WARNING: Spoilers

The Battle of Winterfell in Game of Thrones was just as dramatic and horrifying as we'd been warned it would be.

The only trouble was most of us couldn't tell what was going on unless there was a flaming sword or dragon nearby.

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Here's an actual screenshot from the episode:

The extreme darkness - mixed with a snowstorm and dragon ash for good measure - sparked a tidal wave of viewer complaints in the aftermath of episode three, The Long Night.

But the show's cinematographer, Fabian Wagner, has insisted it's not his fault.

He told TMZ the pixelation and dark colours fans saw on their TVs and mobile devices were due to HBO's compression of the episode, which leads to poorer visual quality and gets worse if it's being viewed on a streaming service with a weak connection or in a brightly-lit room.

Wagner, who also worked on the "Battle of the Bastards", pointed out Thrones had always been very dark and a very cinematic show and was supposed to be watched in a dark environment.

He added the crew intended for the lengthy battle scenes to appear claustrophobic and disorientating to make them realistic.

"We tried to give the viewers and fans a cool episode to watch," he said. "I know it wasn't too dark because I shot it."

Whether intentional or not, the episode's extreme darkness generated a strong response on Twitter.

The fourth episode of Game of Thrones will air next Monday on Foxtel at 11am and 8:30pm. Keep an eye out for news.com.au's recap and podcast analysing the epis ode.

In the meantime you can subscribe to our podcast, Winter is Here, on iTunes.