One of The Most Hated Characters Dies
The 6 Biggest deaths from Season Seven of Game of Thrones
If the first three seasons of Game of Thrones were the first act, and seasons four through six were the second, then Seasons Seven and Eight are the final act. With the Great War upon the Seven Kingdoms and all who live in them, Season Seven was about putting all the remaining players and pieces of the game into their roles. It also meant clearing away the pieces that weren’t needed for the war to come.
One day remains until the final season of Game of Thrones, and we are going to look at the six biggest deaths of the penultimate season to this legendary show.
#7- House Frey, “Dragonstone”
In the opening scene of Season Seven, there appears to be a flashback of Walder Frey meeting with his sons to discuss House Frey’s plans for the winter. After a quick toast, he then reminds them how they murdered Robb Stark, his army, his wife and unborn child, and mother at the Red Wedding. One by one, the Freys fall to ground, spewing up blood from drinking poisoned wine. It’s then that we see that “Walder Frey” was, in fact, Arya Stark wearing Walder’s face.
While I was already satisifed with the masterminds behind the Red Wedding dead, Arya took it a step further and wiped out everyone who took part in the massacre. The fact that it’s not revealed until the end that it was Arya in disguise was a very satisfying twist. What makes this even cooler, though, is what Arya tells the women who witnessed what happened: that the North remembers, and that winter came for House Frey. That last line’s turns House Stark’s words into not only a warning of bad times will eventually come, but a threat to anyone who incurs House Stark’s wrath.
#6- Olenna Tyrell, “The Queen’s Justice”
After her entire family is killed when Cersei blew up the Sept of Baelor, House Tyrell’s was doomed to extinction, and Olenna Tyrell knew it. So, she decided that she would take Cersei down before she died, allying with House Targaryen to get revenge. Sadly, Jaime Lannister is one step ahead of her, and marches the Lannister army on Highgarden before she can rally her forces, then allowing her to commit suicide by poison.
Olenna Tyrell was one of my favorite characters in the entire show, and I was really sad to see her go. She dished out the best insults! But my sorrow turned to joy when Olenna used her final moments to troll Cersei one last time. She let Jaime and Cersei know that she was the one who killed Joffrey. She may have died, but she got the last laugh!
#5- Randyll Tarly, “Eastwatch”
Despite claiming to be a man of honor and loyalty, when Jaime offered House Tarly the chance to become the new Wardens of the South, Randyll Tarly turned on Olenna Tyrell. Forutnatley, he didn’t get to live long enough to enjoy his new status. After being capture by Daenerys’ army at the Kingsroad, Daenerys burns him and his son Dickon for refusing to bend the knee
This one’s on here less because it helped drive the plot forward, and more because of personal feelings. From the moment I saw Randyll Tarly, I hated him and his Q-ball hairdo. He was a cruel and abusive father who constantly bullied his son Sam because he couldn’t fit his idea of what it means to be a man. He even went so far as to tell Sam that if he didn’t join the Night’s Watch, he would make sure he would “accidentally” die on a hunt.
What’s more, he was also racist, deriding Gilly once he found she was a wildling, and calling her “a thing”. If I were there, I would walk right up to him, punch him square across the jaw, and tell him “Sam may not be perfect, but whatever his faults, he’s more of a man than you’ll ever be”. I’m only sorry that Dickon died with him.
#4- Ellaria and Tyene Sand, “The Queen’s Justice”
When we first met Ellaria, she was Oberyn’s lover and the mother of their children, the Sand Snakes. After the Mountain killed Oberyn, Ellaria became filled with hatred and became determined to destroy Cersei, even killing her innocent daughter, Myrcella, and Oberyn’s brother and nephew to seize power in Dorne. This comes back to bite her when she and her daughter are captured by Euron Greyjoy. Cersei then sentences Ellaria to life in prison, watching as her daughter dies from the same poison used to kill Myrcella.
I may have felt genuinely bad for Ellaria and the Sand Snakes for Oberyn’s death, but that turned to disgust when they murdered Myrcella and their own family. Ellaria was so consumed by her hatred for Cersei that she became that which she hates the most. Ellaria may not have died, but her character’s been written out of the show, so she’s basically dead. And personally, I think that she and her daughter got what they deserved.
#2- Viserion, “Beyond the Wall”
After Jon leads an expedition beyond the Wall to capture a wight as proof of the threat of the Night, they are cornered by his army. Somehow, Daenerys gets word of it in time, and, through the magic of plot convenience, shows up with Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion to rescue Jon’s group. Before anyone can react, though, the Night King wields a icy javelin, takes aim, and pierces Viserion straight through the chest.
I knew for a long time that the three dragons were going to be a major factor in the war against the White Walkers It’s probably why they hatched when Daenerys’ family failed so many times. But I never thought that the White Walkers would be able to kill a dragon so easily. I shared the look on the group’s faces: shock, then howling rage, and then sadness.
The worst part is that even though he’s dead, Viserion’s not gone. The Night King brought him back as a wight, and it seems he’s more powerful than he was in life. If Drogon and Rhaegal were to fight him now, they could end up losing. I hope that they do not.
#1- Littlefinger, “The Dragon and the Wolf”
Given everything that has happened since Season One, it’s easy to forget how the entire show started with the death of one man: Jon Arryn, King Robert’s Hand and Lord of the Vale. The mystery of his death didn’t even get solved until Season Four when Lysa admitted to poisoning her husband on Littlefinger’s command. And that was before the show even started.
Since then, Littlefinger continued to work in the shadows to amass more power, but all his schemes come undone when he tries to turn Arya and Sansa against each other. With their knowledge, and the fact that Bran can use his greensight to see everything, they finally corner him for everything:
- Getting Lysa Arryn to murder Jon Arryn
- Getting Lysa to lie to Catelyn and Ned, saying that the Lannister’s were behind Jon’s murder
- Betraying Ned Stark and letting him be wrongfully executed
- Murdering Lysa Arryn to gain power in the Vale
- Trying to turn the Stark children against each other.
With the overwhelming evidence, Arya then executes the snake using his Valyrian Steel Dagger, avenging the tens of thousands of deaths that he brought about.
Littlefinger has been on my “GOT Hate List” since I started watching the show, and next Cersei and Euron, he was the one I wanted to see die the most in Season Seven. When I saw the stunned look on his face as Sansa and Arya outed him, I grinned from ear to ear. When he finally died, I wanted to shout out, “YES!! HE’S GONE! HE’S FINALLY GONE!!! I’M SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW, I DON’T EVEN CARE THAT CERSEI’S STILL ALIVE!!!!”
That was one of the best moments of my life. The only thing that can top it is seeing Cersei Lannister bite it in the final season.
Do you agree with my picks? Were you as happy as me to see Littlefinger die?
Click here to see my favorite moments from Season Seven
If you guys want to see which characters have the best odds of survival in the final season, click here. It will take you to a website featuring an advanced algorithm that predicts who survives.
The Game Changes
My 7 Favorite Moments from Game of Thrones, Season 3
As Game of Thrones entered its third season, the War of the Five Kings was well underway, and the field was always shifting. Renly Baratheon was dead, while his brother lost his chance at the Iron Throne. Sansa was still a prisoner in King’s Landing, but no longer engaged to King Joffrey. The North was in chaos thanks to the Ironborn, while Daenerys sought an army to take the Iron Throne. On top of that, the White Walkers were not only real, but they getting stronger with each passing day, yet no one in the Seven Kingdoms noticed.
Season Three gave us some of the show’s best moments, and by the end of is, a good chunk of the cast would be written off the board. With five days remaining until the beginning of the end, here are my 7 favorite moments from Season Three.
#7- Sam Kills a White Walker, “Second Sons”
I talked about this in my counterpart to this post, so I will just say why I like it. I like Sam. He could stand to lose some pounds, sure, but he’s got one of the biggest hearts of anyone on this show. And when people need him the most, he’s always stepped up. And he ends up being more of a fighter than people give him credit for. I hope he and Gilly get to spend the rest of their days together, oaths or not.
#6- Jaime Loses his Sword Hand, “Walk of Punishment”
After being held captive by Robb Stark for more than a year or so, Jaime Lannister found himself a free man. Catelyn Stark entrusted Brienne of Tarth to get him to King’s Landing in exchange for Sansa’s freedom. At the start of Season Three, though, the pair were captured by Bolton soldiers. When Jaime tried to defend Brienne from being assaulted, the soldier’s leader responded by cutting of Jaime’s sword hand.
The loss of his sword hand marked a key moment in Jaime’s character development. Much of his identity was tied with him being the best swordsman in Westeros. While he did re-learn how to use a sword, everyone knew that he wasn’t as strong as before. This experience greatly humbled Jaime, though, setting him on the road from being the arrogant jerk he started off as to the hero he would become.
#5- Podrick the Sex God, “Walk of Punishment”
Podrick Payne may not be the smartest, strongest, or bravest fighter in Westeros, but his good-nature and honesty have won him a lot of good friends. After saving Tyrion’s life during the Battle of the Blackwater, Tyrion decides to thank him by giving him a reward: getting him laid at a brothel. To Tyrion and Bronn’s surprise, he comes back with the money he gave Pod: they did it for free.
I found this scene to be both hilarious and fascinating at the same time. Somehow, Podrick is so good at pleasing women that they refused payment. It also reminded of the only other guy in fiction that I know of that can satisfy women to that extent. Granted, he ends up doing it in his sleep, but he’s good-natured like Podrick.
#4- “Chaos is a Ladder” “The Climb”
Littlefinger and Varys are the two biggest spymasters in the entire show, with eyes and ears virtually everywhere in the show. Yet they both have different motives behind their actions: Varys works for the good of the people of the Seven Kingdoms, while Littlefinger works to gain power for himself. As the two verbally spar in the throne room over the nature of the realm and chaos, Littlefinger delivers a monologue on how “chaos is a ladder” that anyone can use to gain more power. Not everyone succeeds, but those who do will be rewarded for the climb.
We all knew Littlefinger was the last person you’d want to trust, but his motives were never made clear before now. This monologue showed how he has used the War of the Five Kings to gain more power for himself: by causing trouble, then letting everyone else tear each other apart over it. This ends up foreshadowing future revelations that Littlefinger is responsible for more of the events of the show than people realize.
What makes this scene so great is what happens towards the end. As Baelish continues his speech, we then cut to the dead body of his prostitute Ros, killed by Joffrey for spying for Varys. This scene is then immediately followed by the sight of Ygritte and Jon Snow’s group climbing up an abandoned section of the Wall. Driving the metaphor home with a literal example of a difficult climb was an amazing story-telling decision.
#3- Olenna Tyrell’s First Appearance, “Dark Wings, Dark Words”
After Margaery becomes engaged to Joffrey, her grandmother, Olenna Tyrell, comes to King’s Landing to help oversee the preparations for their wedding. One of the first things she does, though, is speak with Sansa to learn more about what Joffrey’s like. After initial hesitation out of fear of being overheard, Sansa comes out and admits the truth: Joffrey’s a monster. Olenna is unsurprised, just disappointed
From the moment we first see her, I had one thought about Olenna Tyrell: “Man, she is sassy as hell. Holy cow, I like her!” Cunning and witty to a fault, Olenna’s everything that Cersei Lannister wishes she could be: someone who’s good at the game of thrones. I can’t tell how many times a sharp remark from her made me smile. She may not have been on the show as much as others, but she was one of the best players the game had to offer.
#2- Jaime Admits the Truth, “Kissed by Fire”
Throughout Game of Thrones, Jaime Lannister was more commonly known by his moniker “Kingslayer”. He got it for breaking his Kingsguard oath and killing King Aerys Targaryen, but his reason was left unclear. After being humbled by his time in captivity and the loss of his sword hand, Jaime admits to Brienne the truth.
When it became apparent that Robert’s Rebellion was going to succeed, the Mad King ordered his pyromancers to place wildfire underneath King’s Landing. He planned to burn everyone and everything in King’s Landing; he thought he would be reborn from the ashes as a dragon. Jaime, horrified, chose to put an end to the Mad King before he commit genocide.
For me, this moment made me rethink my opinion of Jaime. Don’t get me wrong, his winning personality and sleeping with his sister wasn’t doing him any favors. A knight breaking their oaths is a serious crime in Westeros. But given that Aerys was planning to kill hundreds of thousands of people, I think that Jaime was justified in killing him, saving all those people in the process.
From then on, my initial hatred of Jaime turned into a grudging respect as he began to transition from being the villain we first saw into someone willing to defy his sister to do what’s right and protect the Seven Kingdoms. If Westeros survives the Great War, I hope people will come to see him as a hero. He’s made a lot of mistakes, but he’s more of a knight than most of the people in the show.
#1- The Red Wedding, “The Rains of Castamare”
I don’t think I need to explain anything about this choice, or what happened. Even before I started watching the show, I had heard about the infamous Red Wedding. There have been references to it and parodies in pop culture by who knows how many people. Whenever I see something similar about to happen in fiction, I call it “A Red Wedding Scenario”. This was easily the most important scene from Season Three.
What’s more, the impact of this scene would have a long-reaching impact on the show and House Stark. They lost Winterfell for years, and any members that weren’t already running had to go into hiding. It would be another three seasons before the Starks got their justice for this horrific event, and it would be glorious.
Do you agree with my picks? What were your favorite moments from Season Three that didn’t make it on this list? Let me in the comments below!
Click here to see my six favorite deaths from Season Three. The number one pick will not surprise you.
Putting the “Pop” in Pop Culture!
