An Actual Battle For Winterfell

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So this is something I put together in a couple hours because holy mother of dragons was that the worst battle plan I’ve ever seen perpetrated on an unsuspecting viewing audience. It’s a bit wall-o-texty because I don’t care enough to format everything properly (mainly because I’m not getting paid anything to write this).

Hollywood, if you would like to pay me monies to write you battle scenes, hit me up on Twitter.

OPENING SCENE (the night is dark and full of terrors)

Camera pans over the castle. On the northern wall, Unsullied guard the ramparts, led by Grey Worm. On the western wall, Lady Brienne and the Knights of the Vale stand watch. On the eastern wall are Jamie Lannister and the Night’s Watch. The central courtyard is filled with siege engines, overseen by Ser Davos along with a reinforcing squad of irregulars (Stark house soldiers and various remnants of other forces) led by Sandor Clegane and Beric Dondarrion, along with Arya. The camera pans out slightly to reveal the horde of Dothraki light cavalry, including Jorah Mormont, waiting outside the north wall, along with Theon Greyjoy and Bran in the Godswood. Multiple ditches filled with pitch and stakes are visible, and as the camera continues panning out, evenly spaced bonfires form a line every hundred feet stretching out into the darkness out to one thousand feet. Finish with a shot from Winterfell from above, a glowing bastion huddling behind ten thin lines of flame.

SECOND SCENE (they’re coming)

Hushed conversations between various key figures showing nerves and terror tinged with anticipation for the upcoming battle. Each wall has a viscous black substance covering it, and several characters make reference to the smell of pitch. A Night’s Watch asks Jamie if stone can really burn, he responds drily that it has in every other siege he’s been in. Suddenly, motion is visible at the furthest line of bonfires, a horse with rider approaching slowly. As it gets closer, we see it’s Melisandre, who asks entrance, claiming they have fire, but not enough for what’s coming. Reluctantly they let her in. More motion appears — a single horse is galloping back, one of the Dothraki outriders scouting for signs of the Night King’s forces. Side shot from ground level of it thundering past a bonfire, into semi-darkness, then past another bonfire. The rider is hunched over and bloodied. Cut back to a shot from the castle facing out — as the horse reaches the closest line of bonfires to the castle, the furthest line (10) winks out, startling those along the walls. Jorah approaches the rider, who manages to get out a strangled “They’re coming,” before dying of his wounds. The next line of bonfires disappears into blackness (9), and Jorah commands the body be thrown into one of the rows of pitch — they can’t afford to give the Night King any more troops. As the body is slung into the pitch, another line of bonfires disappears (8). Davos orders the siege engines to begin firing. Wide angle shot — Flaming balls hurl into the sky, briefly lighting the area around them before being swallowed by the darkness. In each glimpse of light as the projectiles hit, we see a slavering horde of undead, but never for more than a second, the fires immediately consumed by the sheer weight of bodies rushing forward. Another line of bonfires disappears (7), then another (6). Troops along the wall are visibly distressed at this point, and the commanders are struggling to get them calmed down. Two more lines of bonfires disappear (5, 4) and archers begin firing flaming arrows from the ramparts. The arrows are immediately swallowed into the blackness; we know they’re hitting wights but it’s making no impression. Top down shot — Jorah and the Dothraki stream out to either side to begin flanking attacks on the edges of the Night King’s army. Another line of bonfires disappears (3). The sound of the dead can be heard at this point, a sort of dry hissing and clattering that steadily grows in volume, like an oncoming train. Castle view shot — The second to last line of bonfires disappears (2). All discipline among the archers and siege engines is lost at this point — people are firing as fast as they can, commanders are yelling for melee troops to stand firm. A tidal wave of onrushing corpses is momentarily visible before they plow over the last line of bonfires (1), and the sound is growing to almost ear piercing levels. Top down shot — an endless flood of wights bursts from the darkness towards the castle, lit by the ambient light from Winterfell. The battle begins.

THIRD SCENE (stick to the plan)

Jon and Daenerys take to the air on their dragons. Below them, the north side of Winterfell is a solid mass of wights battering themselves against the wall, the Unsullied keeping the ramparts clear with economic fighting motions. Dany motions that she’ll go first, brings Drogon down in a strafing run about thirty feet away from the wall, Jon keeping watch for the Night King. Smashes a blazing line through the wights and lights the first pitch-filled ditch in a wall of flame, separating the bulk of the Army of the Dead from those attacking the wall. She climbs back up and Jon repeats the tactic on the next ditch, creating another wall of flame. Thousands of wights are being killed at this point, but it shows almost no appreciable difference on how many remain. Cut to shot of Night King in the sky on top of dead dragon — he offers a small smile and gestures with his hand. The Army of the Dead pauses for a second, then splits around the flaming ditches and starts heading for the west and east walls. White Walkers on undead horses are visible among them. Dothraki ride out from the darkness to the sides and slam into the running dead, killing hundreds, then retreat to gain distance for another hit and run attack. The dead ignore them, running relentlessly for the walls, a never-ending tide of bodies. Jorah tries for a White Walker, but realizes he risks getting bogged down and manages to pull back in time. Back on the walls, the Knights of the Vale and the Night’s Watch are now engaging the wights, who press their way up the walls by sheer force of numbers. Jamie and Brienne are in constant combat, shoring up any weak points that appear, while Grey Worm and the Unsullied continue to hold the center. Dany and Jon split up, Dany goes east, Jon west, and they repeat their strafing runs, further splitting the Army of the Dead and preventing it from getting a foothold on the ramparts. Despite impossible odds, it looks like the defense is succeeding. The Army of the Dead can’t get through the ditches of flame in meaningful numbers, and the defenders are keeping the walls clear, throwing anyone who dies down to a central burn pile in the courtyard below. Combat to this point is clear and relatively easy to follow. Cut to Night King in the sky, who smiles even wider, then gestures with both hands. The blizzard descends.

