In a new interview with Variety, members of Image Engine, a VFX team that created many of Season 6’s gorgeous CGI images, revealed the show scaled back the violence and gore for one important scene: Ramsay’s death. Said visual effects supervisor Mat Krentz:
"“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."
The artists created a CG jaw for Ramsay, and, to use Variety’s words, “animated it to reveal the flesh ripping between Ramsay’s skin and gums.” Yeesh. The result was too gruesome even by the lofty standards of Game of Thrones. (We remind you at this juncture that the show once featured a man’s head getting popped like an overripe grape.) So they scaled back and used a 2D composite instead.
It’s ironic that, of all the scenes to scale back, it was the Bastard of Bolton’s demise. Ever since Ramsay was introduced in Season 3, everything about his scenes have been over the top in a way that makes even those inured to TV violence uncomfortable. One recapper dubbed the torture scenes with Theon “The Passion of the Greyjoy”. (A reference to Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, where the torturing of Jesus was seen by some reviewers as excessive.) By Season 6, it almost seemed like the show was rubbing our noses in his sadism. So for the production to look at his death scene and say, “that’s too much”? How bad must it have been?
Thankfully, we’ll never know. But Ramsay’s wasn’t the only death Imagine Engine was involved in. According to their stats, they were singlehandedly responsible for killing off 72 characters on screen. “22 by sword, 14 by slit throat, 1 by pike, and 1 by dogs.” Composition lead Edwin Holdsworth explained:
"Some shots were really specific, like someone getting their head smashed directly against a wall. To get the look right for that we filmed real meat being smashed. We used the same technique for shots where one character has their hand pulled apart. The best way to match the level of gore needed was to pull some meat apart, and use that in the comp. It all felt more realistic that way!"
Try not to think about that when you’re making dinner tonight. Instead, check out this lovely breakdown reel they made, including Sam’s Heaven-In-Westeros, the Citadel Library.