S08.E03: The Long Night

[duddley]

6 minutes ago, maydaymayday said:

Am I the only one who thought Theon would rise up and kill the night King?

Nope, for a second there he looked like he was going to rally.

[30 Helens]

Another question: Where were all the identifiable dead Starks among the crypt rising dead? Seems like a wasted opportunity not to see Lyanna, Catelyn, and especially headless Ned.

[screamin]

12 minutes ago, UNOSEZ said:

Now that I've had a bit of  time.. I think something that upsets me ( nitpicky I know)  is that so many southerners won't know ( or believe)  what really went down... I wouldn't have minded if they could felt that terror themselves.. Even if it was like a small splinter group the NK had sent on  ahead to KL.. Because seeing the preview for next week and cersei's smug face got me wanting to break something.... All those wildlings and dothraki and unsullied died to keep the southerners safe.. And they'll never really know... Unless the show makes a point before its over to say somn about it

Well, Royce was there (though I don't remember seeing if he survived the battle) so at least potentially there's some southerners who can tell the tale.

[Kanner]

31 minutes ago, UNOSEZ said:

I don't get all the ragging on Jon... The plan was to ride the dragon... Lay down cover fire until the NK shows up and try and kill him... More or less that's what they did... The NK brought the frost winds and it was hard for Dany and Jon to see so they got lost.. But when the NK and Viserion showed up Jon attacked.. He fell off and attempted to go after the NK and he raised more dead... Jon( with help from Dany)  got away from some of the wights and was making his way thru all sorts of mayhem( including leaving Sam to deal with his own fight)  to get to Bran.. But he got pinned down by a dragon... Not sure what y'all wanted him to do about that... 

Thanks for this. Some people tend to think since you don’t get the or a BIG moment you did nothing. Jon learned from the BOTB and tried to stick to the plan but got pulled in by Dany (I don’t blame her). You can’t win with some people. If Jon tries and gets pinned down by a dragon he is useless. But if Jon succeeded and kills the NK he would probably be called a Mary Sue. 

[Drogo]

24 minutes ago, SilverStormm said:

Jorah - The last scion of House Mormont - I'M NOT CRYING YOU'RE CRYING. RIP.

It's not many men who can say they died fighting for a cause they truly believe in AND in the arms of the woman they love. 

Give my story that end, any day.

Ser Jorah, you are a good man. Thank you. 

[Giselle]

25 minutes ago, BitterApple said:

When the AOTD was climbing the walls, I was screaming, "WHERE THE HELL ARE THE DRAGONS?!!!!!!." 

The question shouted and heard world wide.

Mr. G & I both frustratingly shouted it at the same time.

[ulkis]

After a certain point, I, um, got kinda bored because I knew by then they weren't gonna kill (too many) major characters in this episode. (And I am not complaining about that part.) I did not expect Arya to save the day/night though. Go Arya. Farewell, Theon, Jorah, and Jorah's major chemistry with Dany.

Sam's plot armor was really fastened on tight.

I thought Melisandre was gonna immolate herself to get the gate on fire.

Wow, surprised they didn't have wight Ned and Lyanna.

Beautiful episode though, visually.

Edited April 29, 2019 by ulkis

[QuinnM]

16 minutes ago, Nanrad said:

I was ready for her to fight and when she did it was everything. That double headed spear gave me life. 

So Davos now knows what skills.  Plus did you see that she broke the weapon on the staircase because there wasn’t enough room to swing it whole.  I believe the Hound had suspicions of her skills.  Now Sansa may not tell Jon but Davos is absolutely going to tell Jon that Arya is lethal.

[GodsBeloved]

2 minutes ago, Conan Troutman said:

Well, the NK could've hurried up a bit, kill Bran - and then still get yanked by Arya just the same. It's not that Bran was controlling the living. 

There were a couple of implausible things (Jon not getting killed in at least two instances among them, same as Dany surviving surrounded by wights after Drogon stupidly sat on the ground and let himself get climbed), but overall not so many as to ruin the immersion. The giant letting himself get killed was indeed a bit wonky, but I'll take it. 

GoT Writers: This is certain death for our heroes

Me:

[rollacoaster]

Ok...did Grey Worm survive?

Cleanup is gonna be a f*cking bear.

Edited April 29, 2019 by rollacoaster
additional thoughts

[Drogo]

I 100% would Not Be Okay right now if Drogon didn't show up at the end. 

[screamin]

25 minutes ago, dirtypop90 said:

I can’t imagine Dany won’t immediately march on Cersei. 

But her darling dragons are wounded. Even faithful Grey Worm, who's just watched pretty much all his men march to a heroic and disciplined death in perfect formation would be all - "Come on lady, have a heart! We need a few days off here!"

I can see the next episode beginning with the binding of wounds that are observed to be healing well, implying some time has passed.

[Sharper2002]

That was actually an emotionally draining episode to watch. I didn't realize it until I was jumping up and down yelling "Arya fucking Stark!" and slumped back down on my couch. 

I have mixed feelings about the AotD being killed now. Although that battle was pure mayhem and there were considerable deaths, I feel like Cersei is the weaker villain. Or I just don't think she's that smart or cunning.

I'm also surprised the Night King went out so easily. Not taking away from Arya, but I guess I just thought it'd be harder to take him out since he's eight thousand years old and bringing the darkness was his life's work...so to speak. 

Agreed with those who say Sam was useless. They could have taken him and kept Jorah or Lyanna alive. If you say you're going to fight, then fight, damn it.

Ned and Catelyn should be proud of their remaining living children and nephew. They done good. 

[hypnotoad]

Quote

Well, the NK could've hurried up a bit, kill Bran - and then still get yanked by Arya just the same.

He was too busy doing the Night King version of 'talking villian.' Though he doesn't talk and isn't explaining anything, he was savoring the moment a bit too much!

I am exhausted. That really took it out of me!

I just changed my tv settings to brighter and I was good to go!

Honestly, I am so tired of Cersei's smug face. I want her dead and her little dog Euron too.

[Conan Troutman]

7 minutes ago, 30 Helens said:

I have questions.

Why must battles always be in the dark on this show? Daytime battles would be suspenseful, too, and easier on the eyes.

Why did Jon and Dany hold their dragon runs until so far into the battle? By the time they started spraying fire, they were hitting as many of their own guys as the zombies.

Why didn’t they make a moat around Winterfell? They knew white walkers can’t cross water.

Did Gilly die? I saw a woman being dragged away that looked like her, but couldn’t be sure, because: see question 1.

I also thought I saw Bronn die early on? Or was that someone else?

WHERE IS GHOST??

This one had to be in the dark. Not being able to see much of anything was a feature, not a bug - the characters had the same poor sight, only being able to see what's charging at them at the last moment. But the next battle should be in daylight, like the loot train battle. 

Yeah Jon and Dany could've started a bit earlier instead of sending the Dothraki. In hindsight, the Dothraki should've been parked somewhere south, the battle goes exactly the same and Dany still has them that way. But I loved the visuals of them charging in the dark with their flaming swords, only to killed off in seconds. 

A moat? You'll need a huge freaking moat so the NK can't just freeze it. And where would you get all the water? You can't cook that much snow because there aren't nearly enough pots. 

Bronn? Edd was the first one to die trying to save Sam. I didn't see Bronn at all, he probably had the best seats in Westeros. 

[LittleIggy]

I’m pretty sure Gilly was there with little Sam and the other survivors of the crypt.

[Drogo]

1 minute ago, rollacoaster said:

Ok...did Grey Worm survive?

He was still fighting when Jon was taking inventory of the survivors. 

[GodsBeloved]

32 minutes ago, BitterApple said:

The second the episode ended I knew there was going to be a lot of ambivalence.

Like others, I had a tough time following the action. It was so damn dark, I couldn't tell who was who or what was going on.

When the AOTD was climbing the walls, I was screaming, "WHERE THE HELL ARE THE DRAGONS?!!!!!!." Dany and Jon could've knocked the mob out in one shot, but were off playing tag with the Night King. 

Regarding Bran, can he just be useful for a frigging change? What's the point of having all these visions when they can't do jack shit to help the cause? 

I can't speak for all of you, but personally the emotional impact wasn't quite as deep as I expected because the deaths were already long predicted. The only one that was a slight surprise was Lyanna. Props to her for going out like a boss. 

My favorite moment was Tyrion and Sansa.

Overall, decent, but I think they could've gotten everything accomplished in an hour.

I kept saying that to my chat buddy. I was SO confused LOL

[ulkis]

1 minute ago, Sharper2002 said:

I have mixed feelings about the AotD being killed now. Although that battle was pure mayhem and there were considerable deaths, I feel like Cersei is the weaker villain. Or I just don't think she's that smart or cunning.

