Top 10 Moments
These were so hard to whittle down we almost had to blindfold ourselves and point at our master list with a stick. Here are the ones we found most worthy...
Daenerys Frees The Unsullied
“And Now His Watch Has Ended” 3.04
Daenerys has had a moral wobble. She’s just bought an 8,000 strong army of slaves to help her win her quest, and she even traded one of her dragons to do so. No, Dany, no! But then… psych! She doesn’t so much turn the tables as annihilate them, revealing that she was double- crossing the slave trader all along, freeing the army and unleashing hellfire. Stunning.
Tyrion Rallies The Troops
“Blackwater” 2.09
King Joffrey’s as much use to his troops here as a chocolate teapot, and so Tyrion steps forward to rally them for battle. “We’ll come out behind them and f** k them in their arses,” he yells, then while we’re sniggering at that, he goes on to prove his legendary way with words can incite death and glory. “Those are brave men knocking at our door. Let’s go kill them!” And so they do.
The Battle Of Hardhome
“Hardhome” 5.08
The White Walkers launch a brutal assault on the wildling town of Hardhome. It’s hard to know which bits of this battle are the most exciting: the pressure building at the wall as the creatures pile up behind it; the giants stomping on humans; poor Karsi coming face- to- face with a group of undead children before being killed and reborn as a Walker herself… So. Much. Tension.
Daenerys And The Dragons
“Fire And Blood” 1.10
If there was one thing missing from season one of Game Of Thrones, it was dragons. And then this happened. Daenerys, who had basically stumbled from one disaster to another since joining the Dothraki, finally, beautifully cemented her destiny as someone special by not only surviving a burial fire but also hatching three weeny beasties from her beloved dragon eggs. What a majestic birth it was.
Jaime Tells His Story To Brienne
“Kissed By Fire” 3.05
Jaime Lannister is a bad guy, a murderer and a rapist. But nothing’s ever simple in
Game Of Thrones, and here’s a moment of vulnerability from the Kingslayer, as he tells his new sort- of- friend Brienne how he earned that bloody nickname. Amazingly, he was actually saving lives. “My name is Jaime,” he insists. Quiet, masterful character- building: a signature of this show.
Goodbye, Jon Snow
“Mother’s Mercy” 5.10
Thanks to his permanent status as the put- upon, grumpy- faced action- hero who “knows nothing”, Jon Snow was something of a Game Of Thrones icon by the time he met his fate here ( possibly – season six rumours notwithstanding). Betrayed by his Watch- brothers, most notably little Olly ( boo, hiss), this was a truly shocking and yet somehow inevitable finale to the show’s fifth season.
Oberyn Vs Gregor
“The Mountain And The Viper” 4.08
“My name is Oberyn Martell. You killed my sister. Prepare to die.” Well, okay, maybe Oberyn ( aka the Viper) didn’t actually say that, but we were all thinking it during this deadly cat- and- mouse game of a battle. And just when we think Oberyn has beaten Gregor Clegane ( aka the Mountain), poor Oberyn suddenly gets a crushing headache. This show knows how to shock, eh?
Of With His Head
“Baelor” 1.09
Sure, Sean Bean dies in everything he films, and sure, readers of George RR Martin’s books knew he was going to die here, too, but somehow it was hard to believe it would actually happen. Ned was likeable, honourable, brave and larger- thanlife, and the fact his head was lopped off in front of his own children was gasp- outloud shocking. Boy, if we’d only known what was still to come…
Cersei’s Walk Of Shame
“Mother’s Mercy” 5.10
She’s a murderous, back- stabbing, bitchy, hissing snake, and yet, somehow, you find yourself actually feeling sorry for Cersei Lannister here. Forced to walk naked through King’s Landing as crowds attack, harass and insult her, just watching this scene will bring you out in a cold sweat. Lena Headey deserves every award going; we can’t even imagine how hard it was to film.
The Red Wedding
“The Rains Of Castamere” 3.09
Gruesome, tragic and unbearably cruel, this sea of carnage is surely one of the most terrifying sequences ever to air on American television. We liked Robb! We
liked Talisa! We liked Catelyn! And yet here they were, brutally, cold- bloodedly slain, and with no punches pulled ( you know the bit we mean – that poor unborn baby…). Startling, devastating drama, it was horrific enough to go down in TV history.