game of thrones season 1 episode 9 episode

Thousands of warriors and horses die, all for the reputations of two houses that most of them don’t belong to and don’t give two hoots about. Jon’s battle against Ramsay followed all the predictable beats - from Rickon’s tragic but well-telegraphed death to Jon’s underdog army being surrounded by their better-prepared foes, on the verge of a bloody defeat before a last-minute reprieve - which served to emphasize just how futile the whole exercise is. Everyone wants to make their mark, but not everyone feels the need to burn the world down to do it. Despite everything that he did to Sansa, her greatest victory won’t be killing him, it will be moving on to a better life, instead of letting his memory have power over her.

That’s why Sansa’s parting words to Ramsay were so potent: “Your words will disappear your house will disappear your name will disappear all memory of you will disappear.” Ramsay was a bastard who craved legitimacy, so the most terrifying fate in the world is not a grisly death - but the knowledge that you’re disposable. We know that war is good for absolutely nothin’, and yet it’s a habit that Westeros keeps falling back into - mostly because of the men in positions of power, too busy worrying about their houses and their names and their legacies to recognize that by ignoring the lessons of history, they’re doomed to repeat it. But power and cruelty has its limits, and in order to change the world, people need to be willing to change the narrative. While it was virtuous of him to attempt to flip the script and fight one-on-one with Ramsay to avoid thousands of soldiers dying on their behalf, people like the Boltons don’t get into positions of power by thinking about their fellow man.Īs this season has reinforced again and again, whether at the Tower of Joy (where Ned was forced to acknowledge the pointlessness of an honest fight), or in The Hound’s brief flirtation with pacifism, you can’t make an omelet - or survive in Westeros - without breaking a few eggs/occasionally hitting someone in the nuts with an ax. Despite Sansa’s warnings that Ramsay wouldn’t play by the rules of any game Jon might be familiar with, our noble bastard has the same shortcomings as Ned Stark he fights with honor against opponents who are all too willing to use that predictable morality against him. While Daenerys dispatched her enemies with typical Targaryen aplomb (aka napalm), things were a little more complicated in the North, where Ramsay had the advantage of men, horses, Winterfell and poor Rickon as a hostage.

(To learn exactly what went into making both fights, check out Variety’s Artisans deep-dive into the visual effects of “Battle of the Bastards” below.) One sortie saw the long-awaited and much-publicized fight between Jon Snow and Ramsay Bolton for control of Winterfell, which gave the episode its name, while the other followed the sweeping carnage of Daenerys’ defense of Meereen against the Wise Masters, in which we finally got to witness exactly how powerful her dragons can be when they’re let off their leashes. Past years have taught us to expect that the penultimate episode of every season of “Game of Thrones” will be a barn-burner, but even the epic conflicts of Blackwater and Hardhome seemed like child’s play compared to the scope of not one, but two major clashes in “Battle of the Bastards,” which made it easy to forget that anything was going on elsewhere. This post contains spoilers for “ Game of Thrones” Season 6, Episode 9, titled, “Battle of the Bastards.” To refresh your memory on where we left off, check out last week’s “Game of Thrones” recap.

Game of thrones season 1 episode 9 episode