Um, holy crap?! If anyone felt like not enough people died in the first battle of season eight, Sunday night’s episode of Game of Thrones more than made up for it. Plus the dragon fire! The collapsing Red Keep! Cleganebowl! So many people died! So much happened! In case you missed anything amid all the fire and blood — which is understandable, there was so much fire and blood! — here are all of the most jaw-dropping moments from “The Bells,” in GIF form.
The first death of the episode was relatively low-key, as these things go. Varys knows what’s coming, and when Dany realizes he’s betrayed her, at least she has the courtesy to dispatch him quickly.
Tyrion and Jaime have a nice farewell hug! Awwww, hope everyone gets a happy ending now.
Nope! Because Dany torches the Iron Fleet, and from this point in the episode forward, everything pretty much goes to hell.
Those big walls around King’s Landing seem pretty sturdy, but apparently not.
There goes the Golden Company! It seems unlikely elephants could’ve done much to improve this situation.
Fueled by his grief over Missandei’s death, Greyworm really leans into the opportunity to get some revenge.
After everything, Dany hears the bells of King’s Landing ringing, the signal to turn back toward mercy and save all the innocent townsfolk. Except instead, the bells drive her mad.
Drogon takes out a parapet in the Red Keep, prompting Cersei to finally admit that this is going very, very badly for her.
Meanwhile, Jaime somehow ends up on the shore below the castle, in exactly the same place where Euron washes up after Drogon torches his ship. A fight ensues, and although Euron gets stabbed in the belly, he does take some comfort in his accomplishments. (Sadly for Euron, even this isn’t strictly true, as Jaime lives for at least one more scene.)
It’s a bad day for courtly advisors who’ve managed to stay afloat amid the many regime changes. First Varys is executed, and then Qyburn’s day arrives. The Mountain barely even spares him a thought before killing him in a bit of Cleganebowl pre-gaming.
The battle between The Mountain and The Hound, long foretold, arrives as the entire city of King’s Landing burns around them. And because everyone likes a nice Darth Vader reference, The Hound knocks off The Mountain’s cool helmet and realizes that The Mountain has not been getting a lot of Vitamin D all these years.
Cleganebowl ends in epic, fiery fashion, with both brothers hurtling to their deaths in the city’s burning rubble.
Then, just because “The Bells” wasn’t already epic and lethal enough, Jaime and Cersei huddle together underneath the Red Keep. At least they get to embrace when the walls collapse on top of them.
The episode ends with Arya, like an angel of death, riding away through the burning remains of King’s Landing, the only living person as far as the eye can see.
