History Recap / GameOfThronesS6E9BattleOfTheBastards

* VoluntaryVassal: Daenerys will allow and tolerate Yara's claim as Queen of The Iron Islands, provided she submits to her authority and respects the sovereignty of The Seven Kingdoms, which means no more reaving. [[note:]]Renly Baratheon made a similar offer to Robb Stark via Catelyn in season 2[[/note]]

* VoluntaryVassal: Daenerys will allow and tolerate Yara's claim as Queen of The Iron Islands, provided she submits to her authority and respects the sovereignty of The Seven Kingdoms, which means no more reaving. [[note Renly Baratheon made a similar offer to Robb Stark via Catelyn in season 2]]

** Tyrion takes the opportunity to mock Theon for his failures without any provocation, bringing up Theon's insults from their last meeting at Winterfell in the first episode of the series (almost ''five years'' previously, according to the timeline). It doesn't qualify as a KickTheSonOfABitch moment because Theon's been through so much that he can't fight back or even look Tyrion in the eyes, so Tyrion just comes off as petty.

* InvulnerableHorses: Averted; Jon is thrown from his horse when it's caught in a RainOfArrows.

* HollywoodTactics: They come up in several ways, and SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome follows with all of them:

** [[Recap/GameOfThronesS1E9Baelor Last time]] a Stark son was involved in a proposal for CombatByChampion, it was Robb who was wise enough to deny a fight against Jaime, one of the best swordsmen alive back then. This time it's Ramsay who has heard enough about Jon's combat prowess to know he should stick with the safe option.

** The Dothraki, led by Daario, charge into Meereen and rout the Sons of the Harpy on the ground as the dragons torch the Masters' navy from the skies. Presumably this is to rescue the people caught outside the gates being killed by The Sons of the Harpy, though it's unclear why any of them are there (except possibly trying to escape from the fleet's bombardment).

* DidntSeeThatComing: ''Nobody'', except for Sansa, counted on the Knights of the Vale arriving. This goes double for Ramsay, who is suddenly being besieged by someone who is supposed to be an ally.

*** He commits all his forces to destroying the Stark army and thus has no rear guard to defend against any other allies or reinforcements that the Starks might have. Once infantry is committed, the only thing it can do is try to destroy the enemy right in front of it, as trying to change direction or formation while in a shield wall is a slow, cumbersome process that leaves the infantry uniquely vulnerable until they can finish doing so and reestablish a cohesive formation. (Paying close attention to the Bolton infantry during the charge of the Vale forces shows that some of the Bolton forces were desperately trying to turn around and adjust for the new threat, but the vast majority failed to do so in time, which is why the Knights of the Vale were able to smash them so effectively.) As such, anything new or unexpected coming at the infantry while they're already committed is a ''serious'' problem, which is why you don't kill off a big chunk of your army and leave it with such a glaring vulnerability. Had the Bolton cavalry still been intact, they could have been used to scout the area, warn of incoming enemies, or form a defensive screen to protect the Bolton infantry and allow them to attempt to change formation during the Vale's charge.
*** Ramsay's plan to encircle the Stark forces ''entirely'' with the shield wall and the Smalljon's forces coming down the mountain of bodies works well for dramatic purposes, but not tactics-wise. Historically it's usually a bad idea to trap your opponent entirely with no means of escape, as they have no choice but to fight to the death if they can expect no quarter. Indeed, Tormund's forces do rout and try to escape (but cannot), which would have been much faster and lower on casualties for the Boltons. Roose had the right idea last season when he had his cavalry envelop Stannis' forces in a pincer movement that still left the rear open, which encouraged the Stormlanders to rout, after which they got picked off with ease.

** Tyrion takes pleasure in pointing out Theon's failures and agrees with Theon when he says Yara is more fit to rule. Tyrion's short stint as ruler of Meereen didn't exactly go well, though, since the city was only saved from destruction by the timely arrival of Daenerys and her army.

** After going against their deal, Tyrion tells the Masters one of them has to die. The high-born Masters offer their low-born colleague because he isn't like them and doesn't speak for them. Grey Worm acts like he's about kill the low-born, then kills the two high-born instead.

** Ramsay is killed by being fed to his supposedly loyal dogs, exactly what he was planning on doing to any officers he captured, and how he killed [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame girls he hunted for sport]], his step-mother, and his half-brother. Bonus points for the fact the dogs were so desperate to eat only because he had been starving them for a week, and had deliberately given them a taste for human flesh.

** Tyrion takes the opportunity to mock Theon for his failures without any provocation, bringing up Theon's insults from their last meeting at Winterfell, in the first episode of the series (almost ''five years'' previously, according to the timeline). It doesn't qualify as a KickTheSonOfABitch moment because Theon's been through so much that he can't fight back or even look Tyrion in the eyes, so Tyrion just comes off as petty.

* LastStand: After being manipulated by Ramsay to cross into No Man's Land and having his horse shot out from under him, Jon realises the hopelessness of his situation and draws Longclaw, preparing to meet the Bolton's cavalry charge. His own cavalry arrives at the last second.

