After seven-plus seasons of southern-marching, dead-raising, and ominous-glare-giving hell from The Night King, the Army of the Dead had their long-teased confrontation with the Forces of the Living at the Battle of Winterfell.
WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR SEASON 8, EPISODE 3 OF ‘GAME OF THRONES’ WILL FOLLOW AFTER THE GIFs.
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As explained by Bran in the previous episode, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms”, he knew that the Night King’s weakness is that he will expose himself in order to kill the Three-Eyed Raven.
And while a majority of “The Long Night” was spent showing the Night King and his undead forces absolutely running roughshod on Westeros’ Mightiest Heroes — so much so that for it truly seemed like he was going to walk away victorious — The Realm’s most beast-mode warrior came to the forefront when she was needed most, as Arya Stark sprung out of nowhere in the final moments to stab the Night King with her catspaw Valyrian Steel dagger.
In what was a true “jump out of your seat moment” Arya — who was able to get so close to the Night King by wearing the face of a White Walker — leaped forward just as the Night King was unsheathing his sword to kill Bran.
While the Night King was able to react in time and grab Arya by the throat and the arm, Arya busted out the “knife-hand-switch” maneuver she unveiled when training with Brienne of Tarth in Season 7.
As soon as she dug the blade into the Night King’s chest, all of the other White Walkers exploded and all of the wights that were overrunning Winterfell fell to the floor.
And just like that, the living had defeated the dead, or more aptly, Arya had defeated the Night King … ad the internet went wild.
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The eighth and final season of HBO’s generation-defining, Emmy Award-winning drama ‘Game of Thrones’ — which first premiered on April 17, 2011 — will air its final episode on Sunday, May 19 at 9 p.m. EST.
