“Game of Thrones” Season 4 Episode 9 premiered Sunday night, with many wondering if Jon Snow or Ygritte were going to die.
The episode mostly focuses on The Wall, and doesn’t show any scenes from King’s Landing or elsewhere.
SPOILERS:
Jon Snow’s love, Ygritte, was killed in battle and died in his arms.
She was shot with a bolt through the chest, and said, “You know nothing Jon Snow.”
On Twitter, a number of people reacted to her death.
“Poor Ygritte. She‘ll never realize her dream of moving to Kings Landing and opening a bakery ’You Know Muffin, Jon Snow,'” said one person.
Added another, “Now everyone who didn’t read the books is crying bc of ygritte lmao.”
“I hope I die as pretty as Ygritte looked dying,” tweeted another.
Another person joked, “#RIP Ygritte. Thank you for showing us that gingers do have souls.”
Snow actor Kit Harrington talked about the battle scene with the Daily Beast.
“It was all filmed in Belfast, split between a set and the studio—the studio being the top of the Wall, and the set being the Castle Black set, which we know quite well by now. It was two solid weeks of night shoots on-and-off for about a month, which puts your frame of mind into an emotional place anyway without doing scenes where you’re saying goodbye to actors you love. It was one of the most physically and mentally demanding things I’ve done in my life—for all of us, I think—but it really paid off. It felt like shooting a Game of Thrones movie withinGame of Thrones, and Thrones is movie-like anyway, and quite cinematic. We all became very close during the time filming it,” he said.
He adds: “As the seasons progress, Jon hardens quite considerably. He loses a lot of family and friends, even from the start, and at the beginning of Season 4, he’s lost his brother and stepmother. People keep dying around him. For me with Jon, it’s never been about wanting to be heroic or trying to be a leader, but that he’s lost so many people he’s become cold inside.”
Last week’s spoilers:
Tyrion Lannister’s fate was decided last week after a battle between Oberyn Martell and The Mountain.
Tyrion’s champion Oberyn died after his head was crushed by the Mountain, leading Tywin to sentence him to death for the murder of King Joffrey earlier in the season.
A number of fan-favorite characters, including most of the Stark house, have died, leading some to believe that Tyrion will also be killed off.
Showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss talked to EW.com about the show’s direciton.
“Yes, we’ve had a few other trials-by-combat, but this is the first time it’s been in a proper arena setting. A lot of what sets this one apart is the specific situation that led to it, one that ties the fates of the fighters and spectators together so inextricably,” they said.
“The intimacy of the smaller, VIP arena adds to this feeling. There was also something unique about the contrast between the Mountain’s and Oberyn’s very different fighting styles. We were looking forward to watching this massive, powerful monster fighting this lightning quick showboater. The real trick was finding actors capable of embodying these characters in physical performance.”
They continued: “We got very lucky on that score — Pedro [Pascal] and Hafthor [Björnsson] are both gifted fighters, and they both worked their asses off. More than anything else, they’re what sets the scene apart from other scenes in the ‘arena fight’ genre — how invested we are in them, and in the other characters whose fates are linked to theirs.”
