As season five of Game of Thrones came to an end, most recently, we’ve seen a lot of dark moments which can only get amplified in the following seasons. It’s reached such an extent that we’re pretty much used to it even if the show keeps going up a notch.
However, we take a look at seven of the best moments from the show where at least some good prevails.
I’ll be your champion
As Tyrion Lannister said, “I don’t think I’m getting out of this one”, his fate looked all but sealed when he was accused of killing Joffrey. Not only was he sentenced to a trial but the lies and corruption which took place afterwards caused our favorite dwarf to lose his cool and demand a trial by combat.
This was always going to be troublesome; his brother, Jaime probably wouldn’t have been his champion even if he had a fighting hand and Cersei was definitely going to have the Mountain face off anyone who Tyrion chose. Bronn was going to do it for free and he probably would have failed even if he tried.
And so when Tyrion was resigned to his fate, pondering in his dungeon, Oberyn Martell entered and said that he’d be his champion, it was a great moment, exemplified by Peter Dinklage’s relief as Tyrion. What happened next is another story.
The Hound and Arya tag team
The Hound came across as a bad guy at first but as we got to know him, we found a different, human side to this ‘dog.’
Not only offering to help Sansa during the Battle of the Blackwater while protecting her on many other occasions, we also saw him and fan favorite Arya team up in the season four opening episode.
The popular scene which entailed him hungry for some chickens and defending Arya was one of the feel good moments of the show, especially when Arya got to tick a name off her list.
How much more badass can you get when you threaten someone with this line, ““I understand that if any more words come pouring out your c**t mouth I’m going to have to eat every f*****g chicken in this room.”
The King in the North
Ned Stark’s death truly set the stage for loads of shocking moments where the bad guys usually triumphed.
And immediately after his beheading, our next hero automatically became his son, Robb who at the end of the season one finale was named “King in the North” by all his bannermen, bowing down to him.
A truly iconic and goosebump tingling scene, it set the stage for the next two seasons, giving all of us who wanted Joffrey’s head on a spike some hope.
Unfortunately, George RR Martin had other ideas in the end.
A dragon is not a slave
This was the moment Dany became a badass. Struggling to get an army, the only way she could get 8,000 Unsullied soldiers from Astapor was if she sacrificed Drogon, her biggest dragon.
Ser Barristan and Ser Jorah were against it and we all thought Dany was showing her inexperience when it came to negotiating tactics but she proved us all wrong.
When the slave master took Drogon by holding his leash, he naturally wasn’t going to be able to control him and Dany proceeded to turn the tables on him with just one magical word; Dracarys.
Fire ensued and Dany proceeded to get an army of well trained soldiers without having to give anything in return. Not bad for a teenage girl new to the ways of war.
The murder of Tywin Lannister
If you think about it as a fan, Tywin’s death was sad in a way because Charles Dance portrayed the proud Lannister man just so well. So much to the extent that while he was a terrible human, many people still liked him and even considered him a favorite character.
And even if fans don’t like Tywin, his presence in the show made for some interesting interactions, notably with Tyrion, Joffrey and Arya.
But when you consider how he treated Tyrion and basically instrumented the Red Wedding which led to the death of Robb, Cat and Talisa, it was still a great moment nonetheless when Tyrion killed him with his crossbow, especially while he was on the shitter.
Turns out Lannisters don’t really shit gold.
The murder of Shae
It was very hard to like Shae even when she seemed genuinely in love with Tyrion. Why couldn’t she simply understand that Tyrion wasn’t joking when he said King’s Landing is a dangerous place?
She heard stories about Tyrion’s first wife and what Tywin did to her to embarrass Tyrion and yet, she thought he said this all because he fancied Sansa?
Tyrion sending Shae away brought about a betrayal as Cersei more than likely convinced her to stand as a witness during his trial and lie like there was no tomorrow. This was the last straw for Tyrion and just as he was escaping with the help of Varys, he paid his father a visit.
Only, he didn’t find his father but he found Shae sleeping on his bed portraying body language as if this wasn’t a new activity with her and Tywin. Tyrion proceeded to choke her and kill her. And we all loved it.
Purple Wedding
Let’s face it. Joffrey is a c***. And given how we’ve even become used to the bad guys always triumphing, we expected to see Joffrey till the end of the show. Until a stroke of genius triggered by people not even at the wedding led to the young King’s demise.
Drinking the poisoned wine, Joffrey struggled and got to a die a satisfying (for everyone else) and painful death in his mother’s (and father’s, let’s not be deluded) hands in front of everyone. And it was fitting because it was at his own wedding.
While it would have been nice to see someone kick his ass like Stannis, we’re not complaining. We much prefer Tommen anyway.
