The final season of Game of Thrones is almost upon us and we’re all just waiting for another moment to knock the wind out of us and leave us wondering ‘did that just happen?’. Gus Edgar from ScreenRant is quite right when he writes that GoT has lacked in sensitivity over the years, and it’s made no apologies. From the author killing off his most notable characters to the truly horrific death scenes that some of the characters have received, and even to the outright abuse that some of them have had to undergo, such as Sansa being all but stripped naked in the throne room. The show has indeed gained a reputation for being extremely violent and in some ways just flat out wrong when it deals with various subjects. But it might interest people to know that the in lieu of all this, the author has actually told the Chicago Tribune that he supports the direction the show has taken. A lot of us know by now that the show has outpaced the books by a good stretch and has become its own entity. But for all the moments we’ve seen thus far it still seems as though we might have more to marvel at and be shocked by what’s bound to happen.
Here are some of the moments when your jaw likely hit the floor in shock, or amazement, or both. If you haven’t seen the show then obviously there are a ton of spoilers here:
10. Theon abandons Yara
Theon had already been through so much at this point in his life that it was hard to think that he was even ready to fight, but the act of abandoning his sister, the one person that had actually stood up for him, actually came as a surprise to some people. It’s not enough to think that he was neutered and tortured for so long, but to think that his spirit was amputated in a way was a hard revelation to accept.
9. Daenerys frees the Unsullied
At some point nothing Daenerys does should shock us anymore. But watching her supposedly give up Drogon to gain the Unsullied was like watching a mother give up her child and it was a little painful. But the best moment came in the next second when she spoke her mind and freed the Unsullied, ordering them to kill those that opposed them. This was the moment that you knew she was in control, and her influence was only growing stronger.
8. Daenerys attacks Jaime’s forces
Whatever losses they’ve suffered throughout the series the Lannisters almost always seem to remain a haughty and somehow dominant house since they know how to manipulate, threaten, and coerce people to their will. But when presented with a fire-breathing dragon and horde of Dothraki on horseback it’s pretty obvious that Jaime suddenly knew that he was out of his depth.
7. Joffrey is poisoned
Some moments are pretty obvious since if you’ve read the books then you know they’re coming. But still, the manner in which Joffrey died was especially piquant since he was one of the most hated characters throughout the series and had a serious case of karmic buildup coming his way at one point. This death seemed rather brutal and extremely painful, but hey, karma isn’t always nice, especially when it’s served by a sly grandmother.
6. Ned Stark is decapitated
This was a shocker in the book but it was also a shock in the series since one had to think, or hope, that maybe Stark would escape this fate and the series would find a way to make it possible to put him elsewhere in the story. But then the entire series would have to be altered and that just wouldn’t work. So as predictable as it was, this still had to happen and it was still tragic.
5. Sam kills a White Walker
Yes, Sam. The same big guy that could barely hold a sword properly when he arrived to the Night’s Watch, the same guy that everyone picked on mercilessly because he didn’t know how to fight, and the same guy that had to be saved by Jon Snow. This is the guy that took down a White Walker purely on accident since he had no other weapon at his disposal at that time.
4. The Mountain kills the Viper
Was anyone else ready to shout at the Viper when he was prancing around the downed Mountain still demanding justice? He’d stuck his spear in the man’s body, he had him on the ground, it’s time to finish things and be done with it. But pride, not honor, demanded that he get too close and then get pummeled and suffer in the worst way possible before his head was crushed like a melon.
3. The Night King kills Viserion
The fact that the Night King had a spear close at hand seems to indicate that he knew there was going to be an opportunity to use it and that there would be a chance that something would come of the battle that he waged against the ragtag band of fighters. But the fact that he took down a dragon with one throw was still enough to widen eyes and drop jaws when it happened.
2. The Red Wedding
People die in GoT, that’s a given. It’s been happening in gruesome ways since the first episode and it’s not about to end. But stabbing a pregnant mother in the abdomen, basically ending two lives at once, is just a vile and evil act that even House Frey didn’t seem capable of at first. Worse yet, Walder Frey didn’t care, he didn’t even bother with the fact that Catelyn Stark took one of his people with her when she went.
1. Arya kills the Freys
What happens when you kill a few of the wolves in a pack? The remaining wolves tend to become very, very angry, and if they leave you alone and skulk off to reconvene then you’re lucky. But House Frey wasn’t born under a lucky sign obviously since Arya wasn’t about to take the deaths of her family lying down. This is possibly one of the biggest mass killings by a single person in the entire series, but of course Cersei still holds that title from blowing up the temple in King’s Landing.
Oh yeah, bring on the next round of jaw-dropping moments.
Follow Us
