A Military Analysis of The Long Night

[@MauLerYT]

I have unironically heard the defence that they deliberately performed with awful tactics to trick the night king into thinking he can beat them easily, setting up Arya.....phahhahaha

[@kingemperorpenguin1]

From the writers or the fans? Whichever group that is a ridiculous defence.

[@MauLerYT]

@@kingemperorpenguin1 Fans, not even the writers can make the mistake of saying that I reckon.

[@kingemperorpenguin1]

I thought as much. It wouldn't surprise me though, considering the quality of this episode.

[@bluedragon8417]

That is a real defense for these bad tactics? 404 error for brain. Hahahah. That defense is laughable i say laughable. It's so easy to counter. If this was to set up Arya. The results could of been done by using good tactics. Which would of aid in setting up Arya to a greater degree. For then the enemy would of been weaken, due to higher losses. Making it easier to get close to the Night King, due to having less undead to sneak pass or avoid. Along with more friendly allies still alive, that could of kept the remaining undead in check, long enough for her to get close without fear of being found out or keep them busy so they can't target Arya. Not to forget, employing these bad tactics would lead to many more dead. That could be turned into undead minions, making it harder to pull off the plan, not easier. Given that idea applies they didn't put to use their super handle dragons, who are super effective against undead. Seriously, you don't even need to know the first thing about military tactics to know using them is a good idea. Given has anyone who used that defense, play pokemon? You are rewarded in pokemon for targeting the enemy weakness with bonus damage, which could be enough to one shot the enemy pokemon. Saving you from taking any damage in return. A key member of the enemy team gone, without having suffered any losses yourself. Which going back to this idea. So they lose their cavalry, giving countless corpses the undead can now bring back to fill their ranks. Very useful cavalry, that could of help to scout out or find the White walker positions or Night King, giving Arya the information she needs to get into the correct position or just to pass down useful information to the rest of the army. Not only that but if that is the plan, why have the fire mage buff their weapons with something that can be useful against the undead? Would it have seen two easy if they just send out the cavalry to their doom without any change of fighting back? Don't use their dragons to full effect, that could of easily have wiped out a great deal of the horde, which could of possibly have removed the need for Arya to sneak up on the Night King and could of have better the odds, allowing oh possibly say the Night King to be corner or rather then a one on one duel, a five vs one, with all the warriors taking on the Night King. So they put Arya down in the crypt. Where she has to get out of the crypt and then move onto the battlefield to get into position to stop the Night King. So no one fully manning the walls and waiting so long to perform that action, with the archers being lazy and not doing their jobs. Giving Arya little time to move into position, rather then giving her that possible extra time she might need. If we accept for some reason if this was the plan. Putting her in the crypt was a good idea. So they left the undead dragon alive, for Snow to yell at for reasons. Which if it took flight again, could of been used to burn anyone that tries to get close to their lord and master the Night King. Stopping someone who is not immune to dragon flame like Arya in their tracks. Heck given the Night King holding Arya for a moment, could of been long enough for her to be roasted to death if the dragon remember it was a dragon and could fly. Given hey the Night King seems immune to dragon flame, would only kill Ayra. So breathing dragon fire down on it's lord and master would not be a issue. Even if one goes with the idea Arya was meant to kill the Night King the whole time as the master plan. There is still so much wrong with it. Given how they put their own plan at risk of failing more then once. Along with their plan in general, makes it harder to reach their desire goal. That is a failure of a plan if i have ever seen one. That and video games teach people to use things that are effective against the mobs you are fighting. The dragons are a unlimited super attack or should be. Making it a no brainer to put these dragons to very good use, as much as possible. Given you don't have to worry about them running out of dragon breath. Sure the undead hordes have numbers but dragon breath is aoe, which works well against massive numbers. The worst thing you have to worry about is their stamina, which doesn't seem to have been much of an issue. Given how they were able to keep flight in this battle for a fair part of it, before doing the whole put dragon down on ground full of corpses and put dragon queen at risk and her dragon. Which if this is part of the whole hahahah let us make ourselves look weak to lure in the Night King, so Arya can kill them. It's stupid. You are risking a dragon, one of your most valuable resources against the undead and someone who can ride them, in return for trying to fool your foe. You not only risk a morale lost but also giving the enemy a free dragon they can use against you, turning one of your most valuable resources against you. They couldn't even kill off one, how where they plan on handling two possible undead dragons? The risk would not be worth the reward. Most of this plan to set up Arya, if not all of it, relays on fooling the enemy by risk strengthening them or risk your key player failing to get in position in time to perform the duty they are meant to carry out, aka Ayra killing the Night King. This plan has two much risk for two little benefit.

[@Emperor_Toxatine]

MauLer good to see you here Long Man!

[@m.fritschle1228]

"The filmmakers went full Rian Johnson. You never go full Rian Johnson." I can't help myself, nur that killed me.

[@isbimperialsecuritybureau2192]

Ah, I see. You are German aswell.

[@Gauntlet1212]

@@isbimperialsecuritybureau2192 Tze germanz are hier!

[@ARCtrooperblueleader]

@M. Fritschle - Same. xD

[@Torgo1969]

Pardon my ignorance, but what does that mean?

[@johanrommel5132]

Wait but doesn't "nur" mean "Only"?

[@thehulkster9434]

Another thing - you don't throw away troops when fighting an enemy that relies on raising the dead. Every soldier you throw away is a soldier they can use later. You always want to minimize your casualties, but that is doubly true when your enemy can raise your fallen soldiers and turn them against you.

[@eternalreign2313]

And Jon beat us over the head with that fact every time he had to explain the undead army to someone. But then when it came to the actual battle he completely forgot I guess. Ygritte was right, he knows nothing. Hiding people in the crypts too SMH lol. When I first heard that plan I thought they were faking us out. Ahhhh they're not going to tell us they dug up and cremated all the corpses before hand so we'll be worried and think they're stupid for nothing. Nope, turns out they really are stupid.

[@philipgood5041]

@@eternalreign2313 to be fair, the crypts should have held them, it was plot convenience.

[@isaacsantos6200]

More military analysis! Love listening to people tear this thing apart

[@spacewolfblackmane19]

I always find what people have to say fascinating, from different practical plans and strategies for the battle as it is presented. To some like me who theorize and come up with logical ways for the Night King to be used better. Aside from the kill switch of the army. I personally hate as to how little and mundane he did and could do. This is the 1 episode (if you ask me it should have been a full season in an of itself but whatever.) That would contain all of the magic. This grounded world rocked by ancient and malicious magic of an long forgotten age returned for ultimate revenge. Play with the weaknesses and have an antagonist that isn't a simple blank slate with no reason or higher purpose. Are they a force of nature? All the better they can be given character through their actions.

[@crapwithanopinion2919]

tare.

[@edward986]

I love it even more that he tries to be nuanced and unbiased to break this down😀

[@vortigern7021]

Commander "archers fire" Archers "yes we can see it"

[@BenignViewer]

Thanks for bringing this up. The lazy anachronism of having commanders say "fire" to their archers is emblematic of the lazy writing the last 2 seasons of GOT devolved into, akin to, oh I don't know, leaving a coffee cup or water bottle on the set when filming or something...

[@georgevelis4651]

@@BenignViewer in season 6 they said "loose" but now all of a sudden they say "fire"

[@BenignViewer]

@@georgevelis4651 yeah the show really went downhill in terms of the care put in by the producers.

[@gawainethefirst]

Vortigern, “Knock! Loose!”

[@TITANia69420]

"oh shit, evacuate"

[@hydrogenone6866]

If you were the Night King would you attack Winterfell? I mean seriously Why would you attack a fortified position. When time is literally the biggest advantage of being undead.

[@kingemperorpenguin1]

Good point. I suppose the answer is because the Night King just wanted to kill Bran quickly.

[@hemtt543]

Why do you think time would give the Night King any additional advantage? He already had effectively infinite zombies. Regarding the fortified position the defenders had, you saw how it did virtually nothing to help them. The only mistake he made was having the overconfidence to believe he personally was immune to all possible attacks.

[@Fofo-sr2xu]

@@hemtt543 The defended position didn't stop them just because the defenders didn't know what the hell they were doing. I mean, seriously, they PUT THE TREBUCHETS ON THE GROUND IN FRONT OF EVERYTHING!

[@benjamin1359870]

Well if he sieged the city, he is giving humans the time to organize, he may be thinking than it is wiser to get a costly victory, and use speed to attack position still unprepared, than get a easy win and later affront better prepared army and better prepared position. And with the ability of the night king of easily resplenishing his army we can uderstand why he prefer speed over caution.

[@jeronimo196]

Because the entire enemy army is standing in front of their fortifications? But a proper siege would've been glorious. Especially if the NK didn't even bother to attack - "You know I could blow up your walls with my dragon any second I want, right? But nah, I'll just stand here while you slowly starve and freeze to death. Winter has fucking come!" That way even their moronic charge would make sense (it might've worked now, if they had even bothered to discuss a siege). Beautiful idea, man.

[@grandadmiralzaarin4962]

Dooku voice, "I've been looking forward to this."

[@bleepbloop8465]

I literally came down here to comment that.... bastard

[@nobleactual7616]

Which grand moff are you?

[@grandadmiralzaarin4962]

@@nobleactual7616 Grand Moff Ardus Kaine. Wilhuf Tarkin's replacement after he died on the Death Star. This put him in charge of Oversector Outer. After Endor Kaine founded the breakaway state of the Pentastar Alignment with his flagship the Executor class Super Star Destroyer Reaper.

[@HazzronIV]

Peasant: My Lord, we forgot to research bows! Medieval Lord: This is what I get for bee-lining straight to manufacturing.

[@Ginrikuzuma]

that's me sometimes when playing Civillization and i rush gunpowder and sailing but haven't invented an economy.

[@barleysixseventwo6665]

I mean, I once played a game of civilization and neglected fishing boat tech for so long that I had to research it AFTER inventing the tank.

[@mrlagoonslawyer]

​@@barleysixseventwo6665who needs fish when you have TANK 😤😤💪💪

[@draugur345]

The boiling oil thing is mostly a myth. Oil, or even pitch, were relatively expensive commodities. Defenders tended to use burning sand or boiling water instead, much cheaper.

[@derbasierte4194]

Yes, completely true. However here he said "burning" oil, not "boiling". And I guess the wights only die to fire and not to heat. So hot sand and water wouldnt do anything. And all the people there could have at least tried to gather as much oil as possible since it was doomed to be their last stand ever and the oil would have been pretty op

[@lordinquisitor6233]

4:13 thank you someone else noticed- what is the point of having winterfell if your going to fight a literal horde in the field. The cav and siege artillery should be kept back

[@Melanrick]

Not only that, but is has been stated in the series by Robert Baratheon that you do *not* fight a fucking horde on the battlefield, but on the castle walls. That was his plan for the dothraki and Varis was in that fucking meeting. So yea, there is no excuse.

[@alexman378]

Especially considering the Dothraki are their best archers.

[@PanzerIVAE]

>someone else noticed Pretty much anyone in the internet is poking fun at artillery in the front Also despite this battle being an absolute fucking mess and disaster of tactics I think no one wants to stay in a castle against a foe with dragons when Harrenhall was a thing But that's pretty fucking weak of an excuse since if the Nightking and Viserion show up there's two dragons to counter him That and Drogon is supposed to be Balerion reborn so what other dragon can even stand against him alone much less him having backup

[@dreammirrorbrony1240]

That artillery made little sence too; its made for attacking stationary fortifications, not mobile undead infantry. Ballista with dragonglass heads on the walls would have yeilded better results, as well as more spiked trenches to funnel the undead into overlaying kill zones. Turn their own numbers against them & maximize your defensive fortifications to maximum effeciency. The Dothraki with dragonglass arrows could have been stationed on the flanks to swing around both sides after the undead charged to attack the whitewalker lieutenants specifically; the destruction of these dozen or so unprotected enemy undead would eliminate a hundred or so underlings each, making their destruction #2 on the list of things to do, just under the Night King.

[@Dell-ol6hb]

Dreammirror Brony even better they could fill a clay pot with dragon glass shards or something so when the pots are lobbed and make contact with the horde they would burst and pepper dragon glass shrapnel all over the undead.

[@smudboy]

I'm surprised there's no element of surprise, or counter attack, or scouting, or...well, anything that any basic strategist would use when mounting a defensive-offense (whatever you call this maneuver.) Trebuchets were a good start. Charging your cavalry into darkness not so good. Charging your cavalry while firing your trebuchets? FF! Do they want to lose? Also their defensive lines or techniques (a firery boundary) was a good though small start. Too bad the lore suddenly died and caused zombies to no longer be flammable. Always a good thing when military tactics and lore consistency fail together for a contrived scenario.

[@der_benson4478]

a wild smudboy appears ^^ tell Mauler about the shoutout, if you get the chance, he should enjoy this ^^ enjoy your content, BTW

[@MyReligionIs2DoGood]

"... or scouting." The lack of recon really bothers me (in addition of all the points already made). The defending forces have the _ultimate_ recon unit at their disposal, in fact, the BEST recon unit in all of Westeros: Bran. Why did he never use his powers to figure out the enemy's setup or strategy? Why did he never tell anyone where the Night King is? Why did he never take over someone or something to try and help the battle?

[@auburnfire]

@@MyReligionIs2DoGood To be fair team moron also had the second best recon unit in all of Westeros (the flying dragons) before Bran showed up and they didn't use them to scout , despite being out-maneuvered and ambushed several times. Arguably they also had the third best 'recon' with Varys' spy network and they didn't use that either. So at least they're consistently retarded.

[@neansath]

14:01 "The whole thing is absurd." Roll credits. XD Yep. Sums up the entire episode, or season for that matter.

[@ihavenomouthandimusttype9729]

A lot of people threw out a military analysis days after the episode but you took your time, waited and then published. For that you get a like.

[@eternalreign2313]

Well that and he had to learn about the show lol. He didn't seem to know a lot of the crucial plot points of how and why, not that they were important to know to critique the gawd awful military strategy that they attempted use.

[@hydrogenone6866]

The Castle was heavily underutilized.

[@darkhighwayman1757]

and why didnt the Night King initially hit Winterfell with the storm and undead dragon fire to explode all the buildings and walls like Dany did in the finale?

[@bengrogan9710]

@@artruisjoew5473 The episode established however that the dragons where not a threat to him, bathing in dragon fire with no issues

[@bengrogan9710]

@@artruisjoew5473 Again though there is no credible sense of threat to the Night Kings dragon We saw in the season before it was able to unleash more destruction than Drogon at peak plot armour when it annihilated the wall - combined with the fact that the series makes it clear that the undead gain a form of unholy strength that means even a fragile wight is as strong as well built characters

[@DraconimLt]

they forgot... what a castle is for

[@theemissary1433]

@@DraconimLt Exactly, both stupid writers and delusional fans

[@SkorMedia]

They say if you whisper "Rian Johnson" three times in a mirror, he teleports behind you and ruins a franchise he isnt even supposed to be related to

[@thevikingmusketeer9696]

nah he would refuse your summons thus subverting your expectations

[@missblob8908]

@@thevikingmusketeer9696 it worked for me the franchise was assassin's Creed

[@MyReligionIs2DoGood]

The lack of recon really bothers me (in addition of all the points already made). The defending forces have the _ultimate_ scout at their disposal, in fact, the BEST recon unit in all of Westeros: Bran. Why did he never use his powers to figure out the enemy's setup or strategy? Why did he never tell anyone where the Night King is? Why did he never take over someone or something to try and help the battle?

[@patriciusvunkempen102]

well during middleages, incompetent commanders would forget recon quite often. costed the life of a good part of the frech nobility

[@Oznerock]

@@patriciusvunkempen102 The romans are particularly famous for neglecting recon... The competent generals who didn't were the exception. People like Caesar are incredible, but most roman generals just relied on their superior troops.

[@henreyeraser3402]

14:05 Children in some cultures did at times command units. An example of this is King Pyrrus at the battle of Ipsus. Durring this battle he was a young teenager, and had actually managed to rout several enemy units. However concerning the show, I don't understand how a commander is suppose to know what is going on or even order troops from behind a gate.

[@henreyeraser3402]

@Democratic Communist While this is true for the real world, we have to consider that in the Game of Thrones universe many females become powerful leaders. Thus having a noble girl as an officer is not too far fetched.

[@henreyeraser3402]

@Griever Or under basically any state that is about to collapse.

[@sammydray5919]

There are some morons who dare compare this battle with the Helms deep battle (copied from another gentleman on YT)............... Let's look at the strategy this way: Use of Cavalry LotR: Use them at the height of the battle when the chips are down and its victory or defeat. Flanking charges with heavy cavalry armed with spears is ideal. If facing the enemy head on, charge from atop a hill just as dawn arrives so that the sun blinds the enemy. GoT: Send the light cavalry out by themselves head on against an enemy that does not route. Heavy cavalry are better for rear charges or for road-killing wildlings and any wandering Stannis Baratheons outside Winterfell. Walls LotR: Pack as many archers and infantry as possible on the walls and place any extra troops in reserve within the fortifications. GoT: One or two archers every fifteen feet should do. Anyone else can act as a meat shield in front of the castle with a barricade behind them to bottleneck their escape. Enemy at the Walls LotR: SHOOT THOSE SUCKERS DOWN! VOLLEY!! (They still only count as one) GoT: The barricade is lit, the enemy stopped advancing... Let's just watch them for a bit. If they get past the barricade then we'll go ape crazy about manning the wall and getting the archers to loose their arrows. Artillery LotR: Place the over-sized trebuchets behind the walls and on higher elevation, giving them more visibility and allowing them to loose more projectiles before being over run. Their gigantic size should also allow them to launch larger projectiles made from the city's ruined bits. GoT: Place them outside the castle and in front of the army. They should at least get one or two launches off before the enemy closes in. No skin off our back. Shields LotR: If you don't have a shield, either you're an elf or a dead man. GoT: What are we, House Bolton? Lannister? Shields are for the bad guys, except the Unsullied. Small round shields are good enough against an enemy that swarms you in a tidal wave of zombie orgy. When the Gate is Under Attack LotR: Form up with spears, a shield wall, and archers in the back for added measures. Keep the archers on the gatehouse firing to hopefully soften them up. Try bottle-necking the enemy at the breach if the gate goes down and pray they don't have any giant monsters for shock-troops. GoT: Don't monitor the gatehouse. Wait until the gate bursts open, then send a few disorganized swordsmen and a 13 year old girl with a meme-worthy glare to take down the giant. Moats LotR: ... GoT: ... (K we'll just let this one slide) Now for the Villains Infantry GoT: An army of undead wildlings and peasants armed with knives and no armor should do. Many of them don't even have weapons at all, but that's ok! They can always tackle the enemy. At least they don't route! LotR: Arm everyone; swords, shields, axes, spears, maces, clubs, bows & arrows, crossbows, bring siege weapons, and definitely employ psychological weaponry like nine shrieking grim reapers riding fell-beasts that can also cause mayhem throughout whichever city we attack. Sure the soldiers may route if overwhelmed by cavalry, but it'd require a heavy hit to make that happen. Nothing a few dozen over-sized elephants can't fix. Cavalry GoT: Horses are for the White Walkers, who don't really use them. The rest can walk. LotR: Heck with horses, they just wash away when a nearby Arwen shows up (or Elrond in the books). How about giant mutant wolves? Now we have both a mount and a rider to dig into the fighting. Shock-Troops for Breaching the Gates GoT: One undead giant with no armor wielding a tree trunk will lead the way. LotR: Five. Armored. Trolls (in the background you can see two more behind the original three, possibly even a third behind them). A sight like that would make even a demi-god wizard crap himself. And finally, now for the Film-makers Lighting LotR: Create the appearance of a battle at night, but include enough light so that we can still see what's going on. Use effects like false lightning to give us an excuse behind why we can see what we can see. GoT: The viewers will surely enjoy watching their reflections.

[@Crawdithe98]

On some parts you mix Helm's Deep with Minas Tirith. Unless you're talking about the book(s) (which in that case I haven't read).

[@sammydray5919]

@@Crawdithe98 Hey I did say it was a copied comment lol. Might be a few mistakes. 😂

[@Crawdithe98]

@@sammydray5919 Fair enough. Regardless of mistakes, the LotR battles are still better than this mess.

[@theemissary1433]

*Thank you* my friend. LOTR will always prevail

[@GreaterGrievobeast55]

18:03 when army of darkness, a goofy cult classic, does a better job with their strategy against an undead army of countless than a nigh universally acclaimed tv series.

[@zenhaelcero8481]

I've never watched a single episode of this show, nor will I, but I thoroughly enjoy watching your military analysis videos.

[@haverjamarosi680]

4 years ago, i would have sad to you, you miss a lot ...... but you dont!

[@DatBrasss]

The only theory about the Dothraki that makes sense to me is that they intended to charge and retreat, harrying the dead with dragon glass arrows after the initial charge, but were overwhelmed at first contact. Still dumb in practice.

[@Julian-vl7vn]

But their's one they fear. In thei'r tongue he is Azor Ahai, Last hero! Jon: "*YOU'RE MY QUEEN*" *insert Skyrim theme*

[@MohammedIqlasUddin]

17:13 So (among so many others) there is Ser Jorah and Ser Jamie who are both well seasoned in battle - doing nothing while a little girl gives commands. Well Done D&D

[@alexanderlaveau7819]

I can't see a goddamn thing that's happening here! I had no idea what even went on in this episode until His Imperial Majesty broke it down play-by-play because the lighting was so shite.

[@Don-ds3dy]

I downloaded a GoT mod for Medieval Total War II, played as the Nights Watch, I know it wasn't all the same but I managed to defeat the undead armies while going on the offensive and out numbered in all the battles. In one siege in particular I was outnumbered 1/5 and still slaughtered them all just by keeping all my forces inside the walls and using many of the tactics mentioned in this video.

[@TheAdarkerglow]

Yeah, they used to be pretty flammable, those undead, but ever since they got those asbestos zombies it's been hell. And for me, I think that the dead in the Crypt should've been protected by old Stark Magic, and the bones of their ancestors should've risen to fight against the Night King, but that's just me wanting Sean Bean to take the screen again.

[@hotimportknight]

This was the downfall of GoT. Each episode gets more ridiculous story wise, but this dark shaky cam disaster of common sense broke my love of the show.

[@utdutd8336]

Well good for you. It didn't break mine

[@haverjamarosi680]

did you skipp S7 E6 ?

[@maik8338]

Another point Shad from Shadiversity brought up about the cavalry charge: Cavalry are shock troops, their main goal is to crush the enemy lines (from the flanks or behind), make the enemy soldiers panic and flee. Well undead won't flee, they don't fear anything, so the one thing you would NEVER do, is attacking them in a frontal assault (also I doubt even a Dothraki would willingly do that, no one wants to die a pointless death). The undead won't break, they will slaughter your precious horsemen, like they did in the show. With the resources Jon and Daenerys had, this battle could have been easily won. Turtle behind the walls with your infantry, using as many archers with dragon glass arrows as possible, dig a moat, lay traps, use burning oil, burning stakes and stuff like that, while the Dothraki apply a hit and run tactic flanking the enemies. Pit those hordes of undead against the wall to then obliterate them in one big blow from your dragons. But I guess that's part of the problem, the authors wanted to raise the stakes, they didn't plan this out very well (the whole season felt very rushed). They had this vision of a narrow victory, so they had to bend everything around it into shape (like they did with the plot of later episodes). To achieve this, they had to get rid of all the troops and especially of the two dragons, who alone probably could have wiped the undead from the field, atleast the wights since the walkers seemed fireproof. Also I agree with the thing with the child, what was her name again? I know the internet liked her "moment", but seriously...a child fighting adults, mostly men, all undead...that's just too ridiculous even for a fantasy TV show.

[@chrisrubin6445]

Very true, for every Josmyn Peckledon, there are scores of dead children littering the battlefields

[@daefaron]

The dothraki could've been used to also stretch out the zombie horde. Attack, lure a swarm to the left. Then hit the right and lure it away. Lure both hordes upward, toward night walker lines before disengaging and moving back. Basically, make it so the zombies hitting the infantry are weaker because some of them are chasing horses.

[@dreamleaf552]

Don't blame Bran for not acting, that's exactly how his character was written

[@willwin4744]

You should do a review of Helms Deep or a different battle that had competent generals

[@benjamin1359870]

I am not sure the helm deep would be a really interesting battle to analyse it is a classic siege, there is no extremely interesting strategic move, the defender just defend what they can as long as they can an retreat when the position is no longer defendable, there is even some quite stupid move from the uruk, like attacking the wall they are about to blew up, and letting troop getting close of the explosion site ( but it still kind of make sense within the universe since uruk are seen as expandable and blindly loyal.), it is beautifull battle, but not on the strategic side, where it is kind of simple.

[@lukec2004]

@@benjamin1359870 it is simple strategically, but not dumb

[@alaskamark4562]

benjamin1359870. I agree, the strategies used at Helms Deep are fairly straightforward and don't really need an analysis imo, but the design of the castle could certainly use some work (though I still love that castle). Shadiversity made a good video about the castles of LOTR and in it he pointed out some design issues with Helms Deep like the merlons being too short to cover the defenders, no proper gatehouses, not enough protruding towers and worst of all... no MACHICOLATIONSSSAH!

[@ChardogNation]

benjamin1359870 the reason they attacked the wall they were going to blow up was due to several reasons this was the first use of gunpowder they didn’t know the power of it and to damage morale

[@zionnewkirk4838]

@@benjamin1359870 helms deep isn't even really big at all, there wasn't much they could do from a brilliant strategical standpoint.

[@caloom9889]

This is what the undead charge looks like: *shows a completely black screen* 😂

[@amardeep_singh_chauhan]

To be fair the Wildling Spearwives were a match for any regular feudal levy footsoldier and many household guards

[@gabrielshadwick886]

Something worth looking at is overlord where the main characters are the vilians trying to gain information about this new world they got tossed into. Ainz is a very competent and very cautious leader. Any assault done against any of his forces and generals is going to end up with the assaulting party getting annihilated. Especially when Ainz brings out his strongest magic.

[@bengrogan9710]

Momonga is a semi-competent leader, many of the actions that happen in the series for Overlord are a result of the Floor Guardians of Nazerick extrapolating what they believe to be his motives and expanding on them based on the presumption that he intends domination

[@gabrielshadwick886]

@@bengrogan9710 And damnit he is a very good tactician. When Ainz breaks out his strongest magic it can cause cataclysmic effects

[@wergar_the_warwolf6834]

FINALLY

[@edward986]

This analysis is great, only your point at 6:09. There is Magic in the show, and of youd train women as much as the Unsullied, they might become strong.

[@MaddEndd]

Ah, you just didn't see the great tactics because your monitor was to dark.

[@FULANODETAL]

We kinda forgot than DAEENERYS bring 100000 dothrakis to westeros

[@mr.s2005]

what was it they said...they wanted to rival Helm's Deep, considering how you could hardly see anything going on, we can't tell. At least in Lord of the rings they knew how to properly position catapults, use fortifications, and use of cavalry

[@aliceotoole439]

The answer to all the questions posed in this video... "creatively it made sense to us because we wanted it to happen"

[@nikopawlowic6557]

I had a thought that the high commanders had the fault of incompetency due to the fact that they never had to fight a defensive battle before, buuuuut, that's not true. The incompetence comes only from the writer's themselves, because they couldn't imagine these characters as being smarter and more competent than themselves. -

[@redwithcoffee619]

Loving these videos, you do such a great job with these videos in keeping a level head and look at the battles objectively as well as provide reasonable alternatives to the incompetent plans used.

[@unfinishedspacemarin]

14:00 - Well, you see, your Imperial Majesty, a child nowadays is considered mature enough to decide to change their gender. If that is true and they are mature enough to understand what such a change in their biology would entail for their continued development and, indeed, the rest of their lives, then commanding troops in the battlefield against the undead (a battle that will undoubtably have consequences for the rest of their lives) should be a piece of cake!

[@eternalreign2313]

Right? Gender is just a social construct and in that moment they identified as men so that's good enough. It's current year so sexual dimorphism can fuck right off.

[@Dell-ol6hb]

Yea the crazy thing is that Winterfell is an absolute gargantuan castle, like really really massive canonically, so they could’ve easily held their whole army behind the castle walls.

[@ricopena2053]

Night King should have just sent enough forces to keep the castle besieged while moving on to invade other towns and find graveyards. Invade the kingdom similar to the Dothraki strategy and take over the land forcing people into castles. Their sieges could last forever since they don’t need food, water, or sleep. My only questions would be: Can the other white walkers control wights? What is the maximum range for controlling wights?

[@kalumbailey5103]

I think the dothraki thing could have easily been explained by showing a few dothraki outriders with torches in the distance slowly get snuffed out one by one, then the dothrakis own mentality in battle would of taken over and they could have been agitated enough to just say 'f*ck it if we're going to die we're dying like screamers' and charge

[@GartenzwergxxlNo1]

your imperial majesty once more i have to salute thee for this great analysis showing the sheer dumbness of many decisions. I would love it, if u could make videos about basic warfare strategys with examples of history. I really believe those would be really interesting

[@kampinak]

damn I was waiting for this! xD the incompetence here is over 9000!

[@metalstorm1027]

Great, i knew you wouldn't disappoint!

[@sam-psonsmith9951]

In season 7 they deliver an undead soldier to Cersei, in a WOODEN box. if the undead in the crypt can break through solid stone. Why wasn't this one able to break through wood??

[@lukewiseman9209]

So happy this came up in my feed, asked you about it on Twitter a few weeks ago and you said you'd have to do the Battle of the Bastards first :)))

[@kingemperorpenguin1]

Too many people were asking me to do this so I decided to relent. I'll take a look at the other battle another time.

[@bluedragon8417]

What did you just watch? A military failure that is so impressive, you have to wonder how anyone, let alone a group of commanders could be this bad at tactics, they somehow made it to this point alive without dying to something else before hand. Something that can only be called Rian Johnson tactics, where tactics are so bad, they make even standard hollywood tactics seem good or be more akin to a gift from the gods. Heck even if they could not fit all of their soldiers inside of the castle. A common defense used to explain this [lacking space in the castle]. Putting them at the flanks or rear of the castle, would of still been a far better choice. Forcing the undead to focus their assault on one or the other, if not break off into two groups. Why didn't they build addition defenses or anything else? I heard someone once say it was due to not having enough time, yet they seem to have an awful lot of men, that could of easily have build addition ditch, moat or even set up a low wall of some sort to absorb the impact of the undead forces. Given if one accepts the idea not all of them could fit into the castle, well that sounds like they had alot of free time [and manpower] to set up more outer defenses then. Do the characters want to die? Yes yes they do. It's the only way to explain these bad tactics. What makes their nonsense charge and lack equipment to form a defense line all the better and by better i mean worst. Necromancer, they are facing a necromancer. Anyone who dies can be turned against them. So keeping your own soldiers alive, is massively more important then normal. Yet they seem eager to die. Charging in the middle of night, where you have issue seeing what is in front of you, your own siege weapons risking friendly fire to hit the enemy. Charging an undead formation that would be brace and ready for a cavalry impact, along with knowing no fear, so would not rout upon losing a few men or seeing a cavalry charge coming. Making it perfect or near perfect for stopping an enemy cavalry charge. I seen cavalry charge into spears, pikes, spears and archers, yet this has to take the cake for worst cavalry charge. Given their equipment seem so poorly suited for the job of charging from the front, with melee weaponry that has very short limited reach. A lance with the same magic fire buff, could of possibly have done way more damage. With keeping the fire mage nearby, so when the lances break or are no longer of use. Can draw their secondary weapons and get them buff. If they were willing to risk the fire mage and not keep them back near the castle, to buff the other defenders weaponry. Which you figure even if it works on a mana base spell or something of that sort. They could at least buff a few, even if merely a squad, would still be massively better then doing nothing for a majority of the battle. What about dragons? The funny thing is that low wall or another defensive layer, could of not been needed or might of been acceptable, if they had used the dragons better. If they had time it right with the dragon attack, break the undead charge and make them waste their energy by rushing into a wall of dragon fire. Turning their own charge against them. Only with the dragon fire leading to more damage to the undead ranks. I swear the dragons flying off is when this becomes a video game moment [ and again later on] , as if you could only use dragon fire artillery once every five minutes. Then have to wait for the cool down to wear off before they can attack again. I swear every character forgot they are facing off against a necromancer. Making it even more important to inflict damage upon the enemy army right away, by ensuring walls of man, arrows are let loose at a reasonable pace. For the more pause you can give to the undead, by denying them a target to kill while inflicting damage upon them. Making the undead suffer losses, while having none of your own dead to replace their ranks. While standing around doing nothing, for the longest time. Just gives the undead what they want, more time to get close and kill one of the living, which can then be added to their ranks. Yes yes yes to that ending line. If a villain seems to win, more due to your heroes being morons [or the other way around] rather then due to being competent. There is an issue in the writing, not just by possibly taking a viewer out of the experience by making them think they could of done better. By not only making it clear the villain is no real threat or by making the heroes seem less human by not having any brains, it also brings up the question of how, how did anyone get into this position in the first place and was able to maintain their current rank/position, if they are massive failures at performing their duties?

[@ahab145]

Every time I see you posting a new video I'm getting so happy, please never stop

[@DTFinn01]

To be fair, the child seemed rather intelligent in the episodes before this one. And since she's the lord of her house (or was at this point lol) it's kinda expected from her to join her army on the battlefield. Also a few episodes prior to this, they decided to train all people, the women, the children, the elder. Because they need everyone on the battlefield. I'm not saying it's the right thing to do, but they atleast tried to explain this in previous episodes. Atleast I saw it as explanations. But its also possible I completely missed something.

[@emilydivis6369]

Individual muscle mass isn't the only metric for strength, nor for whether someone will be a good soldier. Women tend to have higher pain tolerance and endurance than men, for example; and furthermore, the ability to develop discipline and follow orders is not a gender-exclusive trait. But even if I was wrong about that, I don't understand how you can believe that women and eunuchs (who are already combat-trained!) would make such bad soldiers that you wouldn't include them in your army at all. It's not like they're taking the place of typical male soldiers. You don't get to trade them in for something else - you take them or leave them and that's it. If you're up against an army that outnumbers you and things are looking desperate, why not take all the help that you can get?

[@lukeswollo4268]

Your imperial majesty, could you please make some Lord of The rings battle analysis? I'd love to see the helm's deep analysis ^^

[@patrickm1695]

I knew you would do this, great work 👍

[@Match25]

I believe they would have been able to strategize better if they could BLOODY SEE ANYTHING

[@haverjamarosi680]

but they could have seen everything! (bran)

[@arthurcarmo7546]

To his royal majesty, KingEmperorPenguin. While it is true that women perform in battle less than men, your Majesty will agree that this battle is a battle of annihilation, and as you know, the enemy is capable of making the dead their soldiers. In these conditions and considering that everyone without exclusion is bound to this end, there is no reason not to admit women or even children so that at least they can give one or two casualties. The women featured are also wildlings, who traditionally accompany their husbands and relatives in looting and skirmishing which means that they have far more experience and discipline against the enemy in question, and it is a huge mistake to discard those qualities left them out, even more so in in the face of a total battle where no one will be spared. That being said, I would like to point out that although the enemy sustains much of its numbers, the strength of its individual soldiers is relatively low, consisting of acephalic zombies that follow only generic orders with no understanding or creative ability to execute them. which makes even women or children capable individuals against them, especially if they are equipped with special weapons or fire, an easy resource to obtain. Obviously this would only be effective if the advantage of the crowd were minimized by the castle walls, which did not occur and generated its predictable end as much as its male counterpart. I write this because I see that your majesty for being too busy with the most critical (and outrageous) parts of the preparations for battle may have perhaps failed to consider these factors. Besides, I only praise the notes and conclusions that your Majesty has indicated in this analysis. Your humble servant

[@sebastianburbeck2345]

I think the main point of that particular argument was that having women and eunuchs as part of the front line wasn't wise. Well that and the fact that no one brought their shields that day. Or the fact that they stood OUTSIDE OF THE CASTLE! But yeah I think the muscle strength of the front line was the actual point of criticism there.

[@hainekohanefuwa5308]

@@sebastianburbeck2345 The muscle strength argument is irrelevant because 1. to kill the white walkers requires fire/dragonglass/Valerian steel, not brute force and 2. benching 225 kilos will do fuck all against a tidal wave of hundreds of thousands of undead berserkers.

[@Dragonspirit223]

@@hainekohanefuwa5308 I mean... Yes, but no. The idea of the foot soldiers is to kill the enemy, the more force you put into a blow will usually equal a kill, even if it isn't with Dragon Glass, stalling the enemy or even disabling them is an advantage. Generally speaking, men are more powerful in upperbody strength, what we use for fighting, so for maximum efficiency, men generally fight. I will say this though, if enough training is given, a soldier is a soldier, so a body is a body, doing its job for the greater good ( hopefully, not here though). The point of children however... Yeah, no, pull them out and set them up as medics if you absolutely HAVE to use them.

[@hainekohanefuwa5308]

​@@Dragonspirit223 The idea of foot soldiers is to kill the enemy? Really? Who'd have thought! And here I was assuming it was to march around looking pretty. I'm well familiar with the relevant history, tactics, equipment, metallurgy, physics, and biomechanics of the subject. Historically women often didn't fight in war, but it had little or nothing to do with 'maximum efficiency' it was because if men die, it doesn't matter; if we die, the tribe dies. Historically speaking men had positions of power because primates get violent when they don't get their way, and in that situation, the bigger bone structure and muscles make it easier to beat people into submission. If the leaders for that battle want to improve things, first don't be an idiot with the cavalry, then get people inside the damned castle, then use dragonglass inlays, then shields, then armor, then winged spears rather than swords, and THEN we can talk about the gender of the troops. Dragonglass doesn't require anything but a light stab. So actually, it would make more sense for there to be a shield wall with the men holding the shields (strength and mass) while the women do all the actual killing from under and over the shields.

[@Dragonspirit223]

@@hainekohanefuwa5308 I don't disagree with your points, however if speaking with the 'big picture' the comment was more than likely taking a jab at how they didn't use what you were talking about (Dragonglass, shields, basic wall defense, Calvary, ect.) and were instead using basic weapons. Since they were using the much less effective basic weaponry, the strength difference between man and woman would be more significant. I am not, in fact, trying to start a war here in the comment section, instead I'm just adding my stick into the fire of how bad this battle is, and it appears as though you are as well.

[@Azsouth]

can't wait for the sack of Kings Landing also check out Invicta's version of how the battle should have gone, thought that was pretty good.

[@kingemperorpenguin1]

Invicta and Shadiversity did do good videos.

[@syedjafry1549]

I get how in a normal battle having women on the frontlines would be problematic due to literal basic biology but it was established in previous episodes by Jon Snow that they need every man woman and child capable of fighting in this fight simply because of how desperate the situation was.

[@greghunter6951]

The Night King could have attacked with his dragon and burned Winterfell. Compared to the other 2 dragons patrolling the complete area in front of Winterfell, it should have been easy for the dead dragon to decimate the castle.

[@theeternalchronicler3072]

To summarize a quote from a Iron Warrior besieging a Imperial fist fortress. "Why are Dorn's sons without helmets? Are they begging to be shot in the head?

[@Emptylord]

The sarcophagi were also established as being secure against the dead, for the very reason of preventing them from being risen by the Night King (or, as is hinted in the books, rising because the Stark's are half-wight).

[@sebastos7693]

Exactly, why else were those statues holding those swords.

[@DraconimLt]

You seem to be under the mistaken impression that D and D had any idea about battles and tactics in the slightest, and also that they actually cared...

[@corruptangel6793]

Tbh, the most insulting thing that stood out to me that episode (second only to the Dathraki charge) was the Night King being immune to dragon fire. Dragons are fire made flesh as explained in season 2. (So this isn't book only lore) They are the natural nemesis of the Others, the Yang to their Yin. The Other (God of death, darkness and ice) has the Ice Spiders, and the Lord of Light (god of light, fire, and life) has his dragons. The entire reason valarion steel weapons and dragonglass can kill the undead is because they're both infused with the essence of fire! Dragon fire is the most pure form of fire and if valarion steel can kill the Night King then dragon fire should have absolutely reduced him to a puddle and then vaporized said puddle. And then they had the gal to go and have the Night King smirk when the dragon fire didn't work. 😡🤬

[@mukuro8033]

"The Incompetence is over Nine Thousand." Respect Sire Respect.

[@palkokity8235]

The early Tropic Thunder reference was enough to get my Like. The entire last 2, if not 3, seasons of GoT challenges Rian Johnson's Last Jedi level of directing incompetence and would have given you that much more fodder for your analytical skills if you could tolerate watching them.

[@enezjaniw493]

As an ex-soldier if my weapon burst into fire I suspect I would be dropping it!

[@derekmensch3601]

I mean ours are also full of gunpowder. If they are loaded. Lol

[@enezjaniw493]

@@derekmensch3601 On fire, full of exploding powder. No problem! Eeeek!

[@derekmensch3601]

@@enezjaniw493 sounds like a party to me

[@multiYellowHorse]

great vid, some criticism tho 1. i dont think the troops fit inside the castle 2. the dothraki charge should indeed have been guided by the dragons but i think dothraki charge was a good idea. this is because of battle style. charging on horseback is their only way to wage war. 3. the dragon riders went away to target the generals u missed, albeit a risky move 4. arya is a trained assassin. if anyone can sneak past distracted ice zombies its her

[@benjamin1359870]

Later on we learned that half the army survived, aka half the army achieved to retreated inside the castle, so their was at least room for half the army, and since a good number of zombies entered the wall as well, we can safely assume the whole army can enter winterfell. dothraki are ligth cavalry, it should not even be in their culture to charge like that, they are not even the good type of troop for the job, charging upfront is the role of heavy cavalry, not light cavalry.

[@ottersirotten4290]

I would be ok with the dotraki Charge if they would constantly fire theyre Artilliry, you have much friendly fire but f.. it, if they are to stupid for anything else than frontal Charges, they are worthless anyway

[@Kingofredeyes]

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who noticed how just completely incompetent this battle was done from a military perspective. The stupidity of it really made me want to put my head through a wall, it likely would of damaged less brain cells than watching this battle did.

[@tinman1843]

Great video. Thank you.

[@JojonathanOliveira]

I love this series of military analysis

[@marcoconsorti2663]

>emperor penguin uploads >my finger istantly gravitates to the like button

[@alexvogel610]

I've been screaming this at my TV for a moth now...

[@elweasel2010]

6:56 Because you can't see their face. The show runners answered this question. The only people wearing hats or helmets are the extras.

[@Duke_of_Lorraine]

If there is one thing that I'm willing to forgive in this battle, it's the dothraki charge. And not only because it's beautiful. In the lore of ASOIAF, dothrakis often stupidly charge enemies. Once, they tried attacking the city of Qohor, that was defended by an Unsullied phalanx. Pretty much the worst possible formation to attack head-on as cavalry. The Dothrakis charged them over 20 times, getting high losses every time, until they gave up. It makes perfect sense that they'd charge blindly the undead with their morale raised by their flaming swords. I'd have expected so much more from competent horse nomads like the Mongols (horse archers can hit and run melee infantry that has no shield in complete impunity) but the Dothrakis are not the Mongols...

[@Tyrantofthewind]

You are talking about Dothraki in their natural environment raping and pillaging and charging like it is of 2nd nature. Here's the problem with your equation: 1) The undead are not men, the reason they kept charging the unsullied in Qohor was because they thought they would break and route. Undead do not break and route. 2) They are in a completely different environment. See that snow? 3) Clearly they were given the order to charge or the whole "light their swords on fire" shit wouldn't have happened. So the idea that this was some rogue charge seems far fetched. Especially since Jorah is with them. It was just shit writing to get rid of the Dothraki because they didn't want to deal with the horses.

[@Duke_of_Lorraine]

@@Tyrantofthewind Jorah only started to move after the dothrakis had already some momentum. It would have been more obvious if he had given the order, speaking loudly, making a wide move with his sword, starting to move first. Instead, a couple one started charging without order then the rest followed.

[@Tyrantofthewind]

@@Duke_of_Lorraine Jorah is not in charge of the Dothraki. In fact, the only order he gives one during the entire series is the Bloodrider he tells not to enter the tent before he kills him. Jorah's presence isn't important because it signals he ordered the charge, his presence is significant because he is one of Dany's best warriors. His presence anywhere was obviously planned ahead of time (though given the insane amount of outright stupid decisions made in this battle, who knows). I get what you are saying about how the Dothraki charging could potentially be in character, but in this particular situation, and with what is shown, it makes no sense on any level whatsoever. Which is precisely what many had problems with (besides the overall direction of the series) - the inability of the writers to even salvage their own decisions with simple changes like showing the Dothraki restless and breaking into a charge.

[@Marveryn]

@@Tyrantofthewind yeah i agreed a better writer would had them arguing with the leadership about being kept behind the walls. they decided fk and gallop somewhere else instead of helping danny only to show up to gallently charge into the night walkers and died gloriiously. It still would be stupid but at least it wouldn't had been plan. It be more of a culture thing. You can also kept a few with dany showing not all left so later when they do appear in the show it wouldn't be a . I thought they were all dead and more, no the stupid one with inflated egos are the one that die.

[@ElysiaWhitemoonOmega]

it remidns me of a game i play, Guild Wars, it has a mission where you assault a stronghold too. and they have 'Siege Devourers" (giant scorpion with a siegecannon) in front. one of characters says: we go in front door, Siege devourers in front, a good for scaring people off, a bad place for actual defense

[@blazetheplaneswalker]

this is a poor excuse but perhaps the night king desides to join the battle while he is winning because he wants to destroy the moral of his enemies in a sort of "look how confident I am of winning" move

[@gerritpeacock3571]

Hey y'all! Let's give our cavalry to the enemy in a useless way so we can fight our own cavalry five minutes later after night king raises them instantly after their useless attack!

[@taoiseachjager9643]

As much as people complain about only the eunuchs having shields, it is not like it would make a difference. Even the eunuchs with shields did not get in a proper defensive formation. What is the point of having shields as standard equipment If no on uses them.

[@seanlehning1542]

Love your analysis as always, but it just makes me wonder: are there any fictional series with GOOD tactical battles? I mean, seriously, Hollywood and TV shows hire people whose sole job is to make things like costumes and backgrounds accurate. They even hire people to make up entire languages (conlang). Yet when it comes to battle tactics, apparently no one can be bothered to think of anything better than "Fuck it, let's put all our forces in front of our defenses and send in our light cavalry in a pointless charge.

[@tf2664]

The commanders of this battle should be court marshaled

[@rainmanslim4611]

I hate this battle... so fucking much. At this point, I just watched to the end out of a weird sense if obligation, I didn't care how it ended anymore

[@ArmageddonD11]

1:45 Obsidian and Dragonglass are just different names for the same material.

[@austinperry1671]

Depending on the control of the wright’s. Use the Calvary to peel off the undead away from the main column on the edges

[@imgoingforawalk1693]

Btw, you mention "dragonglass" and "obsidian" as 2 different materials in this video. They are the same thing, just 2 different names.

[@jacobcoy8813]

I love this video! One drink everytime good job is said 🤣🤣

[@JustFlemishMe]

The point about the eunuchs is actually addressed in the books. The reason given for castration is that testosteron makes men more likely to do basically stupid things. Like break formation or disobey orders. The Unsullied would be crap fighters one on one; in fact the Good Masters of Astapor concede that they may lose to Westerosi Knights in battle, the combined quotes clearly indicating this is because Knights would be far stronger individually. However, what the Unsullied lack in strength, they make up for in discipline. Even if the individuals aren't as strong, have fun trying to break through a shield wall with spears.

[@VunderGuy]

That's more fantastical than a guy with George Rape Rape Martin's dimensions winning a fist fight with a poodle let alone a dude in medieval melee.

[@JustFlemishMe]

Well, it IS a fantasy world. And... Shad (Shad M. Brooks, Shadiversity) addressed in his Fantasy Re-Armed series that even someone with the strength of a child can definitely kill you if you give them so much as a rock. An individual Unsullied would lose to most other warriors, but add in their discipline and utter fearlessness, and 3000 of them can hold of 20,000 Dothraki screamers. It's like Romans vs. Celts: one on once, Celts would win most of the time, but using their discipline, the Romans could smash them.

[@GeoffreyRahl]

1) Assemble the trebuchets catapults & ballistae on tower tops and battlements, 2) Dotharki used as what they are: horse archers whittling down enemy troops with a storm of fire/obsidian arrows and reducing pressure by drawing away part of the undead army. 3) Firetraps triggered by the passage of the wight to light up the battleground. 4) Trebuchets and catapults commence launching their incendiary ammunition and do not stop until they run out of ammo, ballistas & scorpions will aim to bring down undead giants and other priority targets. 5) Knights of the Vales used as heavy cavalry to cycle charge/retreat the flanks of the undead army with their weapons set ablaze by Melisandre, and BTW where are the other red priests ? 6) Unsullied phalanxes holding the line behind a defensive trench and wedge-shaped wood & rammed earth fortification to funnel the undead towards chokepoints greatly reducing their numerical advantage. 7) Archers of the wall of Winterfell unleash a constant barrage of arrows and the artillery bombardment continues. 8) Jon & Daenerys should have obsidian darts/ knives on them to throw at the Night King or even better 2-3 archers with them on their Dragons.

[@amazin7006]

This is much better, and there could still be drama to the battle despite having an overwhelming defensive advantage. The manga Kingdom does this incredibly well. A mix of real world tactics and intense dramatic fantasy elements. Night king can easily use standoff ice javelins to keep dany's dragons at bay, his dragon can take out the Dothraki horsearchers during their feigned retreats. He could bring in his blizzard to blow out fortifications and obscure the battlefield making it harder for commanders to give out orders. White walkers guiding their armies in an instant like chess pieces, as shown by how they used their bodies as bridges. Each army has pros and cons which could have been incredibly interesting to see. Especially if it's Tyrion or Jon in the commanding seat like in blackwater or the battle for the wall.

[@GeoffreyRahl]

@@amazin7006 Yes actually I though about this too. The Night King & White Walkers throwing ice spears into unsullied ranks killing dozens with every impact or destroying catapults. Ever summoning their famous ice spiders to scale the walls of Winerfell. So many options and ways to make this a truly epic fight and give the White walkers an even more menacing aura because eventhough the living have used sound & effective strategies that would've broken human armies it is absolutely not enough and horrified they beginning to realize it. This episode should've eneded with the Living fleeing Winterfell or only manging to wound him. Best case scenario the episode should end with a shot of the Knight King respawning slowly far north in the land of always winter withte protagonist completely unaware and believing the threat is gone.

[@OrkarIsberEstar]

comment on your plan a) that is assuming everythign goes to plan. If i was the night king id summpn the blizzard beforehand thus rendering the dragons almost useless and the strong wind deflecting many arrows (or at least make them weak enough to not be a big issue anymore) then he could proceed with the white walkers to get to safe spots and just throw ice javelins at the dragons until they are dead. then raise them from a distance ad nuke the castle. Or better yet - surround the castle one the dragons arent an issue and just wait it out until everyone inside dies of starvation and given the huge ammount of troops, that shouldnt take long

[@derblattspinat6929]

Just stumbled upon your analysis and absolutely love em. If you're still in the business, could you please make an analysis of the Battle of Naboo from the Phantom Menace?

[@Contra1828]

I think the most important point to be made is: why choose the engagement at Winterfell in the first place, and stake all your army on nothing but a hope? The best option would be to make a retreat to Moat Cailin, which is well established in the canon as an extremely defensible choke point between the north and south, or the Twins, since the undead can't swim. The battle map image shows exactly what you expect would happen: they get encircled by a vastly larger force, their cavalry end up being useless because they can't do any flanking or hit-and-run in an enrirclement or near-encirclement, and their only option is to charge and predictably die. I think the best answer is that nobody expected to win this. It was just a "we're all going to die anyways, we might as well die fighting, so nobody can say we didn't try" sort of thing. There were no viable strategies, they were ridiculously outnumbered by a force consisting of the entire northern half of the continent. When Bran was talking about his plan to lure the Night King, most just took it as a nice-sounding fantasy to give people hope in their final hours, not as a real battle plan.

[@legionarmy1]

Your Imperial Majesty once again I agree with your analysis

[@kingemperorpenguin1]

Not that I don't appreciate the praise but I know you haven't finished watching it.

[@legionarmy1]

No need to the battle was so horrific it nearly made me want to watch the last Jedi

[@charlyl.abarca4960]

I have not seen the video yet, have it on my watch later, but I just wonder, WHY is there Fus Roh Dah in the screen when this is GOT and not TES? o.O me is confused

[@TheSniped117]

Seeing this was years ago I completely agree with everything you said. And I throughly enjoy watching this battle be thrashed. Their is only one thing you are wrong about. And that is the point you make at 14:05 she is probably the most competent person in the entire show. To be honest, she would have probably done a better job planning the battle.

[@numbers9to0]

I laughed out loud when Lyanna Mormont shouted man the walls. They where just standing there with their thumbs up their asses? They did not man the walls of their castle when the battle started! Really D&D?

[@haverjamarosi680]

I laughed out loud when the giant smashes her like a bug, (i was naive, and i thought they got the balls for such a scene. like in the good old days) but my laughter imediatly turned int crige when she stood up, and charged screaming to the giant .... i knew imediatly she would fckin kill it, and i couldnt bare it!

[@jeffthornton6998]

I’m still waiting for an explanation of how Jorah, who led the charge and the first one to clash with the Whites, was one of few to survive the charge. And unscathed.

[@noone5451]

Ok you have so many good points ones that I saw in the episode and ones I didn't either but you also have some holes in this video but I'm to lazy to type them all so ✌️ nice video 👍👋

[@alinmeleandra3175]

Your analysis and comments are on point (once more) but I couldn;t even see the entire video because it reminded me of what a huge cluster-fuck was that episode... I remember watching it and saying things like: "seriously?", "no way", "this is stupid", "he is dead oh wait, no he isn't.. that was stupid", "who the fuck wrote the script for this shit and why is he still working in Hollywood?" and so on...

[@MadMikeRyan.]

There actually were buckets on a few spots of the walls that were supposed to drop Dragonglass shards instead of rocks, but inexplicably although the set pieces were fully functional they were never actually used, or planned to be used. What the flying fuck?! Why were they even made then?

[@kingemperorpenguin1]

Really? That is incompetence and bad writing in one.

[@MadMikeRyan.]

There were also logs with Dragonglass spikes fixed to them hanging from a few sections of the walls that were meant to be cut loose and fall on the the wights after they grouped up underneath them to crush large groups and place an effective barrier in the way of the rest at the same time, but they aren't used either! Nothing in this episode makes any sense.