Game of Thrones filming in Saintfield, Northern Ireland is picking up and the scale of production is reportedly “bigger than anything the show has ever [done].” Also, some non-spoilery set photos have been tweeted from Peñíscola, Spain.
Production in Saintfield is in full gear. Tight security has made taking quality set photos next to impossible. However, @IrishThrones reports that there is a “massive” amount of activity on set, with a great deal of fake smoke or fog and a lot of horse boxes.
GoT S6 at Saintfield,Ireland.Filming again today, A MASSIVE amount of activity & HUGE amount of Smoke!Fake snow too, Largest activity yet!
— Irish Thrones (@IrishThrones) September 29, 2015
(2)GoT S6 Saintfield,Ireland.The sheer scale is bigger than ANYTHING the show has ever did!Lots of local Horse boxes entering & leaving set
— Irish Thrones (@IrishThrones) September 29, 2015
(3) GoT S6 Saintfield, Ireland. The ‘white Smoke’ used smells more like the sort used at large concerts or indoor events, possibly for fog. — Irish Thrones (@IrishThrones) September 29, 2015
script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js">
(4) GoT S6 Saintfield, Ireland.Gtg pics close by is now impossible.Set hve a resident POLICE car!& Police NO STOP notice w/cones for 1 mile! — Irish Thrones (@IrishThrones) September 29, 2015
According to Twitter user Direwolf_Dragon, Game of Thrones security is similarly tight in Peñíscola, Spain.
HBO getting very paranoid this week, buying up all the hotel rooms overlooking filming locations, had to move hotels….. — DragonsandDirewolves (@Direwolf_Dragon) September 30, 2015
However, he did manage to take some on-set photos. More are available on his website.
Lots of items being prepared for the Battle of Meereen? #gameofthrones #juegodetronos #peniscola #targaryen pic.twitter.com/YKWMIkkuUI
— DragonsandDirewolves (@Direwolf_Dragon) September 30, 2015
Can anyone identify these robes? What about the ones on the left? #peniscola #GameOfThrones #JuegoDeTronos pic.twitter.com/SSMO7vgzse
— DragonsandDirewolves (@Direwolf_Dragon) September 30, 2015
Local props suggest Peniscola is Braavos too @watchersonthewall @WiCnet @JuegoDeTronosTM #gameofthrones pic.twitter.com/EwCYqrWSbV — DragonsandDirewolves (@Direwolf_Dragon) September 30, 2015
It’s worth noting that minor set pieces are often reused for different locations. So, though it’s certainly possible that some Braavos scenes could be filmed in Peñíscola, this hardly qualifies as proof. The boards pictured above are actually the same ones used in Girona, Spain. The ones in the middle in particular are an exact match from a prop seen in Girona, where Braavos was filmed. They are most likely the same ones shown below, as part of castle walls. You can see the gray fabric attached to the wooden slats above, and then below the fabric shows the fake stone:
Need extra castle walls call Game of Thrones. pic.twitter.com/82nHn3dpS1
— DragonsandDirewolves (@Direwolf_Dragon) September 30, 2015
Hodor!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OC_G6nQkgU&w=560&h=315%5D
Big cavalry action, sounds like.
I’m *almost* glad they can’t get close to the Saintfield set. I want to know some, but not all. Gah, I love this time of year!
Battle in a snow storm. “Fog” is background snow storm.
Petra, if you and Sue and the other staff here don’t stop posting all of this epic news, I’m gonna die of hype overdose!
Meow! Meow!
The colors and texture on those clothes look Meereenese to me.
I’m not so sure anymore about this set being for the Battle of Fire, or for any battle. It’s now clear that those supposed “ballistas” are not that at all; they seem to be some sort of… sewing tools or something? Anyway, hopefully I’m wrong, or there is a battle but not in this set.
I know the budget isn’t infinite, but a battle around the mid-season would be perfect to combat the usual mid-season lull. And then the climactic Snowbowl. Then again, I have not read the scripts or TWOW for that matter; I don’t know where the story goes. Maybe a Battle of Fire is redundant for some reason, or maybe we’ll be shown something even better. Who knows!
Felt Pelt,
Fog to make a fake snow storm look heavier, maybe. Or maybe they’re burning the dead for obvious reasons.
Exit81,
Bring out your dead!
Felt Pelt,
I wondered the same thing, but I just can’t see how that would ever fit into the narrative. It would totally undermine any remaining drama in the south (especially Dany’s arrival, presumed to be Season 7) if the Walkers made it through the Wall this quickly.
Dame Pasty,
hahahahahaha yes!!!!
Felt Pelt,
There will be Walkers and wights! I’m feeling it.
Rohirrim!!!
Oops, wrong series….
I’m looking forward to this battle and hope it will look as epic as it sounds. So far I have been okay with the limited battles on the show, but seeing a full-fledged epic 6 army battle on Game of Thrones would be awesome!
Gatehouse Ami,
It’s not a question of them going south, but the speed with which they do it. If the White Walkers are at this battle, that means the Wall has fallen, with two seasons to go, and Dany hasn’t even gotten to Westeros.
Is there any real evidence that a battle will happen in Meereen?
…Just for the record, what would have been the biggest scale of production in GOT prior to this Saintfield battle? Hardhome?
Bless the zealous fans in Spain and Ireland for bringing us the scoop.
Can’t help but think of the bit in 5×08 when the ominous mist rolled in when Irish Thrones is talking about the fog-like smoke being used.
Whatever Jon Snow’s part is in the Saintfield battle, Kit must have some kind of break, because someone was saying on a previous thread that Kit was spotted in London.
I’ll be interested to see if we have any notion of what’s going on at the Wall once Jon leaves (as he must at some point if he winds up in this big battle), or if it will be a mystery that the Wall has been breached and the wights will just burst out of nowhere in the battle with no warning.
there is no way that season 6 will have one single episode without a big climax. If we count the possibilities it seems that there will be several big events to signal that we are not far from the end of the road. It seems that the battle of Winterfell will be the event of the events with the battle of Meereen very close to it pairing them with the previous season Hardhome and Daznak’s pit.
jentario,
No, nothing concrete. I hope, though.
Gatehouse Ami,
It doesn’t make chronological sense to have WW at the WF battle. If so then we will have to see the fall of the Wall to the WWs in an episode before the WF battle which is almost impossible with what is given about the seasons layout so far.
I don’t expect White Walkers to have moved so far South this quickly. It would be a shock to all parties if WW & undead arrived at the end of the battle, that’s for sure!
Felt Pelt,
I know sometimes fog is used to give atmosphere to a battle field and give the impression of dust and debris in the air from cavalry charges etc… Plus cold air + warm bodies = steam..
There isn’t anything concrete. If there were to be a battle, the Peniscola stuff would be it, but we don’t know what will happen, only that soldiers, slaves and Unsullied are getting kitted out, and that there were hundreds of extras sought.
The Wall isn’t going anywhere this season, methinks. However, I do think the season will end with a shot of the White Walkers moving towards to the Wall… and in S7 that thing is coming down and the real war will begin.
Robb Snow,
The White Walkers have to do something after Hardhome, not just look menacing to tease season seven. Also, there’s that VFX guy who said there’d be lots of White Walker action in season six.
Exit81,
it’s for the epic snow ball fight Jon and Ramsay have?
Robb Snow,
That’s about the same timeline I expect as well…
That leaves a full season of WW chaos and then another season to close that arc and show the fallout in the Seven Kingdoms to end the saga.
I know right!
I really hope that White Walkers dont invade this battle..i want this battle to be entirely human
I want an Ice Dragon at some point – either in the Wall or under Winterfell. The theories for either are pretty compelling.
Vegoia,
Obviously the only true way to defeat the bastard that tortured one’s sister-cousin.
Luka Nieto,
The White Walkers might feature in Bran’s story, if we really are getting to the Tower of Joy flashback as quickly as some of the filming info for that sequence suggests. He’s beyond the Wall, after all, and presumably Bloodraven has some plans to actually do something.
Matt,
So do I! I hope it’s on the Night’s King’s side as well as it might level the playing field a bit when they come up against Dany’s dragons at some point.
That’s what I’m thinking, fleshing out the White Walkers, the first war against them, where they come from, more information that can’t come from anyone but Bloodraven. The end of the season the White Walkers reach the Wall, maybe it falls in the last scene of the last episode, maybe it doesn’t and they just stare menacingly at the remaining members of the Night’s Watch until season 7.
Hmmm…snow or white walkers?
My hope for the battle is that Wun Wun joins in on the fun. I can just imagine him sending men and horses flying everywhere.
Wayne Gleeson,
I agree. I want one last full scale human battle before the real war begins.
For WWs to show up for the battle, The Wall would have to come down. There’s no way they’d have such an event in any episode but episode 9 or, better yet, 10. And I doubt it’d happen with two more seasons to follow.
Vegoia,
Thanks, now I want to see this.
So, this has to be topped in Season 7!
Then season 8 !!
Is it possible they are filming two battles at the same location? One for the Starks v. Boltons/Bastardbowl whatever you call it and the second one for White Walkers taking on the Wall? It makes sense from the production standpoint to reuse the same location (especially if Starks v. Boltons happens in Episode 9 and the Wall falls in Episode 10, so that the same director is involved). It would also explain why Kit Harrington is allegedly not on set anymore – he had filmed the Starks v. Boltons already and now the production moved to the white walkers action.
Robb Snow,
If the wall comes down without any explanation that will be lame as hell . I hope Euron’s garbage plot device horn will at least prove some use in the story .
JohnDoe,
And what will WW do for the next 2 seasons?
JohnDoe,
Maybe the Boltons beat back the Stark forces and then the WW come in out of nowhere and wipe out the Boltons, meanwhile Jon and his remaining army are safe because they already retreated. Idk. Just spitballing here.
Something tells me that they’ve heard about all the leaks. I can’t see any other reason why to order police security. It seems to me that the leaking of ToJ has been the last straw.
JohnDoe,
Harington not being on set is really not unusual. If this battle is as huge as it’s being marketed, there’d be plenty of stuff being staged that wouldn’t involve Jon being onscreen.
mau,
Film some Dorne action 🙂
Speaking of Euron’s horn that can supposedly control dragons,did anyone think it was contrived as hell the fact that Euron just happened to find this magic horn that was never talked about in the series ever before ? Felt like Martin just randomly added it there at the last moment . But then again that speaks of the quality of writing in AFFC compared to the earlier books .
Matt,
Yeah that’s actually a good idea! Assuming that White Walkers would eventually advance to Winterfell and beyond I was wandering how all the important characters could be moved out of their way. It actually makes sense from the plot point to get Jon to retreat south and have Boltons to win the North just to lose it to the White Walkers.
Wait, can they order police security to avoid spoiler leakings? ‘Cause if they can:
1. It seems pretty unfair. Shouldn’t those officers do actual police work?
2. Why didn’t they order it before? When I think of all the spoilers I could have avoided… Yes, I know “Don’t watch the spoilery news then.” But I can’t, I simply can’t. ?
JohnDoe,
With the sequence this enormous and complex, a big battle involving hundreds of extras (who will be CGIed to thousands) and a certain number of known characters, you can’t expect a single character to feature in every shot. The actor isn’t required to be on set every day for the entire duration of the filming. He could have a few days off. The crew needs to film the stuntmen/extras/other set pieces of the battle too. Iwan Rheon has been away in London too, at least was as of last week. Dunno how big his part in it is though. Could also have a break, or if he’s to die there, they might already have filmed it. What I’m saying is that those two actors being on a break doesn’t mean there are suddenly two battles being filmed, especially in the same location. As reported nearly a fortnight ago, there are about 2 weeks left for this sequence. bar any delays in schedule. This is just one battle and it’s slowly wrapping up.