I'm also surprised the Night King went out so easily. Not taking away from Arya, but I guess I just thought it'd be harder to take him out since he's eight thousand years old and bringing the darkness was his life's work...so to speak. 

I don't think that that was that easy. Dany set him on fire, and then Theon had to get killed in order to take away the Night King's focus. At least, that's what i thought it was.

Technically Cersei is the weaker villain but I think that is where most viewers' emotional investment is in.

[BitterApple]

Since the Dothraki and majority of the Unsullied are now gone, do Jon and Dany have the numbers to beat Cersei?

[Lady S.]

7 minutes ago, 30 Helens said:

Another question: Where were all the identifiable dead Starks among the crypt rising dead? Seems like a wasted opportunity not to see Lyanna, Catelyn, and especially headless Ned.

Ned's bones fit in a fairly small box, not getting back together and not identifiable. Cat's corpse was thrown in a river by the Freys. She and RobbWind never made it back home. Lyanna's corpse may not be identifiable either. Rickon is the only one who should have qualified for that.

[Drogo]

1 hour ago, Leroux said:

If it wasn't for Arya, they all would be dead.

And if it wasn't for all of them, Arya would be dead. 

The pack survives..

[Machiabelly]

9 minutes ago, QuinnM said:

So Davos now knows what skills.  Plus did you see that she broke the weapon on the staircase because there wasn’t enough room to swing it whole.  I believe the Hound had suspicions of her skills.  Now Sansa may not tell Jon but Davos is absolutely going to tell Jon that Arya is lethal.

I don't think she broke it, the design she gave to Gendry made it look like it went into two parts on purpose 

[CletusMusashi]

Even as a wight, nobody's scared of Rickon.

[GodsBeloved]

Just now, BitterApple said:

Since the Dothraki and majority of the Unsullied are now gone, do Jon and Dany have the numbers to beat Cersei?

Good question. I am assuming they will scare or try to scare them with the dragons but as we saw with the battle with the dead, it was the foot solders who won the fight.

[enoughcats]

5 minutes ago, Drogo said:

8 minutes ago, rollacoaster said:

Ok...did Grey Worm survive?

He was still fighting when Jon was taking inventory of the survivors. 

More specifically, Grey Worm was still taking his helmet off off camera, and putting it back on , on camera.  

[CatWarmer]

 NK: No man can kill me.

Arya: I am no man.

[LadyChaos]

3 minutes ago, BitterApple said:

Since the Dothraki and majority of the Unsullied are now gone, do Jon and Dany have the numbers to beat Cersei?

this is a good question. I honestly think they don't have the numbers anymore, and some people may flock to the South for protection, leaving Dany and Jon even more weakened.

1 minute ago, Drogo said:

And if it wasn't for all of them, Arya would be dead. 

The pack survives..

They survived because they all did something that contributed to the pack survival.  

Just now, Machiabelly said:

I don't think she broke it, the design she gave to Gendry made it look like it went into two parts on purpose 

It was, she took it apart on purpose so to fight with two dragon glass ends.

[Lady S.]

I just googled did Ghost die? and got this:
 

Spoiler

(image from next ep's promo)

[Jenesis]

All I want is for all the North and all of Westeros to know that Arya killed the Night King. People made fun of her fierceness as a child and she ended up being the fiercest of them all. Not the biggest or strongest, but the fiercest. 

I want Pod singing songs of her victory and old fables being written about her.

[Conan Troutman]

4 minutes ago, Sharper2002 said:

I have mixed feelings about the AotD being killed now. Although that battle was pure mayhem and there were considerable deaths, I feel like Cersei is the weaker villain. Or I just don't think she's that smart or cunning.

I'm also surprised the Night King went out so easily. Not taking away from Arya, but I guess I just thought it'd be harder to take him out since he's eight thousand years old and bringing the darkness was his life's work...so to speak. 

Cersei is easier to defeat than the NK (at least in that regard she's the weaker villain), but even though most named characters made it out alive, I don't think there's much of an army left. Some Unsullied, very few Dothraki and a bunch of Northerners. So I think the challenge should be there. 

The NK gave them one hell of a fight. Not sure how much harder to kill he could've been. Maybe dragonglass also doesn't work, but then how do you kill him? He kind of had to shatter once stabbed. 

