Game of Thrones is known for bringing the madness in each season’s penultimate episode, and the preview and stills for Game of Thrones season 4, episode 9 hint that Sunday’s episode will not disappoint.
The Night’s Watch will take center stage as the battle between Black Brothers and wildlings is at last joined in Game of Thrones season 4, episode 9. The episode, titled “The Watchers on the Wall,” will apparently pour all of its energy into bringing to life a conflict two seasons in the making, as Jon Snow and a scant hundred men of the Night’s Watch stand between the Seven Kingdoms and Mance Rayder’s wildling masses.
The preview for “The Watchers on the Wall” emphasizes the bleak prospects of the Night’s Watch, though Alliser Thorne appears to prove he is good for something beyond single-mindedly crushing Jon Snow’s soul.
It’s hard to tell if one rousing speech will be enough to redeem Ser Sourpuss, but hey, anything is possible.
On the more ominous side of anticipation, Maester Aemon’s words – “Love is the death of duty” – seem to indicate that Jon Snow will face a more intimate conflict than the onslaught of a hundred thousand wildlings in “The Watchers on the Wall.”
The still photos released from Game of Thrones season 4, episode 9, and shared on Winter Is Coming, offer a glimpse at some of that conflict. For the most part, Jon looks rather windswept and shouty, but we’re sure it will all be very dramatic.
“The Watchers on the Wall” is directed by Neil Marshall, who previously directed the colossal and combat-heavy season 2 episode, “Blackwater.” The oblique synopsis for Game of Thrones season 4, episode 9 hints that Marshall will have plenty more martial elements to coordinate in Sunday night’s episode.
Jon Snow and the rest of the Night’s Watch face the biggest challenge to the Wall yet.
Like giants. We’d call giants a pretty big challenge, eh? Eh? No?
Game of Thrones season 4, episode 9, “The Watchers on the Wall,” will air on Sunday, June 8 at 9:00 p.m. on HBO.