In Game Of Thrones season 8 episode 3, which was titled The Long Night, we got to witness the biggest battle in cinema history, and it didn’t disappoint a bit. We witnessed a stunning battle in Winterfell that left us shell shocked and it had a twist at the end that surprised everyone.
As usual, the episode was filled with callbacks and exciting details, and we will take a more in-depth look at these details that you might have missed in this article. So without wasting any time, let’s take a look at these details.
1. Sam, get up!
We saw that it was virtually impossible to stop the tsunami of Wights and it became tough for Samwell and others to keep on fighting and Sam fell. At that time, Edd urged Sam to stand on his feet.
This is a callback to season 3, where the surviving members of the Night’s Watch are marching back to the Wall after the While Walkers ambushed them. While walking back, a tired Sam falls and Edd and Grenn urge him to get up and start walking if he wants to survive.
2. Melisandre used the same Valyrian words used by Beric to light his sword
Melisandre made a dramatic entry at the start of the episode, and when she chanted “āeksiō ōños,” which means “lord’s light” in Valyrian, suddenly all the Dothraki Arakhs were covered in flames. She used the same words once again later in the episode when she lighted the trenches on fire.
It’s interesting to know that Beric Dondarrion uses the same Valyrian words to light his sword. The only difference being, Beric doesn’t need to speak those words. He just needs to think about it, and his sword catches fire. We know this because the actor talked with Insider during the season 8 premiere, where he shared the information.
3. Stick ’em with the pointy end
This has to be one of the most iconic quotes from the show. When Jon Snow gifted Arya the Needle, he told her to use it by sticking ’em with the pointy end. Over the years Arya has trained a lot, and now she has become a deadly assassin, and it was her turn to give some advice.
When Arya gave Sansa a Dragonglass dagger, Sansa said that she didn’t know how to use it and Arya replied by saying, “Stick ’em with the pointy end.”
4. Callback to Arya’s training with Waif
Arya used her new weapon against the Wights once they entered Winterfell. She deftly used the Dragonglass staff and used it to kill a lot of Wights. While fighting against them, she used a move that is a callback to her training with the Waif.
When the blind Arya was training with the Waif, she used the same move to block an attack by the Waif.
5. Qhono became a Wight
We have been seeing Qhono since season 6 when the Dothraki captured Daenerys and were taking her to Khal Moro. Daenerys burned all the Khals alive in Dosh Khalen, and when the Dothraki witnessed her coming out of the fire unharmed, they became her followers. Qhono was one of them, and he played a prominent role when she finally reached Westeros.
During the episode, we saw the Dothraki charging towards the Army of the Dead, and it hardly took the dead any time to wipe off the Dothraki horde. Some of them managed to escape, and we saw them running away from the Wights, but it turns out Qhono wasn’t one of those as he got resurrected as a Wight later in the episode.
6. Lyanna Mormont killed the Wight Giant in the same place where Wun Wun died
During the Battle of Bastards, Wun Wun broke through the doors at Winterfell, but he died when Ramsay drove an arrow right through his eye.
In episode 3, we saw a Wight Giant break through the Winterfell doors, and he was taken down by Lyanna Mormont when she drove a Dragonglass dagger through its eye. It is interesting to note that the Wight Giant died at the same place where Wun Wun died.
7. Daenerys was protected by Valyrian steel sword of House Tarly
In season 7 Daenerys gave Randyll Tarly and his son Dickon a chance to bend the knee but both of them refused, and she sentenced them to death by burning them alive.
Tyrion had counselled her that it would be better if she kept them as her prisoners but she refused to let them live and now during the Battle of Winterfell, it was the ancestral sword of House Tarly that saved her life.
Samwell Tarly had given Jorah Mormont Heartsbane, which was the Valyrian Steel sworn that belonged to his house and in the end Jorah used the same sword to defend Daenerys from the Wights.
8. Is there going to be a battle in the Godswood?
Back in season 1, Catelyn Stark called Robb, Theon, Maester Luwin and Ser Rodrik to the Godswood to share some important details about the attempt on Bran’s life and how it might be the work of the Lannisters.
At that moment Robb says, “They come into our home and try to murder my brother. If it’s war they want,” before he’s interjected by Theon, “If it comes to that, you know I’ll stand behind you.”
A sensible Maester Luwin asks a simple question to them at that time. “What? Is there going to be a battle in the Godswood?”
It turns out we did get to see a fight in the Godswood, and it’s a beautiful callback to the scene from season 1.
9. Alys Karstark is mostly dead
During the episode, we saw that Alys Karstark joined Theon and the Ironborn to protect Bran Stark in the Godswood. Though we didn’t see her dying, there’s no doubt that anyone survived once the Night King entered the Godswood.
