Warning : This article comprise monolithic spoiler for " engagement of the Bastards , " the 9th installment of the sixth season ofGame of Thrones . Proceed with caution . You may be attend forour full review of the episode . And check out all of ourin - depthGame of Thronesstorieswhile you ’re at it .
" The show does n’t always give hoi polloi the things they demand to be happy,“Game of Thronesshowrunner D.B. Weiss admittedin the post - show banterfor " engagement of the illegitimate child . "
Yeah , no kidding . For every triumph in Westeros , fate serves our pet fictitious character two or three deplorable spin – sudden demise being among the most popular . Life does n’t " work out " so much as shell back the suck . A " happy ending " is any clock time a character drift off to sleep without a neck combat injury . George R.R. Martin is a ruthless lord . Weiss and cobalt - author David Benioff have been happy to serve his wish .
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But not tonight . On " Battle of the Bastards , " everyone we bang taste fresh , sweet revenge .
reckon what you ’re looking for out ofGame of Thrones , Season 6 ’s penultimate episode may very well be the most satisfying , most vivid , perhaps straight - up BEST episode in the series ' account . " struggle of the mother fucker " was not an episode written to alley - oop the cast and bunch to their next peck ofEmmy Awards . There were few revelations that would station theGoTReddit boards into a tizzy . or else , " Battle of the by-blow " was 60 minutes of visceral action mechanism , momentary thoughtfulness , and monolithic payoff . A hotdog grind up Ramsay Bolton ’s face with its jaw was the cherry tree on top .
For the book , here ’s the argument for why " Battle of the love child " rank among the best of theGame of Thronesbest :
Daenerys unleashes her inner Targaryen… and the dragon trio
Since emerging from the fires in the center of Vaes Dothrak and lord over the Dothraki as a legit supreme drawing card , we ’ve been expect for Daenerys to front a force worthy of conquerer inherent aptitude . This workweek it happened , raining fire upon infest ships , and putting a pro - slavery resistance in its place . We saw what dragons could really do in Season 5 ’s " The Dance of Dragons , " but sweep across Meereen and blowing through wooden ships with ardour breather reach a raw epical scale .
Tyrion’s wildfire mention
A greatGame of Thronesthrusts us into straightaway conflicts while taking a deep breath to reflect on the vast history of the Seven Kingdoms . " conflict of the Bastards " balanced it perfectly . Tyrion ’s aside to Daenerys made that first battle all the more potent . There ’s always a risk of becoming the newfangled Mad King . " You ’re talking about ruin entire city , " he tells her . She brushes him off , and sets a new era in motion . And in trueThronesfashion , Tyrion raises a theory flag : why , yes , there’swildfirein the red keep under King ’s landing place . Just FYI .
Sansa and Jon bicker over war plans
Sansa is keeping secret and Jon does n’t have meter for it . They both want to defeat Ramsay at dawn . So they communicate as much as they can , because that ’s what factual loving human beings would do . The setting where Sansa and Jon bottom heads by the ardour recalls those thwarting early day at the Wall – maybe Season 1 ’s " Cripples , Bastards and Broken Things " – when all our characters could do was hope and tattle and squirm and beg .
Davos discovers Shireen’s immolated remains
Before the meat of the instalment , we get a little walk - and - talk between Daavos and Tormund . " Maybe that was our misunderstanding , believing in baron , " Daavos says . " Jon Snow is n’t a king , " his Wildling crony cue him . If that did n’t conjure up up enough emotions , Stannis ' former number two walks over to a pile of ash where he bring out Shireen ’s preferred toy dog . That look behind his eye ? Oh , yeah , that ’s age and twelvemonth of ire bubble to the open .
Rickon runs free – but not quickly enough.
Ramsay spent an entire time of year flay Theon Greyjoy and an arrow through a vernal Stark son ’s heart ( followed by half a dozen more ) had us swearing up a violent storm . Just in typesetter’s case the great unwashed did n’t hate Ramsay enough …
That. Battle. Dear. God.
you could have yourLord of the Rings - esque " Blackwater " and " watcher on the Wall , " or the otherworldly White Walker showdown in " Hardhome . " I ’ll take " Battle of the prick , " which surrender a young kind of larger-than-life action sequence : dingy , claustrophobic , wretched , chaotic , black , gut - wrenching , intestine - splitting , intestine - sculpture – the Hell on Earth that was this engagement . Medieval . There ’s been a handful of13th - one C battles staged on the fully grown screen ( one-half of them direct by Ridley Scott ) , but none of them comes close to the colliding horses and broadsword bloodshed that made clear : a Lord of Light is looking out for ol' Jon Snow . When Jon climbs his room out from under a nap of bodies – a scene pulled from both Rome ’s Battle of Cannae and the American Civil War , per D.B. Weiss – and takes to a mound of his own men ’s dead bodies , we grabbed for the wine quicker than Tyrion . Stressful . Grand . Perfect .
Knights of the Vale to the rescue
" Battle of the Bastards " went up against Game 7 of the NBA Finals , and I can promise you no basketball devotee wooted at LeBron James louder than theThrones - haunt did when Sansa and Littlefinger appeared from over a mound with a rescuing US Army .
Wun-Wun!
RIP , Wun - Wun . Hodor ’s death may be the most heartbreaking moment in the series ' history , but the magic ofThronesis that every character ’s decease stings .
Jon stands down, and Sansa takes revenge
This had to hap . Ramsay was not Jon Snow ’s nemesis . A sodomite in the path to balancing out the universe , sure enough , but not a name on his personal last list . He was Sansa ’s life to take , and she seized it with poetic justice . It ’s ill-defined how Ramsay wind up in a penitentiary with his hungering dogs , but Sansa was there to trigger the final act , watch Ramsay tremble for the first meter , and even snigger as the hounds champ aside at his flesh . An episode like " The Rains of Castamere " ( i.e. , the one with the Red Wedding ) tops " best of " list base on shock absorber value . " Battle of the Bastards " bring in a higher place in our book for reasonableness spelled out by Weiss : in a rarified representative , someone we loathe was on the receiving ending , and that was a win for someone we love . It exact six time of year to get here .
Questions! Always questions.
Now that she has the Iron Island fleet by take a leak a pact with Yara and Theon Greyjoy , will Daenerys and her multi - pronged army make it to Westeros before season ’s end ? Or is Euron her next target area ? With wildfire about to burst , will King ’s Landing ’s even be standing when they get in ? Ramsay Bolton is dead , so what will Jon and Sansa do next ? Or is this it for Sansa , whofits right in to our cockamamie death theoryafter this episode ? Will Littlefinger unveil his superior plan ? Can Jon get wind of it in time ? WHERE IS BRAN ? ?
" engagement of the Bastards " rally just enough without becoming a " theory episode . " One thing we have intercourse for certain : the Season 6 finale will be a doozy .
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