This was Game Of Thrones ’ big battle sequence , and it featured Brobdingnagian set pieces . immense . But you bang what was really huge ? The reference , and their incredible defining moments . There was sex , love , heroism , cowardliness … and circumstances of kill . We ’ve rounded up all of the defining moments in last nighttime ’s mad showcase .
mollycoddler ahead …
“ The Watchers on the Wall ” is similar to season two ’s “ Blackwater ” — a single huge set piece , involving just one location and one solidifying of character , maneuver by the incomparable Neil Marshall . The main difference is that this huge battle terminate inconclusively .
The actual plot of “ Watchers ” is easy to summarize in a paragraph : Gilly and her babe return to Castle Black , just before the Wildlings set in motion their two - fork-like ravishment . A huge force attacks the Wall from the North , while a small force out attack Castle Black from the South . Both attack are defeated , but at a Brobdingnagian price ( let in the life of some darling Crows . And Ygritte . ) In the end , Jon Snow substantiate that they can only hold off the Wildling army for another day or two , and goes alone to try and kill their loss leader , Mance Rayder .
And there ’s a bit of a screw thread running through the episode of self and altruism . Jon Snow describes sex as a coming together of yourself with another person , where you ’re envelop up in each other and for a petty while you ’re something more than just yourself . Samwell suppose he was hardy enough to attack a White Walker because he forget himself and became just “ nothing . ” The six humanity who guard the inner gate against a giant only deliver the goods because they intone their cuss and forget themselves as somebody . So both sex and conflict involve a kind of losing yourself , which is why they lean to total into engagement so much . And this is contrasted with Janos Slynt , who ’s a coward precisely because he ca n’t rent go of his egotism .
But “ The Watchers on the Wall ” is n’t really about words , or school of thought — it ’s about legal action . More than any other instalment , this is about the things the great unwashed take to do in the heat of engagement , and what they reveal about themselves .
The Night ’s Watch finds its discipline
Considering what they ’re up against , you have to pass on it to them .
We ’ve heard a lot about how meager the Night ’s Watch is , in both numbers and experience . But when the factual blast come , under the command of Ser Alliser Thorne and Jon Snow , the Crow actually perform pretty well . They retain their berth , and aside from a few screw - ups actually manage to nock , take out and unleash their arrows in unison . We get to see a lot of gravid defense manoeuvre last Nox , including combust pointer , burning barrels of oil , and a giant scythe that cuts down the people trying to rise the Wall . They take out a giant - gigantic tow - hand truck jazz band . Six men hold off a heavyweight .
And the scenery where Grenn prevent his panicky men together with their oath is one of the all - time great “ nookie yeah ” moments .
And we really get to see what the Night ’s Watch is about : it ’s about let go of your past tense , as Maester Aemon reluctantly does when he wo n’t really tell apart Samwell any material point about the adult female he jazz . It ’s about having faith in your Brother instead of the god , because the gods are n’t here and your Brother are , as Grenn says mightily before they defend the Inner Gate . It ’s about the direction Dolorous Edd actually seems kind of well-chosen as he tell his brothers “ to fire up the fucker up . ”
One great thing about this episode is the incredible sensory faculty of scale . From the first establish shot of the top of the Wall to all the long aerial crack of the United States Army and the fighting , you really get the sense that this is a Brobdingnagian dispute and that they ’re attack a ginormous rampart of shabu in the middle of an unappeasable landscape .
The neat virtue of Marshall , too , is that the tighter shooting of people struggle and shoot pointer finger wholly connect to those grand long jibe . You know exactly where everybody is at any given minute , even in the most insane destitute - for - all , and the macro - conflict feels seamlessly integrate with the individual close - ups . That ’s part a immense budget at employment , but it ’s also Marshall experience how to make a massive set slice both exciting and intelligible .
Ser Alliser Thorne turns out to be a enough leader
Perhaps the big surprise of all .
Up until now , Alliser Thorne ’s idea of a motivational spoken language has been saying stuff like , “ You will all break like fly . ” But when the shit really hits the Wall , he actually sprain out to be a pretty effective commander , insisting that Castle Black has been defended for generations and this wo n’t be the night it catch broached . When his archers atop the Wall are in serious danger of accrue apart , he gets them to recognize the difference of opinion between “ nock ” and “ pull back , ” and he in person goes to convince the embattled men in Castle Black that they do n’t want to be eaten by the cannibal Thenns .
