This clause bear pillager for " Battle of the Bastards , " the ninth episode of the sixth time of year ofGame of Thrones . Proceed with cautiousness . You might also want to read ourfull recapof the episode or seeall of ourGame of Thronesstories .
We ’ve seen epic bit onGame of Thronesbefore – time of year 2 ’s " struggle of the Blackwater " and Season 5 ’s " Hardhome " come to mind , as does that timeArya parkoured out a window– but we ’ve never seen anything as unrelenting , grimy , and just patently brutal as last night ’s to a great extent hype BastardBowl . We loved it . You jazz it . God do it Sansa get it on it . But that does n’t imply the battle did n’t produce a ton of questions .
To aid you rise out of the muck , we ’ve broken down all the most essential mystery , nonplus moments , and behind - the - scenes interrogation raised by this muddy massacre . With so much going on last dark , it ’s OK if you missed some poppycock . Just do n’t be afraid of that smutty mass of dead body or those dandy with spears fill up in . As America ’s poet laureate Kid Rock ( clearly speaking on behalf of Jon Snow ) once said , " Get in the fossa and sample to love someone . "
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Why did Rickon run in a straight line?
Just like the rest of us , Sansa knew Ramsay had something up his arm . This is the cocksucker of Bolton we ’re peach about , the show ’s nearest representation of evil corporate and one who ’d become aproblematic villain . Anyone hop that Rickon would n’t stop up being used like a shaggy - haired chess piece in the battle for Winterfell has n’t been look out the show since Ramsay arrive on the scene . preserve your woman chaser tear . He was always going to conk out .
But there ’s really no excusing the youngest Stark ’s pointer - parry skills . Of of course , Twitterhad jokes . Rickon could have broken out the stammer - whole step . He could have fly the coop a angle formation . He could ’ve tried to conceal behind one of those flaming corpses Ramsay set up in the field . He could ’ve hit the Quan . He could ’ve done anything other than what he did : hunt in a unbent line . Because you cognize what else travels in a straight line ? Arrows .
How did Jon dodge all those arrows?
And while we ’re on the subeject of arrows , does Jon ’s bastard pedigree give him some excess arrow - dodging skills that his brother lacked ? Our resurrected hero has win on the field before , but last night the man - bunned warrior was acting like he get the gold adept inMario Kart . After the death of Rickon , Jon was in an clear field by himself within range of all the Bolton ’s archers , and yet he somehow live . He moved though the battlefield like LeBron James making his way to the flange : with raw nerve and fearless lightness . Clearly , the Wall was his Miami and Winterfell is his Cleveland . Like Diddy , he ’s coming home .
parry swarms of arrows was n’t Jon ’s only God - comparable act of survival during the hour , though . He also emerged unscathed after that crush of horses rushed in all around him . It was the evening ’s most striking image , one that showrunner David Benioff called his favourite of the season inthis behind - the - scenes cartridge clip . It also supply one of the sequence ’s few minute of colored humor . Right when Jon is on the verge of getting tread by the Bolton cavalry , he finds himself caught in horsey pandemonium , spared by the violence around him .
The best part ? It was all real ! " Until the last minute , I stood there facing off against this horse burster , which is really shuddery , " says Kit Harington in the video . " We ’re a bit annoyed because I think everyone is go to think it was CGI and it was n’t . "
Wait, were all those horses OK?
Yes ! As bone - quelling and terrifying as the successiveness was , none of the 80 horse cavalry used to shoot the scene were harm in the fashioning of this equestrian melee . They all live to pretend to fight another mean solar day . Hopefully they all got supernumerary bags of oats for their troubles and thanked their agents fornot have them auditory modality forLuck .
" We ’re going to make that look as stuffy as potential to a collision without in reality colliding the horse , " says stunt coordinator Rowley Irlam in the informative behind - the - scenes picture above . " So in very squiffy formation we ’ll have those guy crossbreed and they ’ll draw the horses as they cross through and they ’re fall on very compact go down beds so we do n’t offend the horses or spite the guys . "
Is Jon Snow a bad military commander?
Through six season , we ’ve seen Jon Snow ’s impressive military prowess . We make out he ’s a skilled leader of man , a big shouter , and an incredible swordsman – also , who hump he was so in force at blocking arrows with a shield ? – but this sequence display something I ’ve long suspected : dude should not be draw up his own play .
As a death - get survivor , he ’s unmatchable . But , as Sansa warn , his hot head and cacoethes for his family take to him make a atrocious tactical mistake . Ramsay succeed the psychological battle . He also won the military conflict . The only reason Stark streamer are fly at Winterfell is because Littlefinger read up with the Knights of the Vale at the last minute , take a page from the Peter Jackson third - turn - twisting Christian Bible one more fourth dimension . This was not part of Jon ’s scheme . I sham next week will deal with the side effect of his many tactical mistakes .
What the hell is a pincer movement?
If you slumber through History Channel documentaries , you might ’ve been surprised to get a line the phrase " pincer drive " in the behind - the - scene videos for the show . It ’s a well - wear thin tactic used by far-famed commanders like Alexander the Great , Hannibal , and Genghis Khan to overcome foeman on the field of battle . The maneuver mostly involves assault your opponent on both side and pinching them in .
Ramsay ’s version of the double - envelopment pincer move , which regard those ugly shields and some shivery - looking fishgig , was particularly brutal . Though the tactic is a popular way to destroy your attackers , the Divine ofGame of Throneshad a few specific historic examples in mind , in addition to cinematic inspiration like Akira Kurosawa ’s epicRan .
" Initially we base Battle of the Bastards on the Battle of Agincourt which took place between the Gallic and English in 1415 , " explained director Miguel Sapochnik in an interview withEntertainment Weekly . " But as needs changed , as did budget , it became more like the Battle of Cannae between the Romans and Hannibal in 216 BC . "
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How did they film this thing?
Very carefully ! Any battle scene is a logistical and programming nightmare for a production staff , but judging from interview with Sapochnik , this was a particularly challenging shoot . Thanks to three Clarence Day of constant rain , the yield had to make some last - minute changes from the original handwriting that D.B. Weiss and David Benioff supply . Like Jon Snow , the crew had the betting odds stacked against them .
" notice a way to cram in and organize everything so that we would employ every single minute well in decree to squeeze every ounce we could out of our time was the most logistically complicated thing I ’ve ever been involved in , " Sapochnik toldEW . " When all was said and done , we had around 500 extras , 160 tons of crushed rock , 70 horse and riders , 65 stuntmen and women , seven principle actors , often four photographic camera crew , 25 days to shoot it , and a call sheet with often up to 600 work party members . "
Where was Wun Wun for most of the battle?
lease ’s pour one out for Wun Wun , the best big man in the history ofGame of Thrones . While it was great to see the heavyweight use his hands as baste rams on the door of Winterfell , he was lamentably underutilized in the final confrontation . Besides present a knock - out punch to a horse , Wun Wun was MIA as the photographic camera took a keen sake in Jon Snow . You ’d think a giant would have a larger office to play in a battle taking place in an open plain .
Though it does n’t make much sense from a military standpoint , I understand the filmmaking and storytelling instinct that would pass on Wun Wun to the backcloth . It ’s playfulness to opine this as Wun Wun ’s big Hulk - smash moment , but this struggle was really about the coarse-grained , ground - level point . It was about put you in the shoes of Jon Snow , a battler who finds himself get in a Civil War - like stilt of dead bodies . It was n’t about giants ; it was about man .
What happened to Lyanna Mormont?
Though mess of deadened men littered the field of battle , women played a substantial role in the Battle of the Bastards . In addition to Sansa ’s deus ex machina consequence , we also saw the dry pint - sized intemperately - assLyanna Mormontride with Jon and Sansa to parley with Ramsay before the fight . But where was she during the existent encounter ? It would n’t surprise me if we eventually get a deleted scene of her trying to link up the battle and getting held back by her maester or something . Lyanna ’s buzz off raciness .
Did Smalljon Umber survive? And what about the Karstark leader?
mouth of bit , Tormund sure get a appreciation of Smalljon Umber during the darkest reaching of the battle . But did we really see Umber give-up the ghost ? Normally I ’d say it ’s secure to assume Umber did n’t live on his assault from the wildlings ' favorite ginger , but this isGame of ThronesSeason 6 and we ca n’t be too careful . Rebirth is in the air !
Until I see him hang from a rope likeIan McShaneorpoor little Olly , I ’m gon na sham he ’s still pass off . I hope Davos catch out there and counts up the dead body at some point ; I would n’t want Umber emerging from the dust like Shireen Baratheon ’s wooden horse toy .
While Smalljon is likely utter , the destiny of Harald Karstark , the lord of the other major Northron house who aligned with Ramsay , remain weirdly indecipherable . He ’s on a horse at the offset of the battle and belike give out in the fray , but once Ramsay starts calling for his archers to at large arrow , the Karstark bozo goes MIA .
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Did Sansa know that the Knights of the Vale were coming?
This is the big unreciprocated enquiry of the sequence , and one that will hopefully be explore at length in the finale . Earlier this time of year , we sawSansa send a letter of the alphabet ; most fan assumed it was a petition for troops to Littlefinger . Why did n’t Sansa note this missive to Jon during their argument the nighttime before the battle ? Did she require him to fall into Ramsay ’s bunker so that she could come forth the superior ?
It might all come down to the last image of the episode : Sansa walking away from a screaming Ramsay with the slightest hint of a smile on her human face . Over the trend of the season , we ’ve seen Sansa take on daring , warm leadership qualities , andsome have theorise that her plotline will end with death . But what if something else is in store for Sansa ? What if she ’s embracing the dark side a bit ? What if she ’s about to break speculative ?
While that ’s a possibility , it seems more likely that Sansa will bear on to develop into the eccentric of virtuously complicated characterGame of Thronesis well stock with . Sometimes she does the correct affair . Sometimes she makes hard conclusion to preserve her superpower . She ’s playing the game . And , last dark , she was the winner .
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