Spoilers for season six of Game of Thrones here, so if you aren’t caught up yet… well, you know the drill.

If I only had two words to describe the last season of Game of Thrones, I would use the term “delayed catharsis.” After five years of watching characters we love get tortured, defeated, or just plain killed off, while horrible characters got away with murder (quite literally), season six of the HBO series finally gave fans some of what we’ve been wanting to see for years: our good guys being victorious, and bad guys getting what’s been coming to them.

None of these moments were more enjoyable than seeing all around horrible person Ramsay Bolton, the most despised torturer and rapist in all of Westeros, finally get his long, long deserved comeuppance as he gets eaten by his own pack of starving dogs. After what he did to Sansa and Reek Theon, I hope it doesn’t make me a sadist for saying that scene in question released endorphines in my brain usually associated with sex or eating chocalate. (Sorry Iwan Rheon. I’m sure you’re lovely in real life, but your character was the worst).

Now we’ve learned, thanks to a story in Variety (via The AV Club) that the effects house which created many of the show’s digital effects actually had to tone down Ramsay’s whole “death by doggie” scene. Apparently, it was originally way more graphic than what we saw in the final episode. According to visual effects supervisor Mat Krentz from Imagine Engine, “they shot the scene with multiple takes. They did a pass of the dog on green screen, then Ramsay on green screen, and then we also had a background plate, which we put together.” Apparently, a Ramsay jawbone was animated so we could see the actual separation of face from skull. Ouch.

Ultimately, it was all decided to be far too graphic for the show, and a 2D composite was used instead. Anyone else in favor of a “Ramsay’s More Gory Death Scene” special edition version? (I’ll sign that petition if someone makes one). Of course, Ramsay’s death wasn’t the only one Imagine Engine helped enhance. About 72 of season six’s deaths were given a digital polish by the company, which included 22 deaths via sword, 14 by throat slitting, one by pike, then Ramsay’s own celebrated demise. You can see the company’s Game of Thrones VFX reel down below.

Should Ramsay Bolton’s death scene been even gorier than what we saw? Or was it just gruesome enough? Let us know what you think down below in the comments.

Image: HBO