The 13 Most Brutal Deaths In Game Of Thrones
This post contains spoilers for "Game of Thrones." Additionally, some of the deaths described are rather graphic, and a few involve children.
If there's one thing "Game of Thrones" is known for, it's gratuitous nudity and sex. If there's two things, it's bloody and often shocking violence. Indeed, a large part of the show's draw is that nobody is safe. The Starks are the closest thing to traditional heroes, and they get the pointy end of the stick more than anyone else. If there's any plot armor to be found in Westeros, it's made of tin foil.
As impressive as the show's body count is, some of the deaths are simply more — more vicious, more disturbing, and more stomach-churning. There's a reason one of the most infamous moments in all of television happened on "Game of Thrones" and was christened the Red Wedding. As gruesome as that scene is, it's only the tip of this bloody iceberg. Here are the 13 most brutal deaths across all eight seasons.
1. Ned Stark
Though there are plenty of indicators throughout Season 1 about what kind of show "Game of Thrones" is, it isn't really until Ned Stark (Sean Bean) is executed that it really sinks in. As much as an ensemble can have a main character, Ned was it. We have been conditioned by years of storytelling to expect the "good guys" to win, but his death pulled the rug right out from under our feet. More impressively, it sent the clear message: Nobody is safe. And this went down in the first season! It'd be like the main character dying 15 minutes into a film.
Equally cruel is that we are given hope that things will be okay right up until they aren't. After Ned is imprisoned, he reluctantly agrees to lie about Joffrey Baratheon's parentage — and break his precious vows — in order to keep his daughters safe. In exchange, Cersei (Lena Headey) promises to send him to the Wall. It's not the ending we were hoping for, but it felt like a decent compromise. Ned would be reunited with his bastard son, Jon Snow (Kit Harrington). Maybe they could finally have that chat Ned's been putting off too long. Plus the White Walkers are the true threat; this could work out great, actually.
It doesn't work out that way. In the end, Ned was too honorable for Westeros. Frankly, it's a surprise he lived as long as he did.
2. Lady
Ned's death was brutal because we loved him, but he was at least partially responsible for his own fate. Lady, Sansa Stark's (Sophie Turner) direwolf, didn't do anything wrong and died anyway. Life in Westeros just isn't fair.
There is a direwolf for each of the Stark children, and each pup takes after its master's temperament. Lady, like Sansa, is pretty, dignified, and way too trusting. Early in Season 1, Sansa is all ga-ga for Prince Joffrey. While the Baratheon and Stark families travel south to King's Landing, Sansa spends as much time with him as possible. The two are walking along a river and come upon Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) and the butcher boy play fighting with sticks. Joffrey tries to get the boy to spar with him and his real sword, and then he starts cutting the boy's face because Joffrey is a sadistic prick.
Arya hits Joffrey with her stick; Joffrey retaliates by trying to cut Arya in half. Nymeria — Arya's direwolf — isn't having any of that, and disarms Joffrey by biting his arm. He sniffles like a baby. Cersei is hysterical about the whole thing. King Robert (Mark Addy) is inclined to let it slide but relents and orders the direwolf to be destroyed. Arya runs off Nymeria before she can be killed, but to Cersei, one direwolf is as good as another and demands Lady be put down. Ned, being the honorable sort that he is, volunteers to do it. He sits with her, petting her. She trusts him completely, which only makes it worse.
3. Talisa Stark
There was a brief period of time where it seemed that, despite Ned's death, everything would work out alright. And by that, I mean, the Starks would make the Lannisters pay. Robb Stark (Richard Madden) was our last great hope (or so it seemed). The King of the North was as honorable as his father and had an army at his back. But to borrow a quote from Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon), "If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention."
Ah, the Red Wedding. Those of us that read the books looked forward to it with equal parts dread and glee. Misery loves company, and we'd been living with this for a long time. But even though George R. R. Martin's books had prepared us for what would transpire, the level of brutality was shocking. Most of it centered around Talisa Stark (Oona Chaplin), Robb's young bride, who isn't even at the Red Wedding in the books. Robb had been meant to wed one of Lord Walter Frey's (David Bradley) daughters, but he fooled around and fell in love with someone else. And shagged her, and then married her. Maybe he's not as honorable as Ned.
Lord Frey hosts Robb and his lords, but it's only a ruse. After the feast is well underway and many of the men are drunk, Frey drops the pretense and starts with the murder. Poor pregnant Talisa is the first to die. One of Frey's lackeys repeatedly stabs her belly with a dagger. It is a viciously ugly attack.
4. Rickon Stark
Oh, look, another Stark. Might as well stick with a theme, I guess. Though if you ever wondered if the show seemed to go out of its way to make the Starks suffer — and through them, us — let the appearance of so many Starks on this list be your proof. We aren't even done with them yet.
Rickon Stark (Art Parkinson) is the grubby little runt of the Stark siblings. He's a toddler when the show starts and grows up mostly off-screen. He's probably more memorable for his aptly-named direwolf, Shaggydog. Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright) and Rickon end up Theon Greyjoy's (Alfie Allen) hostages after he seizes Winterfell. The boys manage to escape and go their separate ways. Rickon flees to House Umber, loyal bannermen of the Starks. Or, at least they used to be. The Umbers turn Rickon over to Ramsay Bolton.
When Jon Snow and Sansa Stark march on Winterfell with their combined forces, Ramsey uses Rickon to lure Jon out into the open. He sends the boy running across the battlefield and starts shooting arrows at him. Jon rides out to save him but Rickon is killed before he can get there. The death is quick and not particularly bloody, but it feels like defeat being snatched from the jaws of victory. What promised to be a Stark reunion just turns into them being kicked again while they were still down on the ground.
5. Rodrik Cassel
Rodrik Cassel (Ron Donachie) is probably the only entry on this list that will have some fans furrowing their brow at the screen, so a quick refresher is probably in order. Rodrik was the master-at-arms at Winterfell. He was basically the drill sergeant who trained everyone on swordplay, including the Stark children and Theon Greyjoy, Ned Stark's ward. Rodrik's nephew Jory (Jamie Sives) was the captain of Ned Stark's household guard until Jamie Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) ran a knife through his eye. I bet you didn't forget about that.
Rodrik remained behind at Winterfell with Bran and Rickon after Robb marched south to avenge their father. He was still there when Theon decided to capture Winterfell as some kind of misguided gesture toward his own father. Furious with Theon about the betrayal, Rodrik spits in his face. Theon is goaded into executing Rodrik, lest he lose face before his men. Rodrik isn't cowed in the slightest. He reminds Theon of the laws of Winterfell: the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. Basically, Theon is getting bullied from both sides.
Rodrik kneels at the chopping block but Theon doesn't make a clean end of it. He takes four swings at Rodrik and the head still needs a good kick to come off. Apart from the ugly death itself, this one deserves a place as it shows just how far gone Theon was. He was basically Robb's adopted brother, but he betrayed their bond at the first opportunity.
6. Jon Snow
The most dangerous time for a Stark seems to be when they are about to win. Ned and Robb were both killed when they were on the verge of turning the tables and vanquishing the hated Lannisters. It's not your imagination: George R. R. Martin doesn't want us to have good things.
It feels like Jon Snow is our last best hope to get revenge against everyone who has wronged the Starks — and, by extension, us. The rightful king of Westeros, Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane), sees in Jon a way to unite the North and offers him Winterfell. We want him to have it, vows be damned. But his daddy brought him up right, and he sticks to his word. Jon ends up being named the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. Happy days are here again, right? Right?
