Major spoilers for Game of Thrones season 8, episode 3 below.
Game of Thrones season eight is back on our screens tonight and we’re barely over the epic battle in The Long Night last week.
But ahead of tonight’s instalment, some fans are still questioning that Arya Stark twist and claiming to feel cheated by how the Night King was defeated.
There’s no denying that the moment Arya (Maisie Williams) succeeded in tricking the Night King (Vladimir Furdik) was shocking and amazing but her absence in the episode prior to that very moment has left fans wondering where she was for 30 minutes.
Over on Reddit, one fan, YeOldeVertiformCity compared the Arya moment to Lord of the Rings.
‘Arya being missing from the final third of S8E3 is like cutting all the Frodo content from Lord of the Rings after Frodo leaves the Fellowship. We follow Aragorn (Jon) and the other heroes fighting a hopeless battle – surrounded, they appear to be doomed. But then suddenly Sauron dies! Frodo has succeeded! But we never saw him elude the orcs and climb mount doom.
‘In conclusion, that missing 30 minutes of Arya getting to the Night King is a big reason everyone feels so cheated by S8E3. And cutting that content was a foolish decision designed to give another “shocking Game of Thrones” moment at the expense of a satisfying ending.’
This observation also raises the question of what would have happened to Jon (Kit Harington) had Arya not acted when she did.
He screamed at Viserion in defiance, but was he expecting to just be killed? Because he didn’t know what Arya had up her sleeve at that exact moment.
Reddit user mggirard13 commented: ‘Yes, Jon screaming is him giving up. He was chasing the NK, got pinned down for too long, and realises he can’t save Bran l, or anyone, and that he’s going to die in defiance rather than cowering behind a rock.’
Now that would have been a very bleak outcome of Red Wedding proportions.
Hopefully, tonight’s episode will shed some light (literally) on these aspects of the Battle of Winterfell.
If not, George RR Martin has promised that the Game of Thrones spin-off series will.
We certainly can’t wait to catch up with Arya.
Game of Thrones season 8, episode 4 airs tonight at 2am on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV and on 9pm tomorrow on Sky Atlantic.
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