Game of Thrones‘ Beric Dondarrion on Why His Connection to Jon Snow Matters

Warning: This post contains spoilers for season seven of Game of Thrones.

Beric Dondarrion may have survived the battle beyond the Wall in Sunday’s episode of Game of Thrones, but with the death of his Red Priest Thoros of Myr, he’s officially on his last life.

Beric was resurrected six different times by Thoros after originally being killed by the Mountain. But although he still believes he has a greater purpose to fulfill, Richard Dormer — who plays Beric — says his character is ready to go. “I think he’s relieved, in a sense,” he told HBO’s Making Game of Thrones blog. “He knows now that he’s mortal, and that this last life has to count for something. He’s relieved it’ll finally be over.”

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Dormer also spoke about why Beric’s faith in the Lord of Light gives him an affinity with Jon Snow.

“He needs something to believe in, and the Lord of Light is just the ticket. It’s also proven to be real ‒ otherwise how does he come back from the dead? It’s not blind faith. This power is real,” he explained. “The only power that can resurrect is the Lord of Light; he realizes Jon has a special purpose, because he also has been kept alive. Beric’s thinking, ‘I better look out for this guy, because he has a big role to play in this war.'”

The finale of Game of Thrones‘ seventh season airs Aug. 27 at 9 p.m. on HBO.