A lot of crazy things went down in last night’s episode of “Game of Thrones,” which was a mix of turbo-charged action and some of the clunkiest writing/plotting in recent memory.
When it was over, a single poignant moment stood out for most viewers: The death of Viserion, one of Dany’s dragons.
Poor Viserion was killed by the Night King during a rescue mission to save Jon Snow and his posse from a massive army of raging wights. Unfortunately, the Night King — heaving an ice spear far into the air — had pinpoint, Joe Montana-like precision (rather than Colin Kaepernick aim), and nailed his target.
Viserion, in a “Walking Dead”-like transformation, then became an ice dragon and presumably will now play for the White Walker team.
“Game of Thrones” fans poured out their grief via social media and some of the reactions were quite surprising. Remarking on an ew.com recap post, commenters talked of crying during the episode. One went so far as to call it “the hardest death of the series, even over Ned’s.”
Wow. That’s a bit over the top. But it underscores how the writers succeeded at making viewers truly care for a CGI-rendered mythical beast.
Here are some of our favorite tweets from last night and this morning:
https://twitter.com/Dollface12089/status/899449963045822464
viserion's death was the most tragic death of 2017. no one challenge me on this. #GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/w6IFV9e8cQ
— osha (@oshawildling) August 21, 2017
Some viewers had fond memories of little baby Viserion …
I was there when u were born, got locked up & gave ur life for the cause. U will be missed
RIP Viserion 6/19/2011 – 8/20/2017#GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/vvrlsYbFie— Gojeroh (@gojeroh) August 21, 2017
Some blamed Jon Snow for indirectly causing the dragon’s demise …
If Jon got on the Dragon like a good little boy his cousin Viserion would still be alive…#GameOfThrones RT if you agree!
— BodhiVoyage (@BodhiVoyage) August 21, 2017
And then cold, hard reality set in …
https://twitter.com/ElTicoMar/status/899450173834711040
https://twitter.com/SapphicProdigy/status/899451066080780289
And we even got a hilarious Warriors reference, with a tweeter comparing the fallout to Kevin Durant’s move to the Bay Area from Oklahoma City …
Viserion joining the Wightwalkers is worse than when Kevin Durant joined the Warriors. I'm broken, man #GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/vjYoAjcq0k
— Adam (@AdamJoseph____) August 21, 2017
And the emotions spilled over to the following day …
I'm still sad over last nights episode of Game of Thrones 😢#GameOfThones7
— Nichole Hitchcock (@allebikkin) August 21, 2017
https://twitter.com/LadyCait/status/899662002687266818
And one very creative tweeter had an idea for a Pixar-inspired spin-off film …
https://twitter.com/Thrones_Memes/status/899664534310400000
