“What do we say to the God of Death? Not today.” The third and much-awaited episode of Game of Thrones, titled The Long Night, left fans with mixed feelings.
While a few were impressed with the Battle of Winterfell, others thought the episode was unnecessarily long and could’ve been more ‘dramatic’. The Battle of Winterfell, the biggest and longest battle sequence of Television ever, was for quite incomprehensible, courtesy the episode’s bad lighting, smeary images that made us wonder if our screens were malfunctioning.
The episode began with the living gearing up for the fight, waiting for the dead to come. The enigmatic Melisandre, (the red woman), enters Winterfell and also lights the Dothraki’s swords. However, most of them including Ser Jorah returns with terror, after having seen the white walkers. Arya and Melisandre also have a moment. The last time these two women met, Melisandre was carting away Arya's boy Gendry and promising they would meet again. Melisandre now reminds Arya, “You’ve killed many. Brown eyes, green eyes and blue eyes! What do we say to the God of Death? Not today.”
Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow set on a dragon ride again, this time, however, in search of the Night King and not a waterfall. There’s also a fight sequence between the living dragons and Night King and his dragon. Due to the muddy lighting, the visuals were hardly clear.
Meanwhile, forces at Winterfell retreat, yet the dead somehow find their way in. Lyanna Mormont, Lady of Scowls, dies fighting like a true hero. She kills the dead Wight Giant. Post this, House Mormont will certainly be remembered as the house that sacrificed itself fully for the living with a motto “Here We Stand.”
Jon gets back to the gates of the Winterfell and finds the Night King, who raises his hands welcoming the new dead to his army including the Dothraki. Jon finds himself in the middle of the dead, but thanks to Khaleesi, he is saved. Dany also tries killing the Night King with her dragon’s fire but fails, which is quite a shock to the audience. As Jon approaches, Longclaw in hand, he actually smiles. The Night King smiles! In another scene, Dany is surrounded by the dead and that’s probably the first time when you see her without her dragons and army. She seemed rather helpless. But her longtime friend Ser Jorah appears and saves her, but is killed in the same battle.
Meanwhile, Sansa Stark and Tyrion Lannister try saving everybody in the crypt. Jon then tries to reach Bran, who is with Theon Greyjoy and Iron born at the Godswood. The dead reach there too, and Theon tries hard to save Bran, who is having one of his visions. In the end, Bran says, “You’re a good man, Theon. Thank you.” The Night King then kills Theon and gets closer to Bran.
The saviour of the day (probably season), Arya Stark, enters the scene with her dragon glass. The Night King holds her by her throat, so she drops the sword from the left hand and holds it in the right hand and stabs him in the stomach - and all the dead fall! That’s the end of the White Walkers, we hope.
Although the episode didn’t have deaths of main characters, it truly was dedicated to women taking the lead.