Game of Thrones fans react to tonight's heart-pounding Battle of Winterfell

Even though there are three more episodes before Game of Thrones wraps it up for good, tonight's installment, "The Long Night," was the one that everyone was holding their breath over. 

After the eighth season started off with an uneasy gathering of the troops from across the Seven Kingdoms, the Night King and his massive army of the dead are at the gates of Winterfell -- literally! Obviously, with the stakes as high as they are, not everyone was going to make it out alive. Luckily Twitter was there for fans to work through the experience together. 

*Warning: major spoilers for Game of Thrones "The Long Night" below*

Considering the actual battle got going almost immediately and stretched out over most of the episode's whopping 82-minute runtime, there were relatively few casualties in the much-hyped Battle of Winterfell. At least by Game of Thrones standards. Still, there was one major loss that really got every one right in the feels. 

Over the course of the episode, Eddison Tollett, Beric Dondarrion, Jorah Mormont, and Theon Greyjoy all went down heroically in battle. We also got a better glimpse of Ghost charging the frontlines early on (like a very good boy!), but no word on what became of him afterward.

However, it was the show's big surprise ending that will be the topic of conversation all of next week: Arya Stark. 

Even though they defeated the Night King, there's still the matter of Cersei Lannister standing in the way of Daenerys' birthright. And also the whole being related to Jon Snow thing, which was definitely on the back burner for now but will almost certainly come up again. 

But that's at least a week away. For now, let's all reflect on a pretty good night of TV-watching.

Game of Thrones will air the next three Sundays on HBO, which will bring the series to a close.