[Giselle]

I hope Gillie (sp?) didn't make it out of the crypt. Useless Cowardly Sam doesn't deserve to keep all of his family. 

Fat yellow-bellied bastard.

[Jextella]

I dunno.  It seems there has been too much emphasis on the NK over the years to have this be the end of it.  Plus, we have 3 more episodes to go, and I can't imagine they are all about battling Cersei.  And if the others can take out the NK, taking out Cersei should be an easy task. In fact, when Jon first meets Dany, Davos says as much.

Cersei's antics seem anticlimactic after what we just saw.  Is she stronger, more evil than the NK that we need 3 more episodes of her?

Bran is still alive.  I'm thinking/hoping there is more we learn about Bran's role/story in the next few episodes.

[steelyis]

Wow, an hour and twenty minutes of relentless intensity.

I did not want Lyanna to die, but it takes a giant to slay a giant.

Theon went out in the best way possible: redeemed, forgiven and a hero.

Arya Stark is basically the queen of all she surveys.

I hope now the North understands why Jon was pulling out his hair trying to get them to understand the horror that was the Night King and his army.

Sansa needs to give Dany some shine after this. I don't expect Sansa to bend the knee, but she better acknowledge how fucked they would have been if Dany's army and dragons weren't there.

I was surprised so few mains died, but honestly I want most of them to be part of the rest of the season. Even though more of them dying would have made this episode hit even harder.

[TobinAlbers]

The stare down between the Night King and Bran had me laughing because the Night King's smirking away with Bran gazing up at him balefully until the actor's expression subtly shifts from concern to certainty and Bran has the subtlest of 'I know something you don't know'  looks on his face with a flick of the eye which the Night King clocks and he turns to catch Arya on the attack. Then when Arya lands the death blow you could almost hear Bran thinking 'That's why I smiling jackass. Knew she'd land the second blow.'

But damn, sad that for that to happen Theon had to die. But as Theon said before he should've long been dead, dying at Robb's side so it's fitting that his end was dying to defend  a Stark and Winterfell. And as Bran said all Theon's actions for better or worse led to him in this moment, ultimately dying an honorable death at his home.

[Lady S.]

Now that Arya is the Nightkingslayer, I find it unlikely she'll get Cersei too. That should be Jaime's job, else I don't see why he got to survive.

[catrice2]

Can I just say that even the dragon knows who Dany's true love is...Jorah, and came to comfort her.  When the end was near, who was fighting by her side and taking all the blows? 

I kept wondering why there was no hot oil.  In all the old movies they would have vats of hot oil upon the wall and if anyone tried to scale it tip them over....was that too much to ask???

I am so bitter that my favorite characters were killed and no, in their little after the show thing, it was no consolation that they gave Lyanna a boss moment.  She was a boss, and deserved to be there more than Sam whining and crying.  In fact, we got several men showing nervousness and fear as well as defeat, and she fought until the end!! 

[Drogo]

1 minute ago, catrice2 said:

Can I just say that even the dragon knows who Dany's true love is...Jorah, and came to comfort her.  When the end was near, who was fighting by her side and taking all the blows? 

And probably exhausted himself swinging that massive fucking sword.

Thanks for nothing, Samwell!

[Conan Troutman]

1 minute ago, Jextella said:

I dunno.  It seems there has been too much emphasis on the NK over the years to have this be the end of it.  Plus, we have 3 more episodes to go, and I can't imagine they are all about battling Cersei.  And if the others can take out the NK, taking out Cersei should be an easy task. In fact, when Jon first meets Dany, Davos says as much.

Cersei's antics seem anticlimactic after what we just saw.  Is she stronger, more evil than the NK that we need 3 more episodes of her?

Bran is still alive.  I'm thinking/hoping there is more we learn about Bran's role/story in the next few episodes.

I just don't see how he could be even harder to bring down and he needs to have one weakness. I can't imagine there's going to be three episodes worth of fighting Cersei either. We'll get one transitional episode next week, one battle episode where Cersei goes down and then one hour of hugging (and boy are we going to need that). 

[GodsBeloved]

Just now, steelyis said:

Sansa needs to give Dany some shine after this. I don't expect Sansa to bend the knee, but she better acknowledge how fucked they would have been if Dany's army and dragons weren't there.

