Spoilers for Season Six of Game of Thrones up to Episode Nine.
Hip-Hip Hooray! Hip-Hip Hooray!
Yes ladies and gentlemen, bastards and high-borns, the moment we have been waiting for three seasons has finally arrived. Ramsay Bolton is dead. Gone. Finally rotting in hell forever where he belongs.
The ninth episode in every Game of Thrones season has a certain reputation. Season One's Episode Nine saw the death of what we all thought (okay, maybe not those snarky Book-readers) was the show's main protagonist, Ned Stark. Season Two's episode brought the epic battle of Blackwater to the screen. In Season Three there was the dreaded "Red Wedding", perhaps the shows most notorious Episode Nine ever.
Season Four's focused on the Wall, pitting the Wildings and the Crows against each other (and also bringing the sad death of Ygritte, who brought us classic lines such as "you know nothing, Jon Snow."). Dany rides her dragon for the first time in Episode Nine of Season Five. And Season Six's ninth episode, titled "The Battle of the Bastards" takes us back to another battle field, once again following Jon Snow, as he fights Ramsay for Winterfell.
This episode went full "Saving Private Ryan", complete with guts spilling out and everything. Some people will surely lament the shaky cam and scream about the lack of jaw-dropping sword fights, but this episode was clearly attempting to make war seem as realistic and terrifying as possible, and it succeeded. There was blood, mud, guts and bodies everywhere. The corpses were piled so high they became mountains which blocked the fighters into a closed, tight space. I felt claustrophobic just watching it. I was convinced that any second, Jon was going to die, especially after the conversation he had with Melisandre ("Don't bring me back." Really, Jon? Why you gotta do that to your fans? It's okay though, the Red Woman was like, "Um...No.You going to be a zombie forever." Thanks, girl.).
There certainly was a lot of death. It all started with Rickon. Man that scene has hard to watch. As soon as Ramsay dragged Rickon on screen with a leash, I knew this was not going to go well. With every arrow Ramsay fired toward Rickon, I held my breath, only to release it when it hit the ground instead of the boy. The first three or four arrows, I was convinced Rickon was going to die. But then the music swelled up, and it sounded hopeful. I could see how close Jon was. Literally, he was only another second from him. I allowed myself to think that Rickon would make it, that Ramsay's plan would fail and it would be the beginning of the end for him. In some ways, it was the beginning of the end for him, but his plan certainly did not fail, and Rickon definitely did not make it to Jon.
For those wondering, that makes two Stark children (both boys) officially dead now. And we almost added a third to that list through the episode. I thought when Jon was on the ground, struggling to breathe, they were going to let him die like that. Game of Thrones likes to do that, they like to convince you that characters are special and that they will die in a special way, but killing our favorite hero by having him trampled to death by his own people totally seems like a Game of Thrones writer thing to do. But, Jon didn't die. Tormund almost did, but our red head pulled through and hope for Briemund (or Torienne) lives on. The Onion Knight is still there too, as is the Red Woman (although, we need to start wondering for how much longer). We did lose some people though. Despite earlier evidence, it seems like Wun Wun is not completely unaffected by arrows, especially when there's dozens of them in him. And of course, it had to be Ramsay that struck the fatal blow.
But it's OK because Jon did what every fan of Game of Thrones wants to do: punch Ramsay Bolton in the face, repeatedly.
But he stops himself from killing him, giving that distinct pleasure to the one who deserves it the most, Sansa Stark. And boy, did I enjoy watching Ramsay realize where he was and how his hounds were, despite his assertions, going to tear him apart. As another Stark lady might say:
The episode also gave us a wrap up from last episode's cliffhanger at Meereen with Dany. Not to worry, Dany was her usual bad ass self and destroyed the Masters, securing their ships and their fear. Yara and Theon finally made it to the Khaleesi, and struck a deal with her: they will support her claim, as well as stop raiding and raping, and in return, she will allow them to rule the Iron Islands. Dany literally laughs at the mention of Euron Greyjoy's plan to marry her for ships, so hopefully we get to see him burn to death soon.
Yes, all seems right in the Seven Kingdoms and Essos again. For now.