10. Arya and Melisandre’s reunion
During the episode, we saw for the first time that Arya was scared for her life as it was almost impossible to kill all the Wights and even she had to run away.
It was at this moment when Arya met Melisandre and Mel reminded Arya that she was going to shut many eyes forever and it included Brown eyes, Green eyes and Blue eyes. This is a callback from season 3 when Melisandre met Arya for the first time, and she told Arya that they would meet again.
Melisandre also asked Arya, “What do we say to the God of Death?” This was something that Syrio Forel had taught Arya, and when she heard that line, she knew what had to be done, and she ran to finish the battle once and forever.
11. Arya Stark’s Kill List
All these years everyone was wondering the reason why the Lord of the Light was resurrecting Beric Dondarrion, and that question was finally answered during the Battle of Winterfell. It turns out that his sole objective was to ensure that Arya Stark stayed alive as she was the one who would kill the Night King, and end the war against the dead.
Even Melisandre had a significant role to play in helping Arya kill the Night King. So it turns out the two people whose purpose was to ensure that Arya Stark killed the Night King, were a part of Arya Stark’s kill list. We are glad that Arya didn’t go through with her kill list when she saw both of them.
12. Arya sneaks up on Jon and the Night King in the Godswood
During the season 8 premiere, we saw that Jon Snow was standing in the Winterfell Godswood and Arya Stark sneaked up on him, and Jon was surprised and asked her, “How did you sneak up on me?”
Turns out Arya did the same thing once again in the latest episode as she sneaked up on the Night King at the exact spot and managed to kill the Night King and end the Battle of Winterfell.
13. Arya’s signature dagger hand-switch move
Arya Stark pulled out one of the biggest surprises we have seen on the show so far. Right when the Night King had reached Bran’s location, it seemed that everything was lost as no one could come to protect him.
Jon was stuck with the undead Viserion as it had blocked Jon’s path, while Daenerys was trying her best to stay alive. Arya sneaked up on the Night King, and for a second it appeared that her plan had failed, but she quickly switched her hands and drove the Valyrian Steel dagger in the Night King’s chest, thus killing him and all the White Walkers and Wights.
We have already seen Arya use this trick in the past. In season 7, when Arya sparred with Brienne, she used the same hand switch trick against Brienne and it appears that Arya was practising this move since a long time and it helped in defeating the Night King.
14. Arya stabbed Night King in the same spot where Children of the Forest drove in Dragonglass to create him
During Bran’s visions, we found out that the Night King was created by the Children of the Forest when they drove a Dragonglass dagger right through his chest.
Arya used a Valyrian Steel dagger to kill him by stabbing him in the same spot.
15. Night King died in the same spot where Bran gave Arya the dagger
Here’s another interesting detail that you might have missed. In the last season, Bran Stark gave Arya the Valyrian Steel dagger saying that it would be wasted on him.
This scene is significant as Arya received the dagger which would help in defeating the dead and another interesting thing is that discussion happened at the place where Arya killed the Night King with the same dagger.
16. The dagger that was meant to kill Bran, saved his life
Back in season 1 a Catspaw assassin was sent to kill Bran Stark, and he was given a Valyrian Steel dagger to do the job. However, Catelyn Stark and Summer saved Bran’s life.
This set into motion a chain of events that lead to a lot of death and destruction all across Westeros and now, right in the end, the same dagger that was supposed to take Bran’s life was used to kill the Night King and thus it ended up saving Bran’s life.
17. The Long Night
The episode was titled The Long Night, and it’s interesting to note that once Game Of Thrones gets over, we will get to watch a prequel which will focus on the Long Night. So far HBO hasn’t finalized any name for the prequel, but George R. R. Martin likes to call the prequel “The Long Night”.
Here’s the full synopsis of the prequel by HBO:
“Taking place thousands of years before the events of ‘Game of Thrones,’ the series chronicles the world’s descent from the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour. And only one thing is for sure: from the horrifying secrets of Westeros’ history to the true origin of the white walkers, the mysteries of the East to the Starks of legend … it’s not the story we think we know.”
18. Melisandre is the 3rd person to die of old age
This is just a random detail, but it seemed to be fun, so I have added it to the list. Game Of Thrones is known for the way it kills its characters and people can get killed in some unexpected ways in the show.
What’s unusual is that a character survives long enough to die of old age and so far we have seen only two people who died of old age in the show: Hoster Tully and Aemon Targaryen. Now Melisandre joins this illustrious list of people who managed to stay alive in the show and die a natural death. Let me know if I missed any other character who had a natural death.
So these are the things that you might’ve missed while watching Game Of Thrones Season 8 Episode 3: The Long Night. Please let me know in the comments section if I have missed any detail.
