Game Of Thrones Fans Are Brightening Up The Battle Of Winterfell, And It Looks Like A Completely Different Episode

Finally, it looks like Melisandre isn’t the only one who can turn the lights up. Following complaints about the latest Game of Thrones episode being nearly impossible to see due to its dark cinematography, quite a few fans of the show have taken it upon themselves to brighten up crucial scenes to show how epic The Battle Of Winterfell really was.

Image credits: HBO

The show’s decision to go all natural was understandable. One of the things the episode tried to convey was the horror of war, and how sometimes it can be difficult to even see your enemy. The Night King attacked at night, and he brought a snowstorm with him. Of course, visibility was going to be reduced. But Helm’s Deep in Lord of the Rings was at night in the rain, and we at least saw what was going on.

As Elite Daily pointed out, it probably would have been an entirely different experience to see this episode in IMAX on a large screen. There’s simply more light projected because of the size. When you think about it, even large scale TVs aren’t that large. Not to mention streaming it on a computer monitor where pixelation becomes a huge factor; scenes were just a black blur, causing audiences to miss many moments.

Grey Worm

Image credits: Hivemind

YouTube account Hivemind really went the extra mile and not only brightened the scene in which the Wights make their way across the battlefield to crash into the Unsullied, but it also played the original version right next to the edit to highlight the changes in the viewing experience.

Arya

Image credits: Hivemind

Fabian Wagner, the cinematographer for the series’ longest episode ever has also responded to the criticism. “[GoT] has always been very dark and a very cinematic show,” he told TMZ. “We tried to give the viewers and fans a cool episode to watch. I know it wasn’t too dark because I shot it.”

Daenerys And Jon Snow

Image credits: Hivemind

He was a little more specific when talking with WIRED. “The showrunners decided that this had to be a dark episode. We’d seen so many battle scenes over the years – to make it truly impactful and to care for the characters, you have to find a unique way of portraying the story … Another look would have been wrong. Everything we wanted people to see is there … Personally, I don’t have to always see what’s going on because it’s more about the emotional impact.”

Tormund

Image credits: Hivemind

“Game of Thrones is a cinematic show and therefore you have to watch it like you’re at a cinema: in a darkened room,” the cinematographer continued. “If you watch a night scene in a brightly-lit room then that won’t help you see the image properly.”

Jon Snow

Image credits: Hivemind

“A lot of the problem is that a lot of people don’t know how to tune their TVs properly … A lot of people also, unfortunately, watch it on small iPads, which in no way can do justice to a show like that anyway.”