** Tyrion's defense of his policies. He points out that by allowing commerce to return to the city, he and Meereen proved to the Masters that a free city was more profitable than a slave one, and could peaceably subsist rather than devolve to the anarchy that they always claimed justified their ownership of people. This drove the Masters to finally attack them militarily and put a halt on their success story.

** All of the Stark forces share one as they witness Ramsay and Rickon's "game". Not only do they lose their rightful liege lord, they also watch as their commander throws their entire battle plans to the wind in blind anger.

* SanitySlippage: WordOfGod says that Ramsay has a mental breakdown when the Knights of the Vale join the battle and cannot comprehend that he has lost, deliberately echoing the last days of UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler. When Jon beats him to a pulp, he's actually ''grinning'' throughout, not unlike the Joker in ''Film/TheDarkKnight''; he mistakenly thinks this means the Starks won't actually kill him. Even when he's chained up in the kennel, he starts giving a HannibalLecture to Sansa, saying that he has still won in a sense because he hurt the Starks in ways that will last forever. Sansa then directly shoots this down by telling him that all memory of him and his house will eventually be forgotten. To go with the Hitler analogy, compare to if, during the fall of Berlin, Hitler tried to petulantly rationalize to himself, "Even if I die, I still won because I killed all the Jews" -- grasping at straws because he killed many, but not all of them.

* SelectiveMemory: Tyrion gleefully bullies Theon for supposedly making imp jokes the last time they met. The problem is they only had one scene together prior and Theon had in fact tried to be polite while Tyrion was the {{Jerkass}}.

* SigilSpam: The symbol of House Bolton shows on shields and uniforms of Ramsay's men.

* SoldierVsWarrior: This trope is on full display when the Bolton heavy infantry and the Wildlings face off against each other. The Bolton infantry fight as soldiers: anonymous, unified, disciplined, they simply set up a [[StoneWall shield wall]], take a few steps at a time, and thrust away with their spears. The Wildlings are fierce warriors, but however tough or skilled an individual fighter might be, they can't break the shield wall by themselves, and because they're not coordinated they can't make a concentrated push to try to breach it one spot. Even when an individual like Tormund manages to kill one or two members in the line, they simply get wounded or cut down by the next man, who steps in to fill the hole and turns the shield wall into a seemingly impenetrable row of shields and spears again. If the Vale knights hadn't arrived in time to save the Wildlings, the Wildlings would have been completely destroyed while the Bolton infantry would have suffered only minor losses.

* TakingTheBullet: Jon's life is saved on a couple of occasions by other soldiers catching arrows with his name on it.
* TalkingIsAFreeAction: Averted. During the initial chaotic melee of cavalry, Jon grabs one of his men to order him to give a message to Davos, but doesn't get past "Get word-" before the man takes an arrow through the head.

The fleets of Astapor, Yunkai, and Volantis continue to bombard the city of Meereen. Daenerys surveys the attack with Tyrion from the Great Pyramid. He cites the fleet as a backhanded compliment: if the Masters didn't fear a city without slaves (and thus without them in power), they wouldn't be here to destroy it. Satisfied that Tyrion isn't completely at fault, Daenerys declares her intention to crucify the "Wise" Masters, set their fleets on fire, kill all their soldiers and raze their cities. Tyrion, disturbed, points out that she's starting to sound [[NotSoDifferentRemark a lot like her father]] (apparently, Jaime told him his secret at some off-screen point), and suggests taking another approach. Thus, Daenerys and her court meet with the Masters, who offer them onerous terms of surrender. Daenerys says they have misunderstood: she is there to discuss ''their'' surrender. [[SmugSnake The Masters scoff at this]]... Until Drogon drops in behind Daenerys. Mounting him, Daenerys leads her dragons (Rhaegal and Viserion unceremoniously bust themselves free) against their fleet, [[KillItWithFire making short work of several ships]]. At the same time, Daario and Daenerys's new Dothraki army ride into town and make short work of the Sons of the Harpy, who find heavily armed fighters on horseback far more challenging than unarmed slaves or ambushed soldiers. Meanwhile, Grey Worm tells the Masters' (slave) soldiers they have a choice: die for men who will not die for them, or go home. The Wise Masters' bodyguards choose the better part of valor. Tyrion reminds the frightened Masters of their pact with him, which they violated. One must die as punishment for this. The two high-born Masters volunteer their low-born colleague. Instead, Grey Worm kills both high-born Masters. Tyrion tells the sole survivor to warn his people what happened to them if they ever have future ideas of taking back Meereen.

Later, Yara and Theon come to Meereen for a royal audience with Daenerys. Tyrion reminisces mockingly over the last time he and Theon saw each other, [[Recap/GameOfThronesS1E4CripplesBastardsAndBrokenThings at Winterfell years ago]]. They have brought a hundred ships. In return, Daenerys expects they want her to support Theon on the Salt Throne. He explains, however, that it is Yara with the claim, plus the rest of the situation. Tyrion tells her that between the former Masters' fleet and the portion of the Iron Fleet the Greyjoys have offered, she has just barely enough ships to carry her army. Yara and Theon tell her of Euron's proposal, admitting that he will provide a larger fleet but pointing out that he will want her hand in exchange, and that he will probably [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident do away with her]] once he gets what he wants (the Seven Kingdoms). Daenerys says their fathers were evil men who left the world worse than they found it, but they are different. To rule the Iron Islands, the Greyjoys must support her as queen of the Seven Kingdoms, ''and'' give their raiding ways up. Yara agrees reluctantly.

