Battle of the Bastards (episode)

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 will premiere on June 19, 2016. It was written by David Benioff & D.B. Weiss and directed by Miguel Sapochnik.

Summary

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. They tell Dany that they will let her and Tyrion leave the city if they hand over the Unsullied, Missandei and her dragons. 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 Viscerion join them and they begin to burn the fleet. The master's soldiers abandon them and Grey Worm kills two of the three masters present, leaving only one alive. Tyrion tells this lone master 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 100 ships if she will help them deal with Euron and give them independence 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 he has paid for what he has done. Daenerys agrees to assist them if the Ironborn will cease all pillaging going forward, to which Yara reluctantly accepts.

In the North

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 and Sansa are wary of whether Ramsay has Rickon to which Umber throws out Shaggydog's head in response. Sansa refuses the terms of surrender and tells Ramsay he will die the following day before riding off. Jon offers Ramsay a chance to settle their dispute in one on one combat but Ramsay refuses.

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 insists that this is the largest army they could possibly gather. Davos and Tormund discuss their time serving both Stannis and Mance respectively, with both acknowledging that they may have been serving the wrong king for so long. Jon meets with Melisandre and insists to her not to bring him back if he should fall in the battle. Melisandre insists it's not her gift that has brought Jon back but the Lord of Light's and that she is unsure as to why he has been brought back.

The armies gather the following morning as Ramsay brings out Rickon. Telling Rickon that they are playing a game, he tells Rickon to run towards Jon's army and as he does 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 few shots but eventually, just as Jon was approaching 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 horseshoe formation as Smalljon leads a group of soldiers over a hill from behind to attack them. Whilst Wun Wun is able to kill a few Bolton soldiers, Tormund eventually panics sending 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 sends out in the distance as Littlefinger arrives with the Knights of the Vale waving flags of the Arryn sigil. On horseback, they begin to cut down the Bolton soldiers. Tormund is able to kill Smalljon as this happens, as Smalljon is momentarily distracted by the arrival of the Arryn forces.

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 as long as 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 wildlings to pour into the castle. He is however overwhelmed by arrows and eventually killed by Ramsay. Despite the defeat of his army, He taunts Jon, saying he has reconsidered the option of one-on-one combat, but Jon overwhelms him and begins to beat him almost to death but stops after realizing Sansa can see what he is doing.

The Bolton banners on Winterfell are torn down and Stark Banners raised. Jon orders for Rickon's body to be buried next to his father 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" but eventually realizes Sansa has released his own hounds on him. The hounds begin to tear Ramsay apart as Sansa walks away, smirking.

Ramsay Bolton readying for battle.

Appearances

Deaths

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

Production

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 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.
• This episode is the final appearance of starring cast member Iwan Rheon (Ramsay Bolton) due to the death of his character.

Notes

• 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 upcoming 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.
• In the books, House Umber's remaining forces (after the Red Wedding) are divided into two parts: one of Greatjon Umber's uncles commands the remaining old men from their House to grudgingly follow the Boltons, while the other half commanded by a different uncle (composed mostly of green boys too young to fight when the war began) actively fight against the Boltons (linking up with Stannis Baratheon's campaign).
• In the novels there is a larger subplot in which House Manderly leads several of the Northern vassal Houses to grudgingly follow the Boltons, but Lord Wyman Manderley later reveals to Davos Seaworth that they are only feigning a desire for peace so they can later turn against the Boltons - fittingly, as the Bolton army previously marched with Robb Stark's Northern army then massacred them in their own camp at the Red Wedding. Most of the Northern Houses' armies were destroyed in the massacre but they are scraping up new forces, which due to being located within the Boltons' own battle lines could cause considerable chaos if they turn on them mid-battle.
• In the current novels, Rickon Stark is hiding out on Skagos island (off the coast of the North) and has not been captured by the Boltons. In Season 6 episode 3 "Oathbreaker", Smalljon Umber handed over Rickon Stark to Ramsay Bolton, and as proof of his identity, presented the severed head of Rickon's direwolf Shaggydog.

• 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 4'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.
• According to Sansa, House Bolton died with Ramsay. Additionally, all known members of House Umber are also dead. It is unknown if the House Umber is also extinct or if other members could be introduced. The fate of House Karstark is unknown, as it is unclear if Harald Karstark survived the battle.
• With the death of Wun Wun, it's possible that the race of Giants is now extinct.

Memorable quotes

Tormund Giantsbane: "Happy Shitting!"

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?"

Daenerys Targaryen: "My rule is just beginning."

Gallery

See also

• Battle of the Bastards (episode) on Wikipedia
• Battle of the Bastards (episode) on IMDb