Alliser Thorne variety of admits that mayhap Jon Snow was proper , and they should have blocked off the burrow under the Wall when they had the chance . But he explain to Jon Snow a crucial principle of leadership : Everyone else father to second - guess the loss leader , but the drawing card can never secondly - estimate himself , or it ’s all over .
And that lack of self - doubt is what carries Thorne through an impossible battle on two fronts . Even though he eventually gets cut down .
Jon Snow govern men to their Death
you’re able to much see Jon Snow arise up in this episode — he starts out still shyly talking to Samwell about the transcendence of his first intimate experience and debating whether their vows actually require chastity . And then he take shame on Samwell , send off him to get some eternal sleep instead of keeping watch with the rest .
But Jon has to make some impossible choices once he ’s left in charge of the Wall — admit sending his friend Grenn to defend the Inner Gate with just five other men . This is a felo-de-se mission , but all Jon tells Grenn is , “ hold the gate . ” Twice , for emphasis . And then Jon does n’t have the luxuriousness of worry about Grenn and the others , until he see their dead bodies the next day .
When Jon comes down to Castle Black to help support the logic gate against Tormund ’s party , he ’s just a ruthless violent death automobile . ( And he ask Samwell to unlock Ghost , his direwolf , because in a full - on melee there ’s nothing like having a wee-wee - off beast on your side . ) Jon barely manages to defeat Styr , the Magnar of Thenn , in hand - to - hand combat . And then he follow Ygritte die in his arms — more on her in a moment .
By the time Jon Snow makes the frankly insane decisiveness to go alone on a suicide mission , to examine and kill Mance Rayder , he ’s already been the lineal or collateral cause of the deaths of a few the great unwashed he cares about , just in one night . And that makes him competely bloody - tending — he ’s the only one who sees the “ great victory ” for what it is : dibrach . Only Jon recognizes that Mance was just testing their defence mechanism , and that he ’s only just getting started .
When Sam warns Jon that the Wildlings will boil him and flay him and make his decease last for days , he look completely aweary and yet totally miss in the soulful self - ruth that ’s been his trademark for so long . “ It ’s a bad plan , ” he admits . “ What ’s your design ? ” Sounding a luck like Alliser Thorne , say that leaders ca n’t afford to second - guess themselves , in fact . He leaves Jeor Mormont ’s sword , Longclaw , with Samwell , because he probably is n’t coming back , despite Samwell ’s Bob Hope .
Ygritte still ca n’t kill Jon Snow , but she also ca n’t save him
We ’ve been waiting a yr to find out what will come about when Ygritte finally get up with Jon Snow again — the last time they saw each other , she shot him full of arrows , but was careful not to kill him . As this episode begin , she ’s spend a penny arrow to kill Jon and his brother — and she make a hope that she winds up not keep .
Ygritte not only vow to pop Jon Snow and cling his “ fun bit ” around her neck , but she state Styr that if any of the other Wildlings endeavor to stamp out him first , she ’ll “ have an pointer for them . ”
Ygritte kills a lot of people in the ravishment on Castle Black , include poor Pyp . But then she interpret Jon agitate for his liveliness against Styr . She watches them contend , but she does n’t make dear on her threat to shoot Styr for robbing her of Jon ’s destruction . Of all the surprise in this sequence , one of the magnanimous is that Jon wins the competitiveness against Styr all on his own , thanks to a hammer .
And then Jon nose up tolerate there with Ygritte aiming an arrow at him . She shakes with anger , but she ca n’t actually shoot him . ( Or at least , she hesitates for a long clock time . ) He starts to smile — and then Ygritte gets shot from behind , by young Olly , whose lovable father was killed by Ygritte a few instalment back . ( And Styr spared Olly ’s life , so he could run and tell the Crows what had happened . )
This almost seems anti - climactic — but that ’s what happens when you aim an pointer at someone in the middle of a pitched battle , and then intermit for reflection .
As Ygritte buy the farm , she wish that she and Jon had just stayed in that cave where they had sex , away from the rest of the world . Because that was the one place they could just be buff and not have to be all the other things they are — they could be “ wrapped up in each other ” and be something more than someone , as Jon told Samwell . Jon responds that they can go back there , giving Ygritte one last fortune to tell him that he knows nothing .
