Game of Thrones' The Mountain apologizes for his character's latest kill

Ser Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane has done a lot of horrible things in his time as Cersei Lannister's resident semi-undead bodyguard, executioner, and personal Frankenstein's monster on Game of Thrones, but that doesn't mean the man behind the character is happy about it. After his latest bloody act of obedience, the Mountain himself even took to social media to apologize for it.

**Spoiler Warning: There are spoilers for the Game of Thrones episode "The Last of the Starks" below.**

"The Last of the Starks" seemed like it was largely going to be an episode that set the table for the final confrontation between Daenerys Targaryen's army and Cersei Lannister's forces, with the fate of Westeros hanging in the balance. Indeed, the episode did move in that direction quite a bit, just not quite in the way we perhaps expected. After refusing Sansa Stark's suggestions that they allow their armies to rest for a while after the Battle of Winterfell, Daenerys launched a two-pronged plan to take King's Landing that included sailing her fleet south to Dragonstone.

This was thwarted when Euron Greyjoy and his Iron Fleet were waiting for them there, complete with a full complement of ballistae that took down the dragon Rhaegel with a trio of giant bolts. After bringing down the dragon, Euron turned his weapons on Dany's fleet, shredding her ships and taking Missandei of Naath (Nathalie Emmanuel) captive offscreen.

This culminated in a tense standoff at the gates of King's Landing in which Cersei demanded Dany's surrender, with Missandei's life in the balance. Defiant, Missandei simply shouted "Dracarys!" before the Mountain beheaded her with one swing of his sword, leaving Dany full of rage and ready to fight.

Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, the Icelandic actor and champion strongman who plays Gregor Clegane, took to social media after the episode to offer his apologies, and pleaded that he was just following orders.

Emmanuel, for her part, offered up a lengthy Instagram post expressing gratitude for having played Missandei, which she called "one of [her] greatest joys." She also offered up the hopeful image of Missandei "sipping rum on a beach somewhere" in the sky.

Emmanuel also reshared co-star Raleigh Ritchie's video of the two of them, in full costume as Missandei and Grey Worm, dancing together on set. The death is sad, yes, but the friendships built by these actors live on.

Game of Thrones will air its penultimate episode Sunday at 9 p.m. EST on HBO.