With Game of Thrones racing to the finish line, the penultimate episode delivered a deadly inferno with some of the series' most graphic and horrifying deaths to date.
Major spoiler alert: Do not read the following if you're not up to date.
King's Landing quickly became a chaotic war zone in S08E05 'The Bells' after Daenerys went full Mad Queen and decided to obliterate her opponents, as well as innocent citizens of the city.
- Opinion: Game of Thrones sucks now and I'm so sorry
- What did Daenerys whisper to Jorah?
- Fans convinced huge new character coming this week
Raining down fire as she flew overhead on Drogon, Daenerys' rampage set up the deaths of many of the show's beloved and despised characters, some of whom were on their own individual quests for vengeance.
Below is a list of the main characters who died in 'The Bells':
Lord Varys: The first death of the episode was of Lord Varys, the slippery eunuch advisor who saw Daenerys becoming wrathful and decided to betray her and drum up support for installing Jon Snow as king instead.
But his fate was sealed when he confided in Tyrion, who turned against his old friend and told Daenerys of his plot against her.
Before he was burnt alive by Drogon, Varys told Tyrion that he hoped he was wrong about Daenerys' volatility - but as the show has proven on countless occasions, Varys is rarely wrong.
Harry Strickland and the entire Golden Company: After a tense standoff with Daenerys and Jon's forces, Drogon came roaring through one of the city's main gates, incinerating the soldiers and their leader.
Many of the mercenaries attempted to flee, but the Dothraki and Northern forces cleaned up those who hadn't succumbed to the dragon's firepower.
Euron Greyjoy: A character that had long passed his expiry date, Euron had his chance at killing Jaime, and - mostly - failed.
After miraculously killing Rhaegal with a perfectly aimed crossbow bolt in the previous episode, Euron struggled to make any impact this episode as Daenerys had clearly learnt from the previous encounter and tactically flew around his ships.
In the ensuing destruction, he was thrown off his ship and floated to the exact same small beach as Jaime was looking for an entrance to the Red Keep.
Confronting the Kingslayer in a swordfight, Euron managed to deliver a few brutal wounds; but eventually was outmatched by Jaime, who limped away to his lover.
Qyburn: Cersei's evil, experimental Hand was discarded with ease when he got in the way of the Gregor 'The Mountain' Clegane, who was dead-set on killing his brother Sandor.
There is some irony in the fact that Qyburn was killed by the zombie henchman he created.
Sandor and Gregor Clegane (aka the Hound and the Mountain): One of the show's most anticipated clashes saw brothers Sandor and Gregor up against each other in the middle of the Red Keep, as it fell apart.
Having made his way from Winterfell to King's Landing with Arya, Sandor confronted his brother alone after convincing Arya to give up on her quest to kill Cersei. With Daenerys scorching the city, Cersei would die one way or another.
Slashing at the zombified Mountain multiple times, to no avail - and nearly being killed Oberyn Martell style - Sandor realised the only way to take down Cersei's henchman was to sacrifice himself and hurl the pair out of the Keep.
Falling into the flames below, Sandor died having braved his fear of fire for the sake of taking out his greatest enemy.
Jaime and Cersei Lannister: What is likely to be the most controversial deaths of them all, Jaime and Cersei were killed as the Red Keep tumbled.
Dying in the arms of the person he loved the most, Jaime's decision not to kill Cersei - as had been prophesied in the book series and speculated by fans - has been seen by some as a betrayal of the character's redemptive arc.
But some suggest it subverted fans' expectations and showed the power of the pair's love.
There's only one more episode of Game of Thrones ever left to air, before spin-offs and prequels are coming.
Newshub.
