Warning: This post contains minor behind the scenes spoilers for Game Of Thrones

-

We’re only ten weeks (!) away from the return of Game Of Thrones, and while fans are mourning the end of the show after this season, they’re also going wild with fan theories and speculation about what is going to happen in season 8. There have been plenty of comments from the cast to suggest that, unsurprisingly, the final season is going to be the biggest, the most shocking, the most incredible season yet - and though the ending is going to be ‘bittersweet’, it’s also going to be absolutely amazing.

Each of the six episodes of the season is said to be like its own movie, and there are several huge moments that fans are hoping to see. It’s likely that there will be a massive battle at Kings Landing (during which Cersei may or may not meet her end), and of course, Cleganebowl is still a possibility.

As if there wasn’t already enough action to look forward to, the biggest battle of the season has been confirmed to be taking place up North - the (second) Battle of Winterfell. The show is well out past the story of the books at this point, so there’s no knowing what this battle has in store, but thanks to a number of leaks, official reports, and other details, we’re able to put together a pretty good picture of what to expect.

  • This Page: The Battle of Winterfewll Will Be The Biggest of the Series Page 2: The Castle Will Go Up In Flames Page 3: The Night King’s Army Is Also Coming For Winterfell

The Biggest Battle Of The Series

A battle at Winterfell hasn’t just been confirmed, it has been confirmed as the biggest battle in the entire series (and will likely take up an entire episode of season eight). The battle at Winterfell took fifty-five days of outdoor filming - confirmed by an Instagram post of a note thanking the cast and crew for their hard work (now removed). The note said:

These 55 nights involved hundreds of extras, but those were also just the outdoor shoots - further shots took place at indoor sets, as well. (For comparison, the Battle of the Bastards took only 25 days to film.) Showrunner David Benioff has also revealed that this is the ‘big one’, as the Night King’s army attacks. Benioff said of the battle “We’ve been building toward this since the very beginning, it’s the living against the dead”. The battle will follow multiple characters as they try to survive, and given how many major players will be involved (more on that later), that just makes sense. Finally, Peter Dinklage also described it as “brutal”, and said that it would make the Battle of the Bastards look “like a theme park”.

This is for the Night Dragons. For enduring 55 straight nights. For enduring the cold, the snow, the rain, the mud, the sheep shit of Toome and the winds of Magheramorne.

The Battle Of The Bastards Director Will Return…

The Battle of the Bastards was, until this season, the biggest battle scene in Game of Thrones - and there is no doubt that it was one of the most incredible. It was also directed by Miguel Sapochnik, who has been confirmed to be returning for the final season. David Benioff confirmed that Sapochnik would be directing the big battle scene at Winterfell when he said:

Having the largest battle doesn’t sound very exciting — it actually sounds pretty boring. Part of our challenge, and really, [director] Miguel [Sapochnik’s] challenge, is how to keep that compelling…

While Sapochnik is a great director for episodes that aren’t all about the big fight scenes (he also directed ‘The Winds Of Winter’), but it’s exciting to know that the brilliant mind behind the Battle of the Bastards is going to be taking on the biggest battle of the series.

Which Means It Will Happen In Episode 3 Or 5

Because we know who will be directing this episode, we also know that there are only two possible episodes that it could be: the third, and the fifth. According to Winter Is Coming, Sapochnik will only be directing these two episodes, with David Nutter taking episodes 1, 2, and 4, and the finale directed by David Benioff and Dan Weiss.

It’s difficult to guess which of the two episodes will see Winterfell attacked, though, as there are compelling arguments for both. Given that the seventh season ended with the army of White Walkers bringing down the wall (with a little help from their new ice dragon), it’s likely that they would march on Winterfell sooner rather than later, which points to an episode 3 battle. However, given that this is the big moment that the entire show has been building towards, it also seems likely that it would be saved until the end of the series. This also leaves four episodes of build up, and a final episode to deal with the aftermath.

Page 2: The Castle Will Go Up In Flames

The Castle Will Go Up In Flames

Having dealt with the size, director, and likely placement in the series, what will actually happen during this Battle of Winterfell? One thing that is absolutely confirmed is that Winterfell will burn - and this is no small fire. Leaked video and photos from the sets show flames shooting out of the castle, and the entire thing looks to be ablaze. Before the fire was filmed, the set was also expanded, with several additions that will undoubtedly be part of the big battle scene. In fact, it’s generally accepted that the reason for building a full-scale Winterfell, rather than using CGI for most of it, was specifically so that they could make the burning of the castle as realistic as possible.

But That May Not Be The End Of Winterfell

Despite the fact that we know that the castle burns, there is also evidence that this is not the end of Winterfell. After the fire was revealed, several people took to social media to say that they had seen continued filming after the night of the fire. One tweet from @AdamWhitehead said

We run a convention in Belfast every year and a lot of people involved in the show come along. They’re all adamant that “Winterfell gets razed” isn’t correct. There is some wriggle room for saying there’s a battle there, fire around the castle etc but not total destruction.

If this is true, it could point toward the battle happening earlier in the season, around the episode 3 mark, with the possibility of more scenes happening after the castle is attacked. More likely, however, is simply that some of Winterfell survives, and we will see how the Starks (assuming any survive) will start to rebuild in the final episode.

