Game Of Thrones: 12 Ups And 4 Downs From Season 6

And lo, Game of Thrones is over for another year. The ship has sailed. The ash has settled. The watch has ended. The door has closed.

*Sob*

The Long Night is about to begin: the painful nine months we have to spend waiting for the next season, which gets more excruciating with each passing year. Thankfully, Season 6 left us with plenty to discuss in the meantime.

Heading into its sixth year, Thrones looked vulnerable for the first time. Although Season 5 won the show a record number of Emmys, it was generally considered a weaker season, and this year saw it almost completely moving beyond George R.R. Martin's books.

While a continuation of that slight dip would've been understandable, instead showrunners Dan Weiss and David Benioff turned the tables: the women came to the fore, the good guys started winning, the were huge moments spread throughout the entire season, and the whole thing was incredibly fan-pleasing.

In moving away from the books, they cast off the shackles and started hurtling towards the endgame. It was exciting, emotional, and epic. As ever, it wasn't a perfect season, with a few storylines that didn't quite hit their mark, but for their most part it all worked, turning Season 6 into one of the best seasons of the show to date.