If there was one constant that was quickly established as Game of Thrones started its Season One journey, it was that death was a common accurance and it mattered not who the character was or how important his status seemed. As Queen Cersei told Lord Eddard:
“When you play the Game of Thrones, you either live or you die. There is no middle ground.”
Apparently George RR Martin believed that too. If it was a character’s time to go, they went. No regrets…at least by the writer. There were plenty by the readers and the viewers. Death became as much a co-star as Sean Bean, Lena Heady, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, or Peter Dinklage. So in GVNations continuing recognition of Game of Thrones final season, we bring a look at perhaps the one constant in the Thrones saga: Death. As the Valyrians say: Valar Morghulis, which translated means “All men must die”. It is the overriding theme in Game of Thrones. In part one, we look at some of the most tragic deaths we’ve seen in the past 7 seasons. I have limited this to four and in no particular order. There are of course, many others.
The Death of Lord Eddard Stark, Season One, Episode 9: Baelor
We will start this look into tragic ends by examining the death that started the whole train moving and educated viewers that we aren’t in Kansas anymore. It was rare at that time where major characters would even be considered for demise let alone the headlining actor. That was Sean Bean who was playing the role of Ser Eddard Stark. Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North. As the first season progressed, we saw that Lord Stark was in over his head. A man of HONOR in a city (Kings Landing) that was anything but. It didn’t seem like a tenable position. This was proven to be true. In the end, it wasn’t his family sword ICE that killed him, nor Ilyn Payne, it was HONOR.
It was his sense of HONOR that made him accept Robert Baratheon’s offer to fill the role of the King’s hand. It was that same personal HONOR that made him follow the breadcrumbs that Jon Arryn left for him and find out the true parentage of Cersei’s children. A less honorable and some might say, smarter man might have kept this information to himself and protected his position and his family. But not Lord Eddard Stark. He had to tell Queen Cersei what he had discovered and tell her to leave the capital with her children before Robert returned from his hunting trip. It was then she warned him of the perils of playing the “Game of Thrones.” He should have listened. Apparently HONOR clogs up the hearing.
So where did HONOR get Lord Stark? Imprisoned and accused of high treason, he struggled with the decision whether to falsely confess to save his daughters, which he does and this happens:
This was a powerful and unexpected moment that proved to be the catalyst for everything that happened after. It also proved to Game of Thrones audiences that they better be ready for this to happen at anytime.
The Red Wedding: Season 3, Episode Nine: The Rains of Castamere
If the death of Eddard Stark didn’t warn fans that anything goes with Game of Thrones, then Season Three’s “The Rains of Castamere” definitely reminded them in spades, and knives, and crossbows. Robb Stark, the King of the North, had promised Lord Walter Frey he would marry one of his daughters after the war in exchange for safe passage through the Twins. Robb eventually found love with Talisa Maegyr and married her instead, breaking faith with the Frey’s. His mother Catelyn had warned him that this would not be taken well by Lord Frey especially after Talisa became pregnant. He removed his support. It is decided later that the Stark host will go back to the Twins, and Robb will formally apologize for the slight he had shown to Lord Frey and to his Daughters. They also agree that his Uncle Edmure Tulley would marry one of the Frey girls as an appeasement to Lord Frey and perhaps gain their support once again.
The Stark host soon arrives at the Twins, castle homeland of the Freys, where they are given bread and salt, a symbol of the “guest right”: a guarantee of safety when under another lord’s roof…supposedly. Robb makes his apology to both Walder Frey and his daughters. Walder seemingly accepts the apology but insists on inspecting Talisa, the woman for whom Robb broke his vow.
Later that evening, Edmure Tully marries Roslin Frey, and he is pleasantly surprised by her beauty. At the feast, Walder calls for the bedding ceremony, and as tradition maintains, the couple are physically picked up and taken to their chamber. It was then that as they say, “all hell broke loose.”
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnxvUuSzbMI
In one gruesome and bloody event, three more cast members make their exits and the age of the YouTube reaction montage is born. To be transparent, this is how I learned about Game of Thrones. I saw a reactionary montage of people watching the Red Wedding. They were shocked, crying, upset, stunned and all of the above. I thought what kind of show could illicit THAT kind of reaction from people. I had to check it out and the rest is death and history. If you ask fans to explain Game of Thrones, the Red Wedding eventually will come up.
The Death of Ygritte, Season 4, Episode 9: The Watchers on the Wall
This one requires a little background. When Jon Snow was allowed to go with legendary Night’s Watch Ranger Qhorin Halfhand to eliminate a wildling watchpost, he had no idea at the time what it would lead to except for a chance to prove himself to the Brotherhood of the Night’s Watch. The Night’s Watch expedition reaches and captures a wildling watchpost. The rangers kill all the wildlings, except for Ygritte, a single female prisoner who was captured by Jon Snow. While being questioned by Halfhand, Ygritte boasted of the growing wildling army. Halfhand, learning what he needed to know, intended to kill Ygritte but Jon offered to execute the prisoner himself before rejoining the rest of the group. It is agreed but after the rest of the rangers leave, Jon finds himself unable to kill Ygritte, and his resulting hesitation allows her to escape. After a brief chase through the icy terrain, Jon is able to recapture her. Unfortunately, his pursuit has left himself separated from the main party. With night fast approaching, Jon is forced to sleep in the open. He refuses to make any fires, but is convinced by Ygritte to huddle next to her in order to share body warmth. Ygritte delights in the discomfort Jon feels about laying close to her, purposely rubbing her body closer to him to both annoy him and because she enjoys teasing this young “crow” as the wildlings call members of the Night Watch.
