Game of Thrones‘ final season promises plenty of epic conclusions for fans of the nearly decade-long show, but few as highly anticipated as Sunday’s throwdown with the Night King and his undead wight army. Unfortunately for many fans, the hour-and-a-half nighttime battle—aptly titled “The Long Night—proved darker than their television and computer brightness settings could handle, leading to plenty of memes flooding Twitter almost immediately after the episode began to air.
tonight’s game of thrones really taught me a lot about the strength of the brightness settings on my tv
— Andrew Goldfarb (@garfep) April 29, 2019
Trying to see who’s dead #BattleForWinterfell #GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/SNdboWVX0V
— Aman Magwin (@amanmagwin) April 29, 2019
So that episode huh 👀#GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/nPg6kDsLON
— BR_Killjoy (@BR_KilljoyV2) April 29, 2019
After all, when the majority of the cast’s lives are on the line, visibility is kind of important. Last year’s viral photo of Kalin Elisa squinting in disbelief made more than a few appearances in memes, as did last week’s passive-aggressive Daenerys’ squint.
Me trying to figure out what’s happening in #GameofThrones pic.twitter.com/V2vQuNw521
— Kate (@katekatbar_) April 29, 2019
Brightness all the way up ✅
— BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) April 29, 2019
Turned off all the lights in the room ✅
Me, still:#GameofThrones pic.twitter.com/f0sNYFHWil
https://twitter.com/devinvasion/status/1122697433094524929
My friends and I trying to watch this dark af episode #GameofThrones pic.twitter.com/3wFwSMM0AC
— Shelbs (@the__sheebs) April 29, 2019
Empire screenwriter Eric Haywood suggested a more accurate name for the night’s episode would have been “Turn The Brightness Up on That Bitch.”
https://twitter.com/EricHaywood/status/1122693150961819654
Several fans began posting images of spoilers without context or shot from their favorite scenes, a.k.a. entirely black photos.
My favorite scene from today’s episode of #GameOfThrones
— cloudy (@itsnotandeesh) April 29, 2019
ffs why is it so dark pic.twitter.com/mlOAF73pED
https://twitter.com/A2OAbdelkader/status/1122688994897215488
At one pivotal moment in the episode, the priestess Melisandre used her magic powers to light large portions of the battlefield in flames. Fans everywhere blessed her, not for her help in the battle but because they could finally see what the hell was happening on their televisions. A tweet by BuzzFeed writer Nora Dominick thanking The Red Woman wracked up over 100,000 likes in hours.
I would like to thank Melisandre for increasing the lighting in this episode by 100 #GameofThrones #GoT pic.twitter.com/ngIQ5tHaDO
— Nora Dominick (@noradominick) April 29, 2019
https://twitter.com/metalheadjunkie/status/1122837697842880519
https://twitter.com/Von_Gottesburg/status/1122785776163540992
So while Game of Thrones fans appreciated finally getting the throwdown they’d been wanting for years, many had one tiny request for HBO: please don’t make it so dark next time.
READ MORE:
