Battle of the Bastards (episode)

"Battle of the Bastards" is the ninth episode of the sixth season of Game of Thrones. It is the fifty-ninth episode of the series overall. It premiered on June 19, 2016. It was written by David Benioff & D.B. Weiss and directed by Miguel Sapochnik.

Plot
As the Starks prepare to fight, Davos loses something dear. Ramsay plays a game. Daenerys faces a choice.

In Meereen
Daenerys and Tyrion discuss a plan to deal with the Slaver fleet. Dany wants to slaughter their army but Tyrion suggests talking to the masters offering terms of surrender. Daenerys, Tyrion, Missandei and Grey Worm meet with the masters: Razdal mo Eraz of Yunkai, Belicho Paenymion of Volantis, and Yezzan zo Qaggaz of Astapor. They tell Dany that they will let her and Tyrion leave the city if they hand over the Unsullied and Missandei to be resold into slavery, and her dragons to be slaughtered. She tells them that she had agreed to meet with them as she was offering them a chance to surrender as Drogon flies up to meet them. She rides Drogon into the bay as Rhaegal and Viserion emerge from a pyramid to join them and they begin to burn the attacking fleet. Meanwhile, Daario arrives at Meereen with a large Dothraki horde in tow to subdue the Sons of the Harpy. The Masters' soldiers abandon them, and Tyrion gives an ultimatum that one of the three masters must die, as punishment for their disobedience. Yezzan, the lowest of the three is immediately scapegoated by the other two for not being highborn. Grey Worm chooses to kill Razdal and Belicho instead with one slash of his dagger. Tyrion tells Yezzan to share what he had seen and what Daenerys is capable of.

Later, Dany and Tyrion meet with Theon and Yara who have arrived in the city. They offer Dany their fleet of a hundred manned ships if she will help them deal with Euron and support their claim to the Iron Islands. Tyrion is wary of Theon of what he saw of him at Winterfell and of his crimes against the Starks but Theon insists that he has paid for what he has done. Daenerys agrees to assist them if the ironborn will cease all pillaging in the future, which Yara reluctantly accepts.

In the North (Battle of the Bastards)
Jon, Sansa, Tormund, and Davos meet with Ramsay and Smalljon Umber before the battle. Ramsay offers surrender terms saying he will pardon Jon for breaking his Night's Watch vows if he will hand Sansa over. Jon offers Ramsay a chance to settle their dispute in one-on-one combat, which Ramsay refuses. Jon notes that Ramsay's men may not want to fight for him if he will not fight for them, but in response, Ramsay threatens Rickon. Jon and Sansa are wary of whether Ramsay actually has their brother to which Umber throws out Shaggydog's head as proof. Sansa refuses the terms of surrender and tells Ramsay he will die the following day before riding off.

After a meeting where Jon discusses the battle plan with Tormund and Davos, Sansa criticises Jon for attacking too early, insisting that they could have gathered more men. Jon however retorts that this is the largest army they could possibly gather. Then, Sansa, knowing Ramsay the best, warns Jon of his cunning and devious nature, but Jon assures her that he has faced worse. In the end, he promises to protect Sansa from Ramsay, to which she cynically replies that no one can keep anyone safe.

In the camp, Davos and Tormund discuss their time serving both Stannis and Mance respectively, with both acknowledging that they may have been serving the wrong king. After parting ways, Tormund goes to drink and Davos takes a walk. As the sun rises, he comes across the pyre on which Shireen Baratheon was sacrificed, and in the remains, finds the wooden stag he carved and gave to her the last time they were together. He finally realizes how she died. Meanwhile, Jon meets with Melisandre and orders to her not to bring him back if he should fall in the battle. Melisandre contends that she will try anyway, and that it was not her gift that has brought Jon back but the Lord of Light's and that only the Lord of Light can decide Jon's fate.The armies gather the following morning as Ramsay brings out Rickon. After menacingly raising a knife, he cuts Rickon's bonds and tells him that they are playing a game. The only rule is to run towards Jon's army. As he does so, Ramsay brings out a bow. Jon hastily rides out on a horse to try to save Rickon as Ramsay fires arrows at him. Ramsay appears to have no intention of hitting Rickon with his first shots but, just as Jon approaches his brother, Rickon is struck in the back with an arrow and killed. With Jon now defenseless in the middle of the battlefield, Bolton archers fire volleys of arrows in his direction with the Bolton cavalry charging at him as well. The Stark cavalry begin their charge to meet the Bolton cavalry, narrowly saving Jon from being trampled, as Davos eventually sends the archers forward realising that they are of more use in the middle of the battlefield. The Bolton soldiers eventually surround the Stark forces in a pincer formation as Smalljon leads a group of soldiers over a large pile of dead bodies to attack them from behind. Whilst Wun Wun is able to kill a few Bolton soldiers, Tormund panics and sends the wildlings backwards towards the hill. Jon is almost trampled by the wildlings, nearly suffocating under a pile of men crawling on top of him, but is able to eventually get back to his feet. As it appears the Stark forces are about to lose in a rout, a horn sounds out in the distance as Sansa and Littlefinger arrive with the Knights of the Vale waving flags of the Arryn sigil. On horseback, they begin to cut down the Bolton soldiers. Smalljon, momentarily distracted by the arrival of the Arryn forces, is killed by Tormund who bites out his foe's throat and stabs him several times. As Ramsay sees his soldiers being cut down, he decides to retreat inside Winterfell, but Jon, Wun Wun and Tormund begin to give chase. One of the Bolton soldiers insists the battle is lost but Ramsay assures him they still have Winterfell, and the Stark Army is too weak for a siege (despite the Vale reinforcements). Wun Wun however is able to break down Winterfell's gates allowing wildling archers to pour into the castle. The giant is nevertheless overwhelmed by arrows and finally killed by one of Ramsay's. Despite the defeat of his army, he taunts Jon, saying he has reconsidered the option of one-on-one combat. As Jon approaches, he takes shots at him with his bow, all blocked by a Mormont shield Jon picked up from the ground, until Jon overwhelms him and begins to beat him almost to death. He stops himself after realising that Sansa has more right to kill him than he does.

The Bolton banners on Winterfell are torn down and Stark Banners raised. Jon orders Rickon's body to be buried next to his father in the crypts as Sansa asks him where he is keeping Ramsay prisoner. Sansa goes to visit Ramsay in his cell. He goads her by telling her how she will never be rid of him because he is "part of [her] now," then realizes Sansa has released his own starving hounds on him. At first Ramsay is in denial, claiming that his dogs are loyal, even ordering them to heel, but they begin to tear him apart as Sansa walks away, darkly smirking.

First

 * Bolton General

Deaths

 * Belicho Paenymion
 * Razdal mo Eraz
 * Rickon Stark
 * Lord Smalljon Umber
 * Wun Weg Wun Dar Wun
 * Bolton General
 * Lord Ramsay Bolton

Cast
Starring
 * Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister
 * Kit Harington as Jon Snow
 * Emilia Clarke as Queen Daenerys Targaryen
 * Liam Cunningham as Ser Davos Seaworth
 * Sophie Turner as Lady Sansa Stark
 * Aidan Gillen as Lord Petyr Baelish
 * Carice van Houten as Melisandre
 * Nathalie Emmanuel as Missandei
 * Kristofer Hivju as Tormund Giantsbane
 * Iwan Rheon as Lord Ramsay Bolton
 * Alfie Allen as Theon Greyjoy
 * Michiel Huisman as Daario Naharis

Guest Starring
 * Jacob Anderson as Grey Worm
 * Gemma Whelan as Princess Yara Greyjoy
 * Ian Whyte as Wun Wun
 * Enzo Cilenti as Yezzan zo Qaggaz
 * Paul Rattray as Lord Harald Karstark
 * Dean S. Jagger as Lord Smalljon Umber
 * Art Parkinson as Rickon Stark
 * Bella Ramsey as Lady Lyanna Mormont
 * George Georgiou as Razdal mo Eraz
 * Eddie Jackson as Belicho Paenymion
 * Rory Mullen as Captain of the Bolton archers
 * Mark Tankersley as a Bolton general
 * David Birkbeck
 * Paul Garrett

