Blu-Ray extra: behind the scenes of Jon Snow’s battle

Kit Harington

In the newest Game of Thrones Season 4 Blu-ray extra to be released, courtesy of the Hollywood Reporter, we go behind the scenes of the exciting duel between Jon Snow and Styr. Actors Kit Harington and Yuri Kolokolnikov and director Neil Marshall comment on the fight that takes place during the Battle of Castle Black between Jon and the Thenn leader, and we see some of the effects being created.

Check out the video below:

Sue the Fury
Susan Miller, Editor in Chief of WatchersOnTheWall.com

43 Comments

  1. H. Stark,

    Someone should tell the youtuber who edited the SAIL video that Sophie uses it to get pumped up. It’s not an official trailer like she says, though it might as well be.

  2. Jon Snow is the pound-for-pound worst fighter in Westeros.

    Has he even won a fair fight that mattered? Qhorin let Jon kill him, he got wrecked by Karl fooking Tanner of Gin Alley and needed a woman to help him create a distraction and stabbed Karl while his back was turned, then he gets besmirched and disarmed by Styr, resorting to using a hammer.

    He would make a perfect Septa. Azor Ahai reborn my arse.

  3. Yung Wolf:
    Jon Snow is the pound-for-pound worst fighter in Westeros.

    Has he even won a fair fight that mattered? Qhorin let Jon kill him, he got wrecked by Karl fooking Tanner of Gin Alley and needed a woman to help him create a distraction and stabbed Karl while his back was turned, then he gets besmirched and disarmed by Styr, resorting to using a hammer.

    He would make a perfect Septa. Azor Ahai reborn my arse.

    The book Jon Snow is even worse…

    Old bear should have gave him a long-bow for the elf he is.

  4. This fight was great, one of the many highlights of that episode. Styr was not only huge, but pretty damn quick, and the way he swung that axe I remember thinking “How the hell does Jon beat this guy?”

    Love these features, makes me appreciate all the hard work that’s too easy to take for granted.

  5. Chekhov’s dragons should be around with their hot hot heat to melt that iron throne, right? Or is frying undead enough?

    And it wouldn’t be very satisfying to have A on the throne to be replaced by B, C, D, E, F, and have the ending be G ascending, right? The viewer is just patterned to expect each ruler to quickly be replaced. Better if that central entity, the institution itself, is obliterated.

  6. Hodor Targaryen:
    This fight was great, one of the many highlights of that episode. Styr was not only huge, but pretty damn quick, and the way he swung that axe I remember thinking “How the hell does Jon beat this guy?”

    Love these features, makes me appreciate all the hard work that’s too easy to take for granted.

    You know they use plastic axes and swords … so its easy to be fast with them.

  7. Just noticed this

    Game of Thrones Season 4: Trailer : 24,2M views, 120K likes
    Game of Thrones Season 5: Trailer : 1M views, 15K likes

    I know the trailer has 20M views on Facebook but still…..

  8. The Hound,

    You’re right that it’s a pretty startling difference, but there are several good explanations for the discrepancy. HBO didn’t post the trailer on the official Game of Thrones YouTube page until several days after the trailer had a) been shown in IMAX theaters, b) been posted to the Facebook page, and c) there were already several decent bootleg versions posted elsewhere on YouTube that had racked up hundreds of thousands of views. The YouTube trailer is also of a significantly lower quality than the Facebook version because, for reasons unknown, HBO refuses to post a 1080p version – at least on their main channel (Oddly enough, HBO Adria does have a 1080p version. The intertitles aren’t in English, but it’s worth it for the higher quality).

    I know that whenever I want to see the trailer again, I watch the Facebook version (I’ve got it bookmarked specifically for that purpose). It’s superior in every way.

  9. The Hound,

    Do you realize that the trailer for season 4 was uploaded more than a year ago, don’t you? January 12, 2014 to be precise. And that the season 5 trailer was upload just eight days ago. That doesn’t mean anything at all.

  10. Who is the tuffest charector at the wall right now , – as much as I love the mannis I think tormond might rip his guts out threw his throat and rape any bear the boltons have locked away

  11. The Hound:
    Just noticed this

    Game of Thrones Season 4: Trailer :24,2M views, 120K likes
    Game of Thrones Season 5: Trailer : 1M views, 15K likes

    I know the trailer has 20M views on Facebook but still…..

    When the last scene of the season 4 is Arya sailing to Braavos, people lost intrest in the show. They should of ended it with Stannis.

    Besides the entire season was kinda crapmed. Each character/storyline had like 5 min per episode witch is wayyyyy to small.

  12. Ser Dosser,

    …?

    This is absolutely silly!

    Firstly, you are 100% wrong about Season 4 devoting less time to each character in each episode. Season 4 did the exact opposite of what you said. The first couple seasons, and season 3 to a lesser extent, had a few minutes with most characters each episode. By season 4, the formula had evolved so that you had about 10 to 20 minutes with each character in an episode, yet they appeared in fewer episodes a season. For example, in Season 4 Theon and the Boltons are a large part of every episode they are in, yet they appear only in three episodes (2, 6 and 8.) Which is completely the opposite of Season 3, in which Theon and Ramsay were in pretty much every episode for a couple minutes, or five minutes at most. The same with Bran; we saw his travels to the Wall in 6 episodes of Season 3, so his story was divided in small portions of a few minutes. Meanwheile, in Season 4 he only was in 4 episodes, so we had a bit more of him in them; the plot developed each time he appeared.

    Equally, they didn’t feel forced to cram absolutely every character in the last couple episodes… which is what you accuse them of in Season 4, even though that’s exactly what they have always done in the past, except for Season 4 —for example, the Boltons and Sansa had their finale in episode 8, and that’s it.

    So… basically, the show did what you said much more in the past, and Season 4 was the first season that truly devoted more time for a character in an individual episode.

    As for the trailer, the same number of days after it was released, the trailer last year had a few more million views, because it was released first on Youtube, while this time there were half a dozen bootlegged versions, and the Facebook trailer was released quite a bit before the Youtube version. By the way, the Facebook version has been seen more than 20 million times in a matter of days, almost the same number as the Season 4 trailer in a whole year.)

    Do the math, people. This trailer has been seen almost as much as the Season 4 trailer, in a very small fraction of the time. Let’s come back next year and compare the two, shall we? In the same time-frame of a few days of the trailer being released, this new one has been watched more times.

    Apples and oranges, people.

  13. Ser Dosser,

    Each year, certain people claim “last year sucked; this is the year the ratings plunge.” Don’t you think it’s incredibly disingenuous to say stuff like “people have lost interest in the show”? Where do you get that from? There is evidence for the contrary everywhere. Oh, I see, you didn’t like how last year ended, so suddenly the world at large must agree with you, for some reason? Not only that, but in order to make your point you make objectively wrong claims, such as “the season was too crammed with different storylines per episode”, when it is in fact the less crammed season yet.

    Not liking the show, a season, or in your case the season finale is perfectly fine. I myself thought the Tyrion escape scene began way too fast for me to properly get myself into it emotionally (and no, not because of the lack of Tysha.) However, the show’s not gonna be more or less popular because of our individual thoughts on the matter. All evidence points to the show becoming increasingly popular (and just as critically acclaimed overall, though of course not if one only counts reviews written by book readers.)

  14. The Hound:
    Just noticed this

    Game of Thrones Season 4: Trailer :24,2M views, 120K likes
    Game of Thrones Season 5: Trailer : 1M views, 15K likes

    I know the trailer has 20M views on Facebook but still…..

    For me it comes down to the song choice and quality of footage. Last year’s first trailer featured a masterful combination of both. I probably watched it 15 times before I went to bed the day it aired. I’ve probably watched the season 5 trailer 5 times total. The song is awful and the footage is mostly dull (in my opinion). Given that this season likely requires the highest degree of post-production work yet, I imagine the trailer(s) we’ll get in March will beneift from more interesting scenes being ready to show (and hopefully better music).

  15. Yung Wolf:
    Jon Snow is the pound-for-pound worst fighter in Westeros.

    Has he even won a fair fight that mattered? Qhorin let Jon kill him, he got wrecked by Karl fooking Tanner of Gin Alley and needed a woman to help him create a distraction and stabbed Karl while his back was turned, then he gets besmirched and disarmed by Styr, resorting to using a hammer.

    He would make a perfect Septa. Azor Ahai reborn my arse.

    Karl got the upper hand on Jon because he spat in Jon’s face at a critical moment and Jon lost his focus. Jon killed Styr by … spitting in his face so he lost his focus at a critical moment. I fail to see why you dock points from Jon for Karl and ALSO dock points from Jon for killing Styr with a hammer.

    Jon fights fine. If he was an idiot Westerosi knight in the same situation he’d be scrambling for Longclaw and getting his head chopped off. Instead he can use whatever tools are available to win – be it a chain or a hammer.

  16. Is TheSight campaign over or are they still going to send videos? If it’s not, I wonder if they’ll start showing only season 5 clips now that the trailer is out.

  17. Luka Nieto,
    Ignoring this discussion for a moment. You and Lion of Night were debating the production pictures in the behind the scenes doc and what was written on one of them. If you’re still interested, I replied to you both but just realised it was in the wrong thread. Anyway, although it’s too blurry to read I’m fairly sure (about 60-70%) it says “Season” rather than “Sorrow(s)”. That’s it, well worth the wait for my opinion wasn’t it? ;O)

  18. Lulu’s Mum,
    Yeah, thanks! Read your response, forgot to reply. I agree: having watched it in 1080p, it definitely says Season.

    Still looks like the Sorrows, does it not? Or, at least, something Tyrion encounters on his journey. Can’t imagine any other character coming across such an environment.

  19. Luka Nieto,
    I’m semi-sullied, a spoiler-but-not-book reader so no idea I’m afraid. Reminds me of the Colosseum in Rome so if that’s what the book seems to describe then a pretty good match. Or someone’s just stuck in a drawing of the Colosseum as a joke; I read an interview with REM’s guitarist who said that sometimes when bored miming on tv shows he’d ‘play’ completely different chords to confuse any watching guitarists. There’s a picture over Deborah Riley’s right shoulder which at one point looked like giant penguins, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed for them. That might be what Jon’s looking so worried about! ;O)

  20. Lion of Night:
    Lulu’s Mum,
    Luka Nieto,
    Good call! I was driving myself crazy trying to read it at lower resolution. Whatever it’s a picture of, it looks like a very cool environment.

    Even in HD on a large screen it’s not at all clear, it’s possibly not in focus in the original film. Went on the assumption that it’s all in capitals as per the GoT logo and looked at the outline shape of the letters. Could only work out the first three but as they were rather handily “SEA” I guessed the rest; seemed logical and fit nicely in the space available. But having seen the art work I’m now hoping for giant penguins! Chances are I’ll be disappointed, unless they really have departed so far from the books that Angry GOT Fan will literally, physically explode with rage rather than just write about it. #NOONEUNDERSTAAAABOOOOOOOM ;O)

    P.S. No offence Angry, I just fear for your health if it happens! :O(

  21. Jorn,
    If we get a petition going on Charge.org this could be a thing, D&D have the budget for major CGI now. The fact that giant wight penguins belong in some terrible sci-fi film shouldn’t deter us, we can do this! 80) (that’s my eyes boggling at the idea)

    EDIT: Just noticed what a gormless picture of Jon they chose for the article. Looks like he’s had way too much Rosé Bolton ;O)

  22. It’s funny to see how people expect characters to be learned and ready for everything from the get go. If that were the case, non of their arcs would be interesting at all.

    He faces older, stronger, bigger and more seasoned fighters with different fighting styles, and he is still around. Yeah, there is luck involved in some of his fights (not all, because he managed to kill some wildings and mutineers on his own, but these fights were not showcased, only the ones who teach him something or the ones that advance the story in a different direction are).

    To me, Jon is a great character because he actually learns from the experiences and the people he meets, and he incorporates these learnings as he goes on. Learnings that range from fighting, to commanding, to political, to relationship skills and so on. He is enrolled in a very harsh course at the University of life, like the rest of the Stark kids, but in his case his not thinking about his own feelings, fate or benefits, but about what might happen to the whole realm.

    He comes in contact with different types of leaders, different cultures and with situations most people -including really smart people like Tyrion- consider impossible. and yet he stands as a leader for both friends and foes. He is not the best at everything, nor the perfect guy or always right, but he has a quick grasp of what the bigger picture is and understands the importance of different elements. Most importantly he acts quickly informed by all these, even if some of his decisions end up being wrong or questionable.

  23. Yung Wolf,

    He neceded help from a WOMAN you say? Oh noeeeeeesssssssss…. He must be really incompetent if he needed the help of a such a lowly creature.

  24. GhostCR,

    I totally agree with you!
    I love this vid, fantastic choreography, fantastic director, amazing actors. One of the best fight scenes I’ve seen

  25. Ah, another cool video, but I was hoping they’d discuss that awesome panning shot of the fighting at Castle Black during this episode.

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