As Jon continues to search for his companions with his prisoner, Ygritte deduces that Jon has never been with a woman. When he tell her of his vow of celibacy, (he really was a chatty fellow wasn’t he?) she tries to convince him that his life would be better with the wildlings, under Mance Rayder. In a continuation of her teasing him during the night, she comments about his lack of sexual experience, and offered to show him how. Jon fails to fall for her attempts but it does make him unsettled. Taking advantage of his lack of focus while crossing a muddy passage, Ygritte is able to slip away from Jon and make her escape. Jon pursues her but is unable to find her until she draws his attention by whistling to him, revealing herself and several wildlings that have been hiding nearby. More wildlings then emerge from nearby hiding places, revealing that Jon is surrounded.
After being taken hostage, Jon finds out that the rest of his Ranger party had been found as well and killed except for Qhorin Halfhand. During the journey back to Mance Rayder’s camp, Halfhand attacks Jon and during the fight he insinuates to Jon that in order to find out the strength of the Wildling army, he would need to infiltrate them and the best way to do that is for Jon to kill him. Jon is reluctant to do this but in the end, concedes to the veteran’s wishes after he purposely invited Jon by talking about his mother and fatherand kills him with a sword. This enables Jon to get a meeting with Mance Rayder, “the King Beyond the Wall.” He convinces Rayder that he wants to leave the Night’s Watch and join those who “fight for the living.”
During his time with the Wildlings, Jon’s relationship with Ygritte grows and they eventually make love in a cave, breaking Jon’s vows of celibacy. Other members of the Wildings warned Ygritte that Jon could not be trusted. She chose to not believe them but warned Jon what would happen if he ever betrayed her. During his time with Mance, Jon learns that they are planning a huge assault of the Wall and Castle Black. He also learns that Mance has united the Thenns, The Giants, along with the Wildlings. Jon knows that the Watch will be hopelessly outmanned in the attack and he needs to get this information back to the Castle. During a scouting mission, the Wildlings come across a village where they kill many of those who live there. They spare one little boy named Olly and tell him to tell the “Crows” in Castle Black about what happened. After Olly left, they come across an old man and they tell Jon to kill him to prove he was one of them. Jon knew his cover was blown because he could not do it. He made his escape but not before Ygritte, who was heartbroken, put four arrows in him, but none that were lethal.
He made his way back to Castle Black and told them of the upcoming invasion. They made preparations for the assault and Jon knew, eventually, he would come face to face again with Ygritte, the woman he loved. The attack on Castle Black begins and fighting scatters throughout the castle with Ygritte killing as many as she can with her bow, looking for Jon Snow. Jon took the lead in the fight, hoping NOT to see Ygritte and that inevitable confrontation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDTOc_oUFHU
The death of Ygritte was hard on Jon Snow. He made a point of taking her back across the wall and burning her body so she could not be turned by the Night King. He did not feel this way about another woman until he encountered the “Mother of Dragons.” But that is a tale for another time.
The Death of Hodor: Season Six, Episode 5: The Door
Hodor has been with the Starks since the beginning of the series. He worked in their stables and after Bran’s “accident” he served as Bran’s primary mode of transportation as he carried him on his rather large back. When Bran begins his journey along with Jojen and Meera Reed to find the Three-Eyed Raven, Hodor comes along to help and to pull Bran on a sled. They eventually reach their destination, but it comes at the cost of Jojen who sacrifices himself to allow them to reach the Three-Eyed Raven’s Cave.
Bran then begins to learn what he needs to know to be ready for when the army of the dead comes. During this time, Bran journeys back in time, seeing visions of the past. Many times he is resistant to leave these visions but the Three-Eyed Raven reminds him that the “Ocean is beautiful, but if you spend too much time in it, you will drown.” In one of Bran’s visions, he makes the mistake of letting the Night King touch him. In doing so, he removes the enchantment that protected the cave from the dead while letting them know where they are. Realizing there is no time, the Raven begins transferring knowledge to Bran as the army of wights arrives. While in a vision of Winterfell, Bran hears the cries of Meera Reed who is trying to save Bran’s body while the Children hold back the wights. The Three-Eyed Raven advises Bran to listen to her, but instead of returning to the present, Bran splits his consciousness to remain in the vision of the past and simultaneously warging into Hodor in the present. The Night King enters the cave and kills the Three-Eyed Raven. Meera and Hodor gather the still unresponsive Bran unto his sled and make their escape. Leaf (one of the Children) and Bran’s direwolf, Summer, sacrifice themselves to hold back the wights. Once through the door, Hodor closes it behind them, holding it closed with his body, keeping the wights inside while Meera escapes with Bran. Meera repeatedly orders Hodor to “hold the door” shut while they flee, which results in the Wights tearing him apart.
This death served as a double tragedy. In the present, Hodor sacrificed himself to allow Bran and Meera to escape and in the past, it was Bran’s mistake that made Wylis become Hodor. It was one of the most felt moments of the series by fans.
There you have it. Four of the most tragic death scenes in Game of Thrones. There are many more that haven’t been covered here. Share the ones YOU think should have been included here at GVNation.
Next up, we look at the Death of Characters who pretty much “GOT” what they deserved.
Senior Writer at GeekVibesNation – I am a 60 something child of the 70’s who admits to being a Star Trek/Star Wars/Comic Book junkie who once dove headfirst over a cliff (Ok, it was a small hill) to try to rescue his Fantastic Four comic from a watery grave. I am married to a lovely woman who is as crazy as I am and the proud parent of a 21-year-old young man with autism. My wife and son are my real heroes.