Jon immediately draws the ire of many Castle Black brothers when he decides to bring the wildlings south of the wall. He seems to be the only one who understands that they are at war with the White Walkers, not the wildlings. Despite his heroic efforts — and his continual resistance to joining the war in Westeros — he is betrayed by several of his brothers and stabbed Julius Caesar style. And he dies. Never mind that he ends up resurrected. The betrayal cut deeply, and we didn't know that Jon would be resurrected for quite some time. With Jon went the last of our dwindling hopes for the Starks. So it seemed, anyway. Sansa and Arya eventually both came into their own; Bran just got really weird.
7. Prince Oberyn Martell
I'm starting to think this article could've just as easily been named "The 13 Greatest Injustices in Game of Thrones." Or, conversely: all the ways in which the bad guys keep on winning. There is comeuppance for every villain, in the end. But in most cases, their fate pales in comparison to the damage they wrought. Justice is a foreign concept in Westeros.
Prince Oberyn Martell (Pedro Pascal) waltzes onto our screens in Season 4. The Dornish prince is flamboyant and sexually fluid. He spends far more time at the brothel than even the famously amorous Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage). The only thing he cares about more than getting shagged is getting revenge. Gregor Clegane (Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson) aka the Mountain That Rides, raped and murdered Oberyn's sister and killed her children. Oberyn wants revenge.
He gets his wish. Tyrion is falsely imprisoned for the murder of King Joffrey. Seeing the trial as a sham, he demands trial by combat. Prince Oberyn volunteers to fight in his stead against Gregor, who represents the crown. The prince is slight and small compared to the Mountain, but we quickly learn why he's called the Viper. His poison-edged weapon lays Gregor low. Oberyn circles, demanding that Gregor confess who ordered his sister's death. He's so busy grandstanding that Gregor is able to trip him. And then he literally punches his face in before squeezing his head through his eye sockets until his head is a pile of mush. Yuck.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
8. Hodor
Hodor (Kristian Nairn) is a giant simpleton who knows only one word, which happens to be his own name. Though that's not quite right — his actual name is Wylis. Everyone in Winterfell calls him Hodor as a sign of solidarity, supposedly. Despite his size and strength, Hodor is a gentle man. After Bran is paralyzed from the waist down, Hodor is pressed into service as his personal porter and, later, his sled dog. (Doesn't Bran own a direwolf?)
Bran ultimately travels north of the Wall in order to complete his vision quest and level up to the Three-Eyed Raven, which seems like it would be awesome but mostly involves staring catatonically at people until they get weirded out and leave. An army of ice wights attacks the group while Bran is training. Hodor blocks the exit so that the others can escape and is mauled by the undead hordes.
As if that isn't bad enough, Bran has been warging into Hodor's body to operate him like a giant mech suit. During the attack, he accidentally jumps into Hodor's past and somehow brings together the two halves of him — Wylis and Hodor. Glimpsing his future death, Wylis has a seizure. He repeats the words he hears through Hodor's ears — "hold the door" — which eventually becomes "hodor." The tragic scene leaves a pit in your stomach.
9. Tywin Lannister
There's nothing particularly gross about the way Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance) meets his maker. And while we maintain a grudging respect for the Lord of Casterly Rock, there's no doubt that he has it coming. The way it goes down is brutal, however.
Following the drama of Tyrion Lannister's trial and Prince Oberyn's death, Tywin retires to his chambers and sleeps with Shae (Sibel Kekilli), his son's paramour. Then he takes a dump. Freed from his cells by his brother Jamie Lannister, Tyrion heads to his father's room instead of running for the hills. He finds Shae lounging in his father's bed and strangles her. Then he takes a crossbow and finds his dad in the crapper.
Literally caught with his pants down, Tywin tries to be dad of the year, telling Tyrion he admires him and that he would never let him die, despite the outcome of the trial. He even calls Tyrion "my son." But he thinks nothing of sleeping with Shae, dismissing her as a whore despite Tyrion's admissions of love. He keeps picking that scab until Tyrion can't take it anymore, and he plugs his dad with two bolts, killing him. Tywin always mistreated Tyrion, but sleeping with his girlfriend crossed the line.
