History Recap / GameOfThronesS5E8Hardhome

* MightMakesRight[=/=]AsskickingEqualsAuthority: Subverted. When Daenerys states that all she needs are her army and dragons, Tyrion reminds her that killing and politics are not ''always'' the same thing.

At the docks, around five thousand wildlings are being ferried over to the ships and Jon worries that they are leaving too many behind, Tormund insists that they will come around, as it seems the usually abundant game in both the forests and the bay have migrated to warmer pastures. Karsi puts her daughters on a rowboat and promises she will join them soon as she must help the old folk of her clan onto the kayaks and she kisses them goodbye, looking out after them as they recede to what should be a hopeful safe haven.

The solitary giant examines an obsidian spearhead and when Edd, who is gathering up the dragonglass, tries haltingly to ask for it back, he rebuffs him in the Old Tongue. Relieved at not having to interact with the behemoth, Edd turns to leave but hears the sound of barking. The hounds and domesticated wolves in the compound are being driven into a [[EvilDetectingDog frenzy]]. Jon and Tormund feel a cold wind rising and they look to the great cliffs that enclose the gulf...

A set of snowstorm zephyrs hurtle over the landscape, joining and coalescing to form an icy blizzard propelled by some black sorcery, the clans far beyond the perimeter of the town are engulfed, the bitter cold stealing their strength in an instant. The masses rush for the safety of the inner palisade but Loboda orders the gates shut and barred before the white-out consumes them all. The doors are closed and a cross-beam put in place, trapping thousands outside to hammer on the wooden stakes, screaming to be let in. Then the mist is upon them -- and their cries are utterly silenced.

Loboda stalks forward cautiously, until he can peek through a gap in the logs, he can just about hear the clash of arms within the two-foot vision haar but these quickly die away as well. The next, bright blue-eyed shrieking fiends throw themselves against the barricade and nearly claw the Magnar's face off as he dives back. It's a horde of wights. Their crude but still functional weapons begin to crack apart the free folk's defenses and Loboda orders archers to repel the undead.

As the gates creak under the onslaught, other wights begin climbing the stockade, head-shots merely slowing them. Within the mead hall, the giant, Edd and a group of wildlings are set upon by a war band of the lichs as they worm through the caves that dot the cuesta above and jump down through the smoke-light. More examples of relentlessness include the wights who physically tear holes through the stockade with their bare hands, stripping the black flesh from their finger bones as they do; while one determined bastard claws and digs under the main gate, to be met with Loboda's foot crushing its skull under his heel.

As one, [[LetsGetDangerous Jon and Tormund draw their blades, one of Valyrian steel, the other of trusty old iron]]. "NIGHT'S WATCH! WITH ME! MOVE! MOVE!" And the dynamic duo lead a joint charge of crows and free folk in counter-attack against the invading army.

Who have started to fully breach the dike, even one of these ravening wights can kill multiple tribesmen, [[TheBerserker unheeding of superficial wounds]], or even of amputation and with all fuel having frozen over in the blizzard, the free folk cannot bring fires to bear. The wights lay into them, butchering both men and women without care as their fellows try to hack them to pieces but human doggedness is nothing compared to such reckless hate. From over the barricade, it is revealed that ''tens of thousands'' of the undead are swarming across the ice plains like locusts.

Jon and Tormund rush into the melee and patch up a breach with a wight pinned by arrows and a heavy sleigh, while Loboda wields his battle-axe like a pro, cleaving wights apart left and right and even Karsi proves her mettle, [[DualWielding dual wielding]] ice axes to incapacitate the necromantic puppets by leaving them with little above the neck. Jon and Tormund find a lull in the intense fighting to glance upwards, above the town are four figures astride decaying steeds; watching the battle below with a sinister intelligence not present in their thralls. Jon knows who they are, though he only glimpsed one of them almost three years ago in the Haunted Forest, taking Craster's son as an offering.

They rush into the longhouse, Edd seems to have set the interior afire to drive the wights away and escaped to another fracas. From within the conflagration, the oldest enemy of all living kind, the only enemy that matters, marches through the inferno, his hyperborean presence causing the flames to gutter out and die. Jon and Loboda are transfixed as the White Walker, clad in onyx armour denoting him as a high-ranking warrior, stands before them.

[[HesMine "Get the glass."]] Loboda tells Jon and strides forward to confront the humanoid abomination, Jon searches frantically through the wreckage for the bag of obsidian while Loboda swings his axe over head with both hands and brings it down. The Other [[NonchalantDodge leans casually aside]]. And the blow embeds the head into the earth. The Magnar yanks it back and tries again with a cross-cut but his axe bites into a blazing charred wooden pillar instead, the monster is ''toying'' with him. Loboda frees his axe, and the Walker uses a partisan made of enchanted crystal to snap-freeze and shatter his weapon into so many useless pieces. Unarmed, the Thenn Chieftain is casually run-through, his blood probably solidifying in his veins from the piercing frore; as no crimson clings to his killer's quartz pole-arm when it's extracted. Jon finds an obsidian dagger among the debris, but before he can reach it he is grasped by an achromatic hand and easily cast along the dirt floor with ghastly strength, losing his sword through the hole in the cabin and into the arctic weather outside, such is the force of his rolling flight. The Walker advances ominously, but even one who is only half a wolf is never down long. Jon weaves under and around the sweeps of the mystic lancet and actually tries to ''[[CrazyAwesome box the White Walker in the face]]''. Amused, the monster throws Jon aside, who scrambles into the rafters and manages to scavenge an anelace, the Walker leaps up onto the beams in a single bound, [[CherryTapping cherry taps]] Jon's hastily telegraphed attacks and allows Jon's weapon to splinter on the edge of its pole-arm. Numb from the reverberation, Jon is helpless as the Other brings the wrapped haft of its staff sword down onto his clavicle, smashing him off to fall hard on the mud-packed floor a good twelve foot below.

Winded, head-ringing and with probably a few broken ribs, Jon staggers to his feet and flees from the leisurely pursuing fey. The snow-fall has turned into a true graupel outside and though Jon snatches up Longclaw from among the shattered timbers, internal hemorrhaging brings him down in a heap, disarming him once more. The White Walker is not taking prisoners now, his mouth set in a teeth-clenched snarl as he bears down on the injured Lord Commander. Frantic, Jon ''just'' manages to grasp Longclaw as he crawls on his belly, rises to one knee, the Mormont ancestral sword in hand as he executes a last-ditch defiant, all-or-nothing block before he's decapitated. ''[[SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound *Crack-clang-huuuuuum*]]'' Jon is astounded, as is his opponent, when the thousand-folded dragonfire-forged metal stands up to the magical halberd without a dent. Jon cries out as the vibrations shiver through his arms and needles pierce his eardrums and for a second both the Other and the man of the Night's Watch are utterly gobsmacked, they exchange looks. Jon's: "oh, ''[[HeroicSecondWind its on]]''" The White Walker's: "he can [[OhCrap kill me]]!"

In its furious surprise, the White Walker's attempt to take Jon's head over-shoots, Jon pulls Longclaw back to his shoulder and whips it from right to left. The spell-imbued steel cuts through armour and hoarfrost flesh with a single stroke, eliciting a much faster and more powerful reaction than Sam's obsidian kill, and the individual belonging to the ancient race that nearly took the dawn explodes in a flurry of ice, with only its crystal halberd left to mark its grave.

He looks at Jon anew and raises up his arms slowly, palms upturned, the corpses of all those who've been slaughtered begin to twitch and convulse. Then their eyes open, all of them as blue as star-light.

* ConvenientEscapeBoat: Despite mass panic with wildlings grabbing every boat that's available, there's still one boat left at the pier as [[PlotArmor Snow, Tormund and Edd]] flee the final wight attack. Presumably the sailors unloaded their passengers and then rowed back for more.

* DevouredByTheHorde: During the white walkers attack at Hardhome, Karsi encounters child wights which horrifies her to the point that she's unable to lift her weapons at them as the children overwhelm and kill her.

* HoldTheLine: The battle of Hardhome is basically holding off the wight army for as long as possible while the wildlings evacuate. Things quickly turn into a chaotic rout for the wildlings, but Jon's group of Night's Watch and loyal wildlings fight until just before they're overrun.

** Also, this is the first time that a major leader from Westeros, in this case Jon Snow, is introduced to the ''true'' King-Beyond-the-Wall: the Night's King.

** One can interpret why the Night's King didn't send wights from atop the cliff, where he and his fellow White Walkers were observing the battle, to quickly overwhelm the defenders was because he saw their futile struggle to be entertaining, and likely wanted to see how long they could last against his army's overwhelming might.

** Most of the wildling elders (minus Loboda the Thenn) decided to take Jon's offer to go south on his ships. Which saves at least some of them from the White Walkers army.

As the last human life gutters out. A pair of boots come into view on the quay, this stylish footwear belongs to the Night's King; who marches to the end of the pier and transfixes Jon with an unfathomable glare. He draws Jon's attention to the western landscape with a mere turn of his crowned head, where the free folk were camped, it has all been overrun, nothing remains.

* ArrowsOnFire: Averted despite this being one time where the trope would have made sense, given the wights vulnerability to fire.

* WrongGenreSavvy: Even after hearing about her father's misdeeds, Dany still believes that she will have the support of the common people. Telling, since she didn't believe that in Season 2. And as Tyrion points out, it's a generous thought at best. He also points out that the support of the common people isn't enough, she also needs the support of the nobility, (which she isn't likely to get).

* HollywoodTactics: Averted; though the wights can only do a ZergRush, the Night King sends in a force under cover of the blizzard to seize the gates in a ''coup de main''. When that doesn't work, he waits till the defenders are tied up, then brings up the reserve for the hammer blow, exploiting their NighInvulnerability by sending the wights diving over the cliff. His raising the dead scene [[EvilIsHammy in one dramatic moment]] after the fighting is over can also be justified under psychological warfare. Played straight by the defenders, who fight in a disorganized mob and apparently forget everything they've learned about fighting the Wights.

* RemovingTheHeadOrDestroyingTheBrain: Averted; the wights are immune to arrows to the head. They have to be crushed, cut to pieces or burned to be taken down. For [[IdiotBall some reason]] no-one, not even Jon, bothers to use fire against them even though they had done that in Seasons 1 and 3 (although admittedly the chaos of battle and the raging blizzard would have made trying to start a fire near impossible).

* HollywoodTactics: Averted; though the wights can only do a ZergRush, the Nights King sends in a force under cover of the blizzard to seize the gates in a ''coup de main''. When that doesn't work, he waits till the defenders are tied up, then brings up the reserve for the hammer blow, exploiting their NighInvulnerability by sending the wights diving over the cliff. His raising the dead scene [[EvilIsHammy in one dramatic moment]] after the fighting is over can also be justified under psychological warfare. Played straight by the defenders, who fight in a disorganized mob and apparently forget everything they've learned about fighting the Wights.

* HollywoodTactics: Averted; though the wights can only do a ZergRush, the Nights King sends in a force under cover of the blizzard to seize the gates in a ''coup de main''. When that doesn't work, he waits till the defenders are tied up, then brings up the reserve for the hammer blow, exploiting their NighInvulnerability by sending the wights diving over the cliff. His raising the dead scene [[EvilIsHammy in one dramatic moment]] after the fighting is over can also be justified under psychological warfare.

Winded, head-ringing and with probably a few broken ribs, Jon staggers to his feet and flees from the leisurely pursuing fey. The snow-fall has turned into a true graupel outside and though Jon snatches up Longclaw from among the shattered timbers, internal hemorrhaging brings him down in a heap, disarming him once more. The White Walker is not taking prisoners now, his mouth set in a teeth-clenched snarl as he bears down on the injured Lord Commander. Frantic, Jon ''just'' manages to grasp Longclaw as he crawls on his belly, rises to one knee, the Mormont ancestral sword in hand as he executes a last-ditch defiant, all-or-nothing block before he's decapitated. ''[[MostWonderfulSound *Crack-clang-huuuuuum*]]'' Jon is astounded, as is his opponent, when the thousand-folded dragonfire-forged metal stands up to the magical halberd without a dent. Jon cries out as the vibrations shiver through his arms and needles pierce his eardrums and for a second both the Other and the man of the Night's Watch are utterly gobsmacked, they exchange looks. Jon's: "oh, ''[[HeroicSecondWind its on]]''" The White Walker's: "he can [[OhCrap kill me]]!"

** Likewise, Daenerys' "Break the Wheel" speech featured in the trailers sounded like a declaration of revenge on all the houses who wronged House Targaryen. In the show, when she intones the names of the Great Houses but she lists ''Targaryen'' right after Lannister, changing the meaning completely. Its a BadassBoast to totally change and upend the entire feudal order and not a revenge scheme to restore her family's GloryDays.

* Tormund's reaction as the palisade walls of Hardhome give way under the sheer weight of numbers of the undead trying to climb over them.

* {{Realpolitik}}: Tyrion demonstrates some of his father's mastery of politics by explaining how the Houses of Westeros are likely to react to Dany's claim: The Starks are gone, the Lannisters and the last Baratheon (Stannis) would never recognize her, and the Tyrells are most likely to support her but they alone won't be enough (and even ''that'' is optimistic). Though he doesn't mention any of the other possible allies, such as the Martells (who would probably have the most reason to support her), the Arryns and Vale Houses (who haven't entered the war yet so still have a lot of military force) or the lesser Northern and Riverlands Houses and supporters of House Tully (who he also doesn't mention) who would probably want revenge on the current regime. To be fair none of those groups would talk to a Lannister (Oberyn's death, Red Wedding, armed the Shagga's clan to sack the lord of the Vale) even if it's Tyrion so it's not like he'll consider them.

* RemovingTheHeadOrDestroyingTheBrain: Averted; the wights are immune to arrows to the head. They have to be crushed, cut to pieces or burned to be taken down. For [[IdiotBall some reason]] no-one, not even Jon, bothers to use fire against them even though they had done that in Seasons 1 and 3.

** One can interpret why the Night's King didn't send wights from a top the cliff, where he and his fellow White Walkers were observing the battle, to quickly overwhelm the defenders was because he saw their futile struggle to be entertaining, and likely wanted to see how long they could last against his army's overwhelming might.

* FantasticNuke: The Walker's opening attack is a magic wave of fog and snow that kills tens of thousands of people at once and then reanimates them as Wights.

Jon's party beaches and they are met with a decidedly chilly reception. But it quickly vaults into near open hostility when the ever-calming presence of the Lord of Bones and his delegation of warriors confront them. Accusations are hurled around despite Jon's attempts to mitigate and Tormund is mocked for his alliance with the crows. Rattleshirt takes things a step too far when he taunts Tormund for sucking Snow's co-- Tormund seizes his bone staff and clobbers him to the ground and with nine titanic but crisp overhand blows, caves in the chieftain's giant-skull helmet and the head beneath. [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority "Gather the elders and lets talk."]] Tormund rumbles and none of the free folk protest.

* {{Realpolitik}}: Tyrion demonstrates some of his father's mastery of politics by explaining how the Houses of Westeros are likely to react to Dany's claim: the Starks are gone, the Lannisters and Stannis would never recognize her, and the Tyrells are most likely to support her (and even ''that'' is optimistic). Though he doesn't mention any of the other possible allies, such as the Martells (who would probably have the most reason to support her), the Arryns and Vale Houses (who haven't entered the war yet so still have a lot of military force) or the lesser Northern and Riverlands Houses who would probably want revenge on the current regime. To be fair none of those groups would talk to a Lannister (Oberyn's death, Red Wedding, armed the Shagga's clan to sack the lord of the Vale) even if it's Tyrion so it's not like he'll consider them.

** Like Craster in Season Two, Tormund points out that Jon is prettier than his own daughters.

* RemovingTheHeadOrDestroyingTheBrain: Averted; the wights are immune to arrows to the head. They have to be crushed, cut to pieces or burned to be taken down. For [[IdiotBall some reason]] no-one, not even Jon, bothers to use fire against them even though they had done that in Season One and Three.

* WrongGenreSavvy: Even after hearing about her father's misdeeds, Dany still believes that she will have the support of the common people. Telling, since she didn't believe that in Season Two. And as Tyrion points out, it's a generous thought at best. He also points out that the support of the common people isn't enough, she also needs the support of the nobility, (which she isn't likely to get).

* CallBack: After a massacre the White Walkers again let a member of the Nights Watch escape to tell the tale, though this time Jon Snow isn't a SoleSurvivor.

* ColdEquation: The palisade gates are shut, trapping thousands of wildlings outside.

* AllForNothing: Jorah's plan to regain Dany's favor by handing over Tyrion was all for naught. Instead Tyrion gets on Daenerys's good side while he is banished again, and all he got out of it was a bad case of greyscale.

* DevouredByTheHorde: During the white walkers attack at Hardhome, Karsi encounters child wights which horrifies her to the point that she's unable to lift her weapons at them as the children overwhelm and kills her.

* BackFromTheDead: All Free Folk and black brothers killed by the wights are turned into wights at the end of the episode.