Melisandre Comes Through With Fiery Saves
Winterfell already has two dragons on their side, but it's Melisandre who provides the firepower when they really need it. Because Game of Thrones respects a woman who knows how to make an entrance, Melisandre returns to Winterfell RIGHT before the battle begins. How she manages to miss the wights coming from the same direction, we don't know, but more importantly, we're ignoring it. She asks Jorah to instruct the Dothraki to lift their swords, and when they do, she calls out a spell that sets the scores of Dothraki blades aflame. Since everyone else is totally OK using the Dothraki as zombie fodder, it's nice to see someone try to give them an actual fighting chance!
Melisandre heads into the castle for safety, and I have to admit, I love how she really doesn't give a f*ck that several people want her dead. She knows they're going to let her in the castle regardless, because it's dangerous outside the keep and they're too kind to let anything happen to her. She has just been hanging around, waiting for the right time to save their asses, and doesn't even bother with any kind of explanation. What a queen.
In the thick of the battle, the soldiers begin falling back when it's obvious that the wights are gaining ground. The plan is for the wights to fall behind a trench and signal Daenerys and Jon to light the wooden spikes on fire and trap them. Unfortunately, the dragon riders are trapped in a windstorm and don't catch the signal, so Melisandre (literally) works her magic once again to light the trench herself. She treks out onto the battlefield and lays her hand on a spike, frantically reciting prayers to get the bad boys to light up. The wights are a hair too close for comfort when the fire starts up, but it still works, and you can't help but wonder why someone didn't just grab a torch and light it the old-fashioned way. But I digress!
Melisandre's last act mainly involves giving Arya a pep talk, but it's an awesome moment that highlights a facet of the Red Witch's personality that you can't help but respect. When Arya says that she remembers her, they're both referring to a conversation they had when Melisandre was taking Gendry captive. It's a painful memory for Arya and a bad look for Melisandre, who used her magic and Gendry's blood to assassinate King Renly. But the older woman doesn't apologise for her actions or try to explain them. She owns up to her actions and moves past them, because they truly don't matter at that moment. Everything Melisandre does is for a greater purpose, and even though her actions can be incredibly f*cked up, she doesn't back down from them. And good thing she doesn't, because it all comes together in this very battle.
Her conversation with Arya inspires the young woman to kill the Night King, and Melisandre finally fulfils her purpose. Just before the dawn, like she told Daavos, the witch removes her magic antiageing amulet and walks off into the snow, quickly disintegrating out of old age. It's a perfectly dramatic way for her to go out.