This real-life historic battle inspired the Battle of Bastards in Game of Thrones

The fans were in a state of shock after the epic Battle of the Bastards! Fans of Game of Thrones were left gasping for air as they witnessed Ramsay take the upper hand in the conflict and nearly vanquish Jon Snow and his army with a superior tactical approach. As with most of George R. R. Martin’s stories, the Battle of Bastards was also inspired by a real-life war, and director Miguel Sapochnik shed some light on it.

What inspired the Battle of Bastards?

In an interview with EW, Sapochnik talks about directing the award-winning episode, “Initially we based BOB on the battle of Agincourt which took place between the French and English in 1415. But as needs changed, as did budgets, it became more like the battle of Cannae between the Romans and Hannibal in 216 BC.

The strategy and tactical aspect was a key thing for David and Dan. They wanted to specifically focus on that so that we could really see the way Ramsay ensnares and outguns Jon in almost exactly the way the same way Davos had planned to defeat the Bolton army. I also did a bunch of research into Alexander the Great who was legendary in his strategic battle prowess.”

The Bolton Shield wall was an improvisation

Sapochnik went into detail about the various strategies used in the shot, “That said at some point you need to put all the research down and tell a good story. The Bolton Shield wall, for example, was a production-friendly way to emulate a “double envelopment pincer move” [without] using horses as originally scripted, and also as a way to avoid seeing horizons on the field and therefore having to dress fewer dead bodies or stage background fights so deep because we didn’t have the money.

I also really liked the visual of a wall of Bolton red and white crosses on the shields. It felt very fascistic and graphic.”

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