Game of Thrones’ 35 most shocking deaths, ranked by shockingness!

SPOILER WARNING (LIKE, LOTS)

Excited for season six of Game of Thrones? We are (da da da da...). As we prep for the premiere—and the answer to the question we've been asking for almost a year—we decided to look back at all the folks who won't be with us on Sunday (or, probably won't be, as it were). They're the Game of Thrones fallen, a rag-tag collection of the heroes and villains and schemers and rogues whose mostly violent deaths have shocked, startled and delighted us through the years. Whose death shocked us the most? Read on, gore fiends. (Disagree? Did we miss one you think should have been included? That's what the comments section is for!)

35. Stannis Baratheon
Cause of death: A very dutiful Brienne of Tarth
Time of death: Season 5, episode 10
Okay, maybe Stannis should be further up the list. But he's just the worst, so he stays right here. It was something of a surprise to see this pretender to the throne snuffed out—and with so little gore and ceremony. And it was moderately frustrating: Why did we have to spend so much time with this gnarly bore if he was just going to be disposed of? But what should have registered as at least a 4.6 on the OMG scale turned out to be merely a tremor for a couple of reasons. Firstly, Stannis’s off-camera death was completely overshadow(baby)ed by a certain other maybe-death later in the episode. Secondly, he totally had it coming.

34. Hizdahr zo Loraq
Cause of death: Sons of the Harpy
Time of death: Season 5, episode 9
Of all of the Daenerys-takes-a-pit-stop non-adventures we’ve had to sit through to get back to the action in Westeros, Mereen was the most interesting. Crucifixions. Class War. Gold-masked religious fanatics. It had it all. And it had Hizdahr Zo Loraq, the handsome aristocrat whose loyalties to Daenerys were always in question. It turned out he was totally loyal—the Sons of the Harpy with whom he was maybe-in-cahoots ended up stabbing him to death during their attack on the fighting pits. More of an Oh well than an Oh my God.

33. Pyp 
Cause of death: Ygritte’s excellent aim
Time of death: Season 4, episode 9
An un-eager young recruit to the Night’s Watch, Pyp became something of a minor audience favorite as he maneuvered through life at the wall under Jon Snow’s wing. Which meant, by cruel-RR-logic, that he was always bound for a violent end. Just as he scores his first big battle win as the Wildlings assault Castle Black—“I got one, right through the heart, he’s dead!—Ygritte shoots an arrow right through his neck.

32. Karsi 
Cause of death: White Walker (kids)
Time of death: Season 5, episode 8
Karsi, we hardly knew ye. This Wildling, played by Borgen favorite Birgitte Hjort Sørensen, became a fan favorite in the span of just one episode—a fierce fighter and mother who understood that her people needed to join forces with Jon Snow in order to stand a chance against the hordes of White Walkers making their way South. When, in the climactic battle of Hardhome, she finds herself surrounded by a group of undead children, she refuses to fight them and is promptly killed. Almost as promptly as she is resurrected.

31. Pyat Pree 
Cause of death: Baby dragon fire
Time of death: Season 2, episode 10
“And your punishment for being incredibly creepy and for wearing terrible coats all season long is to be burned alive by baby dragons!” This death was hardly surprising—few of the evil folk we meet along Daenerys’s pit stops escape alive—but it was shocking in its way. It was one of the first times we got to see the dragons’ power…and just how much they loved their mother.

30. Barristan Selmy 
Cause of death: Knife-wielding Sons of the Harpy
Time of Death: Season 5, episode 4
For those who have not read the books, Ser Barristan’s death might have been par-for-the-course older-noble-guy-we-kinda-liked-gets-killed. That’s okay. We’ll live. We’ve been here before. But for fans of the book, seeing Mereen’s gold-masked religious fanatics, the Sons of the Harpy, brutally murder the knight was cause for mouth-agape WTF-ness: Ser Barristan is still very much alive in the books.

29. Maester Luwin
Cause of death: Knife wound in the abdomen; sympathetic Osha (hey, where’d Osha go?)
Time of death: Season 2, episode 10
A good and kindly man at Winterfell? Luwin was never long for this world, particularly after Theon and Ironborn psycho Dagmer showed up. Stabbed by Dagmer as the Ironborn turn on Theon, Luwin manages to escape Winterfell with Bran and the gang. When his suffering slows the group down, he is given a merciful sendoff from Osha.

