The Battle of Winterfell, whew!
Thankfully, the Lord of Light deposited his No. 1 hype girl Melisandre back on Winterfell’s doorstep just in time. In the tense minutes before battle, she provides one of the best visuals of the episode by igniting the arakhs of the Dothraki army, who raise their flaming weapons aloft and… are promptly swallowed up by the Army of the Dead 20 seconds later. When it comes to unsettling battle sounds, the shrieks of dying men and the clang of cold metal against armor are nothing compared to the creeping silence that spread whenever the AotD mowed over a new group of unsuspecting future recruits.
At some point, Jon and Dany realize that dragons are a much more efficient way of taking out maximum wights with minimum effort. However, once aloft, their flying weapons of mass destruction swiftly encounter a new and confusing opponent: clouds, and among them, the Night King, ready to make his dramatic entrance.
With the dragons disconnected from ground control and the Night King bearing down on ground zero, the rest of Winterfell’s forces realize the grave error of their strategy and retreat back into the castle, but not before losing dear Dolorous Edd. Nominative determinism (and an opportunistic wight) finally got the better of him.
What follows is just a bunch of chiaroscuro carnage specifically engineered to make you feel every bad emotion at once: The Army of the Dead breach Winterfell’s fire fortifications. Lyanna Mormont, Lady of Scowls, goes down like a real one at the hands — or rather, in the hands — of a wight giant. Beric dies protecting Arya who is, to put it mildly, FREAKED. OUT. Yes, she said she was looking forward to seeing this face of death, but something tells us she wasn’t expecting quite so many faces.
Meanwhile, in the godswood, Theon and the Ironborn stand ready to defend Bran from the approaching Night King. Bran, always grateful that so many are willing to lay down their lives for him even though he’s never super clear on why or to what end, exits the game to go warging in some crows.
However, the Night King’s approach is stalled when Jon, riding Rhaegal, confronts him and the undead Viserion. Watching the two dragons tangle in mid-air under the moonlight is a magical scene, in part because it is actually visible and not shot through ten pairs of gas station sunglasses. Eventually, the Night King bails and a series of extremely creepy, significant stuff happens: First, Dany tries to roast him, literally, but when the flames clear, there he stands. Then, as Jon approaches, Longclaw in hand, he actually smiles. The Night King smiles! Please scrape that image off the top of our brains immediately.
Of course, you’d be smiling too if you were about to raise a brand new army of dead people, which is what the Night King does, « Hardhome » style.
