Today, we’re going to discuss the super cool twist ending that happened at the end of Game Of Thrones S8E3.
So, you’ve been warned now, but you’ll be warned once again.
From now on folks, you’re in spoiler territory.
So if you didn’t see Episode 3 of Season 8, then turn away now.
Or, alternatively, say “la-la-la-la” over and over again while closing your eyes. Now open them and close this page, you spazz.
Now that they’re gone…
Wasn’t The Battle Of Winterfell awesome?
Sure, it was darker than someone telling a deeply personal secret at midnight during an eclipse, but from what I could make out it was pretty freaking cool.
One thing I definitely didn’t miss was that ending.
There he is.
The Night King. He’s about to off Bran, our boy, our dude, when BLAM!
Here comes Arya like a cat in the night, pouncing on that icy wiener like he was Gendry.
Yeesh, odd joke.
Okay nevermind, so she stabs that overgrown popsicle in his stinking gut and smash! Boom! Bam!
The Frozen Army of The Dead shatters, including ol’ Viserion, who was about to blast Lil’ Jon Snow into snowflakes.
Jeez, who would’ve seen that coming?
Heck, who could’ve?
Sure, Arya was meant to be one of the key players from the beginning however, nobody knew she would defeat the Night King, the baddest b-word in the Seven Kingdoms.
Well, almost nobody.
Turns out, the show has apparently been setting her up to be the big, grand hero all along. Huh, go figure. I thought it would’ve been Ser Pounce.
Look at the first episode, for example.
Remember when Bran is taking shots at targets with his bow and arrow?
He takes too long, thinks too much, then smash! Boom! Bam! Arya comes from behind and nails the target.
Obviously, this is what she does to the Night King, except with a dagger instead of arrows.
However, the first thing she does in the Battle Of Winterfell is fire an arrow, which is a cool little throwback to her first scene.
In fact, it seems that a lot of moments in Arya’s storyline have led to this moment.
Way back in the first episode, when Jon gives her Needle, she says “I can be quick” and Jon tells her the first rule of sword fighting: stick them with the pointy end.
We get a very specific callback to that in this episode.
Arya repeats the same instruction to Sansa when giving her a dagger to protect herself in the crypts. Maybe it’ll be the new Stark family motto.
Still in episode one, little Arya showcases her already impressive stealth skills.
Remember how she sneaks up on Jon near the Godswood tree? Even all those years ago, Arya was quiet as a mouse and able to get places without being noticed.
In ‘The Long Night’ she performs another stealth maneuver near that same Godswood tree.
Just like how she snuck up on Jon, she sneaks up on the Night King, and our only sign that she was passing the White Walkers was a wisp of hair blowing in the wind of her passing.
When she learns with Syrio Forel, he tells her to tell the God Of Death, “Not Today”.
Then what does Melisandre remind Arya of right before she goes up against the Night King himself?
That’s right, she says: “What do we tell the God of Death?”.
RELATED STORIES
Speaking of Melisandre, remember that whole “Blue eyes, green eyes, brown eyes” business?
When she talked about “the eyes [Arya] would shut forever?”
Well, little did we know how important that “blue eyes” comment would be.
Walder Frey had brown eyes, The Night King had blue eyes… who do we know with green eyes?
Melisandre’s comment might contain even more foreshadowing, so if I were Cersei, I’d be covering my green eyes with as many pairs of sunglasses as I could fit on my head.
We then move on to her time with the Hound
Who teaches her about the weak points in armor, and how to stab a man in the heart.
Or, if not a man, then some sort of frozen wight. Just in case.
Also, Ser Beric Dondarrion talks about the Hound’s great purpose.
Little did we know that great purpose would be to keep Arya Stark alive and to teach her the way to destroy the Night King.
Or, maybe he’s supposed to win the Iron Throne. Who knows?
Finally, when Bran gives Arya the catspaw dagger, it seals her fate as the one who will end the war.
Did Bran know this was going to play out from the beginning?
Did he save the very dagger that was almost used on him in Season 1 for this very reason?
At least the kind of strange gift was finally explained.
I know I’d be concerned if my brother handed off a knife to me that was intended to kill him. But I guess the Starks aren’t exactly a normal family.
Eh, I mean, probably. Who knows.
What did you think about Arya’s major victory? Do you think she’ll take the Iron Throne? Or will it be… Ser Pounce?
Arya would definitely deserve it after the work she put in this episode.
Even Maisie Williams didn’t know that it would be her to bring down the Night King, so don’t feel too bad if you didn’t pick up on all the clues.
The episode’s director, Miquel Sapochnik, wanted people as surprised as possible.
He told Entertainment Weekly , “It’s about almost losing her from the story and then have her come in as a surprise and pinning all our hopes on Jon being the guy going to do it — because Jon’s always the guy.”
“So we follow Jon in a continuous shot I want the audience to think: ‘Jon’s gonna do it, Jon’s gonna do it…’”
“And then he fails. He fails at the very last minute. So I’m hoping that’s a nice switch that no one sees coming.”
Did you see it coming? Were you as shocked as we were by Arya’s moment to shine?
