In the latest episode of Game of Thrones, a major character was killed off and the death has grave implications for the people of Westeros.
Major spoilers for Game of Thrones S07E06 follow.
The sixth episode of Game of Thrones season seven, entitled 'Beyond the Wall', featured the death of the dragon Viserion. Worse still, he was then resurrected by the Night King, giving the army of the dead its first weapon of mass destruction.
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Daenerys Targaryen says outright in the episode that not only are the three dragons her children, they're the only children she will ever have, after she was cursed by a witch in the first season and miscarried.
"It's a heartbreak... Not only losing it, but having that being given to the other side," Emilia Clarke, the actress who plays Daenerys, told Entertainment Weekly.
"My dragon could not have died for nothing, so [defeating the Night King] is now so important."
But is this new beast an ice dragon, or a wight dragon - and what's the difference?
Ice dragons are referred many times to in the Song of Ice and Fire novels - which Game of Thrones is based on - but the most thorough explanation comes from companion book A World of Ice and Fire, which serves as a sort of encyclopaedia.
"These colossal beasts, many times larger than the dragons of Valyria, are said to be made of living ice, with eyes of pale blue crystal and vast translucent wings through which the moon and stars can be glimpsed as they wheel across the sky," writes George RR Martin.
"Whereas common dragons… breathe flame, ice dragons supposedly breathe cold, a chill so terrible that it can freeze a man solid in half a heartbeat."
He also adds the beasts "supposedly melt when slain".
It seems unlikely that Viserion has been turned into an ice dragon, as he's made of dead dragon flesh rather than ice. A wight dragon seems more likely and would function similarly to the general wights in the show - the zombie hordes controlled by the white walkers.
'Beyond the Wall' also gave us a good look at a wight polar bear, which was very tough for Jon Snow and his hero squad to kill, but far from impossible. A wight dragon could presumably be felled in a similar fashion.
However, it's unclear if a wight dragon will have the ice dragon power of breathing extremely potent blasts of cold. If Viserion does, he has just become the most dangerous threat to the forces of the living in Game of Thrones we've ever seen by far.
Fortunately, Daenerys would never just accept defeat, and has already carried out brutal revenge when her unborn child was murdered back in season one.
"We are going to destroy the Night King and his army," she tells Jon in 'Beyond the Wall'.
"And we'll do it together, you have my word."
The final episode of Game of Thrones season seven is broadcast in New Zealand on Monday, August 28.
Newshub.
