Did you know it that took Game of Thrones nearly two years to build to its first major onscreen battle? But when the smoke cleared from “Blackwater” which was season two’s landmark episode-long conflict, television’s depiction of mass violence would never be the same.
The struggle for survival between Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, and the Night King’s army of the dead in “Beyond the Wall” is just the latest in a long series of big Game of Thrones battles. And from Blackwater to Hardhome and beyond, we’ve ranked the top battles in Game of Thrones history.
5. The Greyjoys’ naval battle, “Stormborn” (Season 7, Episode 2)
King of the Iron Islands aka Euron is the cockiest, craziest Greyjoy of the bunch, which is saying something. The swiftness and devastation of his navy’s attack on their rivals – nephew Then and niece Yara – plus his devil-may-care abandon in single-handedly capturing, killing, or scattering Daenerys Targaryen’s allies in two of the Seven Kingdoms make his prowess plainly clear.
4. The Wildlings versus the Night’s Watch, “The Watchers on the Wall” (Season 4, Episode 9)
An unbroken 360-degree shot within Castle Black as duels between the badly outmanned Night’s Watch and Wildling forces raged! The death of Ygritte, Jon Snow’s star-crossed wildling lover, in his arms! Even if it took Stannis Baratheon’s sneak attack to defeat the Wildlings for good in the following episode, this was a fight worth remembering.
3. Daenerys and the dragons versus the White Walkers, “Beyond the Wall” (Season 7, Episode 6)
When Dany and her children swooped in to save Jon and co from the wights — and the Night King hurled his magic spear to take one of them down — that was when we truly tasted what an all-out, dragon-on-demon combat might look like in the Great War to come.
2. The Wildlings and the Night’s Watch versus the White Walkers, “Hardhome” (Season 5, Episode 8)
The Night King and his army of the dead descended upon a remote fishing village, where Jon Snow and Tormund Giantsbane had come to broker a truce with the wildlings in order to move everyone to safety south of the Wall. The White Walkers had other plans, however, and they unleashed their undead hordes with seismic fury. Like the death of Dany’s dragon Viserion at the point of the Night King’s spear, the way the demonic monarch brought everyone he’d just slain back to life merely by raising his hands illustrated the sheer magical power and total disregard for life of humanity’s true opponents. And as in every battle, moments of individual heroism, sacrifice, and tragedy leavened the spectacle with ground-level emotion.
1. The Coming Of Age Of Jon snow, “Battle of the Bastards” (Season 6, Episode 9)
You know all the details about season six’s climactic confrontation. But it’s the visual component of the Battle of the Bastards that makes it so memorable. At one point, the fighting between Jon and Ramsay’s forces was so horrific that the dead bodies piled up into a literal pile—a physical obstacle that the fighters had to climb above or drown beneath. Every speech Jon or Davos ever made about the folly of fighting each other was made real in this moment, which turned the mass murder of warfare into an actual geographical feature of the battle. It was a moment of macabre beauty, power, and tragedy.
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