‘Game of Thrones’ Recap with Spoilers: The Long Night

The Battle for Winterfell is here and it’s a doozy. The Night King and the White Walkers have brought their massive army of the dead to Winterfell, leaving the alliance of Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen and most of the show’s supporting cast to fight them off. The eighty minute battle featured tons of epic scenes, including an epic three-way dragon battle and a one-on-one fight between Jon and the Night’s King that has an unexpected twist ending.

The nearly ninety minute episode opened with Melisandre returning to Winterfell and giving the Dothraki flaming blades. It’s a cool visual, although most of the Dothraki don’t survive the initial charge. Dany’s Unsullied also don’t fare well, getting slaughtered protecting the gate to let the survivors of the initial charge in. Dany’s now lost both her armies in moments, giving Cersei a major advantage in the coming weeks.

As the battle proceeds, we get our first major casualty when Dolorous Edd, the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, dies saving Sam. Edd survived multiple major battles, but he couldn’t survive one last fight. Jon and Dany then take to the sky with their respective dragons, but collide in midair due to the perilous weather conditions presumably caused by the Night’s King as he approaches Winterfell.

Melisandre comes up big again, lighting the trenches and providing Winterfell with another line of defense. Of course, zombies climb the walls, but Melisandre is doing her best to give Winterfell a fighting chance! Unfortunately, the kills keep coming, as Lyanna Mormont gets crushed to death by an undead giant. Lyanna went down like a boss (killing a undead giant as it crushed her), but that death is another one that really hurt Game of Thrones fans. Arya manages to save the Hound, keeping that unlikely friendship alive for another day. Arya proves herself as one of the major MVPs of the battle on the walls, but only survives thanks to Beric Dondarrion, who dies saving BOTH Arya and the Hound.

Meanwhile, the three-way dragon battle ends with Jon knocking the Night’s King off of Viserion, but Rheagal going down in the process. While Dany takes a shot at the Night’s King, it seems that the Night’s King is immune to dragon fire. CAN NOTHING KILL THE NIGHT’S KING? Jon takes a charge at the Night’s King, but he ends up getting mobbed in zombies and is only saved when Dany blasts the battlefield with more fire. As the Night’s King makes his way into Winterfell, the crypts come alive and Sansa, Tyrion, and Varys are forced to hide and flee as dead Starks start to attack the living. We do get a weird hint that Sansa and Tyrion might actually make a good couple if/when this is all done.

As the Night’s King enters the Godswood, both Theon Greyjoy and Jorah Monmont die defending their respective charges. Theon makes a last stand protecting Bran from the Night’s King (after Theon calls him a good man!), while Jorah dies defending Dany, who had to abandon her dragon during the fight. Luckily, Arya gets the drop on the Night’s King and kills him with the Valyrian knife given to Bran’s would-be assassin by Littlefinger that led to the start of the War of the Five Kings. That sets off a string reaction that causes all the White Walkers to die AND stop the wights in their track. The episode ends with Melisandre taking off her necklace and dying of old age, her mission to stop the Long Night completed.