Game of Thrones Episode 70: The Long Night

The episode takes place entirely at **Winterfell**, where the living prepare to face the **Army of the Dead** and then fight for their survival through the night. It ends when the dead are defeated after a climactic confrontation in the godswood, and dawn finally breaks over the castle.

At the start, the battle preparations are underway. The noncombatants are sent into the crypts, while key defenders take positions around the castle and in the godswood. Tyrion goes below with the others in the crypts, Bran is taken to the godswood as bait under Theon’s protection, and the Northern forces, Unsullied, Dothraki, and other allies spread out for the coming attack.

As the enemy arrives, Melisandre appears and lights the Dothraki’s arakhs with fire. The Dothraki charge into the darkness with Jorah and Ghost, but they are quickly overwhelmed, and Daenerys, horrified by what she sees, joins the fight from the air on Drogon. Jon flies with her on Rhaegal, but the night becomes chaotic as the living are pushed back and the dead begin to break through the defenses.

The siege intensifies when the dead cross the trench and enter Winterfell. Edd dies helping Sam, several defenders are forced to retreat, and the fighting spreads through the castle. A giant wight smashes through the walls, Lyanna Mormont kills it before dying in the struggle, and the dead flood deeper into Winterfell. Arya and Sansa are forced into the chaos as the castle becomes overrun.

Inside the crypts, the noncombatants are briefly trapped in danger when the dead begin rising among the corpses there. Above ground, Jon and Daenerys try unsuccessfully to reach and kill the Night King while the battle continues around them. Melisandre later helps again by igniting the trench, but the dead use their own bodies to smother the fire and force their way onward.

The final act shifts to the godswood, where Theon and his men make their last stand around Bran. The Night King arrives, kills Theon, and approaches Bran. Arya then appears from the shadows and attacks him, eventually dropping the dagger into her other hand and stabbing him. That strike causes the Night King and the Army of the Dead to collapse and disintegrate, ending the battle.

After the fighting stops, the survivors begin to take stock of the losses. Jorah dies from his wounds in Daenerys’s arms, and the episode closes with Melisandre removing her choker, aging rapidly, and turning to dust as dawn comes to Winterfell.