credit: Star Wars
It’s been mentioned lately that body counts between one franchise and another have been compared and that people actually think that Game of Thrones might have an impressive number that could help it to compare with another famous story. Seriously though, people might need to adjust their thinking since even if it’s noted that the on-screen deaths in GoT are numerous and brutal, the overall number still doesn’t compare to Star Wars. Honestly, it’s not even close. But while I don’t tend to agree with George R.R. Martin on a lot of things, the author does have the right to it when he states that Star Wars does have a much greater body count. The difference is astronomical, to be specific, but it’s also different in that deaths in the Star Wars universe aren’t nearly as graphic as those in GoT. Well, on average, they’re not as graphic. The deaths seen on GoT are undeniably graphic and are meant to provoke shock and awe in a much different way. But as far as numbers, oh yes, Star Wars has them.
credit: Game of Thrones
The nature of the many kills in GoT is impressive, but very few people can boast a high body count.
One thing that GoT doesn’t have a shortage of is people who are willing to murder other people. The one thing about that is that while life doesn’t mean as much and is just as fragile, the characters in GoT usually have to be particularly nasty and skilled to rack up a serious body count. The Hound, Arya Stark, the Mountain, and many others are skilled killers who know how to end life and aren’t squeamish about doing it from time to time. But they still don’t have the kill count of someone like Darth Vader, Darth Sidious, or many other characters in the Star Wars universe that have left a trail of broken bodies behind them. The most significant difference is that the kills in the SW franchise are often off-screen and are little more than numbers casually rattled off to indicate how terrible each individual is.
In terms of an overall kill count, Star Wars has GoT beat without question.
Let’s just put it this way, GoT’s death count numbers in the hundreds, most likely in the thousands. Star Wars measures its count by the trillions and more, given that entire planets have been decimated by the Death Star and by other means that have been created over the years. Crediting these deaths to one person might not be the same as it would be with GoT, but the fact is that the orders given to those who committed the atrocities came from someone many were willing to label as the main bad guy. The one-on-one duels and the massacres that have taken place during each franchise have been epic in many ways but also primarily forgotten at times, depending on who’s doing the killing. Trying to compare the two franchises in terms of who’s killed the most, who’s the most dangerous, and how many have died in each brings up a lot of other subjects, but one of the most pertinent is that GoT does have some of the most gruesome deaths ever filmed.
Star Wars is a family-oriented franchise that doesn’t show a lot of gore.
Despite the lightsabers, blasters, and weapons of mass destruction featured throughout the Star Wars saga, the fight scenes and battles are never exceedingly gory. It’s tough to be too gory with cauterized wounds, but given that the size of the battles in Star Wars can range from duels to planetwide conflicts, it’s fair to think that the body count and the damage are extensive. The thing is, we don’t get to see it, while in GoT the gore is almost celebrated at times since it’s a big part of the story and ends up being what people want to see. There’s also the fact that the two franchises, GoT is set in what could only be called medieval times, while Star Wars is set in a very futuristic light.
It’s easier to state that GoT has an impressive but bloody body count, while Star Wars sweeps many of their casualties under the rug.
That is one way to say it at least since so many lives in the Star Wars universe are essentially numbers that aren’t given a lot of importance. That might sound insanely cold, but it’s done in both franchises, and it’s done for expedience. It’s also done to give scope to both franchises since the lives lost can become insurmountable very quickly when one realizes how many die in each story. When it comes to the overall count, though, Star Wars is ahead by light-years at the very least.
A high body count isn’t a point of pride most times, but it is a factor that makes some stories a little more impressive when comparing them to others.
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