Your Game of Thrones Favorites Have the Most Emotional Tributes to the Show You Never Wanted to Leave

Before the final episode of Game of Thrones aired—and the debates poured in online— the cast who had spent years with their fellow citizens of Westeros bid farewell to each other, to their fans, and to the characters they inhabited for so many years.

“I grew up with these people,” Maisie Williams told BBC Radio 1. “It’s like cutting an arm off.” The actress who played the master shape-shifter, Arya Stark, didn’t say goodbye on social media, but instead posted a funny image in her Instagram Stories. In the story, captured in the tweet below, she posted an image of Dora the Explorer heading off to find whatever is “west of Westeros,” just like Arya.

Sophie Turner, who spent eight seasons as Sansa Stark, posted a cast photo and thanked her character “for teaching [her] resilience, bravery and what true strength really is.”

Emilia Clarke, the Mother of Dragons, bid farewell to fans before she flew off into the sunset. In the caption to her behind-the-scenes photos, she wrote, “Dear kind magical fans, I owe you so much thanks, for your steady gaze at what we’ve made and what I’ve done with a character that was already in the hearts of many before I slipped on the platinum wig of dreams. Without you there is no us.”

More cast members bid farewell on Instagram, too, including the Lannister twins Cersei (Lena Headey) and Jamie (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau,) Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson,) and Samwell Tarly (John Bradley.)