or 6 years ago. I have to think they’ve kept in touch. In fact, I feel like we’ve read that in the updates over the years, and that GRRM has said that broadstrokes are consistent.
This whole thing has me thinking about Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey archetype. I won’t paste the 17 stages or whatnot (this post is already too long), but each of the main protagonists has gone through this individually. One thought, what if the protagonists also have a version where they are going through this collectively too? The AOTD is merely the “Trial” for the group of heroes. It would again be a feint as we’ve been lead to believe that the AOTD is much more, but hey just a thought.
Loved the Sansa/Tyrion moment. Loved brief slackjawed/wtf moment where Davos sees Arya fighting wights on the ramparts with her ninja spear. Loved the Mel/Arya interaction. Loved the (subtle) Beric to Hound mention that ‘you’re fighting for Arya’ to get him unstuck–this kind of hit on the Hound’s affection for Arya, and the fact that Beric may have known what/who she was. I think I loved that it was 60 minutes of chaos and I don’t think I got too battle fatigued. Well done in that regard.
Wolfish,
Yes she gave Sansa a dagger of dragonglass.
ygritte,
What books? Sadly the show went passed the books severa seasons ago. They took GRRM ideas, and blazed their own trail to them. We were told there were going to b three major twists in the book that will be in the show – Arya killing NK is the last (I know NK is not in the book but there is a leader of the Others)
ash,
Where did you hear that Arya killing the NK was the twist they referred to at the end? Or is that just your assumption? If that is the case then I am extremely disappointed. Killing a character that doesn’t exist in the books does not seem likely to be the big twist GRRM told them about.
Hope this post gets past from something.
It was good episode. Until the end. So as soon as Walkers gets past the Wall they lose in one night? That is it? And what did it matter if Jon was resurrected by R’hollo when he did nothing? And not even one Walker vs human fight? Brinne, Jaime, Jon and Jorah haave valyrian steel swords and nothing? Was that the Long Night after all these years of building up to it?
Ghost and Rhaegal are both in the 804 preview.
Wow. On second watch (in UK) here. NOT too dark even on my cheap TV which is only about 34 inch. I saw first this morning, having saved it last night, and now am watching the sky broadcast tonight.
Surprised that people say there wasn’t enough for Jon to do – there’s the huge ‘war in the air’ that’s complicated, and that lands the NK on the ground. And also it’s, I think, the WWs who are creating the horrendous weather that stymies what D and J are trying to do…
Typing in ad break – it’s about to come on again…
Thanks Jack although I am perplexed how he survived given the slaughter of the Dothraki and what happens afterwards. Unless he simply ran off into the Wild I would have prefferred he was killed off during the battle, for the sake of realism.
ygritte,
Plasma TV George has been PERFECT for years. Two weeks before the premier… he turned himself off. Wouldn’t turn back on for more than a few minutes, then ‘click’ …. nothing. We freaked. Big premier party planned, and maybe no George? The horror of it all!
A few days later, we turned George on and hoped. It worked! It stayed on! It’s been on for five solid weeks. Seriously. We never turn it off. Ever. ForTheThrones.
Probably beating a dead horse, or undead horse, but for those complaining about how Arya could get past the Night King and his henchmen, how much time do you think transpired?
I know full well that TV time in an episode isn’t actual time (if you can even call it that) but from the moment Arya got her final scene with the Red Woman and said “Not today”, then disappeared off screen…..till the time the Night King walked into the godswood and confronted Theon…..16 minutes of TV time had transpired.
Even overlapping several of those different scene locations and calling them simultaneous……maybe you could say 5 minutes had transpired?
Don’t know, may never know, but I kind of got the feeling that Arya left the Red Woman and the hound and used her previously displayed stealth skills (used in the zombie library) to make her way to the tree. The view of her falling on her prey seemed to imply to me that she was up in the tree waiting for her moment to kill the NK and dropped down.
Now the last minute yell which caused the NK to turn was either stupid in that an assassin would know to be quiet, or designed to make him turn to get him in the heart. I don’t know, it’s all fiction. I’m sure there will be more interviews and a slew of books and extra Bluray/DVD content forthcoming when all this is over.
I still love the story arc for Arya, even if all the potholes (or plotholes) were not significantly paved over as of yet. Perhaps they will be filled in with deleted scenes, directors commentaries, interviews, et cetera. Anxiously awaiting.
Still hoping that Danny and Jon survive but head East to rule; Tyrion discovers his true lineage from Bran, remarries Sansa and rules West, and Arya ends on a ship heading West to discover what is west of westeros.