Top 10 Fantasy & Medieval Castle Sieges from Film & Television

There has been plenty of backlash when it comes to the way Jon Snow, Daenerys and the living Westerosi defended Castle Winterfell from The Night King and his army of White Walkers in Season 8 Episode 3 (The Long Night) of HBO's Game of Thrones. Well, this has been discussed by many, including us here. Tactics aside, there is always the issue of build-up - that anticipatory moment before the siege, the decisions behind why certain strategies are made and the sacrifices different commanders have to make in order to win the overall battle.

​Well, here then, in no particular order, is our selection of the Top 10 sieges from various cinematic endeavors (film and television series) depicting either a fantasy element (eg. Game of Thrones, The Lord of the Rings) or medieval/historical element (eg. Anglo-Saxons, Vikings) where a group of warriors/soldiers has to lay siege to a castle, fort or barricade while it is being defended.

1. Vikings - Season 3 Episode 8: To The Gates!
​Siege of Paris

​In Season 3 Episode 8 of The History Channel's Vikings TV series, To the Gates!, Ragnar and his Viking mates (Björn, Lagertha, Floki, etc.) storm the citadel of Paris in 845 AD. The siege is a straight-up breach of the city by 5,000 Vikings via the Seine River, with a flotilla of Viking ships, siege towers, boiling oil and flaming arrows.

What's great with this episode (view-able via the YouTube playlist above), is that the viewer gets to see the mayhem of the siege, with both close-ups of the Vikings and the French defenders, and wide shots of Paris. For fans of the series, the siege may not necessarily be the most critical aspects of the episode. It's really more about the emotions and intensity faced by the Viking characters as they execute their strategies across the ramparts, walls and gates.

In the midst of the chaos, the siege is really a question of who is the better leader among the Vikings, who can lead the charge without dying and who is calmer despite the chaos around him or her. There's also a scene where charging unquestionably into a potential trap is never wise, if only to live long enough to fight another day. ​

2. The Great Battle (2018 Korean Film)
​Siege of Ansi Fortress

The Great Battle is set in 645 AD and depicts the historical siege of Ansi Fortress over an epic eighty-eight day battle. Commander Yang Man-chun and his Goguryeo troops have to hold the fortress against 500,000 invading Tang dynasty men and wait out for assistance.

Directed and written by Kim Kwang-sik, it stars Korean actors Jo In-sun, Nam Joo-hyuk and Park Sung-woong. While many cinematic liberties have been taken in the film, the actual siege itself is an awe-inspiring historical tale, as Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty himself was there on the battlefield supervising the siege.

Despite the incessant attacks from the Tang forces using catapults and battering rams, Yang and his Goguryeo troops managed to repel these attacks (what with defensive names like Wolf Teeth Striker and Malevolent Wood, among others) and repair the ramparts quickly. The Emperor was so frustrated by the delay to capture the fortress that he ordered an assault on the west side of the fortress for up to six or seven times a day. Still unable to breach the fortress, the Emperor then used 50,000 laborers to build a giant rampart in front of the fortress high enough for his troops to scale the wall, only to regret this decision later on as well.

3. LOTR: The Two Towers (2002 Film)
Battle of the Hornburg / Helm's Deep

Peter Jackson's masterpiece really shows with the first grand-scale battle of the War of the Ring where the Rohirrim under King Theoden defends the Hornburg from Saruman's army of Uruk-Hai. Unlike the film version, Saruman's army in J. R. R. Tolkien's book included Orcs, Half-Orcs, wild Dunlending men and Wargs.

Setting the stage in anticipation of the siege battle on Minas Tirith in Return of the King, the Battle of the Hornburg is set at night, in the rain and against a depressing dark, blue canvas. While the film dramatizes and quickens the pace of the siege to great effect, many parts from the book were omitted (eg. absence of Helm's Dike, no Orcs or Dunlending men) or added (the aid from Elrond's elven army). For the most part, the siege captured the essence from the book, including the contest between Legolas and Gimli (no guesses on who has the highest tally by the end).

Winning the 2003 Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects and Sound Editing, the Battle of Helm's Deep from The Two Towers remains to this day one of the best fantasy-themed siege battles of all time. Drop us a comment if you disagree.