As long as she gets to acknowledge how double fucked as in dead dead dead they'd be if her little sister wasn't there.

Not sorry for my absolute heart eyes for Arya The Night King Slayer Stark LOL

[Leroux]

Melisandre told Arya that she will kill brown eyes, green eyes and blue eyes. 

Freys= brown eyes 

NK= Blue eyes 

Cersei+ green eyes. 

I am calling it right now, Arya will kill Cersei. At least I hope she does. 

[steelyis]

1 minute ago, GodsBeloved said:

Not sorry for my absolute heart eyes for Arya The Night King Slayer Stark LOL

Queen of All She Surveys.

[Jaded Sapphire]

 

 

1

3 minutes ago, TobinAlbers said:

And as Bran said all Theon's actions for better or worse led to him in this moment, ultimately dying an honorable death at his home.

This line prompted a bit of a thought exercise at my place. If Theon hadn't betrayed Rob, he likely would have died at the Red Wedding but also Theon wouldn't have taken over Winterfell forcing Bran to flee north....and become the 3 Eyed Raven.

[Giselle]

1 minute ago, Leroux said:

Melisandre told Arya that she will kill brown eyes, green eyes and blue eyes. 

Freys= brown eyes 

NK= Blue eyes 

Cersei+ green eyes. 

I am calling it right now, Arya will kill Cersei. At least I hope she does. 

From your mouth the God's ears, the old and the new.

[Constantinople]

Bran was useless except as bait. Bran didn't, for example, use his warg powers to try to control the Night King's dragon or any other wight.

i don't understand why the Night King was so preoccupied with Bran

[Leroux]

1 minute ago, GodsBeloved said:

As long as she gets to acknowledge how double fucked as in dead dead dead they'd be if her little sister wasn't there.

Not sorry for my absolute heart eyes for Arya The Night King Slayer Stark LOL

I hope for both. Sansa has already told Dany that she should have thanked her the moment she arrived, so on that end, she has already acknowledged that Dany with her armies and dragons have helped not only the North but the whole realm. 

The WW was never a problem of just the North, they were the first ones on the line of fire it is true but Daenerys claims to be the protector of the whole realm so it is fitting that she was doing her job to protect the realm. 

I do hope that Arya receives the recognition she deserves, that they all know that it was a Stark who killed the NK, the North gets to be proud. I also hope they sing songs about the bravery of Lady Mormont and Theon Greyjoy. Also Jorah Mormont. They all made this possible. 

[Popples]

Completely missed this foreshadowing.

[Jextella]

5 minutes ago, Jaded Sapphire said:

This line prompted a bit of a thought exercise at my place. If Theon hadn't betrayed Rob, he likely would have died at the Red Wedding but also Theon wouldn't have taken over Winterfell forcing Bran to flee north....and become the 3 Eyed Raven.

Bran told Jaimie that if he hadn't pushed him out the window, Jaimie would be the old Jaimie, and Bran would be Bran and not the 3-Eyed Raven.

It seems Jamie's push is what set all future events of the show in motion where the Starks and Lanisters are concerned.  

Edited April 29, 2019 by Jextella

[Minneapple]

28 minutes ago, ulkis said:

After a certain point, I, um, got kinda bored because I knew by then they weren't gonna kill (too many) major characters in this episode. 

That's the problem with a big action-packed episode like this. Battle, fight, fire, blood, death, blood, fire. That's why you need character beats like Sansa and Tyrion. You just can't do 90 minutes of blood fire death.

The dragon visuals were really fucking cool. Although I wish they would just turn a fan on Dany's hair. HOW IS HER HAIR STILL PERFECT AFTER A RIDE ABOVE THE CLOUDS. A ride above the clouds when Drogon is getting fired on from Viserion, no less.

[LadyChaos]

33 minutes ago, Kanner said:

Thanks for this. Some people tend to think since you don’t get the or a BIG moment you did nothing. Jon learned from the BOTB and tried to stick to the plan but got pulled in by Dany (I don’t blame her). You can’t win with some people. If Jon tries and gets pinned down by a dragon he is useless. But if Jon succeeded and kills the NK he would probably be called a Mary Sue. 

Jon isn't Super human, he is human and he fought every battle in front of him to the best of his ability including taking on the Night King on dragon back and winning. He didn't choose the battles in front of him.  Sometimes I wonder wtf people expect from Jon that they think he is a POS.