'''In the North''', Jon and Sansa meet with Ramsay Bolton. Ramsay condescendingly thanks Jon for returning Sansa to him. He tells Jon to surrender and swear loyalty to him as the Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North. In return, he will pardon him for deserting the Night's Watch, and the lords with him for betraying House Bolton. He warns Jon he does not have the power to take Winterfell, and says there's no need for slaughter. Jon agrees, and instead challenges Ramsay to a CombatByChampion. Ramsay, unfortunately, is too smart for this. Jon is reputedly a great swordsman, so Ramsay isn't sure he can win a SwordFight against him; in contrast, he ''is'' sure that his army, twice the size of the Starks', can win. He asks if Jon will let his little brother Rickon die instead of surrender. Sansa asks for proof Ramsay has him, so they throw the head of Rickon's direwolf, Shaggydog, at their feet. As he starts asking for their surrender again, Sansa warns Ramsay he will die tomorrow. Ramsay says he looks forward to having her in his bed again and his dogs will love devouring Jon's men. Saying he'll meet them in the morning, he departs.

Later, in his tent, Jon says if Ramsay were smart he'd stay inside Winterfell. Davos says Ramsay won't because he knows all the North is watching and can't have the Northern lords sensing weakness on his part. Fear is his power, so he can't have that. Jon says it's his weakness too, as his men don't like fighting for Ramsay. If they see the tide turning, they'll desert him. Tormund's concern is for Ramsay's cavalry, as Stannis Baratheon showed what mounted riders can do against infantry back at the end of Season 4. Jon reassures him trenches will protect their flanks. Davos says they must let Ramsay charge them and yield the center, so he can be surrounded three ways. Tormund asks Jon if he thought Ramsay would really fight him personally. Jon says no; it was to make him angry so he'd come at them with everything. After they leave, Sansa rebukes Jon for not consulting her insight while he drew up his battle plans against Ramsay, since she knows how he thinks. Jon admits his mistake. He asks how they can rescue Rickon but Sansa says there's no way Ramsay will permit him to live. Jon insists they can't give up on their brother and they argue. He asks Sansa what he should do but Sansa explains she doesn't know anything about battles and can only tell him not to do what Ramsay wants. As they argue more, Jon asks where they can get more men, explaining that they've exhausted all their resources. Sansa tells Jon she won't return to Ramsay alive. Jon [[BigBrotherInstinct replies that he won't let Ramsay touch her]] but a [[BrokenBird despondent Sansa]] responds nobody can truly protect anyone. Davos and Tormund reminisce about Stannis and Mance Rayder, hoping this till will go better for them. Jon goes to Melisandre, telling her that if he falls this time, not to bring him back. She replies that it is the Lord of Light's will she follows, and has to try as it seems to be his will. Davos walks to the remains of the pyre where Shireen Baratheon was sacrificed by her father Stannis, finding the burnt carved stag he gave her and realising how she died -- and who caused it...

Sansa's advice was for Jon to not let Ramsay manipulate his emotions... but Jon TurnsRed and charges at the entire Bolton army -- alone. Behind him, Ser Davos panics and starts to reorganize the Stark forces. Jon rides into a hail of arrows, leaving him horseless. The Bolton cavalry ride down at him. Alone, Jon draws his sword and prepares for a hopeless LastStand... but TheCavalry, his own cavalry ordered forward by Davos, smash into the Bolton lines, saving him. Behind them, Tormund Giantsbane leads the infantry charge. As horses and men careen past him, trampling each other, ramming each other, stabbing each other, Jon slays [[UnstoppableRage every Bolton soldier he can get his hands on]].

Ser Davos and Ramsay order their archers to nock... draw... Ser Davos tells them to unstring their bows, as they'd only hit their own side. Ramsay has [[WeHaveReserves no such compunctions]]. The arrows fall indiscriminately, forming a literal wall of corpses, dead and screaming horses and men. Ramsay orders more arrows, watching without emotion as what's left of the North slaughters itself before him.

Having committed his cavalry, Ramsay now sends in his foot soldiers. The Bolton infantry surrounds the Starks on three sides, hemming them in against the wall of corpses, then close in with their spears behind a shield wall. With lockstep movement, they stab with their spears, and advance to where the dead wildings just were. Stab and advance, again and again. Over the mound of bodies, by now easily thirty feet tall, come the Umbers. Jon's forces slam against the shields, trying desperately to break out from the trap, but cannot. At last, the wilding morale is broken, and they charge toward the Umber side in hopes of escape. Jon is knocked down and falls under the press, nearly smothering to death before he can break free. Meanwhile, Tormund is locked in battle with Lord Umber, brutally beaten before at last, he manages to kill him. But the shield wall is impenetrable; not even Wun Wun, literally ripping men apart with his bare hands, can make a dent in it, as another soldier always seems to be there to fill in the gaps made, with their spears not allowing the wildings to take advantages of the holes made in the shield wall.

The Knights of the Vale hit the Bolton infantry in the rear, rolling up the shield wall almost effortlessly; the Bolton infantry, though armed with long pikes suitable for use against cavalry, are unable to turn due to the many layers of spears fencing them in. Ramsay retreats in a fury to Winterfell while his army is routed. He closes the gates: Jon's forces are not equipped for TheSiege. However, Wun Wun simply smashes the gates in, despite being filled with arrows, and enough Stark men stream in around him to rout what defenders remain. Wun Wun is killed by a last fatal arrow from Ramsay, who says he's reconsidered: a DuelToTheDeath with Jon sounds fine. But he still has his bow, while Jon has only his sword. Jon drops Longclaw and grabs a [[LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe shield]]. As he advances, he blocks one arrow, two arrows, three, and then flings the shield away and pounds Ramsay into unconsciousness with his bare fists. He stops when he notices Sansa.

With the flayed man struck down, the direwolf banner is unfurled from the ramparts once again. For the first time in a long time, there are Starks in Winterfell. Jon orders Rickon's body to be taken to the crypts, to be buried alongside their father. He's soon met by Sansa, who demands to know where her former husband is.

* AdaptationalHeroism: In the books, Rhaegal and Viserion burn Quentyn Martell, and wreck havoc on Meereen. Here they break out of the cells and help Daenerys and Drogon save Meereen by attacking the Slavers fleet.
* AdaptationalVillainy: Yara Greyjoy is upset that Daenerys wants the Ironborn to abandon their RapePillageAndBurn ethos and submit to her laws. In the novels, Asha Greyjoy is critical of the same mindset and wants to change it. Here, Yara invokes the same CultureJustifiesAnything defense used by more macho Ironborn. That being said, it doesn't take her much consideration to agree to give up piracy under Daenerys' terms, since she won't be getting a better deal elsewhere.
* AdaptationDistillation: It seems Ned's bones simply reached Winterfell and were interred in the crypts off-screen in the show, and were left unmolested by the Boltons during their occupation. In the books, special attention is given to how his remains hadn't yet reached Moat Cailin when the Ironborn seized it and have since [[ChekhovMIA disappeared]], which turns out to fortunate since the pro-Bolton Lady Barbrey Dustin wants to feed them to her dogs. (Fanon generally accepts that since they disappeared in the Neck, they were taken in by Ned's old friend Howland Reed).

* AmbiguousSituation: Unlike Smalljon Umber, who we get to see slain, Lord Karstark simply disappears at some point in the battle. We know he doesn't return to the castle with Ramsay Bolton, but we don't know whether he survived the battle, either. The first episode of Season Seven reveals his fate.

** Played with during the parlay. When Ramsay rejects Jon's offer of combat by champion, Jon asks if Ramsay's men would still fight and die for him knowing he's unwilling to return the favor. The question clearly agitates Ramsay who merely points at Jon and tells Sansa, "Oh, he's ''good.''" Ultimately subverted when the question isn't nearly as armor piercing as Jon hoped and Ramsay maintains his calm for the battle.

** The two Masters who had the gall to attack Meereen, despite being offered a peace treaty and an alternate outcome. It is hard to feel sorry for them.

* BadassArmy: Despite being outnumbered two-to-one, the Stark army manages to inflict more casualties on a numerically superior army than they receive in turn. A Downplayed example would be the late-arriving Knights of the Vale, who are mounted and far more heavily armored than their Bolton opponents.

** Ramsay, including most of his face, is filled with blood after a ExtremeMeleeRevenge from Jon.
* BloodSplatteredWarrior: By end of the episode, Jon is covered from head to toe in blood and dirt. Tormund doesn't fare much better.
* BookEnds: Sansa's plot for the last two seasons as a whole. It began when she, Littlefinger and the Arryn men at arms entered the courtyard of Winterfell and presented themselves to Ramsay and Roose. It ends when she, Littlefinger, and the Arryn knights return to the same courtyard and finish Ramsay and his forces.

* BoringButPractical: The Bolton shield wall is what nearly annihilates the Stark forces, and consists solely of a bunch of guys with tall, broad shields and long spears. They move as one unit, a few steps at a time, stab, a few more steps, stab... and the Wildling/Stark forces have ''no reply'' to it. Even Wun Wun can't breach it, and the more it advances, the more they're all pressed together, unable to maneuver or even swing their swords. Definitely an example of ShownTheirWork ''and'' a CallBack: Jon explained to Ygritte two seasons ago that the Wildlings don't fight like an army, more a collection of ferocious but undisciplined warriors. The Boltons fight as ''soldiers'', in a tight formation with a practical, efficient battle plan. Now we see which one of those is really useful when it comes down to it. History buffs will probably see the obvious parallels to the Greek phalanx and the Roman shield walls.

** When the Wildlings are surrounded by the Bolton infantry, they learn the hard way why rhythm and coordination are important in "Southron" warfare, as the Wildlings are uniformly closed upon and systematically mowed down by two lines of shield men protecting pikemen. A couple of seasons before, Ygritte mocked Jon for the silliness she perceived from the very idea of having a person in an army (a drummer) who is specifically responsible for keeping rhythm.

** The Dothraki, led by Daario, charge into Meereen and rout the Sons of the Harpy on the ground as the dragons torch the Masters' navy from the skies. Presumably this is to rescue the people caught outside the gates being killed by the Sons of the Harpy, though it's unclear why any of them are there (except possibly trying to escape from the fleet's bombardment).

* CommanderContrarian: The night before the battle, Sansa criticizes Jon for not seeking her input on the upcoming battle or on Ramsay. When Jon does ask her for advice, she actually doesn't have any to give, except that Rickon is a DeadManWalking and that Ramsay will force Jon into a trap. She is proven right but at that point, Jon, Davos and the rest decide that TrapIsTheOnlyOption.

* ConvenientlyTimedDistraction: While Smalljon Umber had the upper hand on Tormund, he gets distracted when he hears the battle horn from the Knights of the Vale. This gives Tormund the opportunity to take a bite out of Smalljon and then stab him multiple times.

* DefiantToTheEnd: With all of his men defeated, Ramsay still refuses to surrender, offering to take Jon up on his offer to [[CombatByChampion fight one on one.]] Jon obliges and beats him within an inch of his life, only relenting to allow Sansa to be the one to kill him. Ramsay also attempts this attitude with Sansa at first, but is quickly forced to realize that it's over for him and he's reduced to begging for his life.

** The upperclass Masters who sell out the lowborn Master to Greyworm, Greyworm gives them the KarmicDeath they deserve for that.

** Subverted with Jon. When his horse is killed and he's facing down the entire Bolton cavalry alone, realizing his mistake, he simply pulls his sword to meet their charge. His own [[TheCavalry cavalry arrives just in time]] to make sure that a second death didn't come that day.

* ExtremeMeleeRevenge: At the climax of his CombatBreakdown, Jon relinquishes all semblance of humanity as [[ItsPersonal he savagely beats Ramsay]] within an inch of his life. His animalistic nature is so disturbing, even the [[BarbarianHero Wildlings]] aiming bows at Ramsay beforehand give pause and stare. However, he stops when he sees Sansa, who has been subjected to countless horrors that Ramsay has subjected her to. [[TheDogBitesBack Ramsay would probably have preferred death by extreme melee revenge]].
* TheExtremistWasRight: Melisandre's visions finally did come true -- just not in the manner she expected. Her sacrifice of Shireen cleared the blizzard to create a march to Winterfell with full strength, and also allowed for the cavalry charge by the Knights of the Vale.

* {{Foil}}: Aside from the titular bastards, this episode in particular casts Tyrion and Theon in this light. Both were disowned by their now dead fathers for being unfit heirs, [[WellDoneSonGuy despite many efforts to prove themselves]]. Both used to be cocky and promiscuous men (Theon's promiscuity went away with his castration, Tyrion suffered an emotional blow with the same effects). Both are now broken exiles advising queens who are also in exile and form a pact to take over Westeros.
* ForeignQueasine: Apparently, the Free Folk's version of a GargleBlaster is fermented goat's milk. Tormund assures Davos it's better than "that grape water you Southerners like to suck on", but the latter declines to partake.

* GargleBlaster: Highly alcoholic fermented goat milk seems to be a Wildling specialty. Understandably, Davos politely declines a tasting.[[note]]Given that fermenting milk alone results in very low alcohol content (usually not exceeding 3%), it's likely that, if the stuff really is highly alcoholic, the Free Folk's drink has some form of sugar added to the fermentation to boost alcohol content, which would make it taste like milk mixed with vodka. Certainly an acquired taste.[[/note]]
* GeneralFailure: Ramsay encircles the Stark forces, a sensible move. But instead of allowing them to flee and running down each individual man with cavalry, as his late father did to Stannis' forces, Ramsay sacrifices all his cavalry to form a wall of corpses so that he can trap the Stark men in one place where he can watch them all die. This leaves him without scouts or a mobile reserve and forces the Stark men to stand and fight, when they might have preferred to run. It also loses him the battle when his lack of scouts enables the Vale to enter the battle with no warning, and his lack of a mobile reserve means he has no means of delaying their entrance and allowing his infantry to regroup. Lastly, Ramsay's hold on the North is dependent on other houses fearing his cruelty and superior numbers, yet even if he'd won the battle after his bit of UnfriendlyFire, he would have undermined his own ability to continue ruling because of it.

* HandshakeSubstitute: A Forearm Clasp is used by Yara Greyjoy of the Iron Islands and Daenerys Targaryen when they seal their deal.

** Despite coming up with a serviceable battle plan that might have allowed victory against a numerically superior force, Jon ultimately blows the whole thing by leading a direct charge instead, exactly what he said they shouldn't do. His army is very nearly slaughtered by Ramsay, who has more men and a trap which Jon just walks right into. Ramsay goaded him into this, though, despite Sansa warning that Ramsay would try something like this and that Rickon was dead already.

** Ramsay lets Rickon go and fires [[RuleOfThree three arrows at him]] as Rickon runs toward across the field to Jon. Ramsay’s third arrow, after a lot of set-up, misses. Ramsay fires another arrow off-screen, just as Jon is about to reach Rickon, but Ramsay’s fourth arrow hits and kills Rickon instantly.

** The Masters have the gall to accuse Daenerys of having trouble adjusting to the new reality (i.e. her "defeat"), when they are (according to Tyrion) attacking Meereen precisely because they refuse to accept the reality of a post-slavery society and have rejected every single one of her attempts at peace.

* IdiotBall: Jon is warned not to do what Ramsay wants, yet falls for it when Ramsay baits him by killing Rickon.

** Melisandre and Jon discuss the Lord of Light and why he brought Jon Snow back. Jon doesn't want to return if he dies again but Melisandre insists she will do it if that was the Lord of Light's will. Jon wonders why the Lord of Light [[JerkassGods would lead people on and keep things in the dark like that]], while Melisandre shrugs and says that [[CantArgueWithElves it's the only god they have]].
** Melisandre also accepts that the Lord of Light's ways are mysterious to her, hence she leaves out some of her visions to Jon (namely seeing the Bolton banners dip, and Jon fighting in Winterfell), merely telling him "don't lose" and that she isn't sure if Jon is important only for the next battle or for something greater (when she had told Davos that he was the Prince That Was Promised).
--->'''Melisandre''': I serve the Lord of Light, I do what he commands.\\

** Tyrion takes the opportunity to mock Theon for his failures without any provocation, bringing up Theon's insults from their last meeting at Winterfell, in the first episode of the series (almost ''five years'' previously, according to the timeline). It doesn't qualify as a KickTheSonOfABitch moment because Theon's been through so much he can't fight back or even look Tyrion in the eyes, so Tyrion just comes off as petty.

* KneelBeforeZod: Ramsay wants Jon to kneel before him which would end the conflict and spare the lives of Jon's men. Jon declines and offers a CombatByChampion instead. Ramsay doesn't bite.
* LastStand: After being manipulated by Ramsay to cross into No Man's Land, and having his horse shot out from under him, Jon realizes the hopelessness of his situation and draws Longclaw, preparing to meet the Bolton's cavalry charge. His own cavalry arrives at the last second.

* LastVillainStand: With all of his men massacred and at the point of who knows how many arrows, Ramsay [[OnSecondThought changes his mind]] about CombatByChampion, and tries it against Jon. This is not portrayed even remotely positively, as it shows that he is just a DirtyCoward who places his men's lives ''far'' below himself, and who will only try a last ditch effort to kill an opposing commander himself when he has nothing left to lose.

** During the parley, Ramsay admits that there were rumors floating around the North about Jon, building him up as this. Now that Jon has ousted [[TheDreaded House Bolton]] from Winterfell with a smaller and more ragtag army (along with reinforcements from the Vale), it's safe to say the legend will only grow.

** The Sons of the Harpy slaughtering Meereeneese citizens at the front gate have one when they see the entire Dothraki khalasar charging at them with arakhs raised in a follow-up to Daenerys' dragon attack in the harbor.

* {{Mooks}}: It's less pronounced than most, but even with nearly twice as many men as the Starks and luring them into a trap, the Bolton army still has disproportionate casualties on their side. Granted, a lot have to do with [[WeHaveReserves Ramsay killing his own men]]. Also reinforced with their near-identical helmets and leather armor whereas the Stark forces don a variety of protective clothing.
* MyMasterRightOrWrong: Ramsay's rule of the North is built around fear and terror with little to no love or respect included. Throughout the battle, he commits questionable acts for everyone to see: killing Rickon ignominiously, ordering his archers to shoot at his own cavalry, and even fleeing from the battle and leaving his infantry to die by the Vale reinforcements. Despite some of them showing obvious discomfort and even pointing out their dismal numbers once Ramsay retreats, his men continue to fight for the Bastard of Bolton to the bitter end.

* NeverHeardThatOneBefore: Tyrion mentions how everyone tells him the same dwarf jokes when he's dressing down Theon in Daenerys' throne room.

** In the second Season 6 trailer, when Tormund says the line, "I thought he was the man to lead us through the Long Night. But I was wrong", the viewer might be led to assume he's speaking of Jon. In fact, Tormund was talking to Davos about how they believed their respective kings (Mance Raydar in Tormund's case and Stannis Baratheon in Davos's case) would lead them to victory and the actual final line is, "But I was wrong, just like you."

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Ramsay's horrific actions, both in this episode and across the season in general, has resulted in not just his own demise but the complete eradication of House Bolton. The biggest example in this episode is his decision to sacrifice the Bolton cavalry to ensure the destruction of the Starks' own horses, all for an inefficient, gruesome plan, leaving him with nothing to counter the Vale knights when they arrive.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Ramsay never stood a chance against Jon, having every arrow blocked and was then beaten to within an inch of his life. See ExtremeMeleeRevenge above.

** Tormund brings Jon back to his senses as they both see a horse with a decapitated rider gallop by their side. Wun Wun swats the horse dead, which was unfortunately coming his way.

** Despite being the last of the Stark forces to rush into battle, Davos and his archers manage to arrive to the battlefield at the same time as Tormund and the rest of the infantry.

