11 years have passed since “Game of Thrones” burst into our lives, with a host of dragons, exciting plots and moments etched in our memory. Despite the sad ending, to say the least, of the series, many viewers still remember it fondly thanks to quite a few memorable scenes. Now, with the “Dragon House” spinoff just around the corner, it’s time to revisit the 10 memorable death scenes. Caution – it’s going to be full of blood.
Just before we start, it’s important to say: in this series, they didn’t manage to pass almost an episode without a death, so choosing only 10 is a very difficult task, don’t you agree with the list? Sign up in the comments!
10th place: Arya Stark takes revenge on House Frey
After her father was executed in Maale Melech, Arya was close to being reunited with her family on the eve of her uncle Edmure Tally’s wedding with a daughter of the Frey family. Despite this, old Walder Frey had a different plan and during the wedding he executed all the northerners who were present there, including Catelyn and the “King in the North” Robb Stark – Arya’s mother and brother.
It took her a few good seasons, but at the beginning of season 7 Aria comes back to the “twins” and takes revenge of the North on the Frey household. During dinner, Arya poses as a maid, poisons many of the family members and even lets Walder eat his sons in a pie before she murders him in cold blood.
- Entry and exit times for the Tisha B’Av fast
9th place: Rickon Stark
The youngest brother of the Stark house, who left the series at the end of the second season, returned to it in the sixth season when he was handed over by his guards from the Glover house to the hands of the biggest sadist in Westeros – Ramsay Bolton. As Bolton’s captive, he watches as his half-brother Jon Snow raises an army of wildlings and few Northmen to take back Winterfell.
Ramsay, as usual, decides to play with his prey and releases Rickon to run to John, only to send a deadly arrow that will kill the young man in front of his older brother and thus start one of the most epic battles in the series. True, Rickon’s character was not too significant for the series, but his tragic death and what happened after him made him etched in the viewers’ memory.
8th place – Joffrey Lannister
The bastard son of Jaime and Cersei Lannister, who ascended the throne after the death of what everyone believed to be his real father, died on his wedding day in the fourth season of the series. While celebrating with hundreds of guests his victory in the war against House Stark and the North, Joffrey was poisoned to death and suffocated in front of Cersei Lannister’s weeping eyes.
Jack Gleeson’s great performance as Joffrey made him one of the most hated men on television, but his last moments on screen could not help but bring a little pity for the young king, who, despite being hated by everyone, even he did not deserve such a death.
7th place: Daenerys Targaryen
Okay, a relatively low place – but here’s why: the death of one of the two most central characters in the series, at least in its last seasons, was watched from miles away by just about everyone. After 8 seasons where we got used to no character getting what they expected to get, the death of Daenerys was the only solution for this character.
In the last episode of the series, just after she burned “Ma’ale Melech” to its inhabitants, Daenerys finds her death precisely at the hands of her lover (and her nephew) Jon Snow – and no, his name is not Aegon Targaryen (perhaps the most stupid invention of the writers of the series after who had to manage without the last books). Jon drives his sword through Daenerys’ heart and prevents Westeros from falling into the hands of another mad queen.
6th place: Hodor
If there was a list of the “10 most tragic deaths in Game of Thrones” – Hodor would probably be in one of the first two places (first place below). The kind and weak-minded giant, who protected Bran Stark from the first moment, met his death when he fulfilled the mission for which he was intended – to protect Bran.
In the sixth season, we were exposed to Hodor’s history, through Bran’s powers, and found out why he is only able to say one word that will also become his name. The trouble is that Bran’s powers also drew the Night King to the group’s hiding place and so, as he guards the cave door while his friends escape and the viewers find out what the name Hodor even means – the dead tear him apart and take from us one of the most likable characters in the series.
5th place: Cersei Lannister proves who is the real control
The rivalry between the Anister and Tyrell houses reached its peak in the fifth season of the series. Young Margaery Tyrell took Cersei’s place as queen after her marriage to Joffrey in the (short-lived) fourth season and then to his younger brother Tommen. Cersei refused to complete the decree and decided to do everything to regain her position, which caused her to find herself imprisoned by the “High Sparrow” – the highest religious authority in Westeros.
Cersei’s trial was supposed to open in the final episode of the season, but the queen had other plans. With the help of quite a few tricks, she manages to blow up the great sept of Baelor and results in the death of Margaery, the High Sparrow and most of the Tyrell family. The old advisor Faisal also finds his death in those moments, after betraying Cersei. However, Cersei’s victory also included a huge loss – her last and youngest son Tommen saw the destruction brought by his mother and killed himself by jumping from the tower in the palace.
True, it is a sequence that lasts almost 10 minutes, but the soundtrack that accompanies the episode and the long scene in particular – are worth every moment.
4th place: Tywin Lannister
The all-powerful ruler of House Lannister and who at many stages of the plot in its first seasons was the strongest man in all of Westeros, found his death in the most humiliating place imaginable – on the throne of honor in the bathroom. Throughout four seasons, Tywin abused his dwarf son Tyrion, blaming him for everything bad in his life and claiming that Tyrion was a punishment from the gods in order to teach him modesty.
At some point Tyrion had had enough. After being framed for poisoning Joffrey to death and having his father sentence him to death, Tyrion decides to make one small stop on his way to the great escape out of Westeros. With a bow rifle in his hand and after strangling to death Shay, the escort girl he fell in love with and who after his incrimination became his father’s playgirl, Tyrion executes his revenge on his father and shoots him dead while defecating. To watch: starting at minute 4:30 in the video.
3rd place: Ned Stark
For many it is a scene that changed the world of television forever. Eddard Stark, head of House Stark and right of the king is executed? How can that be, after all he is the main character! So no, in “Game of Thrones”, at least in its first seasons, there was no such thing as a main character or a protected character and there is no better way to present this than to murder the one who everyone thought was going to be the next king already in episode 9 of the first season.
JR Martin made sure to catch the whole world by surprise with Ned’s death, and to this day it is remembered as one of the greatest television moments. So why is he only in third place? Because of the only two death scenes, in my opinion, that were stronger.
2nd place: Oberyn Martell
Perhaps the most brutal scene we got in the series. Season 4, episode 8, “The Mountain vs. the Viper” – Tyrion Lannister’s trial in battle. Oberyn Martell decides to represent Tyrion against Gregor Clegane, not out of love for Tyrion but out of a desire to take revenge on the one who raped his sister and murdered her children on behalf of Tywin Lannister.
Throughout the battle, Oberyn begs the Mountain to acknowledge his actions, to repeat the names of those he killed and to confess as to who sent him to do the deed, but the Mountain refuses time and time again. But when it seems that Oberyn is about to win and kill Clegane, it is his desire for revenge that causes his downfall.
Clegane manages to take control of Oberyn, crush his teeth and then, confessing his actions, he crushes Oberyn’s eyes into his brain and crushes his head.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3jhRxnNUNw
First place – the red wedding
The most memorable scene of the series. Season 3 episode 9. The big wedding between the Talley family and Frey, which is supposed to return the Frey family to the Northern Army, ends in a bloodbath where all the most senior Northerners are murdered. Robb Stark, the “main character” after Ned’s death, dies next to his wife and mother and leaves the whole world surprised (except for the readers of the books who prepared cameras to catch the reactions of their friends who don’t know what they’ve walked into).
The Red Wedding completely changed the series: the victory of House Lannister was assured, the Bolton family receives Winterfell and the North, House Frey the entire river region, and House Stark is almost completely disintegrating. There isn’t a Game of Thrones viewer who talks about the series and doesn’t immediately mention the “Red Wedding,” crowning it the most memorable death scene.