Cast notes

 * 12 of 28 starring cast members appear in this episode.
 * Starring cast members Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister), Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister), Natalie Dormer (Margaery Tyrell), Indira Varma (Ellaria Sand), Rory McCann (Sandor Clegane), Maisie Williams (Arya Stark), Conleth Hill (Varys), John Bradley (Samwell Tarly), Dean-Charles Chapman (Tommen Baratheon), Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth), Jerome Flynn (Bronn), Isaac Hempstead-Wright (Bran Stark), Hannah Murray (Gilly), Jonathan Pryce (High Sparrow), Tom Wlaschiha (Jaqen H'ghar), and Iain Glen (Jorah Mormont) are not credited and do not appear in this episode.
 * Kit Harington is credited before Emilia Clarke when he was credited after her when they last appeared together in "The Door" and the entirety of the series before.
 * Liam Cunningham and Sophie Turner are credited before Aidan Gillen and Carice van Houten, respectively as the former were credited after the latter when they last appeared together in "The Door" and the entirely of this season.
 * This episode is the final appearance of starring cast member Iwan Rheon (Ramsay Bolton) due to the death of his character.

General

 * This episode focuses on only two storylines: the North and Meereen. The storylines involving Bran north of the wall, Arya Stark, Sam and Gilly, Dorne, The Wall, King's Landing, The Riverlands, and the Iron Islands do not appear in this episode. Yara and Theon's story has now merged with Daenerys' while the Vale storyline has now merged with the Northern arc.
 * The episode title refers to the showdown between Jon Snow and Ramsay Bolton, the eponymous bastards who clash in battle for control of Winterfell and the North.
 * According to many cast and crew members, such as director Miguel Sapochnik, the "Battle of the Bastards" was jokingly referred to by the acronym "BOB" on-set.
 * With a 60 minute runtime, this is one of the longest episodes in the TV series.
 * Like many major battles that have been shown on screen, the two featured in this episode are decided by a third party which came to the surprise of at least one of the fighting parties, usually the winning one (and supposedly the audience), e.g. at the Battle of the Blackwater, where Loras Tyrell joined his forces with the Lannister’s against Stannis Baratheon, who later unexpectedly aids the Night’s Watch against Mance Rayder’s army.

