Warning! SPOILERS ahead for Game of Thrones season 8, episode 3 and episode 4 trailer.
feature a massive battle, but episode 3 sures expectations, depicting a battle on a scale never before seen on television.
By being the final season of Game of Thrones, season 8 was always going to include some of the Viserion, in his undead service.
In Game of Thrones season 8 “The Long Night”, Daenerys rides Drogon in battle while Jon is atop Rhaegal, and when they spot the Night King riding Viserion, the undead ice dragon, they attack. The dragons tear into one another as the Night King has Viserion try to pull Jon off Rhaegal's back. Daenerys and Drogon beat him away, preview for next week's Game of Thrones confirms that Jon's dragon does survive. A distinctly green dragon flies across the screen above one of Daenerys' ships at the :19 second mark, while Sansa watches two dragons flying above Winterfell at :22 in the trailer.
It was during the previous Game of Thrones episode, "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" that Jon is a Targaryen, but it's an important moment nonetheless. And of course, with Jon have ridden Rhaegal once, it became pretty obvious that Jon would ride Rhaegal in to battle alongside Daenerys and Drogon in the Great War.
In the end, however, Drogon and Rhaegal are not the difference makers that many thought they would be. Drogon is almost killed by a swarm of wights and his dragonfire has absolutely no effect on the Night King. In fact, the dragon who is most effective during "The Long Night" is Viserion, sidelining Rhaegal early on and laying waste to Winterfell's walls with his blue flames. Had the Night King not been killed when he is, you best believe Viserion would have roasted Jon alive, too. But when the Night King dies, all those he has resurrected and made fight for him also fall down dead - including Viserion.
With the battle against the Night King and his army of the dead now over, those who survive "The Long Night" will turn their attention south. Game of Thrones is now just midway though its final season and there are still two dragons left alive. Both Drogon and Rhaegal will certainly need a little time to recuperate, but the dragons are sure to have big parts to play in the coming war against Cersei. Whether or not they survive that battle, though, only time will tell.
Game of Thrones season 8 continues Sunday, May 5 at 9:00pm on HBO.