Game Of Thrones, The Dance Of Dragons, Shocks Audience

Episode nine of each series is traditionally the best of the series so viewers were expecting a treat.

But while the episode was praised for its dazzling, dragon-riding ending, it was the death of one particular character that drew the most the breaths.

Twitter was in turmoil after Stannis Baratheon did the only thing he could do to get the winter snow to thaw so he could move his army to Winterfell - allow his young daughter to be burned at the stake.

Game Of Thrones is known for surprise deaths in some truly imaginative ways, but the desperate screams of Shireen to her mum and dad to not let her burn at the stake as the flames rose seemed to hit a raw nerve with fans, with some thinking it was a death scene too far.

Tweeters labelled it “sick”, “harrowing” and “the worst death yet”.

And after a series that has featured a controversial rape scene, series creator DB Weiss has defended the last night’s “awful” moment.

He told Entertainment Weekly: "Horrible things [happen] to people in this show, and this is one that we thought was entirely justified.”

"It was set-up by the predicament that Stannis was in.

“It will be awful to see, but it’s supposed to be awful.”

He added: “Stannis has burned people before for the Red God but we didn't know them, so it doesn't matter.

“Yet viewers are outraged by the death of Shireen because we care about her. “

Here’s just a flavour of the reaction on Twitter last night: