What a friggin' episode of television! The Long Night came to Game of Thrones this week and we're all still a little shook from it, to be honest.
It's rare that something other than sport can bring such a vast amount of people together, watching the same thing as the exact same time but this battle managed to achieve just that. Thrilling from start to finish, with so many characters getting some game time, we thought it would be only fitting to put together a player ratings, to see who was the true MVP.
Who gave their all? Who were the standout performers? Who bottled it on the big day? In episode two of our 'The Rewind Reviews...' podcast we discussed each character and decided upon their rating.
You can also listen to the podcast here or by searching 'Balls.ie Podcasts' on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and all good podcast apps. For those of you who can listen right now, here's a little taster of what to expect:
Jon Snow / Aegon Targaryen, Sixth of His Name - 5
A very disappointing performance from the leader of The Living. Without Jon Snow, it's fair to argue the team wouldn't have gotten this far, but whether the occasion got to him, or it was just an off day, it certainly wasn't the skipper's best outing.
Quick to abandon his plan to ambush the Night King in the Godswood, it was nothing but calamity from there. Snow didn't handle the testing conditions well early in the battle, even running into his own player mid air at one stage. He always kept his focus with his eyes for the Night King, which was a positive, but didn't take his best chance at the big man, instead standing idly by while his foe raised another army from the dead.
In the end, he was given another chance by Dany's last second save, and has his best period of the battle following that, taking care of ten wights on his way through to the castle, barring the gate to stop yet another influx. From there though, Jon couldn't get best the last defender, with the undead Vicerion playing the former King in the North for a fool.
Ultimately, his battle was poorly planned and poorly executed. Then again, his team prevailed and Jon will keep his place for the wars to come, but more will be expected of the talisman of the Living. 5
Lady Lyanna Mormont - 8
Punched above her weight. It was very sad to see this fan-favourite meet her ultimate demise but Lyanna provided just one of the many heroic performances from the young female players in the squad (and along the way exposed the inherent sexism in selection process). If she doesn't take that giant out with her last breath, who knows what kind of carnage that beast might have caused?
With the death of both Lyanna and Ser Jorah, the question now must be what will become of the Mormont bloodline? 8
Samwell Tarly - 1
This is a man who was top of our weekly soundness rankings for the last two weeks, so it's taken a lot for me say this, but he was a fucking liability out there!
How many times did he have to be saved? They begged him not fight yet he would not listen. Right from beginning he was out of his depth. He was late onto the pitch, both teams were already lined out, and he looked nervous as hell. The occasion got to him and his teammates suffered because of it.
'We're fucked!' said Dolorus Edd upon hearing Sam was planning to fight and he was right. Unfortunately he had to lose his life for his point to be proven. And how did he die? Saving bloody Sam!
He promised so much and delivered so little. Yes, he once killed a white walker but how long can he continue to live off past glories? You need to pick players on form, not perceived reputation, and Sam is not up to the job. 1
Listen to our ratings for all of the other characters, including Daenerys, the Night King, Arya, Bran, and Theon, below:
