Eight long years have been building up for that one (very dark) moment on Sunday night / Monday morning when millions of Game of Thrones fans finally got to experience The Battle of Winterfell, the ultimate battle between good and evil… or in this case, humans, dragons, giants and ice zombies.

And sure, The Long Night might’ve not been the very last episode of the hit HBO series’ final season, but with only three episodes to go, it was definitely the most hyped one. It’s easy to see why too; shot over 55 nights and mobilising a cast of over 600 people, the battle was the biggest and most intense of its kind ever filmed in history.

But how do you go about explaining an episode that huge to someone who might not even know what Game of Thrones is all about? With a couple of GIFs, of course. And if you’re Maltese, you might want to take a bit of a local angle to it.

Here’s GoT’s Season 8, Episode 3… explained entirely in Maltese GIFs and the way many islanders reacted to the most pivotal scenes.

Before we begin, shout-out to Malta GIFs, the island’s biggest and best library of hilarious moments from Maltese politicians, TV series, celebrities and much more.

1. Waiting for the battle to actually start in the first 20 minutes of the episode

“Balla fucking kwiet u m’hu qed ji?ri xejn? Ejja ?a mmorru!”

2. When the Dothraki started charging into the night and all of Malta was watching the episode after work, as the sun was still going down

“The night is dark and full of xi?-?ikk qed ji?ri”

3. Thinking all those fire-sword-wielding soldiers are actually going to put a dent in the Night King’s army… only to remember this show is brutal AF and kills everyone off

“Oh shit they’re actually going to – NOPE”

4. Panicking every single moment Jon or Daenerys’ dragons get hit

“Aw, aw, g?all naqra!”

5. Desperately trying to mentally count all the people who are dying

“Stenn dik vera mietet jew just daqqa zg?ira?”

6. Arya Stark showing up and killing off a bunch of White Walkers and wights with her sick murder skills

“Tihom!”

7. Trying to will Melisandre into conjuring her fire magic on time before dying

8. Celebrating when Melisandre just about manages to light the surrounding trench on fire

9. Frustratingly looking on as Daenerys constantly keeps failing atop the legit biggest dragon on the battlefield

10. Hoping to God that Arya is super quiet as she tries to avoid a bunch of baddies in the library

“Bil-mod u bil-pre?i?joni qalbi jekk jog??bok.”

11. Getting furious when the Night King had a faceful of dragon fire thrown at him and he just looked on smiling

12. Seeing Jon Snow run up to the Night King… only for a whole bunch of corpses to be brought back to life all around him

“Yeah no, this is gonna be a shitshow.”

13. Trying hard not to cry when Theon Greyjoy charged at the Night King to defend Bran, only to be instantly killed

“You’re a good man, Theon.”

14. Standing up in respect when Jorah was finally able to die for his Queen

“Jorah Mormont, PRESENTE. Onore Jorah Mormont, Onore.”

15. Waiting for something to happen as the Night King walked up to Bran in slow-motion

“Ijwa ejja Madonna, ili sena u nofs nistenna!”

16. When Arya came out of nowhere to stab the Night King and you realise it’s all over

17. Looking at your hands at the end of the episode

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David Grech Urpani

Lovin Malta's Head of Content, Dave has been in journalism for the better half of the last decade. Prefers Instagram, but has been known to doomscroll on TikTok. Loves chicken, women's clothes and Kanye West (most of the time).