The undead army stands motionless behind the flaming trench. One wight steps calmly forward into the trench, falling forward. Then another joins him, and another still. They pile on top of one another at a quickening pace.
—--
Davos watches as the undead sacrifice themselves, one by one. He realizes that they are forming a bridge of corpses. Other groups of undead tumble into the trench, building other pathways with their bodies. Arya and Davos watch silently. Dutifully, the wights fall like dominoes until they have spanned the trench.
Davos shouts, "Man the walls!"
—--
A soldier shouts, "Man the walls!" The first wave of undead forge across the corpse bridge.
Another soldier shouts, "Man the wall!"
Lyanna shouts, "Man the walls! Come on!" Soldiers hustle to obey the command. Jamie looks up, then moves to action. Jorah grabs Sam and drags him towards the battle.
Lyanna shouts, "Get out there! Get moving!"
Jamie shouts, "Come on! Come on! Come on! Go, go, go!"
Brienne shouted, "Come on!"
Soldiers fire arrows at the approaching ghouls. The undead pour across the corpse bridges and set upon the walls.
—--
Riding Rhaegal, Jon watches the onslaught as the undead army restarts their siege. Hearing flapping above, he looks upwards and sees Tyrion on Viserion hovering.
Down below the Night King astride his undead horse rides over the bridge of undead with other White Walkers. The ready spears to throw up at Rhaegal. Jon spurs Rhaegal and they fly away. They aim at Viserion and Tyrion and narrowly miss him.
—--
The undead reach the exterior wall of Winterfell and press themselves against en masse. Flaming arrows zip down from the ramparts.
A soldier shouts, "They're against the wall!"
Another soldier shouts, "Get more men up here!"
Brienne sprints through the yard. Jamie runs up the stairs to the ramparts, ushering soldiers to take position.
A soldier shouts, "Fill the gaps, quickly!"
Jamie shouted, "Get in there!"
Another soldier shouts, "They're climbing the walls!"
Jamie shouts, "Relieve the archers!"
A soldier shouts, "Relieve the archers!" The soldiers and archers jostle and trade places.
Jamie shouts, "Archers on top!"
A soldier shouts, "Move up!"
Jorah ascends the stairs, two at a time. Sam follows.
Soldiers shout out, "Go, go! Come here! Come on!", "Move back!", "Stand away!", "Go on, go on." Jorah helps to shepherd the transitions.
Jorah shouts, "Go! Go."
A soldier said, "Step back."
Another soldier shouts, "All the way, archers!"
Jorah looks down at the undead horde. They are piling on top of one another, creating a ramp for others to ascend to the top of the wall. They snarl and scramble with relentless energy. Jamie looks down at them.
Soldiers shout out, "Hold the wall!", "The wall, they're coming up!", "Hold the wall!", "Hold the wall!"
Jorah, Tormund and Gendry stand ready to meet the wights when they crest the wall.
Jamie shouts, "Draw!"
Gendry takes deep breaths as he looks down, wide eyed, at the relentless ghouls. The undead climb and strain as they approach the top of the wall. The highest wight grabs a chain and pulls himself over the wall. Gendry cleaves him in two with a mighty swing. Jamie stabs another the face, and it topples away with a high pitched shriek
Jamie shouted, "Come on!"
Soldiers grunt as they slay the cresting wights, one by one. Sam, Brienne and Tormund defend their perches. A wight successfully leaps onto the rampart and tackles a soldier. Jamie dispatches him with a left-handed swing. The undead start to overwhelm the defense, crawling their way onto the rampart. Jamie does his best to battle them back. One soldier gets pulled over the wall, and tumbles into the undead mass below.
—--
Still more wights are pouring across the flaming trench. There is no end in sight. The Northmen fight on, shooting arrows and swinging swords. The undead hiss and growl, crawling over one another with unflagging battle lust.
—--
Jorah slices a climbing wight. He hears a yell above him and looks up.
A soldier shouts, "They're coming up!"
Jamie grapples with two wights, while Brienne goes on a mighty charge across the rampart, sending bodies, beams and snow tumbling to the courtyard below. Jamie is pinned by two wights. Brienne finally reaches him, and liberates him from his captors. They fight side by side.
Jamie shouts, "Look out!"
Jamie slays a ghoul attacking Brienne from behind. Jorah takes down another cresting the wall. Sam fights for breath, recovering from the ferocious battle. A growl makes him look up, just in time to see the wight that leaps down onto him. They struggle, and another wight joins in. Jorah appears and delivers a mighty overhead chop that saves Sam. Just beyond, the undead break through the wooden rail as they leap down into the courtyard below.
The battle commences in the courtyard as the undead pour down from above, overwhelming the first Northern soldiers that they encounter. Some ghouls mindlessly impale themselves on the stakes of the defensive palisades. Soldiers in the courtyard fight back while archers above unleash flaming arrows into the courtyard. Beric joins the fray, flaming sword in hand. Undead pour into the courtyard faster than the Northern soldiers can dispatch them.
—--
The Hound hides in a corner, shuddering. His fear of fire has overwhelmed him. The ghouls and Northerners slash and hack, grapple and tumble.
—--
Arya uses her spear to slice the head off of a wight as it crests the wall. She runs down the walkway and slashes another ghoul. She expertly counters and gores a few more, then splits her spear in two, giving her a weapon in each hand. She fights her way up a stairway, dispatching wights with martial skill.
—--
Beric fights on, and notices the Hound shuddering in the corner.
Beric shouts, "Clegane! Clegane!" The Hound hyperventilates in his trance-like state.
—--
Arya continues her assault, and meets up with Davos. She spins, strikes, blocks and kicks, destroying wights left and right. She looks back at Davos, who marvels at her skill.
—--
Arrows rain down as more ghouls rush the wall. Wights leap into the yard, tackling Northerners. As Lyanna takes stock of the battle, a wooden gate behind her explodes into shards. An undead giant stands backlit by the flaming trench. It charges Lyanna, who lets out a sharp scream as it bats her away.
—--
A horde of undead blocks the stairway below Arya. With no other recourse, she leaps, tumbling on top of the undead before taking a hard landing below them. She dodges the attack of a ghoul and scurries away on all fours. As she tries to exit the stairwell, she is pushed into the wall, hitting her head. Momentarily dazed, she regains her feet as the undead attack.
—--
The undead giant swings its mighty club back and forth, sending soldiers flying across the courtyard. Some land on the palisades, impaled on impact. Cradling her stomach, Lyanna struggles to find her feet. The undead giant unleashes a devastating blow that sends a clutch of men flying through the air.
—--
The Hound remains frozen and panting.
Beric shouts, "Clegane! Clegane, we need you!" Beric steps over to the Hound.
Beric said, "You can't give up on us."
Hound shouts, "Fuck off! We can't beat them! Don't you see that, you stupid whore?! We're fighting Death! They can't beat Death!"
Above them, Arya leaps from the parapet onto the roof of a courtyard building. She rolls out of reach of a leaping ghoul, who bounces down the roof and into the courtyard below
Beric shouts, "Tell her that!"
The Hound looks up at Arya, who scurries across the roof away from the growling wights. The Hound, motivated, rouses himself into action.
—--
Lyanna finds her feet, panting and in great pain. Her face is streaked with blood. She lets out a battle cry and charges the giant, wielding her war ax. The giant turns to meet her assault. He reaches down and grabs her by the chest, His vice-like grip chokes the breath from Lyanna. He squeezes harder and her ribs crack. He raises Lyanna up to his face, taunting her as he crushes the life from her. Blood pours from her mouth as she panted for breath. The one-eyed giant growls at her and draws her closer. Lyanna yells, and frees an arm to stab the undead giant in his good eye with her dagger. Her strength leaves her, but the giant crumbles to the ground, shattering into broken shards. The undead continue to pour through the broken gate.
—--
Below them the Night King rides on through the swirling snow. Aldarra and Drogon are strategically burning spots of undead followed by Jon and Tyrion. The clouds of snow and gusting winds impede their targeting while dodging spears. A spear comes flying at Jon and Rhaegal, they barely veer away as the Night King prepares to throw another.
Meanwhile, Jon and Rhaegal tailspin out of control and fight to regain control of their flight path. Viserion and Tyrion unleash another fire blast. Drogon weaves an evasive path while Aldarra holds on for dear life because her lap belt snapped. The Night King turns away and starts heading in the direction of the godswood. Jon and Rhaegal finally stem their downward spiral. They come to a hover above the cloud line next to Aldarra and Drogon, and look anew for signs of the Night King and Tyrion. Jon and Aldarra exchange a glance, then direct their dragons to dive back into the clouds beneath them.
—--
The injured Arya secrets her way through a quiet passageway. She opens a heavy door and enters a darkened library. She pauses to catch her breath. She hears footsteps and a figure passes just beyond her, knocking into a pile of books. Another undead man enters, his sword dragging as he walks. The frightened Arya moves from shelf to shelf, silently keeping out of sight of the wights shambling in the aisles. She makes her way past half a dozen shelves before encountering a ghoul walking down the aisle toward her. She circles back. and pivots into an aisle to avoid another wight, pressing herself against the shelf. Yet another wight walks past on the other end of the aisle. Arya quickly scampers across the open part of the room.
Now on her hands and knees, blood droplets fall from her facial wounds. A wight seems to sense her, either from the sound of the droplets or the smell of the blood. Arya can see the door that leads to safety. But the wight steps out of the aisle just in front of her. It crouches to the ground, looking for her with its blank eyes. But she is gone, pressed against a nearby bookshelf. Arya picks up a book and tosses it down the aisle as a decoy. The wights snarl and take the bait, swarming to where the book landed. Arya walks quietly behind them towards the door. She rounds a shelf and comes face-to-face with a formerly female wight. Arya slips her dragon glass blade beneath the wight's chin, then removes it. The wight collapses onto her shoulder, thick black blood pouring from its chin and mouth. Arya quietly lowers her to the ground, then walks out the door. Once on the other side, she silently uses her body weight to close it behind her.
Her relief is interrupted by the growl of a nearby wight in the hallway. She cautiously takes some steps backward, trying to locate the undead creature. The volume rises as more creatures approach. Suddenly, a door behind her breaks apart, and wights start pouring into the darkened hallway. Arya sprints away, pursued by ferocious wights. Panting, Arya bumbles through the dark twists of the passageway. The ghouls pursue and close the gap between them. Gasping for breath, Arya runs full tilt into a darkened passage.
—--
Distant snarls echo through the crypt. The women and children look around nervously. Varys looks at the stairwell leading to the crypt as the snarling sounds echo down. Sansa walks forward as soldiers begin to pound on the distant door to the crypt. The growls of wights are equally loud.
Soldiers scream, "Open the door!", "Open the door!", "Come on!" The soldiers begin to scream in pain.
Another soldier shouts, "Open the door! Open the door! Please! Open it!" The screaming continues, the fades. Like the rest of those hiding in the crypt, Sansa returns the silence.