28. Locke
Cause of death: Snapped neck, via Hodor (via Bran)
Time of death: Season 4, episode 5
This midseason death was one of Thrones’s most satisfying, that rare moment when RR and the gang let karma do its thing. The “best hunter” of House Bolton is given a great good-guys-win sendoff, with Bran warging into Hodor, who snatches Locke up and promptly snaps his neck. Nice guys not finishing last (and then not getting their heads chopped off)? That was a shock to some viewers.

27. Rodrik Cassel
Cause of death: Amateur beheading, with sword and Theon-boot
Time of death: Season 2, episode 6
The turning point for Theon Greyjoy saw the former foster-Stark beheading the fiercely loyal and zanily sidechopped Stark supported, Ser Rodrik, in brutally botched style: when the sword-swing fails to deliver a clean blow, Theon kicks Cassel’s head off. “Gods help you, Theon Greyjoy. Now you are truly lost.”

26. Jeor Mormont 
Cause of death: Night’s Watch mutiny (and he won’t’ be the last!)
Time of death: Season 3, episode 4
If Game of Thrones has taught us anything, it’s that being a good and noble head of the Night’s Watch will result in you getting stabbed by your men—a lot. In a move to later be echoed, Mormont is killed by scrappy young rage-head Rast after several Watchmen rebel while at Craster’s creepy, incesty Keep. Skip to about 2.35 below.

25. Meryn Trant 
Cause of death: Arya Stark’s knife
Time of death: Season 5, episode 10
A definite member of Thrones’ way-too-large Violently Sadistic Asshole Club, Meryn Trant’s penchant for unnecessarily beating up very young women proves his undoing. When he picks a brothel girl for a night of cruel beatings while in Braavos, he has no idea he’s chosen an in-disguise Arya Stark—who has not forgotten that, as she recalls it, Trant murdered who swordfighting trainer Syrio Forel. She pokes out his and eyes, declares who she is—“I’m Arya Stark!”—then promptly slits his throat. A lot of likeable folk bit the dust in this episode—Meryn Trant was not one of them.

24. Will
Cause of death: Ned Stark’s teaching moment
Time of death: Season 1, episode 2
Let’s go back to the very beginning. Will was in the very first scene of Game of Thrones, as one of the unlucky three men of the Night’s Watch who encountered a White Walker. He deserts his post on the wall, which means, of course, he has to be executed. Noble Ned Stark carries out his duty with great solemnity, if not hesitation, chopping off Will’s head as his sons, bastard and houseboy Theon look on. It was the moment the RR, Benioff and Co let us know this was not your ordinary show. “Don’t look away,” Bran tells Jon as Ned raises his monster sword: “Father will know if you do.”

23. Myrcella Baratheon 
Cause of death: Poison
Date of death: Season 5, episode 10
In cruel, Martinesque fashion, dull Myrcella is given her most interesting moment just before she kicks it. After revealing to Jaime that she knows she’s the offspring of groin-bumping siblings, the effects of the poison that Ellaria earlier delivered with a kiss begin to show—the kind of double-nostril nosebleed no Kleenex is going to stop.

22. Myranda 
Cause of death: A winter fall at Winterfell
Time of death: Season 5, episode 10
Part-time bedwarmer, full-time sadistic horror show, Myranda was Ramsay Bolton’s main—and perfectly matched—boink-partner until Sansa came along. Fueled by jealousy, she corners Sansa during a chaotic battle at Winterfell and threatens her with a bow and arrow. It’s enough to snap Theon back to some sort of life and toss her over the rampart. Splat.

21. Mance Rayder
Cause of death: Bow and arrow
Time of death: Season 5, episode 1
Spare a thought for Mance Rayder, leader of the Free Folk: If you, like Mance, were given the choice of bowing to Stannis Baratheon—heck, even having to spend some/any time with Stannis Baratheon—and being burned alive, you too would probably choose the path of fire. Fortunately for Mance, Jon Snow fires a merciful arrow into his heart before the fire can expire him. It’s a move Jon may soon come to regret…

20. Robert Baratheon
Cause of death: Boar wound (while tipsy)
Time of death: Season 1, episode 7
It was the boar. In the woods. With the boar tusk! Hunting under the influence was not a good move for Robert Baratheon, onetime overlord of Westeros, husband of Cersei and not-actual-father to various blonde children. His DUI hunt was also not a good move for his kingdom: the scramble to fill his fancy sword throne is responsible for most of the action on this list.

19. Selyse Baratheon 
Cause of death: Hanging
Time of death: Season 5, episode 10
Few could say they didn’t see this one coming. After agreeing for her daughter, Shireen, to be burned at the stake as a sacrifice to the Lord of Light, Selyse comes to regret her decision, breaking down as she watches the fiery execution. It takes just one episode before Stannis finds her strung up to a tree.

18. Shae
Cause of death: Strangulation
Time of death: Season 4, episode 10
Few could say they saw this coming—at least in the first few seasons: Shae dying at the hands of her true love, Tyrion. But events conspired to tear the two apart. Events like Joffrey dying, and Tyrion being put on trial, and Shae being coerced into testifying against him (and also Shae sleeping with his dad). In one of Thrones’ most heartbreaking scenes, Tyrion strangles his former love with the very gold necklace he once gave her.

17. Jojen Reed
Cause of death: Snow skeletons! (Agh!)
Time of death: Season 4, episode 10
In any other show or film, brutally killing off “the kid from Love Actually” would be out of bounds—not so on Game of Thrones. Bran’s vision-plagued companion goes out in grand bloody fashion, too: first stabbed multiple times by a reanimated skeleton, then mercy-stabbed by his sister Meera, and finally burned by a child of the forest so that his corpse can never be transformed into a wight. Triple dead.

16. The Hound 
Cause of death: Left to die after a good Brienne-ing
Time of death: Season 4, episode 10
The fourth season ended in a bloodbath, with mid-level characters and their plotlines being cut away like so many pesky split ends. But few of the finale’s big expirations got us quite like Sandor Glegane’s. (Yes, we know, he may not be really expired.) Just when you thought Arya and the Hound were being primed up for a spinoff (“First there was Turner and Hooch…”), Brienne steps in and completely destroys him in one of Thrones’s best sword bouts. “Killed by a woman, I bet you liked that,” the Hound tells Arya as he lies in a mangled bloody heap. Indeed she did. The little Stark promptly leaves him to die.

15. Tywin Lannister
Cause of death: Crossbow
Time of death: Season 4, episode 10
Another victim of the great season 4 finale cull, Tywin’s was one of those sweet and rare deaths we all cheered—another one of those bones RR occasionally throws to say, “Hey, I don’t just do it to the good guys.” Crossbowed while on the John by your least-favorite child? Big Daddy Lannister got exactly what he deserved.

14. Khal Drogo
Cause of death: Mercy smothering
Time of death: Season 1, episode 10
Dothraki king and take-me-to-your-tent hottie Drogo was left a braindead shell of his former self after Daenerys’s spell to save his life backfired. Out of mercy, the Khaleesi smothers him with a (very pretty) crimson pillow.

13. Ygritte
Cause of death: Arrow through the heart
Time of death: Season 4, episode 9
Things weren’t going all that well between Ygritte and her know-nothing love, Jon Snow, but few would have expected she’d be out of the picture this quickly, killed by Olly (god, how we hate that kid) during the Wildling’s attack on Castle Black.

12. Renly Baratheon
Cause of death: Stabbed by an adult smoke baby
Time of death: Season 2, episode 5
Not even Brienne could save her charge from Melisandre’s smoke man…er shadow Stannis…er…that dark thinygmajig. Death: quite shocking. Method of death: very, very shocking.

11. Viserys Targaryen 
Cause of death: Molten gold
Time of death: Season 1, episode 6
Khal Drogo promises the preening Viserys “a golden crown that men will tremble to behold”—and then he delivers, promptly melting down several medallions from his belt and, with an approving nod from Daenerys, pouring them onto her brother's head. “He was no dragon,” says his not-so-much-in-mourning sister. “Fire cannot kill a dragon.”

10. Lysa Arryn 
Cause of death: Pushed down the moon door
Time of death: Season 4, episode 7
When you think about it, a moon door is not super practical thing to have in the house—what happens when you just want to walk, like, in a straight line across the room? It can also backfire on you, big-time, as it does for the creepier of the Tully sisters. “I’ve only ever loved one woman,” Littlefinger tells the weeping Lysa as he faux-comforts her: “Your sister.” He then throws her into the Eyrie’s famed garbage disposal.