Jaime And Brienne Will Be There

There are some people who will obviously be involved in the battle - Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, The White Walkers, and whoever survived Castle Black.

However, there are a couple of surprising additions to the battle, too (many of which we’ll get to later), including Jaime and Brienne. Brienne’s part in the fight isn’t too surprising, but Jaime/Brienne shippers will be thrilled to hear the Jaime is likely headed back up North as well. We know this from a few different clues; one, that Nikolaj Coster-Waldau revealed he would be growing his hair long this season for a ’long journey’ that Jaime takes, and two, that he also revealed he worked with Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth), who is currently on the way to Winterfell with Jon. Ergo - Jaime is going to make his way to Winterfell for the battle this season (or for other reasons, of course, but he’s going to be there at some point).

Dany’s Dragons Will Play A Key Role

This should come as no surprise, but the dragons are going to be a huge part of the battle. We know this largely because the entire castle goes up in flames, and because both the White Walkers and Jon and Daenerys have dragons to use - there’s no way they are going to be sitting idle while Winterfell is attacked (especially given how quickly Dany flew to Jon’s aid when he was stranded North of the Wall).

However, it’s worth noting that although Winterfell most definitely burns, we don’t know what color those flames are going to be. In past seasons, the production has used real flame, and simply changed the color in post - which means that this may be yellow fire (from Dany’s dragons), blue fire (from the Ice Dragon), or even green fire (Cersei really likes wildfire, don’t forget).

The Unsullied, The Dothraki, And The Golden Company May Be Involved

It would be easy to assume that this big battle would simply be a fight between the North and the White Walkers, but that’s just not complicated enough for Game of Thrones. Instead, from leaked set photos, it seems that there are human foes at the gates of Winterfell as well.

One video from the set shows a crowd outside, with some clearly human voices outside the gates of Winterfell, potentially pounding on the gates and trying to break through. Other photos seem to show men in Lannister armor, or in what looks like the spears and helmets of the Unsullied. The Unsullied, and riders who appear to be Dothraki, are also seen in front of the massive green screen the production built for this shoot. We already know that some Dothraki will become wights, but it’s possible that they are taken down by the White Walker army earlier in the season, and then battle their own people at Winterfell.

The Golden Company is also likely to show up for this battle, after Cersei hired them last season. Some of the soldiers that are seen in the (very blurry) set photos may well be from the Golden Company. This could mean a couple of things; either Cersei actually decides to support Jon, and sends her army up to help him in the battle against the dead (leading to her army joining the Unsullied and Dothraki)… or Cersei, being the cunning Queen she is, decides to attack the King in the North from the South while the army of the dead hits him from the North.

Page 3: The Night King’s Army Is Also Coming For Winterfell

The Night King’s Army Is Also Coming For Winterfell

Speaking of the army of the dead… let’s not forget about them, in amongst all the other armies of men that are going to be at Winterfell for this battle. Other shots of that green screen show men on horseback in green suits, which is how the White Walkers are usually filmed. Stumbling wights have also been seen on set. Of course, given Benioff’s comments about this battle being ’the living versus the dead’, there should be no doubt that the White Walkers are involved in this fight - along with their Ice Dragon.

However, one of the most interesting things to note about this is that it seems that those at Winterfell are actually equipped to deal with them, for the first time. Since Dany and Jon started mining dragonglass, they’ll have been shoring up their supplies, and (unconfirmed) reports from the set say that the Unsullied spears will now all be tipped with dragonglass.

There Will Be Death

Well, obviously. There wouldn’t be a massive battle at Winterfell, with all sides converging on the castle, without a lot of death. Frankly, it’s rare for a single episode of the show not to include some death, so why is this remarkable? Because of the sheer number of corpses that have been seen on set… and what they are wearing.

A redditor with the particularly classy name of WatcherOnMyBalls posted a series of photos from the set, all of the fake corpses that will be used in the battle. These include piles of the expected (horses, unnamed men, wights, etc), as well as some shields (which include the sigils for House Mormont, House Arryn, House Karstark). Surprisingly, the photos also show some corpses in the armor of House Greyjoy - suggesting that literally every major player has a hand in this battle. However, we don’t know which of those are simply going to add to the piles of anonymous corpses, and which are going to see some major player losses.

The Takeaway

Combining all these set leaks and reveals lets us know several things about the season eight Battle of Winterfell. For one thing, it going to bring together absolutely everyone: Mormonts, Karstarks, Starks, Lannisters, the Golden Company, the Unsullied, the Dothraki, the wights, the White Walkers, the dragons… basically every house and organization left standing is going to be involved. We also know that Winterfell burns, the Unsullied have dragonglass spears, and there is going to be an absolutely massive amount of death. Whew!

Given that all of this is just from hints, leaks, and interviews about a single episode, it’s easy to see why this season is being described as truly epic - and leaves us wondering about the lead up to the Battle of Winterfell. Will we see four episodes of build-up to this massive battle, and a finale that brings it all to a close (and sends someone back to Kings Landing to finally sit on the Iron Throne)? Or could HBO be taking a risk, and throwing their biggest actual battle in at the start of the season at episode three, leaving the final three episodes for the political battles that this show is all about? Only time will tell… and thankfully, not that much time is left!

The final season of Game of Thrones begins on April 14, 2019.