Battle of fire and ice

Miguel Sapochnik had promised to give us a spectacular battle scene and the newest episode in HBO’s longest running show proved his words. The battle of Winterfell was every bit the epic showdown between the living and the dead. It mixed every emotion - horror, action and melodrama that spun around the claustrophobic crypts, the epic clash between the heroes and the wights and of course, the dragons fighting in the frosty sky.

The war almost takes away everyone by the end and as the camera sweeps by, we only see Tormund, Jaimie, Jon, Daenerys, Brienne and a handful others luckily alive. House Mormont, one of the oldest houses of the North went down before dawn with the fiery Lyanna Mormont bringing down a giant and giving up her life along with Jorah, who dies protecting Daenerys. Theon Greyjoy steals a spotlight, giving up a brave single handed fight to protect Bran before the Night king takes his life. Everything predicted about the Night King holds true, he cannot be killed with Dragonfire, his army increases with time and he comes very close to killing Bran. Sapochnik ensured that the scenes aren’t dramatic, but spontaneous that clearly brought out the harsh reality- the living were the losing side.

Melissandre comes back as promised and her prophecies come true one by one. She brings fire to the Dothraki and the trenches, dies willingly before dawn and of course gives Arya the push. “You will shut many eyes- brown eyes, green eyes and blue eyes,” she repeats, before Arya finally understands the blue eyes mean the Night king. In its truest Arya fashion, she creeps up on Death, stabbing him with the dagger at the last moment and every dead disappears into dust.

The scariest conclusion remains that with the end of the battle, there aren’t many alive. The Dothraki hordes are gone, so are the unsullied, as well as most of the soldiers. Both the dragons are injured and the heroes are low on morale, except for Arya perhaps. Will Cersei hold the Iron Throne to the end, or will Arya fulfil another prophecy by shutting the green eyes of Cersei is a burning question that might be answered in the next episode.

Game of Thrones is screened every Monday at 6:30IST on Hotstar and HBO.

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