It’s hard to believe now, in a season where chaos and carnage come fast and furious, but it took "Game of Thrones" nearly two years to build to its first major onscreen battle. When the smoke cleared from "Blackwater," season two’s landmark episode-long conflict, television’s depiction of mass violence would never be the same.
The tooth-and-claw 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. Each has its own unique styles and strengths, yet for all their excitement, the underlying message that war is hell burns like dragonfire. From Blackwater to Hardhome and beyond, we’ve ranked the top battles in "Game of Thrones" history. Cry havoc and let slip the dragons of war.
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10. The Battle of the Whispering Wood, "Baelor" (Season 1, Episode 9)
Ah, who could forget the decisive battle at the start of the War of the Five Kings, when Robb Stark’s forces ambushed and destroyed the army led by Jaime Lannister, taking the Kingslayer captive? Well, most people could forget it, honestly.
Back in season one, budgetary and logistical issues prevented the series from actually depicting massive battles, leading to some … interesting workarounds. (Remember Tyrion preparing to lead a charge of hill-tribe barbarians against the Northmen, only to get knocked out cold and miss the fight entirely?)
That said, the offscreen depiction of the Battle of the Whispering Wood tracked closely with how author George R.R. Martin wrote it in his book: A nervous Catelyn Stark stands on a hillside above the forest where the fighting takes place, waiting and wondering if her beloved son will survive his first brush with war.
9. The Greyjoys’ naval battle, “Stormborn” (Season 7, Episode 2)
Among the many challenges faced by Game of Thrones short seventh season, there’s the Euron situation. A character we’ve barely seen or heard of, who’s part of a family pushed to the margins of the narrative for years, is suddenly a major villain and a contender for Queen Cersei’s hand?
How do you sell that? By turning the newly crowned King of the Iron Islands into the cockiest, craziest Greyjoy of the bunch, which is saying something. Actor Pilou Asbæk can smile and swagger like the Red Viper, then run headlong into the heat of battle like a mad pirate — in this case, by boarding the lead ship in his niece Yara Greyjoy’s fleet after his forces set it on fire.
The swiftness and devastation of his navy’s attack on their rivals, plus his devil-may-care abandon in single-handedly capturing, killing, or scattering Daenerys Targaryen’s allies in two of the Seven Kingdoms — Yara and Theon for the Iron Islands, Ellaria and the Sand Snakes for Dorne — make his prowess plainly clear. This is the best of the short and not-so-sweet battles GOT has pulled off, from the fights with the Night’s Watch mutineers at Craster’s Keep to the rebellions and insurgencies between slaves and masters in Meereen.
8. Daenerys and the dragons versus the slavers, “Battle of the Bastards” (Season 6, Episode 9)
A few thousand dead Lannisters and incinerated zombies later, the damage inflicted by the dragons on the fleet amassed by an alliance of slave states against Daenerys Targaryen’s free city of Meereen may not seem as impressive as it once did.
What’s more, the assault itself was overshadowed by the all-out carnage of the titular Battle of the Bastards later in the same episode. But the surprise attack by Daenerys and her three children against the Slavers’ ships (complemented as always by her Dothraki and Unsullied soldiers) was so devastating that it changed geopolitical history in the region, breaking the power of the slave trade over Meereen once and for all. Hearing hundreds of sailors scream as they burn to death will do that.
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