FOURTH SCENE (no plan survives contact with the enemy)

Billowing clouds of snow and ice smash down from all sides, immediately reducing visibility to almost nothing. Confusion sets in along the wall and wights begin gaining the top more regularly. Close up shots of more intense close combat along the walls. Several seconds later, the initial cloud surge lifts and the view pans back out to an overhead shot — we can see through the flurries that the fire ditches have now gone almost completely out, and the dead are throwing themselves on top of them to bridge the gaps. The castle is now almost completely encircled, and the irregular squad (Arya, Sandor, Beric) is rushing to the south wall to defend the ramparts there. Unable to see to maneuver effectively, Dothraki are getting bogged down along the flanks and dragged from their horses. White Walkers are clearly visible, moving closer to the walls among the throngs of undead. Dany and Jon circle helplessly, trying to find each other, and then Jon is attacked by the Night King but narrowly escapes. Jon and the Night King play a deadly game of hide and seek, darting in and out of the clouds as the wights continue to press their numerical advantage down below. Without the dragons to break up their ranks, it’s clear the defenders are losing ground. The Night King finally ambushes Jon and sends him and Rhaegal tumbling to the ground outside the west wall, where Jon gets mixed in with a group of Dothraki who are trying to fight their way back to the north wall castle entrance. Rhaegal flaps off to nurse its wounds, and Dany hears its cries as it flies away, but still can’t find the Night King. On the east side, Jorah is leading what remains of his Dothraki on an attack towards a White Walker, trying to take it out while returning to the castle. Meanwhile on the wall, all the commanders scream for their troops to light the walls, but the cold is too much and no one can get a fire started. Melisandre climbs to the northern wall and lays her hand upon a rampart stone while Unsullied hold a space around her, begins chanting. Cut to scenes of other characters desperately fighting to stay alive, the dead beginning to gain the walls in earnest now. Cut back to Melisandre, who is almost pleading at this point, and then the pitch along the walls bursts into flame, wreathing the entire castle in fire. Top down shot of Winterfell’s walls on fire, the dead below immolating themselves against the burning stone, still-endless ranks stretching into the darkness. Clegane immediately flees back to the courtyard, afraid of the fire, Melisandre falls back, exhausted, the living desperately begin to clear the ramparts as the dead below are unable to make it up the blazing walls. Dany hovers in the sky above the clouds, looking for the Night King, who she still can’t find. It looks as though the stratagem is going to work, the defenders driving back the dead, and then the Night King appears above the north wall. Blue dragon fire smashes down into the wall, creating a large breach, and narrowly missing Gray Worm and Melisandre. The dead advance.

FIFTH SCENE (in which things get real)

The undead giant is first through the gap, clearing a beachhead, Lady Mormont is a badass and that part was filmed wonderfully, don’t change a thing. The Night King continues hammering the north wall with dragonfire, enlarging the gap, and the defenders rush from the burning walls to hold the courtyard. More and more dead are breaching the castle, cut to Theon’s group who are beginning to fight stragglers headed for Bran. Back in the courtyard, things are bad, the dead are everywhere, named characters are hard pressed to stay alive as they’re slowly surrounded. Jorah is locked in mortal combat with a White Walker, and Jon’s group is getting whittled down as they head for the north wall. Just when things seem the most dire, Dany swoops from above and knocks the Night King from Viserion, sending the Night King plummeting to the ground just outside the north wall and Viserion crashing into the castle. Drogon can’t quite break his fall and comes to ground thirty feet away from the Night King, knocking Dany from his back in the process, which Jorah sees happen in a lull in his combat with the White Walker. Wights race towards her fallen form. Cut to Jorah back in combat with White Walker, Jorah manages to land a killing blow, ranks of wights shatter all around. Cut back to Dany, wights shatter as they’re about to leap on her. She pushes herself to her feet and looks over to where the Night King is doing the same. They lock eyes, and she commands Drogon to burn. Dragon fire engulfs the Night King for a solid ten seconds, an absolute inferno. Slowly, the flames die down, and the Night King stares back at her, unharmed, and smirks, lifting the ice lance. Dany yells at Drogon to flee, which he does, narrowly dodging the ice lance as he flaps away. Behind the Night King, Dany sees Jon approaching at a run, sword raised. The Night King looks at him, looks at Dany, then almost mockingly raises the dead, creating a solid wall of new wights around him. Contemptuously, he heads into the castle as Jon tries to fight his way towards Dany, who flees towards Jorah, but Jon is pushed into the castle by the onslaught of new wights. Jon makes his way into the courtyard where he sees everyone under attack, along with Arya disappearing into a building with wights in chase, but then Jon gets pinned by Viserion’s dragon fire, who has come to rest on a wall near Godsgrove. Dany and Jorah begin their last stand against the waves of wights.

From here, the episode can finish how it was originally filmed, I didn’t have too many quibbles with those parts. Maybe make it a bit clearer how Arya gets to Godsgrove, but that would be about it. Crypt scenes with Tyrion and Sansa can be interspersed where necessary.

Words go in this space.

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