** Ramsay's look when he sees the knights of the Vale arriving to hit his infantry in the rear and shatter their formation, and then notices Jon is very much alive.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Melisandre is no longer preaching zealously about the Lord of Light, as she has been completely thrown off-balance by the recent events she's faced and she is uncertain. The contrast in her demeanor and frankness is evident, as she now answers questions sincerely with the best of her limited knowledge instead of going on fanatic diatribes. In the end of the episode, she seems to have regained some of that lost confidence back after Jon wins the Battle of Winterfell.
* OpportunisticBastard: In Season 5, Cersei gave Littlefinger mandate to eliminate the Boltons after she learned from him that they married Sansa. By waiting for Sansa to escape and ask for his help in defeating Ramsay, he's simultaneously doing as Cersei asked while getting into Sansa's good graces. And since King's Landing and the rest of Westeros is basically a rump state with no control over its own capital and limited authority in the Riverlands, Littlefinger has an open field to swing whichever way the wind blows.

** Ramsay has the most this episode - fitting enough for his swan song. He even manages a grin while Jon is beating in his face.

* RevengeIsSweet: When Ramsay Bolton is defeated in the Battle of the Bastards, Jon Snow pummels him into a bloody smear until he stops when his half-sister Sansa steps in, letting her be the one to enact revenge for all the horrible things that he did to her and to the North. Once Ramsay is locked up, Sansa gives him TheReasonYouSuckSpeech and lets his hungry hounds devour him. As she walks away while listening to Ramsey being torn apart by his dogs, Sansa smiles triumphantly.
* RightfulKingReturns: After most of three years under control of the Ironborn and the Boltons, Winterfell finally returns to House Stark.

* RuleOfSymbolism: Ramsay is basically flayed alive by his dogs, which is a close relative of wolves.
* SanitySlippage: WordOfGod says that Ramsay has a mental breakdown when the Knights of the Vale join the battle and cannot comprehend that he has lost, deliberately echoing the last days of UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler. When Jon beats him to a pulp, he's actually ''grinning'' throughout, not unlike the Joker in ''Film/TheDarkKnight''; he mistakenly thinks this means the Starks won't actually kill him. Even when he's chained up in the kennel, he starts giving a HannibalLecture to Sansa, saying that he has still won in a sense because he hurt the Starks in ways that will last forever. Sansa then directly shoots this down by telling him that all memory of him and his house will eventually be forgotten. To go with the Hitler analogy, compare to if during the fall of Berlin, Hitler tried to petulantly rationalize to himself, "Even if I die, I still won because I killed all the Jews" -- grasping at straws because he killed many, but not all of them.

** Ramsay tries to tell Sansa that he's part of her now, but she retorts there will be nothing left of him--his name, house and memory are going to disappear. Then his body does, too.

'''Yezzan''': The terms are simple. You, and your foreign friends will abandon the Great Pyramid, and the city of Meereen. The Unsullied you stole from Kraznys mo Nakloz will remain, to be sold again to the highest bidder. The translator you stole from Kraznys mo Nakloz will remain, to be sold again to the highest bidder. ''[Grey Worm and Missandei glare at him]'' The dragons beneath the Great Pyramid will be ''slaughtered''.\\

* SoldierVsWarrior: This trope is on full display when the Bolton heavy infantry and the Wildlings face off against each other. The Bolton infantry fight as soldiers: anonymous, unified, disciplined, they simply set up a [[StoneWall shield wall]], take a few steps at a time, and thrust away with their spears. The Wildlings are fierce warriors, but however tough or skilled an individual fighter might be, they can't break the shield wall by themselves, and because they're not coordinated they can't make a concentrated push to try to breach it one spot. Even when an individual like Tormund manages to kill one or two members in the line, they simply get wounded or cut down by the next man, who steps in to fill the hole and turns the shield wall into a seemingly impenetrable row of shield and spears again. If the Vale knights hadn't arrived in time to save the Wildlings, the Wildlings would have been completely destroyed while the Bolton infantry would have suffered only minor losses.
* SpannerInTheWorks: The Masters' plan relied heavily on Daenerys's dragons being out of commission.[[note]]They thought that Drogon had run off, and that Viserion and Rhaegal were still chained under the Great Pyramid.[[/note]] Unfortunately for them, Drogon is not as far away as they think he is, and Viserion and Rhaegal were set free by Tyrion before the siege started.

* VoluntaryVassal: Daenerys will allow and tolerate Yara's claim as Queen of the Iron Islands, provided she submits to her authority, and respects the sovereignty of the Seven Kingdoms, which means no more reaving. [[note Renly Baratheon made a similar offer to Robb Stark via Catelyn in season 2]]

* WeHaveReserves: Ramsay does not mind firing arrows into the cavalry charge where his men are, since he has nearly double the men and can afford to sacrifice them. By contrast, Davos refuses to let his men fire in case they hit their own men. This does have a practical purpose, however; there are so many dead at the end of it that they've formed a wall of corpses, allowing Ramsay's men to cover the remaining sides with shields and spearmen while infantry cut down anyone trying to charge over the wall. This, of course, bites him back in the ass when the heavily armored, mounted Arryn knights arrive, and no Bolton cavalry is available to counter the attack.

** Sansa does this to Ramsay, after all the abuse she suffered from him, and how his house nearly destroyed her's. His house is extinguished, and he is eaten alive by his own kennel dogs.

* LiteralMinded: Davos tells Tormund that Stannis "had demons in his skull," referring to Melisandre's influence. Tormund takes the comment at face value and asks if he ever saw them, and Davos has to explain that he doesn't mean ''actual'' demons. Given that Davos did in fact witness Melisandre's use of BlackMagic, including the [[LivingShadow "shadow baby,"]] Tormund is unintentionally accurate. This wasn't in Stannis' head, however, though it did [[IncrediblyLamePun come from him]].

* ProphecyTwist: Melisandre finally sees the banners of House Bolton fall down and the victory she saw in Stannis' flames. She also saw Jon fighting in Winterfell and lived to see it happen. In a bit of CharacterDevelopment, Melisandre has grown savvy about this which is why she didn't inform Jon about her visions before the battle as she did to Stannis, merely telling him "don't lose".

* PunchPunchPunchUhOh: A weaponized version of this, as crack shot Ramsay fires arrow after arrow at a slowly-advancing Jon Snow, and he just keeps blocking with a shield and stubbornly refusing to just die. You can see his smugness starting to crack around the second shot. "This is new...this is the part where they usually start dying...OhCrap..."

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: DVD commentary and interviews with the cast and crew state that the original idea for the battle included Ramsay's cruelty and irrational actions alienating several key Northern lords, (a possibility that the show had teased for a ''long'' time) who would defect from his side and be a major part of Ramsay's undoing. However the crew was given considerably less time to film the battle than they originally wanted, and a big chunk of that time was eaten up by heavy rains, which both wiped out several days of filming and turned the entire field into a bog too soft and muddy for either the actors or horses to enter even when the rain stopped. After realizing they wouldn't have nearly enough time to film the battle as scripted, the idea of Jon nearly being trampled and then having to claw his way out of the press of bodies was born, and took the place of some of the original plans.

** After victory is taken from him by the timely arrival of Littlefinger's forces, Ramsay Bolton [[IncrediblyLamePun bolts]] from the battleground for the safety of Winterfell.

** When Ramsay can't get Jon to surrender due to the disparity of their armies, he tries to use Rickon to force the issue. Sansa bluntly refuses to negotiate, and admits to Jon in private that Ramsay will kill Rickon no matter what, which is exactly what he does at the start of the battle.

** The Bolton army does this Roman-style after having the Stark army surrounded.

* PayEvilUntoEvil: [[DevouredByTheHorde Feeding a prisoner to vicious hounds]] would be an unquestionable atrocity for a ruler to commit, unless that prisoner just happens to be Ramsay Bolton.

* BackFromTheBrink: House Stark is finally resurrected after Jon, Sansa, and their loyalists successfully retake Winterfell. [[TheVoiceless He doesn't even get a single line.]]
* BackForTheDead: Rickon Stark makes his second appearance after reappearing this season and... dies before the episode's end.

* BackFromTheBrink: House Stark is finally resurrected after Jon, Sansa, and their loyalists successfully retake Winterfell.

* OneDimensionalThinking: If Rickon ran in a zig-zag pattern, stutter-stepped, varied his speed, or basically did anything other than run straight ahead, there's a good chance he'd still be alive.

* VoluntaryVassal: Daenerys will allow and tolerate Yara's claim as Queen of the Iron Islands, provided she submits to her authority, and respects the sovereignty of the Seven Kingdoms, which means no more reaving.

* OnSecondThought: After his ''entire'' army is destroyed by the combined forces of the Stark and Arryn armies, Ramsay decides that he would like to invoke CombatByChampion after all. That said, [[PyrrhicVillainy he already lost his entire force]], so he had no real other options besides summary execution.

* PyrrhicVillainy: Ramsay's constant KickTheDog moments finally catch up to him when they cost him his ''entire'' army to a man.

* IntimidationDemonstration:
** Ramsay's burning crosses of flayed men set against the background of his larger army. Though a few of Jon's men look perturbed at the sight, they still rally behind their utter hatred of the Boltons.
** The Bolton shield wall. Though the Stark army still tries to fight against it at first, they nonetheless panic and try stampeding towards the only exit.

* AbsenteeActor:
** Ghost should be with Jon, but is nowhere to be seen. As director Miguel Sapochnik argued, Ghost was supposed to be featured, but time constraints and budgetary reasons (Ghost is expensive) prevented the direwolf from being featured; it was either the wolf or the giant and they chose the giant.
** Lord Royce doesn't show up, either. Back in "[[Recap/GameOfThronesS6E4BookOfTheStranger Book of the Stranger]]", Littlefinger practically drafted him as commander of the Arryn bannermen, so it would make little sense for him to stay at the Eyrie (or, for that matter, to travel to Moat Cailin and then stay there) It is possible he was simply commanding from the rear of the army.

** Ramsay has the most this episode - fitting enough for his swan song. He's even manages a grin while Jon is beating in his face.

* PsychoticSmirk: Sansa leaves the kennels with a smile as her abusive husband gets eaten alive by his own hounds in the background. [[AssholeVictim You can't blame her...]]

* CarthasisFactor: The episode that officially brings the Starks back to Winterfell.