With the Wall breached, the armies massed, a dragon risen from the grave and every ounce of dragonglass mined from beneath Dragonstone, there was nothing left to do but make war. The Night King descended upon Winterfell like a tempest, swallowing the fires of Dothraki warriors, trenches of flame, trebuchets, longswords, and valiant charges alike within his icy darkness. He had a goal in mind, beyond mayhem: to find Bran Stark, the new Three-Eyed Raven, and kill him.
Bran knew this, and allowed himself to be used as bait. The stakes were high — Theon Greyjoy died in his efforts to protect Bran, the dead in the crypts of Winterfell were raised by the Night King's powers, and Jon Snow resorted to facing Viserion with nothing but a sword. But out of nowhere came Arya Stark, honed into one of the finest warriors alive by a series of lessons imparted by a long line of teachers from her original "dancing master," Syrio Forel, to the murderous Faceless Men. Though the Night King likely thought he'd foiled her when she caught her by the arm holding the Valyrian steel dagger, he didn't expect her to drop it into her other hand. With one swift stab the Night King was slain, along with all the creatures he'd created. The army of the dead was gone. An eternity of winter had been avoided. And the White Walkers, with the death of their leader and progenitor, instantly became extinct.
