Over the course of its eight seasons Game Of Thrones, successfully garnered a big enough reputation that it was generally loved and revered globally. Such a reputation was made due to its engaging stories, breathtaking locations, and interesting characters.
Game Of Thrones had a knack for being ruthless in terms of killing off or mutilating popular and prominent characters, both in accordance with and separately from the narratives inspired by the original source material, the books. The series had many shocking moments when characters took things too far, always resulting in death, destruction, and general misery.
Note: The scenes discussed in this article are both graphic and mature in nature.
10 Jaime Pushed Bran From The Top Of A Tower To Protect A Secret Affair
Jaime and Cersei's scandalous love affair was one of the first major plot twists in the Game Of Thrones series, with its grand reveal coming at great cost to Bran Stark. Bran was climbing the walls around Winterfell, when he witnessed Jaime and Cersei together.
In a ruthless act in the name of love and eliminating a witness to what would be an earth-shattering and controversial revelation if it was to become public knowledge, Jaime Lannister took matters into his own hands and pushed the young child out of the window, with the intention of killing him, only to later discover that he only paralyzed the boy.
9 Ramsay's Treatment Of Theon Was Diabolical
Theon Greyjoy had a complicated character arc that resembled more of a rollercoaster than anything else. From serving the Starks, to betraying them and taking Winterfell for himself, to being tricked by Ramsay Bolton and subsequently mutilated, Theon didn't have the best of times before he actively started to try and make amends for his past transgressions.
Ramsay posed as a friendly face to lull Theon into a false sense of security, before tricking him and torturing him brutally, simply because he wanted to. He made Theon into his pet creature and slave, Reek.
8 The Mountain's Sickening Confession While Killing Oberyn Made For Difficult Watching
The death of Prince Oberyn Martell was shocking for multiple reasons, not just the circumstance of it or the ramifications that followed, but mainly because of the manner in which it actually happened. In the trial by combat, Oberyn appeared to have the Mountain beaten, having him down for the count, but due to his obsession with getting a confession of his sister's murder out of the Mountain, he got caught up in the moment and ultimately crushed by the Mountain's sheer power.
Obviously, the Mountain had to do what he could to survive the situation, and he took advantage of Oberyn's complacency, but crushing the man's skull while admitting to killing his sister was almost too brutal and made for uncomfortable viewing.
7 Melisandre Burning Shireen Was Heartbreaking
Lady Melisandre made a number of questionable decisions in the name of serving the Lord of Light over the course of Game of Thrones. Some of her actions bred concrete results, such as producing a demon baby to assassinate Renly Baratheon and bringing Jon Snow back from the dead, but there were instances of her faith being misplaced, in condoning actions that were truly horrific.
The worst of all, was arguably when Melisandre insisted that burning Stannis Baratheon's own daughter at the stake, was necessary for conquering the north. The horrifying screams of the young Shireen once again made for uncomfortable viewing.
6 Arya's Vengeance Came In The Form Of Adding the Freys To Pies
Supposed good guys taking things too far, didn't happen too often in Game Of Thrones, but Arya Stark was one of those characters to do such things. After her training to become No One came to an end, she utilized her face-changing skills and assassination capabilities in enacting her revenge against those that had wronged her family, the Starks.
Arya starting off the seventh series with the brutal annihilation of the Frey house, through poison and serving Walder Frey's sons as part of a pie, came out of left field in a shocking and despicable twist. The unspeakable nature of her actions here were normally overlooked due to the fact that Walder Frey was such a detested character.
5 Ramsay's General Treatment Of The Stark Family Was Horrific
Ramsay Bolton is one of many horrific villains in Game Of Thrones but is arguably one of the worst in terms of being a horrifying human being. He abuses Sansa Stark during their shortly-lived marriage, kills Rickon Stark in order to antagonize Jon Snow and trick him into making a vital error, and is generally crafty and sadistic in everything he does.
Him losing to Jon Snow before being fed to his own hounds by Sansa, is a satisfying end to such an evil character, especially considering his favorite form of killing was setting those hounds on his victims.
4 Cersei Ultimately Eliminated Eight Noteworthy Characters In One Fell Swoop
Cersei never truly earned sympathy for when awful things happened to her, simply because of her general scheming and despicable character. In the final episode of season 6, 'The Winds Of Winter', she sees and seizes an opportunity when all of her direct enemies are gathered in one place, the Sept of Baelor.
She plots and executes a plan that sees wildfire, stored underground for years, ignite and destroys everything in close proximity. This eliminates the High Sparrow, Margaery, Mace and Loras Tyrell, her uncle Kevan Lannister, Grandmaester Pycelle and many more. The events subsequently cause her son, Tommen, to end his own life because of what he has seen, giving Cersei ultimate power over King's Landing.
3 The Execution Of Ned Stark Sparked The Beginning Of Joffrey's Tyrannous Reign
For all those who hadn't previously read the books, Ned Stark's death came out of the blue. Set up as the prominent main character, searching for the truth regarding Jon Arryn's alleged death and everyone else related to it, Ned would have had a certain degree of good-guy plot armor in any other show.
When Joffrey becomes the King, he quickly becomes corrupted by his newfound power, and despite the pleas of Sansa Stark and even his mother, he proceeds with ordering Sir Ilyn Payne to behead the beloved leader of the Stark family. Joffrey's spur-of-the-moment decision would have huge ramifications for the overall direction of the show and instantly made him the most hated character of the show.
2 Walder Frey Watching On With Glee As The Starks Were Decimated At A Wedding Was An Unsettling Sight
Betrayal and deaths are expected when there are several families waging war among themselves, but the Red Wedding is still to this day considered to be one of the most horrific and brutal scenes in television history. It saw Walder Frey and the Boltons betray Robb Stark and his army, by slaughtering everyone in attendance of the wedding of Edmure Tully and Roslin Frey.
The death of Robb, his wife, his dire wolf, his mother and his soldiers, was a shocking twist and shift in momentum in the war against the Lannisters. Such a brutal betrayal at what is usually a joyous occasion caught everyone off guard.
1 Daenerys Targaryen's Descent Into Madness Was Gradual Yet Also Sudden
Season 8 of Game Of Thrones is often seen as the unraveling of such a great show. Regardless of opinion on the general pacing of the final season, the character progression of Daenerys from start to finish is clear for all to see, as she descends into madness because of the events that unfold.
She becomes unstable when she learns of Jon Snow's true heritage and that he is related to her, diminishing her claim to the throne, with matters being made even worse when she loses her trusted friends Jorah and Missandei, due to the White Walkers and Cersei via the Mountain respectively. Daenerys's progression to Mad Queen becomes complete when she ignores the ringing bells of surrender and decimates everywhere with dragon-fire.