9. Ros
Cause of death: Pubescent king’s crossbow
Time of death: Season 3, episode 6
The North’s favorite lady of the evening was, even with only a small amount of screentime, also an audience favorite. Her sendoff was cruel—shot through with arrows by Joffrey in the sadistic king’s boudoir—and cruelly brief. We never see it happen, just a heartbreaking shot of the violent aftermath.

8. Joffrey Baratheon
Cause of death: Poisoned wine
Time of death: Season 4, episode 2
The most satisfying death in Game of Thrones history? Absolutely. But boy, do they make us wait for it at this drawn-out Purple Wedding. First, a dwarf show (why not?). Then, a giant pie full of live pigeons (of course). And then, only then, the poison-laced wine. Watch him choke, sputter and turn purple. Then watch it again. Then make a gif and watch that a few times. So. Damn. Satisfying.

7. Oberyn Tyrell
Cause of death: Crushed skull
Time of death: Season 4, episode 8
This death, which cut the show’s handsome-man-factor significantly, was probably Thrones’ most meme-i-fied. Because: they popped out his friggin eyes. And shocking? Shocking as fuck. We’re led to believe that, after an excellent duel, Oberyn is the victor, with Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane seemingly down and out. Not so: Clegane trips the Dornish Prince, gauges out his (oh so handsome) eyes and then crushes his skull. Whoa. Jaw: meet floor.

6. Jon Snow
Cause of death: Multiple knife wounds
Time of death: Season 5, episode 10
The handsome-man-factor took another big hit with season five’s infamous is-he-or-isn’t-he (and if he is then why is he on set for season 6?) cliffhanger. The men of the Night’s Watch trick their commander with fake news of his uncle’s whereabouts, before surrounding him, and stabbing him, Murder on the Orient Express-style, one-by-one. The final heartbreaking blow is delivered by little Olly. “For the watch.”

5. Shireen Baratheon
Cause of death: Burned at the stake
Time of death: Season 5, episode 9
What? No! A child? They can’t. Oh god, they’re doing it…And they did. Because clearly Shireen hadn’t suffered enough with her grayscale and living in a dungeon and being related to Stannis, season five saw her burned at the stake as a sacrifice to the Lord of Light. And the cameras did not pull away as the little girl screamed and the flames kicked higher. Cue Twitter outrage and “Did they go too far” headlines.

4. Talisa Stark
Cause of death: Very quick stabs
Time of death: Season 3, episode 9
The first to die at the Red Wedding, when Walder Frey’s son Lothar stabs her multiple times in the abdomen, ensuring that Talisa and her unborn child will not be leaving the banquet hall. It’s a shock, alright—but only a taste of the horror to follow… 

3. Robb Stark
Cause of death: Musicians (with crossbows)
Time of death: Season 3, episode 9
Robb is barely given a chance to process that fact that Talisa has been stabbed when those musicians playing the foreboding “Rains of Castamere” pull out crossbows and shoot him full of arrows. He manages, somehow, to rise to his feet, only to be stabbed in the heart by Roose Bolton: “The Lannisters send their regards.” Another blow to the handsome factor.

2. Catelyn Stark
Cause of death: Slit throat
Time of death: Season 3, episode 9
Surely, mother Stark is going to escape this ambush—somehow…right? Not so much. Having just watched her eldest son die, Catelyn takes Walder’s wife hostage in a desperate move that isn’t enough. Her throat is cut and the legacy of House Stark left to Arya, Bran and Rickon.

1. Ned Stark
Cause of death: Beheading
Time of death: Season 1, episode 9
With all of the eye-gauges and Red Weddings and Purple Weddings and burned little girls that have come and gone since, it can be easy to forget that the first big and shattering shock RR and co delivered was killing their series’ hero. He was the main character, right? The good guy? He was going to be here until Sean Bean got sick of playing him and quit the show in a few years, right? Well, Game of Thrones wasn’t playing by those rules. As we watched, along with Arya, the sword swing down, we knew this show was something different. And this wouldn’t be the last shock it would deliver.