'Game of Thrones' just delivered a brutal shocker that left fans crushed

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Sunday's episode of "Game of Thrones" season six.

"The Battle of the Bastards" proved to be the epic and bloody showdown "Game of Thrones" fans had anticipated. With plenty of death and destruction to go around, we watched as the meager force of Jon Snow loyalists fought tooth and nail against the Boltons, Karstarks and Umbers. There was plenty of gore on the battlefield, but one gut-wrenching death happened before any of the real action started: Rickon Stark. 

Rickon, the youngest Stark child, has been Ramsay's captive since season six episode three when Smalljon Umber turned him over to the Boltons. Rickon's state of well-being was completely unknown to viewers until Sunday's episode, when Ramsay brought him out to the battlefield. 

In usual sadistic fashion, Ramsay had a brutal and twisted death planned for the boy. He allowed Rickon to run across the battlefield towards Sansa and Jon, while firing arrows at him the whole way. Seeing what was happening, Jon rode forward on horseback to try and save Rickon, but it was too late.

Ramsay struck Rickon with a fatal blow just before Jon could reach him.

Fans were left gutted before the action had even truly began. 

 

Jon's attempt at rescuing Rickon nearly cost them the entire battle, and Littlefinger had to swoop in at the last minute to save them all with the Knights of the Vale. Though Jon and Sansa were victorious, the death of their youngest brother leaves the episode with a bittersweet result. With one more Stark eliminated from the series, Sansa, Jon, Bran and Arya are more important than ever. 

But at least we got to see Sansa loose the hounds on Ramsay, right?