Guys, you know this isn’t a spoilery article, right? So, people who haven’t seen the spoilers are reading your comments. ?
I suspect that Boromir wants that back….
I’m kinda feeling this way as well. I’m not going back to compare, but it seems like a whole lot of huge scenes are out there to a degree this year. Which is fine, and I read and watch them all. But I’d kind of love it if no one had the intel on at least one huge event. 🙂
I agree, they probably decided enough is enough. No more leaked footage.
I believe they will “do something” that will undoubtedly clarify their massive spell-breaking onslaught and declare their uncompromising arrival in no uncertain terms to all that matter throughout the Westeros kingdoms. S6 will leave us with a daunting impression of what is coming in S7 like never before.
(…and maybe Dany and her air force will be on the horizon as well…)
🙂
The fog does seem to imply WW/wights arriving – and would certainly justify the comparison to the Battle of Five Armies, with a common enemy showing up by surprise and forcing people who were antagonists a minute ago to turn and fight shoulder-to-shoulder. But I hope not. It’s too soon. The idea of two whole seasons’ worth of zombies wandering around Westeros like The Walking Dead while everybody hides just sounds kind of dreary to me.
Matt,
There is not one compelling argument for an ice dragon beneath winterfell or the wall in the books. In addition there has been absolutely no mention of ice dragons in the show to date, and that’s probably something you would need to seed the audience, not just some arbitrary ice dragon appearing for no reason with no explanation.
Newbietothegame,
I’d think the photo of Kit from 6 days ago sealed it for them.
I think that was the best of all spoilers. After the last 6 or 7 days I would be okay if I don’t see any more pictures or footage from the upcoming season (Not that I would not look if there are any, LOL!!). I am so hyped for S6!!
LOL, sorry to hear about your palpitations and possible exploding head, Robb Snow, but Petra, post away – I’m loving this!
Having grown up in a place (northeastern US) where snowdrifts really can get hip-deep in a hard winter, I’m a little skeptical of this CGIed fake snow after the fact. People do not move through deep snow the way they do over normal ground. You can’t run in it. You have to lift your knees way up to take each step. It’s awkward and exhausting. (Though Northerners and the Free Folk would surely have invented cross-country skis and snowshoes over the millennia!) The way the slow progress of Stannis’ army in the North was described in the books, with people and horses dying daily and anything with wheels turned into firewood, seemed very realistic in a way that I fear this battle scene will not. I realize that it would have been a logistical nightmare and very costly to shoot these scenes in Iceland, and that people who don’t live with snow will be unlikely to notice what’s wrong, but some of us will. Oh well.
Are we sure we can trust IrishThrones for this btw…I mean their recent “scoops” have been pretty nutty…
If it’s the wet and heavy kind of snow (it has been melting, and I assume will only get colder again), they may as well pack it in and just make a lot of large snowmen, because that shit is impossible to navigate.
Didn’t they already end a season with the wights and WW heading toward the Wall? When Mormont was still out ranging, and Sam, Pyp, Grenn and Edd were scavenging for food or something, and the three horn blasts sounded. The others ran and left Sam behind. The episode ended with Sam cowering behind a rock as a WW on an undead horse rode up next to him, ignored him and made a rallying cry for the wights to advance on the Wall. Or weren’t they that close to the Wall? Forget which season it was.
?? could be off-duty cops looking to make some overtime or hired security. Nothing unfair about that.
mau,
Advance and then retreat or die?
That was at the end of season 2 I believe.. and they were at the Fist of the First Men which is a long way from The Wall.
What I am getting from the show is the Nights King is building his army and it could very well be last ep of the season before we see them REALLY attack The Wall
😀 Yeah well his was cloven (is that the right tense?) in half he could use a new horn. 😉
Thronetender,
That was the Fist of the First Men they were approaching.
I will toss my vote into the ballot box….I do NOT think we will have WW in S6. With the amount of stuff already being filmed for 10 hours, there is just too much.
But when it happens, I DO think it is going to take them totally by surprise. I don’t think they will be just waiting on the other side for the wall to come tumbling down.
I believe it is crucial for S6 to set everyone in place and time to make READY for the big reveals to come….Daeny coming to Westeros, the WW’s….the larger battle than this 6 army stuff or Meereen. Much more to get to yet. 6 I think will define who is going to lead it all (can you say Jon S/T?) for the Westeros side and what happens when Daenys shows up. There is going to be a “give me back my comb” 😉 sort of dispute, but I think she will soon come around.
Definitely! Having been raised in the Rockies, I totally identify with your description. However, I don’t expect anything in GoT anywhere near your descriptions or the descriptions in ADwD. Blizzards will be tame in comparison, for obvious reasons. Wouldn’t it be interesting if filming for S7/S8 was relocated to northern Canada and/or Siberia though?
It will be interesting how the weather actually plays a part in the destruction of Stannis in TWoW. Will certain northerners gain a significant advantage because of the weather? Will the wildlings have even more of an advantage?
And where are those gamechanging skis, snowshoes and sleds? 🙂
My grand hope for the S6 ending would be the Whitewalkers storming/taking down the Wall, with the Night’s King glaring at the gaping hole, and than cutting to a scene of Dany sailing on a boat, clearly seeing the Westeros coastline. Signifying the arrivals of the two big looming forces. It also puts them equal, and thus kind of ambiguous: The imagery is equal, but one has to be a good guy and one has to be bad, right? Skeletor is obviously the badguy, or is he?
I don’t see the WW coming down and if so, that wouldn’t require the amount of horses that are apparently on set, especially if it’s WW vs. NW.
Just playing devils advocate here… In S1 a Wight attacked Mormont indicating that they can rise on the south side of the Wall- moreover that the WWs power is effective once through the Wall (although we don’t really know how).
Perhaps the WWs greater strength/proximity to the wall will result in the dead rising from this “battle of 6 armies”. That’s a lotta of resources for them just waiting..
Look what Eddie Eyre favourited heh
https://twitter.com/DelayLP/status/649319897269407744
I think it’s either the Battle of Fire, smoke could just be from the fires that Viserion and Rhaegal cause, or something to do with the WW, although if this was happening at the Wall wouldn’t they be filming this at the Wall set? I like the idea of it being a flashback to the first War for the Dawn, showing more about the WW and how to defeat them. It could also be King’s Landing. Winter finally comes, covering the streets in snow, and then Cersei blows it up with Wildfire causing a lot of smoke.
Alex Stroup,
This is from the Saintfield set where they’ve been filming the Battle of Six Armies for a while now and will do so for two more weeks. There’s no room for any other battle there. People are reading way too much into the smoke bit. It’s a natural part of a battle. And the snow, because it’s North.
Apollo,
The wight who attacked Mormont in season 1/book 1 was killed by another wight/white walker. I think in order for a wight to be made, it has to be contacted by a white walker or wight. Or else I imagine they would have reanimated the dead just south of the Wall before.
FWIW I’ve been playing with a few ‘WW at the battle, scenarios over on reddit. I’m glad to see there’s a bit more willingness to even consider the possibility that the WW may show up. Of course, no proof yet, and I’m not convinced they will be, but it’s interesting to think of how it might happen. Be kind, this was a first attempt at trying to make the WW in E9 work.
Or something like this. Just some random thoughts, but I think the Walkers arriving this early could still make sense.
I might be overthinking it, but I always saw the wight in Season 1 as a “Trojan horse” of sorts. The body was clearly already touched by White Walker magic when they found it, and it curiously only rose after it was brought back to Castle Black, as if it were on some kind of “timer” or perhaps might’ve even been “remote controlled” by a White Walker from the other side of the Wall if that’s possible.
The White Walkers are an interesting bunch. They seem to enjoy toying with people, and it almost seems like they want everyone to know they’re coming. I definitely got that vibe from the Night’s King at Hardhome. I’m sure he could’ve killed Jon and his companions while they were on their boats… but he didn’t. Instead he showed off his astonishing magical abilities, seemingly to intimidate Jon and perhaps as a “message” for Jon to deliver to the rest of the world.
I hope some of you are correct that Bran and Bloodraven will delve deeper into who the Others are and what they want this season (and in TWoW should that come out next year).
To our UK brothers and sisters, what is a “horsebox”? I am assuming it’s what we yanks would call a horse trailer, and not the larger equivalent of a cat-box?
No, but there is a nuclear proof refrigerator under Winterfell. It is in a middle of a pool with sharks.
Redstar,
Nice find!
Lisa0527,
Uhmmmm, no. I don’t think that there will be two epic WW vs. Humans battles. Regardless which season. Besides, the Last Hearth is all the way in the North. Unless they have Nazgul I don’t see the Vale soldiers getting up there that quickly.
Newbietothegame,
Ah, but they’re led by Littlefinger, and he has a jetpack…
Ser Gyrald,
Well dang it, I totally forgot about that…
Ser Gyrald,
No, but after they trudge for months, eagles will come and bring them back.
Am I the only one annoyed at the fact that Fellowship of the ring had to walk all the way to Mordor, but once there, Eagles easily flew them back? Why not fly in?
Ser Gyrald,
Nevermind, Google is my friend. For anyone else curious, the ones I found searching are like a horse trailer and truck all-in-one.
Oh, and Urban Dictionary’s definitions of Horsebox should be considered as well. Check out the second definition on UD, then re-read the quotes in the article referring to horseboxes… epic.
Didn’t Melissandre say she saw the Bolton banners come down in flames? That would explain the smoke at Saintfield. Maybe I’m misremembering.
Newbietothegame,
You don’t think there’ll be a battle up north when they breach the Wall, and another final battle involving Dany, dragons, etc…? I guess I didn’t think they’d go unopposed in the North. Or are you thinking that the one big battle will be in the north, with Dany and southern players moving north? Anyway, no need to answer. It was just an example of one possible way it could play out. So many options. I hope there are still some surprises in S6!
As the battle wears down, the sides exhausted from hours/days of fighting, the mist descends….
As the weary men and horses recoil in trepidation, the Night’s King comes forth through the fog. After standing motionless for almost a minute, in which the armies dare not breathe, Littlefinger moves out from behind the NK, standing next to him.
“Chaos”, says Littlefinger. “Chaos….is a ladder.”
Valaquen,
Could be, if the battelfield represented by the Saintfield set is near Winterfell. I don’t remember seeing anything about where it is though… this battle could be considerably closer to the Wall, or Last Hearth as pointed out above.
Richard,
Isn’t it also easier to add effects on a smokey background? (I seem to recall reading that somewhere.)
I don’t think it’s too far-fetched that the WW could make it south of the wall by the end of S6. Very possible that the wall falls as well.
I mean, what is Jon going to do after he presumably takes Winterfell? March right back up to the wall to fortify it? That’s doubtful. Methinks he and his forces will be driven south by the WW, or they will have to fortify Winterfell for an attack by the WW.
This is too much man… they’ll spend lots of money on security that could be used for something else.
I get the hype is real, but let them work. It must be fucking annoying. Some guy going Solid Snake in Spain to get a video from a pivotal scene from next season, Jesus! I´m smelling lots of disappointed fans next year, this leaves little to the imagination.
I think all the fog has to do with the appearance of white walkers.
So as the battle of the bastards is happening will the white walkers appear? Enter the battle and the Night’s King raise up his arms to bring all the fallen soldiers to his side?
The fog makes sense for this, it follows those white walkers wherever they go, give you that eerie feeling and makes the CGI easier.
Just my thoughts.
El-Bobby,
I think if the Wall falls/is breached in season 6, it will be the finale cliffhanger, not something that happens in episode 7 or 8.
Wow, that’s good catch !
Glad to see the line will probably end up in the show !
Agreed- I reckon it falls just as team Dany arrive in Westeros at end of S6.
I just can’t see any army surviving after fighting a battle against one army and then immediately at its conclusion being engaged by a mythical humanoid race that control dead zombies and have weapons that shatter any steel except valaryian steel. In my mind unless the entire north is overrun I can’t see the others at winter fell for this battle
I have a question that I’m not sure has been touched upon yet. How does the show winning the Emmy effect the special effects department budget? I’d think HBO would be just tossing money at them to keep the show top notch. Does the recognition and praise the show receives turn into a bigger budget? Just curious.
Hopefully my question makes sense. 🙂
Well, keep in mind that multiple months elapse in each season. We are dealing with a world in which events move much more slowly than they do in ours.
I suspect that their might be something about liquid water that limits what the Walkers can do. The Wights seem to be pretty mindless killers: but they stopped at the water (unless they were knocked into it): they didn’t just throw themselves into the water at the retreating people. Alternatively, it might be that salt water that is the key: lots of old stories make salt important in thwarting “demons” and the like. At any rate, the Wall seems to keep the Walkers out: and that means that water must thwart them in some way. (Either that, or GRRM has written an idiot plot to top all idiot plots!)
Wimsey,
Legend has it that the Children Of The Forrest cast spells on the Wall to prevent the Others and wights from passing. Remember, Coldhands couldn’t pass through the weirwood door under the Nightfort when he led Sam and Gilly there. This doesn’t explain why they can’t just go around the Wall via the sea. So there may be something to them not being able to go through water.
Sounds like they are doing a watered down battle for Mereen
Sounds like most of the “battle budget” is being spent in the North
Reckon the fog has to do with it being in heaps of snow obviously but with the Horses and whatnot it will kick up the snow/fog (like smoke in later battles), eg it would be said you would “hear” a battle but not see it hence the importance of drummers and sound based cues (whistles and trumpets)
Either that or there is an epic snow storm that comes during the battle…(making Melisandre quite important?)
The White Walkers turning up at the battle of six armies is too much to contemplate as it will lead to a Hype overdose
Lisa0527,
I’d would expect for the WW to breach the Wall in E10. Cliffhanger for S7. Not sold that
there will be a battle, not much of the NW is left. Thorne might close the tunnel, finally, to make it harder to come through, but it won’t help much.
I think the Northerners will band together against a common foe. Winterfell would be a good location to fortify.
Of course these are just my speculations, your guess is as good as mine. I believe, even with all these spoilers, there will be many surprises and ‘I did not see that coming’.
We truly have a lot to look forward to.
Well, that would be very helpful. Let’s hope the WW don’t have ships.
Tomigreyjoy,
Yeah I love hype, but some of these folks are taking it too far lol. But I guess it is to be expected with the show surpassing the books and all the big moments expected next season. I don’t think these spoilers will ruin anything. I think there will be more surprises in kings landing and mereen, plus even with all the spoilers on the northern battle and TOJ I will still be hyped to the max when I see it on my flat screen lol.
Was wondering why they didn’t just start “freezing” the water
Presumably they can command the Wights to try and swim clumsily but they wouldn’t be able to get close to a rowing boat
You are probably on to something, just as there are freshwater and saltwater forms of marine life for example, the WW’s are probably some kind of Freshwater Ice form
Would probably have to look at the Squishers as their saltwater cousins?
Then there’s the CoTF angle, I reckon they and Bran play a role in a ceertain resurrection, eg “salt of the Earth” so what you said about demons etc may hold true in that salt may be a property the CoTF utilise for mafical purposes in some way
Aryamad,
The season was budgeted (and actually began production) before the Emmys, so I don’t think that has anything to do with it. I’m sure at this point, if D&D feels like they need it (within reason), they can pretty much get it. Didn’t Kit say last season that it’s gone from “Hey, HBO, can we afford do this?” to “Hey, HBO, this is what it’s going to cost”?
Wimsey,
To be fair, a lot of them are also full of holes. Maybe they just suck at staying afloat?
Lisa0527,
I’m not going to bother putting this in spoilers because speculating is not spoiIing: really, unless you’ve read Winds of Winter, you cannot spoil Season 6!
Ramsay won’t be tracking Sansa to the Last Hearth quickly. Remember, Ramsay told Sansa that Jon is Lord Commander at the Wall. Once they figure out that Sansa & Theon are not hiding somewhere in Winterfell, the first thing that should occur to Ramsay is that they have fled to the Wall. Theon in particular could legally be put beyond his reach there.
Now, what Ramsay does not know (but that we do) is that Sansa knows Rickon is alive. And now that we have a convenient tree god, GRRM and B&W have a nice plot device for putting the idea into Sansa’s head to go to the Umbers. And, of course, Bran might be used to confound Ramsay a bit and coax Ramsay away initially.
This will still have to lead to some confluence of the Boltons, Wildlings and Umbers: but B&W waved a big flag in our face last year.
I had a similar thought. Based on what is shown onscreen, lots of the wights are barely intact carcasses. Surely by the time they trek halfway to Dorne, the landscape will be littered more with creeping hands and crawling eyes than with whole zombies (except for the new ones that they’ll keep making, I suppose).
o/t but here’s an interview with Dinklage with a section where he defends GoT against the “sex and violence” critique. It’s a pretty spirited defense, and I couldn’t agree with him more: It’s a fucking fantasy TV show. Be a little more concerned about violence in the real world.http://the-talks.com/interviews/peter-dinklage/
Speculation: It’s smoke, not fog, and it has to do with “Bolton banners burning”.
Not only are they full of holes, but skeletons both lack water and air included in their lungs (and blood), which makes it possible for a living human body to float in the first place. The freshly turned wights could float, but they probably can’t swim because I don’t see the Wildlings learning how to swim. At least I wouldn’t be keen on doing that in that weather.
I just thought I would share this to add to the White Walkers in S6 discussion. It was buried in a longer thread on reddit. A quick check of past posts suggests he’s a footie fan who lives in Belfast, without a history of trolling. Says he’ll update when he learns more. Take it with a large grain of salt. But a girl can dream….
#1-[–]Hannibal-REKTer 32points 4 days ago
Hijacking the top comment here. I live in Saintfiled just round the corner from where this is filmed and have had the GOT security team outside my house for three days looking out for drones to prevent pictures from being taken. They confirmed a lot of stuff, but specifically Jon Snow coming back as a Stark. In addition I got to see them filming a huge fight scene with hundreds of extras playing workings against an army of wights and white walkers.
#2. Unfortunately not but she got a call on her radio that said ‘lock down’ she told me that meant they were just about to shoot a scene. From my house you can see part of the field where a lot of the shoots are going on and I could see a massive fight. They created a really heavy mist too that surrounded the battle.
She was also nice enough to show me some of the props used for the White walkers horses that she had some pics of. They looked amazing, there were a few that had part of their heads missing that will be seen in he show. She is due back on Monday so hope to find out more then
Arthur,
This is how I see it happening. They don’t need to bring an army of wights across the Wall. They just need one White Walker and a field of slain Northmen.
Given the pics of the Bolton X crosses from the Saintfield location, crosses that appear to be atop a small pyre is Ramsay going to burn? And if so is he and Roose (if Roose is still alive by that point) going to be offered up to the Lord of Light? Will Jon be converted to Rh’lorr?
Regardless of either case, if Ramsay is to burn I desperately want Jon to pass the torch to Sansa so she can have the honor of administering to Ramsay his last rites. That would be the greatest scene in film and television history. No joke.
Lisa0527,
On the security detail to look out for drones then just randomly blurt out spoilers? Either they’re the worst security team or its b.s.
Ha, well spotted! I can see that line being in (it would be especially good in SB’s Northern voice). Don’t like the rest of the exchange for tv (particularly the preceding line) but I’ll trust D&D on this. I wonder if this also supports the idea
Ravyn,
I know! Either completely crap post, or really crap security.
I think I’m grasping at straws. I just really, really, really want to see that mind blowing, bigger than Hardhome, White Walker scene we were promised. And given the sheer size and expense of this battle scene, I can’t believe this isn’t it. And while getting the Boltons out of Winterfell is important, doesn’t this battle seem a bit too big for that? It just isn’t the main story arc IMO. The Boltons are a very cool, secondary,supporting story for the battle /balance between Ice and Fire. If they aren’t at this battle, then there’s a second epic, massive, jaw dropping scene coming. I think my head would explode!
Lisa0527,
I just try to think of how anyone could survive if the Others/wights did breach the Wall without armies being prepared for a defense(dragonglass/Valyrian steel/fortifications). But hey, anything is possible. The Others are going to invade eventually, and I think the end of season 6 is a good time for it to begin.
Ignoring any magical abilities the Others might have, the biggest problem with them bypassing the Wall by sea is simply that they have no ships. The Night’s King has amassed a rather large army, but without ships to transport it he might as well have no army. It’s the same logistical problem the Wildlings and any other army would face, and the Others aren’t exempt from it, magic or not.
But since the Others are magical, I guess it’s theoretically possible that they could use their powers to freeze water and form an ice bridge across the sea… although this isn’t as simple as it sounds because ocean water doesn’t exactly freeze easily due to the salt content, ocean currents, geothermal heat, etc. It would probably require a lot of time and effort for the Others to create an ice bridge large and stable enough to support moving an army across, and probably isn’t really worth it… especially if there’s another much easier way, like breaking through the Wall.
Also, wights most certainly couldn’t swim across the sea since they’re little more than walking corpses. Their bodies contain no oxygen or gases that would help them remain buoyant in the water, so even if they tried to swim they’d just sink to the bottom of the sea like rocks. “Walking” along the bottom of the ocean and emerging along the shores south of the Wall is possible perhaps, but depending on how rugged the underwater terrain is, that’s probably not as simple as it sounds either.
In general, I think crossing the sea is just not feasible for the White Walkers just from a purely logistical standpoint. Maybe small groups or individual White Walkers could cross the sea somehow, and perhaps raise an army from the corpses south of the Wall.
It’s really not worth thinking about too much. The Others can’t cross the sea because the plot requires that they can’t, and that’s it.
Wimsey,
Personally reckon Sansa goes to RL quite quickly with Brienne, with Theon/Reek going his own way
In the books she goes from Vale to RL IMO, she was just being used as a Jeyne Poole substitute in S5
Don’t reckon she is involved in the north at all in books or show, she relates more to the Riverlands power politics so is more likely to end up back in the Vale then with the Umbers
Tyrion Pimpslap,
True. I guess I was thinking there’d be a fair bit of time passing between the end of S5 and end of S6. I kind of picture the survivors retreating to Winterfell, which is somehow protected from the Walkers by some Old God magic. Then, with Sams help, getting hold of some dragon glass and Valyrian steel, and doing the best they can to slow or halt the Walkers from advancing south. Until Dany shows up to lend a hand.
Or I guess the Walkers could do a Hardhome. Massacre and raise an army of wights, and then retreat a bit to consolidate before heading south.
Just reading the “I saw a huge fight being filmed” comment made me roll my eyes and mutter, Yeah, right.
Personally I think it would be weird seeing White Walkers at the battle for Winterfell without seeing the wall fall first. I guess it is possible for the wall to fall very early during the season? I don’t see why not.
What if the wall comes down during the battle for Winterfell? Surely the wall falling will have physical consequences at Winterfell. Although it would be weird to not actually see it happening, maybe there will be cuts to the wall, WW approaching as the fight for Winterfell rages on.
I subscribe to a certain YouTubers feeling that the wall falling is something too good to pass up, so I think the TV show will show us at some point.
Ghost’s Lunch,
No. We know that Sansa was seen at WF set this year.
Among the tinfoiliest of tinfoil theories that I have yet heard is the one that posits massive armies of wights marching across the ocean floor to rise up out of the waves and make a surprise invasion of Westeros south of the Wall. As far as I can make out, it seems to be predicated on some of the cryptic songs of Patchface, who, while an intriguing character, of course hasn’t made it into the TV show at all.
Considering the rather dilapidated state of many of the wights’ remains, this notion just reminds me of the old joke:
– What do you call a leper in a Jacuzzi?
– Stew.
Firannion,
Other than his Red Wedding “prophecy”, I think most of what Patchface says is just silly gibberish.
As to the wights not holding up well if they traveled under the sea… yes and no. The sea around the Wall is pretty cold which means organic matter wouldn’t decay as quickly underwater.
I have to admit, it would be a fun twist if a wight army emerged from under the sea… but I truly doubt it, especially if the Others already have some method of destroying or bypassing the Wall by land. Clearly they must if they’re preparing to march on it like it seems they will.
Lisa0527,
The Vale knights aren’t Littlefinger’s perfect puppets. They just wouldn’t attack the Northmen.
Newbietothegame,
Quickly? We last saw Littlefinger in the middle of Season 5. This battle will take place at the end of Season 6. Not even the books would spend a book and a half traveling from the Vale to Last Hearth.
Firannion,
That’s terrible, he, he…The writers seem to forget one thing, bodies don’t decompose in frigid weather, they mummify. Their are scores of bodies on Mt. Everest in near perfectly preserved mummified state, the same goes for bodies in the arctic regions. When I read the show runners were going to have the Wights slowly wither away, I rolled my eyes at the utter lack of research on the matter.
Yeah this could be it
There was something about a casting call for a 5″ person having to be in a battle scene for about a month or something that makes me think there may be a CoTF vs WW battle north of the Wall
Makes sense they’d do a Girona with KL/Braavos and flim any northern Bo6A and a CoTF vs WW battle in the same physical location
Oh man just considering the possibilities is leading to a Hype overdose
I’m just glad the show is now so big it can get the coin off HBO to pay for the battles rather than just have it implied as with Robbs battles season 2 or Stannis last year
Hardhome was some fantastic TV so in Sapochnik we trust
Felt Pelt,
I’m with you. WWs came to my mind immediately after reading about the “foggy” news. Wow. Now I’m excited.
tyjon,
Lack of research,ffs it’s a fantasy show . Even Martin said the same when he was buggered by know it all like you on the matter of how the seasons work or how magic works .
Irish Thrones is a joke.
Yeah, I want
How is a post about S6 filming WITH PHOTOS FROM THE SET not a spoiler? If you don’t want to be spoiled wouldn’t it make sense to not read these or any other filming posts?
That is just *way* too Pirates of the Caribbean for me! I really hope they don’t do this.
It would be a huge idiot plot if GRRM does do this. How could a Wall be effective if an army can circumvent it so easily?
Ah, but high mountains change the score by being much more constantly cold and having very low air pressure that tends to desiccate the corpses. North of the Wall is not eternal snow: clearly people are able to raise crops, etc. up there during many intervals. So, during the frequent thaws, the bodies would rot quite a bit.
The bigger problem with preservation is in the books, where wights seem to be walking tinder. Burning bodies is hard enough: but burning frozen bodies would be almost impossible unless you had a really powerful accelerant! Fortunately, the show steered away from that.
chameleon,
“Also, some non-spoilery set photos have been tweeted from Peñíscola, Spain.”
But the biggest indication this is not a spoilery article is the fact that there are no “spoilers ahead” warnings.
Because there were flying Nazgul perhaps, only until the ring was destroyed, though.
Ghost’s Lunch,
I fear for the poor 5″ person cast for the battle scenes. “Ant-Man” perhaps? (Tried to, but couldn’t resist this). I enjoy your posts and also ascribe to the motto “In Sapochnik we Trust” for the battle scene.
Bongo,
There are two answers. One is Tolkien’s explanation: the Eagles were a free people and not air taxis. Of course, that was pretty feeble: given what we see elsewhere, the Eagles (or some of them) would not have shied from doing this.
The other explanation is that they were recording Hotel California at the time and they were too stoned one Pipe Weed to get to Mordor, or even say it without giggling hysterically as they rolled their R’s. (And, of course, putting Eagles with munchies near Hobbits is nota good idea…)
Luka Nieto,
This is the show…
Yeah. I Tweeted back “Now you are just teasing us, Eddie…..or should I say Ned? 😛
I really can’t see the wights emerging from the sea either but remember Cotter Pykes letter to Jon- dead things in the water…
As for patchface, if he’s got it right once then it’s just as likely that what he says has some meaning (albeit none that we’re aware of as yet)
Not really: Sansa was the primary protagonist at Winterfell all along, whereas Jeyne Poole was just an incidental character used as a plot devise with Theon as the primary protagonist in the book. Remember, Sansa is effectively absent from the Crows/Dragons story: she gets 2.9 pretty useless chapters, and things are only just starting to get moving at the end of her last chapter; then, nothing. So, they had to do “kill the girl, let the woman be born” in some other way. My suspicion is that B&W recognize that the Vale plotline is superfluous but that there is plot that will feed the story in the North; so, they moved a fairly major protagonist up there. That killed two birds with one stone: Sansa got to contribute to the story, and the north plotline got a major and minor protagonist instead of just a minor one.
I doubt that Sansa goes to the Riverlands on the show. The show set up last year Sansa learning that Rickon is still alive. That was not an idly hung gun: it was the sort that provided a shot for last year (part of Sansa ripping Theon out of Reek) and for next (giving Sansa a new purpose).
I think episode 10 will end with the WWs staring at the wall from a distance and then Danny starting at Kings landing from a distance as she sails in….or wherever she lands….that would be kick ass enough for me
Luka Nieto,
No I agree. I guess what I meant was I think he’d wait to enter the battle until the northern house forces were decimated, and only then enter the battle, trying to make himself look like the hero of the day. Crushing the Boltons, and then being the only surviving strong force left in the north. The Vale commanders might revolt at this and try to enter the battle sooner. So not really sure how I think that’d play out.
If this is as good as Hardhome it’ll be fantastic, get hyped people, get hyped!! ?
I’m no https://bryndenbfish.wordpress.com/BryndenBfish on the martial aspects of GOT, but wouldn’t it be simpler from a strategic standpoint to not drag an army across the Wall, but as I think a poster commented above, just join the existing battle by sending one WW? One Walker can create an army on the other side of the wall, voila, you’re done. No need to drag 10,000 wights anywhere.
I would not put that past Littleweasel…I mean Littlefonger. Swooping in at the last minute.
Stop trying to stir the pot, please. No one brought up Sansa or sexual violence, and those who have done so with viewpoints opposite of yours were directed to the boards for discussion. That’s where this belongs.
*shrug* Seems like splitting hairs to me. If I was that worried about spoilers I just wouldn’t visit the site until the show aired!
chameleon,
Seems like you should take your own advice and bugger off . The guy just linked an article with an actor on the show defending the violence in the show and you commented in a very unnecessary agressive way bringing up Sansa’s plot point when he didn’t say anything about that in the first place .
I don’t believe the WW will be breaching the Wall in season 6 OR season 7 (maybe s7 ep10). Any WW seen in season 6 will be north of the Wall. GRRM mentioned that in WoW we would be seeing the Land of Always Winter, the lair of the WW, so i believe any Night’s King action will involve Bran north of the Wall. When the WW breach the Wall, it will essentially be Endgame. They’re not going to do 2 whole seasons of people running and hiding from wights, that would be too similar to The Walking Dead, and GoT is NOT The Walking Dead. Too many stories need to be wrapped up before the WW move south, not least of which is Dany’s arrival in Westeros. So i think all those people anticipating some big WW invasion in s6 are going to be disappointed.
This highlights the difference between “simple” and “easy.” This would be an extremely simple tactic, yes. However, it seems to be far from easy: it does not look like White Walkers can get past the Wall. And to that end, whatever it will take to get 1 Walker through the Wall probably will let scores of Wights get through the Wall. Thus, there is no need to not prepare as many wights as possible in advance.
So, given that simple seems to not be easy, it looks like both the Wall and the ocean is a barrier to the White Walkers. That means that they need Plans B-Z.
Along these lines, given the nature of this story, I would expect that how the Walkers get through the Wall will reflect a direct consequence of actions from one of the main characters. In particular, I suspect that the failure to heed Jon’s warnings is going to be key in both the books and the series, albeit perhaps in slightly different ways.
No, they will not. However, the WW probably will not do some sort of blitzkrieg. A big part of the White Walker invasion will be convincing the Westerosi that there actually is an invasion. Remember, this is not a day that they all have been dreading: this is a day that they associate with childrens’ stories and flights of fancy. Tryion’s Season 1 comments about how the only real threat behind the Walls are Wildlings, and that Wildlings are just people who happened to be born on the wrong side of the wall probably is a common one among Westerosi lords and ladies.
Mark S,
The Wall will surely be breached in the Season 7 finale. It’s an appropriately climactic event to end the season on and build anticipation for the show’s final season.
Robb Snow,
It could be broached earlier than that. I will be surprised if the Wall is not broached during Winds of Winter, and the the primary plot underlying Spring does not reflect that. Given that, I will be very surprised if the Wall is intact by midway through Season 7. In fact, I really would not be surprised if it is breached at the end of this season.
Wimsey,
LOL they totally were recording Hotel California! And they couldn’t be bothered to travel back in time about 20-25 yrs for that Mordor trip.
Too much to smoke, too little time.
Maybe while
Wimsey,
Oh it will be breached in the next book for sure. George isn’t calling it “The Winds of Winter” just because there’s gonna be a bit of a cold draft coming in after all!
Mark S,
I think S7 will be the battle against the Walkers who have crossed the Wall. This is where Dany and her dragons will come to the fore.
I think if you see the series culminating in the defeat of the Walkers then seeing them in Westeros in S6 will seem too soon. I guess I see it as one part of the battle. They’re the Ice, but we still need to deal with the Fire. I think there’s some evil stuff happening there as well. So 2 “bad guys” who will need to battle for control. That’s at least a full season. Then some sort of new balance forged by….Jon? Jon and Dany? Tyrion?
Flora Linden,
The line that keeps coming back to me is Ramsay telling Sansa that Jon is Lord Commander: and Ramsay at Castle Black would be a bad thing for everyone but the Others! Add to this that the Nationalists (both in books and TV) do not take the White Walker threat anywhere near as seriously as they should, and GRRM and B&W have put out both tinder and oil: the match is all that is needed now.
Seriously no one is down with season 6 ending with the WWs staring at the wall from a distance and then switch to Dany sailing with Kings landing in sight…. I think that would be fucking awesome…
Jaime’sHand1220,
The last shot of the season being the Others approaching the Wall has been my personal prediction for a while now… but I have to admit, I like the idea of “following” that with Dany finally setting sail for Westeros (not nearly arriving though).
Robb Snow,
Right…sounds good to me….I’m trying to think of what Jon could be seeing in the distance to have a strong effect lol..maybe arya
Well, it has to last into Season 8! Otherwise, Season 8 will probably be short on plot and story. The big “plot” item of Season 8 will probably be figuring out what the Walkers mean, and what the humans can do to stop being stampeded by these borderline supernatural forces that hold humans in the same regard that we hold cattle. The thing that we need to hold in mind is all the ways in which Jon, Daeny, Tyrion, etc., have changed since the first book/season. Something(s) about their common experiences and changes will be vital in the end.