In the North

 * The production team was very excited that the "Battle of the Bastards" featured in this episode is the largest on-screen battle they have ever been able to depict, due to a significantly increased budget from HBO over the years - in contrast with how they originally intended to depict the Battle of the Green Fork on-screen in Season 1, but later found that they simply didn't have the budget at the time so they had to leave its events off-screen. Even the budget for Season 2 averaged about $6 million per episode, and the showrunners infamously had to beg HBO for an additional $2 million to complete the Battle of the Blackwater sequence that year. While exact budget figures for Season 6 are unclear, it is known that the budget now averaged about $10 million per episode - $100 million for a 10 episode season. Of course, the budget probably wasn't evenly distributed across the whole season, and a considerable amount was spent realizing the Battle of the Bastards.
 * Director Miguel Sapochnik said of filming such a large-scale battle for the TV series: "David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] wanted to do a thing of spectacle, a strategic pitchfield battle they hadn't had the resources to do back in season 1 or 2. I was particularly interested in depicting both the horror of war and the role of luck in battle."
 * Miguel Sapochnik previously directed Season 5's "Hardhome", featuring the Massacre at Hardhome sequence, which is why the showrunners felt confident putting him in charge of such a major battle sequence in this episode.
 * The entire Battle of the Bastards sequence took 25 days to film (including not just the fight scenes but all major character interactions in that subplot). Most hour-long TV drama episodes only take about 10-12 days to film one entire episode. Four separate camera crews were needed.
 * The Battle of the Bastards required 600 crewmembers to film (from cameramen to props masters to the costumes department), 500 extras, and 25 professional stuntmen (for close-up shots).
 * Another element that the production team was very happy about is that this is the first battle in the TV series which actually depicts cavalry columns charging on-screen (previously they were only mentioned as occurring off-screen). Using large numbers of Horses to film cavalry charges is very expensive, particularly for TV shows instead of feature films. For filming the Battle of the Bastards, no less than 70 horses were used on-location: they didn't simply use only a dozen horses then digitally double them up seven times over - 70 live horses actually appear on-screen. Another complication is that heavy rains in Northern Ireland made the ground at the filming site too muddy to charge on, so the production team had to lay about 160 tons of gravel over the field to give the horses some traction.
 * During the melee sequence in the first phase of the battle, the camera follows Jon Snow around through the chaos of the battle in a tracking shot that lasts for an uninterrupted 60 seconds (though there are a few split-second moments when horses run in front of the camera which may have been used to hide shifts between different takes).
 * In the Inside the Episode featurette, the showrunners state that one of the visual cues they incorporated into the episode was taken from the real-life Battle of Cannae between the Roman Republic and the Carthaginians under Hannibal. In that battle, Hannibal's smaller army totally surrounded the slower Roman heavy infantry, until thousands of Roman soldiers were standing in a giant circle literally being crushed into each other, shoulder to shoulder: the men on the edges being killed by enemy spears, while the men in the middle were totally trapped by the great press of the human wall and unable to move. Similarly, when the Stark forces are surrounded by the Bolton shield wall in this episode, they are totally crushed against each other, and Jon has to struggle to fight his way up just to breathe.
 * The Romans at Cannae were caught in a classic double envelopment. Jon Snow himself mentions this maneuver by name in the episode, and indeed his plan was similar to Hannibal's: half the center of their line make a feigned retreat to allow their flanks to circle around the enemy's sides (though it became a common goal for tacticians ever since Hannibal). Jon hoped to anger Ramsay enough to attack him head on to lure him into this. As the episode demonstrates, Jon doesn't understand that Ramsay has a great low cunning when it comes to laying traps for other people, and Ramsay ends up luring Jon's army into a double envelopment by killing Rickon in front of him.
 * Ramsay Bolton never actually fights with a sword in the entire battle - he only uses a bow and arrow to toy with his enemies. This is in line with a point from the novels: Ramsay has absolutely no military training, and isn't actually a proficient swordsman. He isn't a coward, and he will brazenly charge at enemies, but he has no formal technique, and cannot hope to compare to a formally trained swordsman like Jon Snow. In the novels, Stannis points out that all Ramsay does is sadistically torture prisoners who cannot possibly fight back against him - he's never actually fought anyone in direct combat. Roose comments that Ramsay lacks form or finesse, wields his sword like a meat cleaver; it is because Reek (the original) was his only tutor, and Reek himself was never trained at arms.
