Which 'Game Of Thrones' Characters Died, Survived And The Death Toll From The Battle Of Winterfell

game of thrones season 8 episode 3 teaser photos battle of winterfell

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We all knew that the gargantuan Battle of Winterfell was going down in Episode 3 of Season 8 titled “The Long Night” and we were preparing ourselves for the absolute worst in this week’s Game of Thrones. But a funny thing happened… there was actually not a lot of key character deaths. We’ll look at who died, who survived and the death toll of the Great War.

All of the core characters and most of the secondary players survived including Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, Arya Stark, Bran Stark, Tyrion Lannister, Jaime Lannister, Ser Brienne of Tarth, Tormund Giantsbane, Sansa Stark, Gendry, Varys, Samwell Tarly, Gilly, Grey Worm, Missandei, Podrick, and the Hound. Drogon, Rhaegal and Ghost all survived and you can read about that HERE.

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Eddison Tollett, the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, was killed during the first wave of wights while protecting Samwell Tarly. Despite Sam boasting about being one of the few living people to have killed a White Walker, he froze up during the great battle. Thanks for nothing Samwell. Dolorous Edd died, but did come back as a wight, only to die again. And now his watch has ended.

Lyanna Mormont was the fearless girl that was too feisty for her own good. The 13-year-old’s arrogance led her to believe that she could take down a giant with no consequences. Please explain what she was going to do to that giant, chop off his toenail? In the end, the Game of Thrones writers gave her stupidity a fan-friendly ending by the dumb giant Wun Wun putting her up to his eye and allowing her to stab him in the eye with dragonglass instead of him squashing her. Lyanna also was resurrected by the Night King.

Ser Jorah Mormont of House Friendzone will die forever alone. But at least Jorah died doing something he loved — fawning over Dany and trying to protect her only to watch her walk away with another dude. Jorah’s death plays back to Jenny’s Song from Episode 2, with the lyrics: “And the ones who had loved her the most.”

Lord Beric Dondarrion has come back from death a number of times, but there was no Lord of Light to resurrect him on Sunday. With his flaming sword, Lightning Lord put up a heroic fight against the Army of Dead, but in the end, there were just too many of them inside the Winterfell Castle. Beric led a rescue mission for Arya and his unselfish sacrifice allowed the Hound and Arya to escape, which allowed Arya to make that spectacular kill of the Night King.

Theon Greyjoy actually showed some heart and bravery for once in his life. The once meek Reek put on a bow and arrow show in his defense of Bran Stark AKA the Three-Eyed Raven, whom he once captured and pretended to kill. But once again there were just too many killer zombies and he ran out of arrows. Theon’s sacrifice held off the Army of Dead and the Night King long enough for Arya to soar in with that magnificent slaying of the Night King. In the ASOIF books, Theon goes up to a Weirwood tree and begs, “Please. A sword, that’s all I ask. Let me die as Theon, not as Reek.” Theon gets the redemption he was so desperately seeking.

In Episode 10 of Season 2, Theon gives an impassioned speech about his Battle of Winterfell:

“We die today brothers, We die bleeding from a hundred wounds, with arrows in our necks and spears in our guts. But our war cries will echo through eternity. They will sing about the Battle of Winterfell until the Iron Islands have slipped beneath the waves. Every man, woman, and child will know who we were and how long we stood.”

The Night King will not be able to ravage the Seven Kingdoms with his Army of the Dead. The Night King needs to contemplate how he even lost this battle? He had far more troops, momentum, and the opposition was ready to bend the knee. The Night King also needs to get better White Walker generals, what did they do the entire battle and how did they let Arya Stark stroll right into the Godswood to assassinate their leader? The Night King dies in the same place that Bran gave Arya the Catspaw Dagger with a Valyrian blade.

Viserion is dead. No more zombie ice dragons. That kind of sucks.

Melisandre surprisingly dies AFTER the Battle of Winterfell. The Red Woman somehow survives legions upon legions of undead soldiers, but then decides that her watch has ended. She takes off her magical locket, turns into an old lady and dies in the snow outside of Winterfell.

A lot of women and children died in the Crypts of Winterfell after the Night King raised the dead Starks that were buried there. So what happened to that little Shireen-looking girl? She sure talked a tough game but I didn’t see her fighting any Stark skeleton zombies in the Crypts.

You would have thought that many more beloved characters would have died in a battle to the death such as this massacre, but remember, the Game of Thrones TV series is not based off the A Song of Fire and Ice books any longer, where George R.R. Martin would murder his own mother in the books just for sh*ts and giggles. We are now in the TV showrunner environment where they probably want to make the majority of fans happy so they watch the prequel TV show in a couple of years.

Which ‘Game Of Thrones’ Characters Died, Survived And The Death Toll From The Battle Of Winterfell