The Battle of the Bastards is an odd episode. In a way, it's shares the even-numbered season's ninth episode tradition of a major battle on which the episode focuses, (haha, yes, that's accurate,) but it splits a little of that focus to deal with an other, less dire (or maybe more dire?) battle. There's also basically no ambiguity in either of these battles. The Starks fight the Boltons - basically Lawful Good versus Chaotic Evil - and Daenerys fights off the Masters - basically Neutral Good versus Lawful Evil. While the battle at the Wall had us rooting pretty firmly for Jon and the Night's Watch, we still liked Ygritte, Tormund, and Mance.
So let's talk about this episode:
Spoilers to follow.
Mereen:
Things go pretty well for Daenerys, as she gains some serious credibility in her plan of the good version of world domination. World liberation?
Much less happens here, but basically the assault is utterly blown away thanks to dragons and dothraki cavalry.
Notably, the Greyjoys show up and pretty easily make a deal with Dany, with Yara/Asha earning some bonus points for the feminist ideals she shares with Daenerys.
Basically, the Masters lose, dragons rock, and we're more or less good to go.
Winterfell:
This is probably the most intense battle we've seen on the show. There's some real Ran/Saving Private Ryan stuff in here. Ultimately, the named character bodycount is not terribly high, though.
Perhaps because Jon really doesn't know what kind of a monster Ramsay is, he falls right into the trap laid for him. Rickon is "released," only for Ramsay to put an arrow through his heart. So the Starks are down to Sansa, Arya, Bran, and Jon. Sansa understands that Rickon was dead as soon as he was in Ramsay's hands, but Jon has his men charge in response, which is a terrible idea.
Basically, Jon loses a ton of men and winds up getting encircled. Tormund does manage to take down Smalljon Umber with a freaking bite to the neck, which is awesome, but with their cavalry massacred, the Starks are encircled by a phalanx of Bolton soldiers.
Thankfully, but also worryingly, Sansa has Littlefinger bringing the Knights of the Vale just in time to destroy the phalanx. Ramsay flees to Winterfell, but a heavily pin-cushioned Wun Wun tears down the gate to allow the Stark forces in.
On the verge of defeat, Ramsay offers to duel Jon, and, again, frustratingly, Jon accepts (I would have been so happy to just have him order his archers to fire.) Jon picks up a shield and blocks Ramsay's arrows, though, and then pummels Ramsay until his face is all broken.
Ultimately, Sansa watches as their prisoner is tied up in his own dog cages, and the dogs rip Ramsay apart.
I guess my only real complaints here are that a lot of this felt predictable. Like Sansa, we knew Rickon was never going to be allowed to live. And the cavalry charge of the Knights of the Vale was also pretty clearly implied.
Predictability isn't so bad, but while the Starks did need to retake Winterfell eventually so we could move on to the bigger threats, I think I was a bit frustrated by the way that Jon acted - he played into Ramsay's hands in kind of obvious ways. The arrival of the Knights of the Vale felt conspicuously well-timed, too.
Rickon's death didn't have the impact it might have had if we had gotten to know him more as a character. I've often wondered if GRRM perhaps wishes he had simply made Bran the youngest Stark, as Rickon has never really played a serious role in the story. Even here, while it does provide Jon an opportunity to make a really bad tactical call, it's not as if he and Sansa wouldn't be trying to retake Winterfell if Rickon weren't there.
Wun Wun's death was also heavily telegraphed but still felt pretty bad - especially as he's the last of his kind (I think) and has been such a hero in the various battles he's fought.
What I really want to know is what Davos is going to do now that he knows what happened to Shireen.
Also there was some serious foreshadowing to the fact that King's Landing is filled with Wildfire. It's very possible that Cersei's going to destroy the city if her trial goes poorly - it'd be a hell of a season cliffhanger. Enough of the major characters who have tended to be in King's Landing have moved elsewhere, so if the entire city goes up, it means no more Cersei, no more Margaery, no more Tommen, no more High Sparrow, no Qyburn and no zombie Mountain. But aside from some less important figures, that's more or less it. It's a possibility, but it's also possible that some people could survive it.
Still, with all the reminders about the Wildfire, I would not be surprised if they go that route. But what happens to Westeros when there is no Iron Throne?
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