Warning: If you haven’t seen “The Long Night,” you may want to get on that because we’re about to board the train for SPOILERVILLE. So, turn back now if you haven’t seen the latest episode of Game of Thrones; for the rest of you, ALL ABOARD!
It may not have been the most shocking death of “The Long Night,” but Game of Thrones proved once again that it won’t spare characters just because they’re young and beloved. In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Bella Ramsey talked all things Lyanna Mormont, including her death scene.
Let’s start with how she got this gig. Ramsey, now 16, auditioned for The BFG, which Game of Thrones casting director Nina Gold was in charge of, but didn’t fit the part. Gold, however, thought she’d be perfect for Thrones. Originally, she was reading for a small part, but showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss kept writing lines for her. The next thing she knew, her character was a fan favorite.
"I didn’t think it was going to be anything. I just thought that I turned up and did it. When [the fan reaction] kicked up it was mad. I didn’t expect it."
Ramsey was excited to get her season 8 scripts and wanted one of two things to happen for her character: “I wanted to either end up on the Iron Throne or have a really good death,” she said. “So I’m happy.” Happy isn’t a word I’d use to describe seeing one of my favorite characters on the show being squished to death, but whatever.
“There was one thing said to me that I don’t think I’ll ever forget,” Ramsey recalled. “I wasn’t sure if she would be really scared or just a slight bit of scared. We tried it several ways. He said, ‘It’s like someone removed her fear gene.’ And that was just … yeah, that was a really great bit of direction.”
Lyanna has always displayed that sort of charge-forward attitude, anyway. Would you have had the presence of mind to stab an undead giant in the eye and take it down with you even as it’s cracking your ribs and crushing you to death? Probably not, but you’re not Lyanna Mormont.
Ramsey also played a wight for a hot minute. “Yeah, it didn’t bother me at all,” she said. “I’ve done a little bit of dead acting before and it’s harder than it looks. You would think it would be dead easy — ah, that was a pun! — but you still have to act like you’re dead because naturally you move. You have to concentrate to be completely still.”
“Her story maybe had the potential to grow but she was going to go at some point because everyone does and this way she went was the best way she could have,” Ramsey concluded. While we think Lyanna would have made a fantastic Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, we can’t say we’re mad about her death either. Nor were many of the fans:
Me calling my congressman tomorrow to ask him to name a post office after Lyanna Mormont: pic.twitter.com/wG4q57Gtaz
— Zainab Javed (@zrjaved) April 29, 2019
Finally, Ramsey named her favorite line from the show: “I don’t care if he is a bastard, Ned Stark’s blood runs through his veins!” I love that.” Damn, I’d charge hell with a water pistol for Lyanna Mormont.
Even though we’ll miss her straightforward attitude and willingness to call nonsense out when she sees it, we can’t disagree that if Lyanna had to go, she couldn’t have done it better. Brava, Bella Ramsey.
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