As the armies fighting for Winterfell prepare for the arrival of the dead on the battlefield Melisandre arrives on horseback and uses magic to light the Dothraki's swords on fire. Jorah leads them to the dead, but their flames are quickly extinguished, before he and a few others retreat to the battle line. The dead attack and despite Jon and Daenerys using Rhaegal and Drogon to set them on fire, the Night King shrouds the battle in clouds of darkness, making it difficult for them to see. Edd is killed saving Sam. What remains of the armies retreat behind the trenches, and Melisandre again uses magic to set them alight, in the dragons' absence.
Due to their insurmountable numbers the dead eventually push through the barricade and start breaching the walls of Winterfell. Lyanna Mormont is killed by a giant, but not before she takes it down with her by stabbing it in the eye. See Beric pleads with a distraught Hound to join them in the fight, but he is reluctant to until he sees Arya fighting. Arya tries to hide from a hoard of white walkers in the library of Winterfell, and Beric and the Hound come to her aid - Beric sacrificing himself so she and the Hound survive, barricading themselves in the great hall where Melisandre is hiding. I was hoping for more of a significant death from Ser Beric considering how many times the Lord of Light resurrected him. Furthermore, these chase scenes seemed highly illogical considering the magnitude of battle going happening at Winterfell - as if there would be any places in the castle isolated from the fight.
During a dragon back fight between Jon, riding Rhaegal, and the Night King, riding Viserion, the Night King falls to the ground, but Rhaegal is badly injured and also falls with Jon. Daenerys uses Drogon to burn the Night King, but he is immune to its flames, and she flies away when the Night King throws a spear at them. Jon chases after the Night King trying to prevent him from reaching Winterfell. The Night King catches him doing so and raises those who have already died in the battle from the dead, including the tombs of those who lie in the crypt beneath Winterfell. Daenerys returns with Drogon to save Jon from the dead, and and he picks up the chase of the Night King, but Drogon is set upon by white walkers and Daenerys is thrown to the ground in the fray. Having heard Rhaegal's wails, Jorah arrives to protect her. As Jon makes his way through Winterfell he encounters several other characters fighting against the dead, in a supercut of scenes beautifully scored by Ramin Djawadi's 'The Night King' which rivals his excellent 'Light of The Seven' from the season six finale, 'The Winds of Winter'. It's a cool and dramatic sequence, and the stakes are raised exponentially with the Night King raising more dead, but it's also tarnished with some silly character decisions (Daenerys allowing Drogon to be swarmed by white walkers; Jon confronting Viserion), and lessened by the fact that there were no significant character losses despite the insurmountable amount of foes they face (no one on the ground at Winterfell, or in the crypts, perished).
The Night King arrives in the Godswood and Theon is the only man left standing between him and Bran. He charges at the Night King, who grabs his spear, snaps it, and stabs Theon with it. Theon's death was expected, with his redemption arc completed this season by saving Yara from Euron in the premiere and returning to fight and die for the Starks, but it was emotional nonetheless, with Bran's parting words to him, 'Theon, you're a good man', giving him a cathartic finale.
As the Night King approaches Bran, Arya jumps out of nowhere and attempts to stab him with the valyrian steel dagger (which she did not give to Sansa). He grabs her by the neck and she drops the dagger - before catching it with her other hand and stabbing him in the stomach, killing him and all of the other white walkers in the process. Arya's defeat of the Night King was a cool and surprising moment, but I didn't find it particularly fitting. Up until this very battle Arya hasn't even had any experience with the white walkers, so for her to save the day doesn't seem particularly earned, whereas for characters like Jon and Bran, or seven hells, even Sam, it would have been a well deserved character moment. It also puts to question her potential role in Cerise's defeat, will the writers be willing to give Arya that sought after honour as well?
Jorah falls with the white walkers, succumbing to his stab wounds sustained trying to protect Daenerys. Jorah was never going to die any other way, one of the few loyal and honest characters on Game of Thrones until his end. It's unfortunate that he wasn't given more to do since returning to Daenerys' side late in season seven, particularly since one of the series' other most loyal and honest characters, Brienne, received so much screen time and fulfilling character moments in the last episode.
The episode ends with Melisandre fulfilling her prophetic death by basically killing herself, she walks out of Winterfell, takes off her necklace, ages dramatically and falls into the snow and dies. Again, a rather disappointing end for such a contentious character. She was surprisingly instrumental in this episode despite being absent for more than a season, but her character motivation was always so strongly linked to the prophecy of the prince who was promised - a battle she will not be apart of or witness - so to have her act so selfless throughout The Long Night seemed out of character, as was her decision to die.
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