From start to finish, last week's 90-minute episode of Game of Thrones had fans on the edge of their seats.
We knew that we were in for a treat when, early into the episode, the Dothraki, complete with firey arakhs, rode out onto the battlefield to face the dead only to be plunged into total darkness - and death - seconds later.
This is the heartstopping moment the Dothraki were obliterated by the White Walkers:However, as fearsome as the army of the dead were, fans knew that their leader, the Night King, was the ultimate force to be reckoned with - and because he had come face to face with Jon Snow before, a fight between the two was expected.
But in a twist that few, if any, people saw coming, it was Arya who slayed the Night King, putting her training as a Faceless Man to good use and saving Bran - and by extension, the world of the living - with one swift dagger move.
Rewatch the dramatic moment below:Now, the actor who plays the Night King, Vladimír Furdík, has revealed why his character didn't fight Jon Snow during the Battle of Winterfell - although he admits that, at first, he didn't think that Arya was capable of defeating him.
"I was actually surprised," he said, Cosmopolitan reports. "This small lady, she's going to kill me? Why not Jon Snow? Why not a fight between Jon Snow or some other surprise?"
Lyanna Mormont also proved that size is no indication of fierceness:Furdík was so unsure of Arya's ability - despite the fact that she's a trained assassin - that he even suggested having wheelchair-bound Bran get in on the action would make her killing him more believable.
"I said, 'Okay, I have a better idea. What about, I will grab you and you will throw the knife to Bran and he will throw the knife at me in my back or something?'" he said.
Then, on the possibility of a one-on-one fight with Jon, Furdík said that while he wanted it to happen, when he took his status as the Night King into consideration, it didn't make sense as, "in history, everywhere, kings never fight. I am a king, I have bodyguards. If I need to kill Jon Snow, there are 10 or 12 other White Walkers who can fight him."
Admittedly, the guy has a point.
However, when the Night King was riding on his icy dragon during the battle, it's impossible to class that as anything other than fighting, and Jon is a king (sure, he gave his official title up, but now we know he's got a bigger claim to the Iron Throne than Daenerys) and a well-worn fighter too.
Anyway, speaking of the Iron Throne, here is a preview of this week's episode: