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Game of Thrones season 8: We just learned how Arya killed the Night King

The Last Watch documentary reveals a tiny detail that helped her strike the final blow.

Jackson Ryan Former Science Editor
Jackson Ryan was CNET's science editor, and a multiple award-winning one at that. Earlier, he'd been a scientist, but he realized he wasn't very happy sitting at a lab bench all day. Science writing, he realized, was the best job in the world -- it let him tell stories about space, the planet, climate change and the people working at the frontiers of human knowledge. He also owns a lot of ugly Christmas sweaters.
Jackson Ryan
2 min read
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How did she kill Night King?

Helen Sloan/HBO

Game of Thrones may have ended a week ago but there are still a lot of unanswered questions

Fortunately, HBO dropped a Game of Thrones season 8 documentary called "The Last Watch" on Sunday evening, detailing the trials and tribulations of filming the world's biggest TV show. During the broadcast, viewers found out a handful of details that shed light on some of the series' biggest moments. 

And there's arguably no bigger moment than when Arya dropped a blade through the heart of the Night King, an organ the Night King needed to live, moments before he was to lop Bran's head off. How did Arya make that leap? Now we know. 

During a table read of the Battle of Winterfell, Bryan Cogman is excitedly rushing through the script as the camera pans across the actor's faces. When he gets to the pivotal scene he discusses the moment, Cogman notes how Arya "vaults off a pile of dead Wights", to come careening through the darkness.

Wait, what? Arya's big leap came off the back of a pile of dead Wights just hanging out in the Godswood?

We took a look at the episode and there were plenty of dead bodies on the ground.

darkweirwood

It's dark in the weirwood, but there's plenty of bodies to leap from.

HBO

The crew and actors definitely enjoyed the big reveal, it didn't seem like anyone was particularly concerned with Arya's big kill (at least, not like the internet was). Rory McCann, who plays the Hound, was fist pumping and Sophie Turner, who plays Sansa Stark, was all smiles.

But that explanation didn't please everyone, of course. 

But there you have it. Arya jumped off a pile of dead bodies and saved the realms of men. If there was any doubt about how she got the air time, now we know. She's now sailing, on a boat, somewhere West of Westeros. Go well, Kingslayer.

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