Game Of Thrones: Ranking Every Major Battle From Worst To Best

5. The Long Night

While season 8 of Game Of Thrones has proved strangely divisive, there's no denying that the impact of the third episode was huge and it wasn't just because of the way it dealt with the Dead Army in the end. The entire episode was a triumph of spectacle (even when the substance let it down a little).

From a tactical point of view, some of it was a little iffy, but if you're watching Game Of Thrones for the tactics, you should maybe turn it off and go and play Risk. Because Dothraki cavalry leading the charge from the front is never going to be your bag.

The stakes were huge, the costs massive (compared to the rest of the show's major battle episodes) and there was space in there for more personal moments for several of the major characters as well as a shift into outright horror sequences. Sure, it didn't quite go as some fans had predicted, but that's also not a yardstick for quality.

The ending was shocking and pure Thrones in its conception and had it not appeared at this point in the season, the complaints would not have been half as loud.

[SG]

James Hunt

Contributor

NCTJ-qualified journalist. Most definitely not a racing driver. Drink too much tea; eat too much peanut butter; watch too much TV. Sadly only the latter paying off so far. A mix of wise-old man in a young man's body with a child-like wonder about him and a great otherworldly sensibility.