Spoilers ahead from Game of Thrones Season 8, Episode 3, "The Long Night."
RIP, House Mormont. Lyanna Mormont was one of the many (along with Jorah) who got to die a hero's death in the final season of Game of Thrones. Not only did the young lady of Bear Island fight in the Battle of Winterfell, she slayed a wight giant. Obviously, that's a pretty badass way to go, and Bella Ramsey appreciated being able to complete Lyanna's story in that way:
I wasn’t expecting to even come back for Season 8, so the fact that I got to come back and die, and with the death I got, it was insane. I’m very, very grateful for that. I was shocked, in a good way.
Lyanna Mormont didn't just come back to fight. Earlier in Game of Thrones Season 8, she called out Jon Snow for giving up his title as King in the North. But even with so many characters in play in "The Long Night," it was so cool to see Lyanna get her own showcase. Bella Ramsey shared her reaction to the entire episode with the New York Times:
It was so intense! The tension of it all, your heart is just pounding. It was insane. It was amazing. I really love Arya’s bit, of course. What’s not to love, really? It’s empowering.
Yes, most fans loved "Arya's bit" (except Maisie Williams' boyfriend at the time, it seems). Apparently one thing Bella Ramsey didn't love is wearing the contacts for that scene showing her "wake" after death. Like so much of the extremely long and cold night shoots for the battle, it wasn't that much fun to film:
That was a very strange experience. I had to lie on the floor for like four hours, shivering, because the floor was really cold. And I obviously had to be dead, so I couldn’t even twitch. But it was amazing. I never got to actually get up and fight as a wight, though. I just opened my eyes. And to shoot that, I had to open my eyes a lot, at all these different speeds. Slowly open. Slap them open. You wouldn’t believe all the time we spent shooting just me opening my eyes. It took a while, because they didn’t really know what they wanted to do.
Before becoming Lyanna Giantslayer, Lyanna also got to connect with her cousin Jorah Mormont, who had been in exile for years, leaving Lyanna in charge of Bear Island. Lyanna isn't exactly a softie, so Bella Ramsey said it was a big deal for Lyanna to make peace with Jorah like that:
Yeah, you saw a very rare thing for Lyanna, which is warmth. Usually she’s very cold, very blunt. But we saw a bit behind the tough mask. It’s not really a mask. She’s really a tough person. But she’s warm in that moment.
Bella Ramsey, now 15, previously said she hadn't seen all of Game of Thrones, since she was considered too young to watch it, but from what she saw, she really liked Arya Stark and Brienne of Tarth. She also shared what she'd miss about playing Lyanna, whom she initially thought fans would hate.
Game of Thrones fans can be harsh on characters, and blur the line between the stars and the people they portray, but there has been nothing but respect for Lyanna Mormont, right from her first appearance in Season 6.
Somehow, Game of Thrones Season 8 is soldiering on without Lyanna and the others we lost in the Battle of Winterfell. We could really use their help in the fight against Cersei Lannister. (I'm worried that Dany won't make it out alive.) There are only three episodes left, and they continue Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO.