4. Kingdom of Heaven (2005 Film)
Battle for Jerusalem

Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven is famously known for portraying the Siege of Jerusalem in 1187 AD on celluloid. Despite the theatrical version being criticized for its historical inaccuracies or liberal use of dramatic license, the main character, Balian of Ibelin (played by Orlando Bloom) was indeed tasked with defending Jerusalem from Saladin's army, despite being initially reluctant.

The cruel character of Raynald de Chatillon (played by Brendan Gleeson) in the film has been praised as the most historically accurate. Raynald was executed by Saladin before the siege itself. After being captured in the Battle of Hattin, he was beheaded by Saladin himself for refusing to convert to Islam.

The Siege of Jerusalem lasts for three days in the film, but in history, it lasted for six (20 September to 2 October 1187 AD). Being short of able-bodied men to defend the city, Balian knighted young men (squires) to take charge and command the city's defenses (giving him an estimated 4,000-6,000 men against Saladin's 20,000). The siege included siege towers/belfries, catapults, mangonels, petraries, Greek fire, crossbows and arrows. There is a wall breach scene in the film as Balian and his knights push Saladin's troops back from it. Similar to actual events, the siege ends with a parley and surrender - a fairly peaceful affair as opposed to an earlier siege that took place in 1099 AD.

5. The War Lord (1965 Film)
Tower Siege

The War Lord is a 1965 American film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner and starring Charlton Heston. Set in 11th Century Normandy, it's adapted from the play The Lovers by Leslie Stevens. For its time, the film was praised for depicting the Norman knights as true 11th century knights with the correct portrayal of armor (instead of the romanticized full plate armor that only appeared a century later) and the amazing siege tower and catapult scenes.

Story goes that Chrysagon de la Cruex (Heston), a Norman knight, has been granted lands by the Duke on the Normandy coast. Despite the bleakness of his new home, which is still steep in pagan superstitions and suffering from constant coastal raids by the Frisians, Chrysagon has to do all he can to protect his new possessions and make peace with the locals.

He also falls for a village girl named Bronwyn (played by Rosemary Forsyth) who is already betrothed to Marc (played by James Farentino), the son of the village chief. Using his right as Lord of the Domain (droit de seigneur), Chrysagon wants Bronwyn for himself but only if she willingly goes to him. Several other factors besides his love affairs put Chrysagon and his small army of Normans besieged in their small defensible tower. In summary, the Frisians, Marc and Chrysagon's envious brother, Draco, launch a full-scale war against him and his knights as they are trapped inside the tower.

6. Ran 乱 (1985 Film)
Siege of the 3rd Castle

Akira Kurosawa's Ran (乱)- The Siege of the Third Castle.

Translated as chaos or turmoil, Japanese-French epic period drama Ran, directed and co-written by Akira Kurosawa, is derived from William Shakespeare's King Lear and based on legends of the daimyo Mori Motonari. The film stars Tatsuya Nakadai as Hidetora Ichimonji, the aging Sengoku-period warlord who abdicates his rule in favor of his three sons, triggering the mayhem that follows in the film.

While the film has been praised for its exploration of themes, such as chaos, nihilism and warfare, Kurosawa employed many foreshadowing techniques with his camera-work, shooting clouds that finally break out into a raging storm by the time of the castle massacre. He often shot scenes with three cameras running simultaneously and deployed more long-shots than close-ups. The amazing thing with this scene - the Siege of the Third Castle - is no miniatures were used and the lead actor, Tatsuya Nakadai, with his Noh-style makeup, had to do the scene of Hidetora fleeing in one take - all set against the sombre orchestral score of Toru Takemitsu.

7. Braveheart (1995 Film)
Siege of York

Mel Gibson's Braveheart won the 1995 Academy Award for Best Picture, and for good reason. The film helped put a resounding stamp on the legend behind William Wallace, a rebellious war hero many outside of Scotland (or the U.K.) may not even have heard of at the time.

Playing the titular role himself, Gibson managed to incorporate some of the greatest battlefield sequences ever shown on film, including the Battles of Stirling and Falkirk (although it should be noted that the real Battle of Stirling revolves around Stirling bridge, which the film ignored). While many of the scenes in Braveheart may not be entirely accurate historically (screenwriter Randall Wallace based the story on Blind Harry's 15th-century epic poem The Acts and Deeds of Sir William Wallace, Knight of Elderslie), the 'cinematically compelling' film did encourage many William Wallace-hungry touristy fans to visit Scotland long after it came out, so that's one good reason.