Samwell manages to stay with Gilly and also leave her
As the episode begins , Samwell suppose Gilly and her babe are bushed , polish off in Moles Town . And he struggles with the whim that his dear for Gilly was haywire , render to craft an argument that would allow both erotic love and adherence to the vows of the Night ’s Watch . When Jon sends Samwell away , he winds up reading the works of Maester Faull , all about Wildling atrocities , try on to think what could have happened to Gilly as a result of Samwell sending her by .
And then Gilly and her baby come back , and Samwell forces Pyp to let them in against Thorne ’s orders . And this leaves Samwell with the exact sort of quandary his vows were supposed to keep : Does he ward Gilly and the babe , or do his duty alongside his brothers ? As Maester Aemon warn him , “ sexual love is the death of duty . ”
Samwell promises Gilly , “ From now on , wherever you go , I go too . ” But he manages to find a manner to keep both vow — he locks Gilly in a store - room with her baby , where she ’ll be relatively safe , and argues that he ’s still “ with ” her even if he ’s up top fight Wildlings . He has to go and fight , because that ’s what men do . Gilly does n’t think Samwell will be much employment to anyone out there , whereas he ’ll be a mass of economic consumption to her in that storeroom .
At least he gives Gilly a big dramatic osculation , before he bails on her :
But another big surprise is that Samwell turn out to be quite useful — he only kills one Thenn himself , but he ’s a decent killing facilitator . He talk Pyp out of his sheer terror , and convinces Pyp to keep shooting crossbows at Wildlings — kill one Wildling does n’t mean you get to stop — and then he goes up to the Wall to convince Jon Snow to get along down and join the scrap in Castle Black . He is able to convince Olly to keep crop the elevator , as all hell is breaking on the loose , and then tell Olly to discover a artillery and fighting . So Samwell turns out to be responsible for Ygritte ’s death , more or less .
As Samwell tells Jon , “ You ca n’t protect me forever . ”
Samwell severalise Pyp he ’s not able to be brave the manner he was when he killed a White Walker , because he ’s not “ nothing ” any more . He ’s almost too many thing : Gilly ’s defender as well as a brother of the Night ’s Watch — but he makes it work , keeping everyone focused on the conflict while ( sort of ) keeping his hope to stick with Gilly . She hold up , along with everyone else , partly thanks to him .
Janos Slynt is the worst
Janos Slynt used to be commanding officer of the City Watch , until he deceive Ned Stark and got sent to the Wall by Ned ’s successor , Tyrion Lannister . Since he arrive , Janos has been jockey for power without much concern for the actual defense lawyers of the Wall .
Faced with an United States Army of 100,000 Wildlings , including giants and mammoths , Janos is the one person who just completely cave . Ser Alliser Thorne leaves Janos in charge of the Wall while Ser Alliser defends Castle Black , and Janos just freezes , admit refuge in his egomaniac ramblings about how corking the City Watch was in compare to the band of thieves Janos is commanding now . Janos insists the Night ’s Watch is undisciplined , not realizing they ’re standing around await for him to give order .
When Jon Snow points out that the attackers have giants , who can break down the “ cold - roll steel ” of the logic gate , Janos insist that heavyweight do n’t exist — they ’re just a fairy story to daunt children . Even though he ’s looking at giants correctly now . At last , Grenn has a masterstroke of genius , recite Janos that Ser Alliser has asked for him down below . And leaving Jon Snow in de - facto statement .
( Which is what eventually run to the poor mammoth getting its ass lit on fire , as the giants seek to use it to pull the gate subject . )
As soon as Janos come down and see a full - on crazy killing fling in progression , he just loses his mettle and resolve his main priority is the rubber of Janos Slynt . He runs down to the same storage room where Samwell stashed Gilly and the baby , and stays there all night . ( And I kind of wished for one long uncomfortable view of the three of them sitting there together , talk . )
The fact that Janos , who supposedly has genuine fighting experience , goes and hide in the same storeroom that the seemingly useless Samwell refused to stay in is kind of priceless . As is the look on Janos ’ face as he hides in the turning point .
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