He might be one of the most iconic villains in all of “Game of Thrones” history (with one of the worst character endings), which says a lot for someone who said so little. With those pearl blue peepers and a head shaped like a frozen raisin, The Night King was a monstrous force that had audiences in terror whenever he appeared on screen, which explains why it demanded twice the acting power in bringing him to life or death or whatever he is.

Only appearing in a mere 10 episodes of the entire series, the Night King debuted in Season 4, Episode 4, “Oathkeeper” and was played initially by Richard Brake. While we’re sure he’s a lovely guy behind all the make-up, Brake made a career for himself playing some real bad guys. He was responsible for the death of Martha and Thomas Wayne when he played Joe Chill in “Batman Begins,” and he got into a heated debate with Migs Mayfield (Bill Burr) as Valin Hess, all for the good of the Empire, on “The Mandalorian.”

Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts, Brake had to pass his crown onto someone else when he was unable to return for Season 6 due to scheduling conflicts. Instead, the task was left to stuntman Vladimir “Furdo” Furdik for the Night King’s last march, until Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) had a stab at bringing him down. What’s interesting is the two very opposing views the two stars had when their character finally made their shocking and, to this day, still very divisive exit.

After his time as the Night King from Season 6 to 8 on “Game of Thrones,” Vladimir Furdik almost mourned the loss of the show’s big bad. Speaking to Vulture about the character, the stuntman who had worked on films like Dwayne Johnson’s “Hercules” as well as “Thor: The Dark World” almost seemed at a loss parting ways from the biggest nightmare of the Seven Kingdoms. “For me, when he died on the TV, I said, ‘Now I am free.’ I can say anything on the street. But when I saw how she killed him, I had many different feelings inside. Me as myself, I said, ‘No, no, why! Don’t kill him!’ I’d like to stop her. ‘Don’t, don’t kill him! He’s not so bad.'”

Meanwhile, In the eyes of Richard Brake, it was something that had to be done. Brake believes that after the Night King’s lengthy timeline of raising armies of the dead and putting the fear of all the gods in Jon Snow (Kit Harington), it was the perfect choice to have an unlikely individual kill him. Arya Stark taking down him down left fans speechless and divided with the outcome, but Brake was overjoyed with how it all played out. “That was to me one of the highlights of that season,” he told NME. “And for the whole series, the way they developed her character from this little girl who watches her father get murdered, into this incredible assassin, who saves the world. To me that was the most genius thing of the whole series.”