In the film, the siege of York is the most prominent (the actual castle used in the film was Trim Castle). It involves Wallace and his men storming the castle using a wheeled battering ram while avoiding heavy rocks and vats of oil thrown from the battlements.

8. Troy (2004 Film)
Battle outside the Gates of Troy

Troy, directed by Wolfgang Petersen and written by David Benioff (yes the same Benioff from HBO's Game of Thrones) is an epic film starring Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Brian Cox, Sean Bean, Brendan Gleeson and Diane Kruger. Based loosely on Homer's Iliad, it's a story about the decade-long Trojan War (in the film, it's sort of condensed into weeks).

In the scene above, the Trojan and Greek armies charge at one another outside the walls of Troy shortly after Trojan prince Hector (played by Eric Bana) killed Menelaus, the King of Sparta (played by Brendan Gleeson) in defense of his brother, Paris (Bloom).

The Greek army is led by Agamemnon (Brian Cox) and Odysseus (Sean Bean) and the battle comes to a head when Hector has to fight Ajax (Tyler Mane) to turn the tide in the Trojan's favor. There are however several inaccuracies when comparing the film with the Iliad: Agamemnon and Menelaus survive the war in the book, and Ajax was not killed by Hector as depicted in the film. While late Bronze Age weaponry was well presented, the methods they were shown being used somehow didn't make sense (eg. a sword stab was possible but it would not go all the way through the chest).

9. The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999 Film)
Siege of Orléans

Directed and co-written by Luc Besson, The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc) is a French epic historical drama starring Milla Jovovich, John Malkovich, Faye Dunaway and Dustin Hoffman. The story centers on St. Joan of Arc, the French war heroine and religious martyr of the 15th century, who claims having visions inspiring her to lead the French in battle against the occupying English forces during the Hundred Years War.

While some of the earlier parts of the film have been deemed inaccurate, credit has been given to Besson for depicting the collaboration between the Burgundians and the English than other filmmakers prior to the film. In Joan's final trial for heresy, many of the lines were taken verbatim from the real trial transcript. Also, the film's portrayals of Joan receiving both wounds (an arrow between the neck and left shoulder as she leads the men up the ladders into the Boulevart, and later an arrow to the leg) were real injuries she sustained. The real criticism of the film though is that Joan is depicted as a spoiled brat mostly (with an affliction more akin to post-traumatic stress syndrome rather than being a devout Catholic who was sane and pious) and it irritated a lot of historians.

For the film, the Siege of Orléans (assault on the Tourelles), shown in the video above, depicts the use of a siege tower and a trebuchet. Historically though, she besieged cities with cannons in an age when gunpowder was prominent.

10. LOTR: The Return of the King (2003 Film)
Battle for Minas Tirith

Of course, while the Battle of the Hornburg in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is the epitome of all castle sieges, fantasy or otherwise, captured on film, Jackson manages to enthrall us with at least one more with the Battle for Minas Tirith in the third film, The Return of the King.

The film itself went on to win 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture - a first for a fantasy film. It also won Best Director for Peter Jackson. While the film made several creative shifts in terms of story progression for some of the characters (between The Two Towers and The Return of the King), as compared to J. R. R. Tolkien's source material, the battle for Minas Tirith also had some slight differences between the film and book versions.

In the book version, while the orcs successfully broke down the gate, they were beset by the Rohirrim and had to retreat. In the film, they enter the city and slaughter everyone in the lower sections before the Rohirrim arrives. The battle between Gandalf and the Witch King also could have been way cooler (most felt the literary version in Tolkien's book was better compared to the extended edition scene for the film).

So there you have it. Our Top 10 Fantasy or Medieval Castle Sieges from Film and Television which we feel are right up there, not just in cinematic scope and scale, but in some sense, authenticity (not all of them unfortunately), awareness (most of them) and vision (versus what we normally visualize ourselves in books).

There are a few more that didn't make our top 10 list but they are just as good. They include the castle assaults from TV series like BBC's Ivanhoe, HBO's Rome and HBO's Game of Thrones's Season 2 Episode 9's Battle of Blackwater Bay. For films, check out Ironclad, Timeline, the Spanish film Alatriste, Battle of Red Cliffs and many more.

---

LATEST WRITER MUSINGS: