What Is Bastard Bowl On 'Game Of Thrones'?

There are only three episodes of Game of Thrones left this season. That’s the bad news. The good news: Vice Principals is around the corner, and HBO released the titles for the remaining episodes. This Sunday’s is “No One,” a common expression amongst the Faceless Men (Arya better watch out). Then we get to the good stuff. Episode nine (and the 59th episode overall) is “Battle of the Bastards,” followed a week later by episode 10, “The Winds of Winter.”

There’s no official plot synopsis for either episode (HBO’s website reads, “Please come back for upcoming HBO Original Programming information”), but it’s not as if the Mad Men-esque summaries have been helpful this season, anyway. Plus, the titles give away a lot. Particularly for “Battle of the Bastards,” or as it’s commonly known amongst hyped Game of Thrones fans, the Bastard Bowl. The clash is what much of season six has been leading toward: Jon Snow, Sansa Stark, the Wildings, and badass Lyanna Mormont’s 62 soldiers versus Ramsay Bolton and other evil people. The winner takes the north. “Battle of the Bastards” contains the show’s “biggest” (read: most expensive) action sequence ever, with writer Bryan Cogman calling it a “proper battle, with one army on one side, one army on another side.”

As for “The Winds of Winter,” it’s unclear exactly what that’s referring to, because, as you may have heard, author George R.R. Martin hasn’t finished writing the book of the same name. Some readers have theorized that it’s the Stark’s ominous “Rains of Castamere,” or it means the Wall is about to come crashing down (and the White Walkers break on through to the other side). But that’s all speculative. We do, however, know that “Winds” will be the longest Game of Thrones episode yet, clocking in at 69 minutes. Nice.

To tide you over, here’s the preview for this Sunday’s “No One.”