Game of Thrones: Battle of the Bastards

drogon 2I will start every one of these posts off with this warning about spoilers. There will be plenty of spoilers. Seriously, if you have not watched the episode, do not read this post. I will also be mentioning stuff from the books. These are not straight up recaps of episodes, nor are they reviews. I will just mention the stuff I liked/disliked and probably give some opinions about what could happen next.

drogonI love when this show focuses on one or two things for an entire episode. We have seen it before with these major battles and every time the final result has been fantastic. Also, it is nice to see the show being about Fire & Ice (as I am sure many people have already pointed out). I think it was Gideon who once commented on one of my posts about how the final episode is usually a little slower than the next-to-last, which will probably be the case again this season. I cannot see things happening in Oldtown or even King’s Landing that would top the Battle of the Bastards and the Daenerys unleashing the dragons. Here are the things I loved, noticed, and thought about from this episode:

-Daenerys pulling the Princess Bride route with the Masters when they say about discussing the terms of surrender and after they explain themselves she is like “no, I meant your surrender.” Unlike Wesley though, Daenerys Stormborn has some dragons flying in to back her up.

-I loved the way Tyrion was terrified of his queen while trying to explain the siege and how things were going. Once she started saying about killing the Masters, Tyrion was at least able to mention her father and the wildfire, which helped bring Daenerys back to a more reasonable side.

-Speaking of the wildfire, it looks like I was wrong and that Cersei will be using it on King’s Landing (or at least attempting to). I seriously thought Tyrion used all of it trying to stop Stannis (or did he just come across the guys who could make it?).

-The meeting between Yara, Theon, Tyrion, and Daenerys was also very good. I loved the way Tyrion was just tearing Theon down from the last time they were together. And in the end, Daenerys got her ships and she forced Yara to swear to stop reaving, raping, and pillaging. How are the Iron Born going to respond to that? Obviously Euron is not going to be pleased.

-One of my favorite recaps comes from Matt Ufford. He has a military background and he pointed out that flying on the back of dragon and trying to see targets below you would be impossible. I wonder if the books will delve into the fact that she can probably warg into Drogon and see what he is seeing (the same would go for Jon Snow if he rides a dragon and whoever the third rider happens to be).

the gang-The moment Jon Snow kind of blew off Sansa about Ramsay, especially when it came to Rickon, I figured the Stark boy was as good as dead. One of the great things about this battle was that since this is not in the books (yet), I honestly had no clue how it would turn out. I mean, I assumed Jon Snow would be victorious, but I could see GRRM just throwing us for another loop and having Ramsay capture Jon and torture him for awhile.

-I was not shocked when the Night’s of the Vale showed up, but for awhile, I kind of thought there might be a different ending. When Jon is trapped under the bodies and trying to get out (more on that in a second), I started to think that the rescuers would end up being the people of the North. You know, many of Ramsay’s own soldiers. The ones who would see that Jon Snow was a Stark, despite his name and that the Stark family had always been good to them and fair. The idea started to creep in when Ramsay turned down Jon’s request to fight one-on-one and then even more after Rickon died. I thought for sure as Ramsay had his archers shooting at the battle (killing his own men as well as Snow’s troops) that you would see the disgusted looks on “Bolton” men and they would eventually decided enough was enough. Oh well, at least Littlefinger was able to save the day. I wonder what he owes Sansa now (in the preview it seems like he wants to bang her–what an odd way to go about it! He could have hooked up with her after he killed her aunt and he started turning her to the dark side, but now after being Ramsay’s plaything, I doubt she is going to forgive Petyr anytime soon).

jon snow in the battle-I loved how the trampling of Jon made you feel claustrophobic. When he was stuck in that pile of bodies, I was sweating and starting to panic. I felt like it was hard to breath. In fact, the entire battle was so intense. It started with the arrows being shot at Rickon and how the further he was from Ramsay, the safer he was going to be until the moment before Jon is able to grab him and one punches through Rickon’s chest. Granted, it was hard to feel anything for Rickon since we never really see him, but just to know that yet another Stark is dead. And then Jon’s charge, after all of the talk of how they needed to force Ramsay to charge them. The camera was able to focus on Jon during the battle and make it seem like you were there in the confusion (without being too shaky cam).

Also, did you notice how similar that shot of Jon Snow was to the shot from “Mhysa” back in season three where the freed slaves pick Daenerys up? Hmm, coincidence? I think not! Probably something else to help confirm the R+L=J rumors. Or maybe Bran could just head into the Tower of Joy and see what really happened…

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eat ramsay-I think the fight between Ramsay and Jon was perfect. I know some people thought it would be “epic” and were then disappointed with how it ended. I was not one of those people. No one has ever said that Ramsay was a great swordsman. All he is known for is being a sadistic asshole. Jon did not even need his sword, he just catches some arrows on a shield and then beats the shit out of Ramsay. And then he sees his sister and decides to leave the kill for her. And wow, does Sansa end that dickbag in a glorious way! Hey, maybe Ramsay should not have starved his dogs for over a week if he did not want them to end up eating him.

I can honestly say that I am very happy that he is dead. Hell, I wish it would have lasted a bit longer. Ramsay Bolton was probably one of the most vile characters of all time. So yeah, glad he is dead.

Now the Starks are back in Winterfell. And it seems like things are coming together. I am guessing that the Brotherhood will show up there to offer aid in the battle against the undead. Will the Hound be with them and if he is, how will Sansa react to seeing him? I am guessing that Arya is making her way there as well. So how would she react to seeing Sandor Clegane. And what about Brienne? I bet she will be happy to see him. Could we get a Hound versus Tormund fight? Probably not, since the Hound is going to King’s Landing.

I am sad that the season is almost over. And yet I am happy that things are starting to resolve.

Author: Ngewo