Every battle sequence on Game of Thrones, ranked worst to best
1. BATTLE OF THE BASTARDS (“Battle of the Bastards,” Episode 609)
The Major Players: Jon Snow, Sansa Stark, Ramsay Bolton, Tormund Giantsbane, Ser Davos Seaworth, Littlefinger, Rickon Stark, Wun Wun, Lord Harald Karstark, Lord Smalljon Umber.
Deaths: Rickon, Shaggydog, Ramsay Bolton, Wun Wun, Lord Harald Karstark, Lord Smalljon Umber.
The Battle: Meeting on an open field just outside of Winterfell, the Stark army of approximately 3,000 soldiers is badly outnumbered by Ramsay Bolton’s combined ranks of 6,000 men-at-arms. Jon Snow’s force is a hodgepodge of Stark soldiers, small Northern houses and the decimated Wilding army. The situation is desperate.
Ramsay manages to bait Jon by killing the captive Rickon Stark, and the Stark forces end up charging into a Bolton trap. Encircled, it looks as if the Stark army will be wiped out until Lady Sansa comes to the rescue, accompanied by Littlefinger and the powerful Knights of the Vale, who crush the spent and over-committed Bolton forces from the rear.
Importance: Coming late in the War of the Five Kings, the superbly shot and satisfying Battle of the Bastards receives our highest ranking. Jon Snow, Sansa Stark and their allied forces (including Littlefinger’s Knights of the Vale) defeat Lord Ramsay Bolton’s army to retake Winterfell, allowing them to unite the North against the impending White Walker threat.
Packed with powerful character moments now indelibly stamped in our memories, the Battle of the Bastards and its aftermath generated profound consequences that still echo through Game of Thrones leading into season 8. With House Stark restored, Jon became King in the North and an established leader of men, while the newly empowered Lady of Winterfell Sansa Stark brokered her own deal with Littlefinger.
The episode delivers a large number of powerful moments, including Ramsay’s murder of Rickon (serpentine, Rickon, serpentine!), Jon Snow facing down a charge of heavy horse and later being trampled by his own men, and Sansa feeding Ramsay to his own starving dogs. We also see Jon fail as a field general, allowing himself to be emotionally owned by the masterfully manipulative Ramsay and leading his outnumbered forces into a suicidal charge straight at the more more numerous Boltons.
Cinematics: This battle is directed by the brilliant action maestro Miguel Sapochnik, who can weave many-layered character stories inside a cyclone of gorgeous, bloody mayhem. Sapochnik also gives weight to the reflective prelude in the Stark camp the night before the fight, and during the pre-battle summit.
Quote: “You’re going to die tomorrow, Lord Bolton. Sleep well.” (Sansa Stark)
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