 * The TV show invented a scene in Season 4 of Ramsay fighting off a raid by Yara's ironborn on the Dreadfort, bare-chested and wielding daggers, but even this was more of a surprise raid than formal combat, and his guards outnumbered her small raiding force.
 * In the "Inside the Episode" featurette, the showrunners explain a major point about Ramsay Bolton's reactions from when the army of the Vale shows up onwards: Ramsay cannot mentally process that he is losing. This explains his bizarre lack of fear up until almost the moment of his death: he is so used to sadistically torturing people he has complete control over in his dungeons that when a situation finally goes beyond his control, he cannot mentally accept the reality of what is happening - instead he just continues to hold on to the confidence that somehow, he'll be able to employ cunning and tricks to get out of this, until it becomes an outright break with reality:
 * According to Dan Weiss in the Inside the Episode featurette, the original draft of the episode had Jon's final confrontation with Ramsay occur on the battlefield, once he penetrated to the very rear of the Bolton lines where Ramsay was. In subsequent drafts they decided that it had more dramatic resonance for Jon to actually confront (and then pummel) Ramsay inside the courtyard of Winterfell itself, given that this whole battle is about the Starks fighting to retake their home - thus the final confrontation occurs within their home castle.
 * According to Sansa, House Bolton died with Ramsay. No other relatives or cousins have been mentioned in the novels either, so if Ramsay indeed kills Roose (and Walda's baby) in the next novel, this would apparently make him the last living Bolton - directly because he killed all the others.
 * Additionally, it is unknown if there are other members of House Umber in the TV continuity now that Smalljon Umber is dead (there were other sons and uncles in the novels). The fate of House Karstark is unknown, as it is unclear if Harald Karstark survived the battle.
 * It is not known if Rickon Stark will actually die in the next novel, or if this is a condensation of the TV adaptation. In the books, Rickon is hiding out on Skagos, a remote island off the northeast coast of the North itself, and has not been captured by the Boltons - though it is always possible that he may be captured at some point in the next novel, or perhaps be killed by someone else (not necessarily in this fashion).
 * On the other hand, the fact that George R.R. Martin named Rickon's direwolf "Shaggydog" may have been a clue all along that even in the books, Rickon isn't going to live to be the heir to Winterfell. A "Shaggydog" is a literary term for a long-running and seemingly significant plot thread which ultimately doesn't go anywhere, subverting audience expectations (the opposite of a Chekhov's Gun). By the end of the fifth novel, it appears that Bran Stark will stay north of the Wall with the Children of the Forest, and that Rickon is going to return to rally the Northern Houses against the Boltons. It would be in keeping with Martin's penchant for unexpected plot twists if in the next novel, it turns out that Rickon actually dies, and - as in this season of the TV series - Bran Stark will actually head back south of the Wall again.
 * Rickon Stark had no speaking lines in Season 6. He hasn't had any since he separated from Bran Stark in the Season 3 finale. Of the youngest child actors introduced in Season 1, however, only Art Parkinson (Rickon) has stayed with the TV show all the way through Season 6. The other two very young children from Season 1 were Tommen Baratheon and Myrcella Baratheon, both of which were later recast (their original actors only recurred through Season 2).
 * In the novels, the Bolton army is supplemented by forces from the Northern vassal Houses that only grudgingly serve them, such as House Manderly and elements of House Umber, but these vassals are actually planning to betray the Boltons when a crucial moment presents itself (i.e. by changing sides mid-battle). In this episode, Jon Snow even points out that Ramsay Bolton's army only serves him out of fear, don't like or respect him, and would abandon him if the opportunity presented itself. Ultimately this has no impact on the final version of events in the TV episode: Smalljon Umber actively fights for Ramsay, never betrays him, and dies fighting in the battle. The only hint of this thematic point is when Sansa later points out that Ramsay starved and mistreated his hunting dogs so much that they will eat him, even though he blindly insists that they are "loyal" to him.
 * With the death of Wun Wun, it's possible that the race of Giants is now extinct. This is the second ancient race in Westeros to go extinct in Season 6. The first was the Children of the Forest, who were wiped out during the White Walker assault on Bloodraven's cave in the fifth episode of Season 6, "The Door."
 * Davos Seaworth finds the burned wooden stag he made for Shireen Baratheon, next to an old pyre, and realizes that Melisandre burned her alive. On set, Liam Cunningham (Davos) actually let Kerry Ingram (Shireen) keep that specific carved stag - this burned one is a duplicate prop.
 * The death of Rickon Stark leaves the current status of House Stark in a precarious position. As Sansa points out before the battle, Jon is a bastard, and she is a woman. Furthermore, Bran Stark is a cripple, and cannot produce heirs. If the fan theory about Jon actually being the son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryan is true, this means that the paternal line of House Stark is now extinct.

In Meereen

 * The Second Siege of Meereen appears to be playing out slightly differently than this in preview chapters from the unpublished sixth novel. The Unsullied and Second Sons counter-attack against the slaver-alliance from within Meereen (as in the episode). Daenerys Targaryen hasn't returned on her dragon yet (to attack the slavers from the air), nor has she brought the Dothraki horde to Meereen, though this will probably occur. One element curiously omitted from the TV version is that in the books the Greyjoy fleet arrives right in the middle of the battle, attacking the slaver-alliance's fleet from behind, pinning them between two fronts. Thus, it appears that in the book version, the slaver alliance is going to be boxed in from four directions: the Unsullied/freedmen/Stormcrows army coming out of the city, the Dothraki mounted horde coming out of the mountains to the east, Daenerys on her dragon from the sky, and the ironborn fleet arriving from the west. The TV version doesn't mention the arrival of the Greyjoy fleet, they simply appear in the next scene in the throne room having already arrived in the city.
 * Tyrion Lannister accurately recalls to Theon Greyjoy that they previously encountered each other at Winterfell, back in Season 1 episode 4 "Cripples, Bastards and Broken Things". Incidentally, their scene in that episode was also the only time that the existence of Theon's uncle Euron Greyjoy was alluded to in the TV series before Season 6, though Tyrion phrased it vaguely by referring to Theon's "uncles", but not naming them.
 * In the books, Yara and Theon don't go to Slaver's Bay at all - their other uncle, Victarion, was sent east by Euron. Victarion hates Euron and plans to seize Daenerys for himself and overthrow Euron when he returns to Westeros - the TV series condensed this by omitting Victarion entirely and giving his subplot to Yara and Theon (albeit they are related subplots). Instead of secretly planning to betray Euron once making an alliance with Daenerys like Victarion did, this was simply changed to Yara and Theon openly turning against Euron, fleeing with the Iron Fleet to Meereen and hoping to return to overthrow him.
 * A point comes up regarding Yara's sexuality: two episodes ago Yara was kissing a female prostitute in Volantis and said she was going to have sex with her. When asked, George R.R. Martin directly confirmed that she actually isn't bisexual in the books, nor has she ever experimented with women - though she is very sexually adventurous with men, unusually for a highborn woman, fitting her overall tomboy persona (her father raised her as a surrogate son). Several female characters in the novels, however, actually did experiment with having sex with other women: Cersei had sex with one of her handmaidens in a drunken fog (and didn't really enjoy it), while Daenerys herself had sex with her handmaiden Irri at one point, apparently experimenting with it.
 * Tyrion rather prominently brings up again the revelation Jaime gave in Season 3 that her father, the Mad King Aerys II Targaryen, actually planned to spite the rebels when he was losing Robert's Rebellion by burning King's Landing down with caches of wildfire he had hidden throughout the city. In the books, when Jaime told Brienne about the Wildfire plot while they were in Harrenhal was explicitly the first time he ever told anyone about it (he never even told Cersei).
 * Bran Stark's visions earlier in Season 6 included a shot of a large underground store room filled with barrels of wildfire exploding. In the previous episode, Jaime remarked that Cersei would burn a city to ashes for her children, while in that same episode Qyburn told Cersei that his spies confirmed an old rumor she inquired about. It seems highly probable that this is all setup that Cersei actually found some of the old wildfire caches and intends to detonate them to destroy the Great Sept and core membership of the Faith Militant.
 * During the negotiations with Danaerys, Theon alludes to the War of Conquest, in which Aegon I Targaryen and his wives killed Harren Hoare who was King of the Ironborn at this time. After that House Greyjoy became the major house of the Iron Islands.

In the books
The episode is adapted from the following sample chapters of The Winds of Winter:
 * Theon I: Theon warns that Ramsay should not be underestimated.
 * Victarion (serial number unknown): The ironborn arrive at Meereen.
 * Barristan II: The battle between the defenders of Meereen and Yunkai. The ironborn attack the slavers.
 * Tyrion II: The dragons participate the battle of Meereen.

Memorable quotes
Sansa Stark: "No one can protect me. No one can protect anyone."Smalljon Umber: "Who owns the North?!"Ramsay Bolton: "Do you like games, little man?"Razdal mo Eraz: "Your reign is over."

Daenerys Targaryen: "My reign has just begun." Ramsay Bolton: " Hello Sansa. Is this where I'll be staying now? No. Our time together is about to come to an end. That's all right. You can't kill me. I'm part of you now."

Sansa Stark: "Your words will disappear. Your house will disappear. Your name will disappear. All memory of you will disappear."

Ramsay: "My hounds will never harm me."

Sansa: "You haven't fed them in seven days. You said so yourself."

Ramsay: "They're loyal beasts."

Sansa: "They were. Now they're starving."

Ramsay: "Sit! Down! Down! Down! Down! Down! Ahhhhhhh!"