10. Ramsay Bolton
Ramsay Bolton is probably the single most-hated character on "Game of Thrones." Joffery Baratheon, Gregor Clegane, and Euron Greyjoy (Pilou Asbæk) are all rightly despised, but the bastard son of Roose Bolton (Michael McElhatton) takes sadistic pleasure in being the villain. This is the guy that made us feel bad for Theon Greyjoy even after everything that he did.
Ramsay is the latest in a long line of characters whose sole existence seems to be to make the Starks miserable. He ends up lord of Winterfell and Sansa Stark is offered to him as a bride. He rapes her on their wedding night and makes Theon watch. And he later kills Rickon Stark. "Game of Thrones" eventually gives us sweet justice when Jon Snow beats the ever-living crap out of Ramsay. Finally.
Sansa ups the ante by tying him to a chair and leaving him alone with his hunting dogs, which haven't been fed in seven days. They tear off his lip and rip out his throat. No question he had it coming, but it's still a brutal way to go.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
11. Ygritte
File this one under, "We just can't have nice things." Admittedly, the love story between the Wildling Ygritte (Rose Leslie) and the Castle Black brother Jon Snow was doomed from the start. Even if the Night's Watch got over its systemic racism toward the wildlings and agreed to live in harmony with them, there still was the little issue of Jon's vows. They could never be together, not in the way that every fan wanted.
After infiltrating the wildlings and slipping south of the Wall with their scouting party, Jon chooses duty over love and leaves Ygritte, but not before she puts three arrows into him. They are the most loving and sorrowful arrows you will ever see, and it's confirmed that had she wanted to kill him, she could've. Sometime later, Ygritte and the wildlings attack Castle Black from the south. Ygritte is determined to kill Jon Snow this time and draws a bead on him, but seeing him again, she can't do it. She's shot from behind and dies in Jon's arms. Completely heartbreaking.
12. Viserys Targaryen
With the benefit of hindsight, Viserys Targaryen (Harry Lloyd) ended up being a rather tame villain compared to most of his Westerosi contemporaries. He's a terrible brother and a deplorable man, no question there. This is the guy that tells his sister he'd let her be raped by all the Dothraki and their horses if it would win back his crown. He's also an insufferable prick in general, like a trust fund brat after daddy's credit card gets declined. But he's a cardboard villain — there's no substance or anything to back up his idle threats.
In a scheme to bind the fearsome Dothraki warriors to his "cause" and reclaim the Iron Throne for himself, Viserys marries off his sister Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) to Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa). Once married, Daenerys is no longer under his thumb. The Khal's men protect her from his degradations, which isolates the king-to-be. Viserys doesn't heed the warning and eventually tells Drogo himself that he will cut their unborn baby from Daenerys' belly. Drogo tells him he will give Viserys "a golden crown that men will tremble to behold." He then melts a bunch of treasure and pours the molten gold on Viserys head. It's the first truly shocking death of "Game of Thrones," and one of its most brutal ones.
13. Shireen Baratheon
The murder of Shireen Baratheon (Kerry Ingram) is the hardest scene to watch in the entire show, which is really saying something. I am not easily disturbed and even I had to look away. We get it, "Game of Thrones," you are gleefully depraved. But this one stepped over the line.
Stannis Baratheon has been conned into believing he's the Prince That Was Promised, a fabled warrior that has been prophesied to fight in the Lord of Light's war against the coming darkness. Which sounds pretty great considering there are genocidal ice zombies heading south. And then you realize the Lord of Light is a big fan of arson and enjoys the sweet aroma of burning flesh.
The friendship between Shireen and Davos Seaworth (Liam Cunningham) is the sweetest storyline in "Game of Thrones." She teaches him to read! C'mon, how can you not love them? After years of getting burned, our love for these characters should've been a red flag. Shireen is a smart, inquisitive girl who has been sheltered by her overbearing parents. Or perhaps imprisoned is a better word, for in the end, they execute her in a misguided plot to win the fire god's affection. Shireen is bound to a stake and burned alive. Her screams will never leave me.