New Game of Thrones photos show The Long Night’s aftermath

HBO has released several photos from the upcoming episode of Game of Thrones showing the different characters reeling from the epic battle against the Night King.

The grand battle at Winterfell may not have taken down as many major characters as we expected but it still took a toll on the forces gathered in the North. Jorah, Theon, Lyanna Mormont, Edd, Beric, and Melisandre are gone from among the named characters. The Dothraki army is no more as well as a significant number of Unsullied. The Ironborn Theon brought with him are gone as well and it won’t be too much of a stretch to say that many fighters from the North perished as well. Arya may have defeated the Night King just in time but there was still some damage done. In the end, the victory still came at quite a cost, as evidenced by the somber expressions on the faces of Dany, Tyrion, Missandei, Grey Worm, Varys, and the Starks as they pay their respects to the fallen.

The new photos, as Collider reports, show the leaders of the alliance preparing for a mass funeral. One photo even shows Jon, Sansa, Arya, Tormund, Grey Worm, Dany, and Sam holding torches as they approach several funeral pyres set up for those who fell. It isn’t clear if burning the bodies will be simply a ceremonial gesture or if it’s a precaution against the corpses turning into wights (you can never be too careful.)

But there is still an air of triumph in the photos with Dany shown smiling beside Drogon and with another photo of Dany, Varys, and Missandei standing around a map of Westeros, clearly planning their next move against Cersei and Euron.

Notably, there is a photo of the remainder of Dany’s fleet, with the Targaryen sigil on black sails, which will clearly sail to King’s Landing now that the fight against the White Walkers is done. As much as the latter had been hyped as the ultimate conflict of Game of Thrones, it’s clear that the final confrontation will be in King’s Landing as Dany challenges Cersei for the Iron Throne (we’re still not sure what Jon intends to do with the knowledge of his true identity.) If the White Walkers failed to take down some major characters, it’s clear that their deaths have been saved for the last three episodes of the series.

Don’t miss Game of Thrones this Sunday on HBO.

Check out the preview for the next episode below: