Game of Thrones: What episode is the Battle of Winterfell?

As excited as we are about Game of Thrones finally returning this month, there’s one big question we can’t stop thinking about:  What episode can we expect to see the huge zombie battle at Winterfell??

We’re in the End Game now. Wait. Wrong franchise. Winter is coming? Yeah, I think that’s the one. Who am I kidding? We all know Winter is here. Game of Thrones Season 8 is just around the corner and we finally get to witness the epic conclusion of the war between the living and the dead.

It feels like we’ve been waiting forever, and that’s mostly true. The last new episode aired in late 2017, and the wait has been almost unbearable.

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But now, all of our Game of Thrones burning questions will be answered this month when the first of six episodes hits our screens. We know next to little about the upcoming season as producers and cast have been understandably tight-lipped about what’s going to happen next. Though there’s one thing we know for sure: there’s going to be a battle at Winterfell and it’s going to be HUGE.

Rumored to be the biggest battle sequence ever seen on television (which is saying something given the previous record holder is also Game of Thrones…), the cast and crew have promised something truly one-of-a-kind and you know what? We believe it.

But it begs an important question:

What episode will the Battle of Winterfell take place?

There’s really only two options to consider: it happens in the first three episodes or the last three episodes. Both have interesting pros and cons that we’re going to be discussing in depth today so let’s get started.

Last we saw the Night King and his merry band of White Walkers, they had used zombie Viserion to obliterate the Wall and march their army of wights into the North. Now, even though these guys seem to like to take their time, it’s hard to imagine it taking them five or six episodes to make it to Winterfell. Where else could they go? It’s the biggest stronghold of the North and definitely feels like an important first stop on the White Walker’s quest for world domination.

And it should happen early on, right? We’ve been waiting for this battle for a long time so is it wise to let it happen in the back half of the season? Especially since there’s still so much plot left to resolve? As of now, a few things have to happen in this final season:

• The Golden Company mercenaries that Cersei hired have to come into play
• Theon has to attempt to rescue Yara from Euron
• The Hound has to face the Zombie Mountain

Obviously, there’s a lot more, but it’s these events that provide the biggest hints and insights into how this season will be shaped. Could those three things happen before the battle at Winterfell? Maybe.

But Cersei seemed to imply in the last episode that she wanted to wait to use the Golden Company mercenaries until after the North armies and the dead zombies fight each other so she can take on the wounded victor. And it doesn’t make much sense for the Hound to make a return trip to King’s Landing to fight his brother until after the Battle of Winterfell takes place.

So that means one possible order of events is that the big battle takes place early on and they either lose and are forced to retreat down to King’s Landing for a final battle, or they win and have to spend the remaining episodes dealing with the final threat of Cersei.

But really, both of those options seem kind of lame right? If they lose the Battle of Winterfell, then we have to watch the Starks lose their home again, which after all the time it took to reclaim it, that’s hard to imagine the showrunners doing.

But if they win the battle and defeat the White Walkers early on, is that kind of a cheat? This show has been built around the White Walker conflict and how the petty squabbles between humanity is ultimately unimportant in the long run so for the threat to be wiped out halfway through the season feels like a letdown.

So, does it make more sense to have the Winterfell battle happen at the end of the series? On some level it works. Making the final battle of the show be at Winterfell with a majority of the major characters making one last stand is poetic. We started in the North, we should end in the North. But again, this begs the question, what can fill the previous four or five episodes and why would it take the White Walkers so long to get to Winterfell?

Sure, it’s possible that we could see a situation where Theon somehow takes on the Golden Company plotline himself and dispatches of them while saving Yara and everything regarding Cersei could take place before the final battle of Winterfell, but that just sounds a little odd. Jon, Dany, and Tyrion just left King’s Landing and by the trailers seem to arrive in Winterfell by the first episode with Jaime close behind them. No way they would just turn around and go back to King’s Landing to have another confrontation with Cersei before the White Walkers make it to Winterfell.

Also, it’s not like the very last chunk of the finale can be just them fighting the White Walkers. The last episode should be devoted to how Westeros is going to look following the end of the Great War.

Who will sit on the Iron Throne? Will there even be an Iron Throne? Will Daenary’s ideals change the world and break the wheel? That deserves a whole episode (at least) to figure out, which means at the latest, the battle of Winterfell has to happen by episode five.

So where does that leave us? Really this article is just one long way of saying I have no idea how this last season will turn out. Yes it will be epic, bloody and one of the biggest spectacles to ever grace our television screens, but will it end up making logical sense?

Game of Thrones Season 7 had some amazing moments, but I think we can all agree the pacing felt off thanks to having only seven episodes rather than the usual 10 and preferring to save “big” moments like Arya and Sansa teaming up on Littlefinger, Jaime turning his back on Cersei, Jon and Dany getting together until the very end when logically some of those should’ve happened earlier.

I don’t know when exactly the Battle of Winterfell will take place, but after writing that all out, I’m not convinced there’s any time the show can have it without it costing something. I’m leaning toward the battle happening in Episode 4, leaving two episodes to wrap up the Cersei threat in King’s Landing. And even though that leaves three episodes of plot filler, that sounds reasonable, right?  I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

What do you guys think? When should the Battle of Winterfell take place in the final season? Be sure to leave your thoughts in comments below!

Game of Thrones Season 8 premieres on Apr. 14 at 9/8c on HBO.