Heaven forbid anyone start watching Game of Thrones thinking it's a fun, lighthearted show. Sure, there are a handful of happy times, but the majority of memorable moments are seared into our brains because of how much they emotionally ruined us. At this point, we're used to shocking moments, but these make even the most stone-hearted fan tear up to this day. Here are our picks for the most devastating moments, listed in order of level of destruction upon our souls.
This was just the worst! Granted, Theon was only a ward of the Starks because King Robert shutdown the Greyjoys' rebellion and he was actually a prisoner, but they thought of him as part of the family! To see him succumb to his family's ego and betray the only family he's really ever known, is so hard.
He's so strong for so long, but at that moment, he just lets Brienne hold him as he cries.
Ah, Mycah. We haven't knew ye! The untimely killing of the butcher's boy is what leads to The Hound's spot on Arya's infamous list.
The only reason this humiliating, demoralizing moment isn't up higher on this list is because Cersei is a wretched human being. But still, no one deserves to be dragged through town on a walk of shame.
Man, you really think Oberyn is going to win that fight for a while. It's only in the final moments when he is utterly defeated by The Mountain and Elleria screams bloody murder (because a literal bloody murder has occurred) that you break down.
Dany and Drogo have your typical love story: boy meets girl, girl is forced to marry boy, boy sustains life-threatening injury, girl uses magic to heal him, he and their baby die anyway. I take it back; their story is horrendous.
Don't even get me started on Ned having to kill Sansa's direwolf. I can't.
Arya and the Hound seem like they come a long way during their journey together. You might even think their relationship has developed to the point at which she would put him out of his misery while dying of multiple wounds. Nope.
Once you get past the incest aspect of their romance, you see that Jamie and Cersei seem to have a love and respect for each other that not many Game of Thrones relationships have — until he rapes her next to their son's dead body and everything is garbage.
Dany will never love Jorah the way he loves her, and when she learns that his relationship with her had begun under false pretenses and sends him away . . . damn, it's harsh as hell.
This one hurt on multiple levels. Yes, the dragons are bloodthirsty creatures who would eat anyone up if they were given the means to, but that doesn't make them bad! They didn't ask to be born and used to burn hundreds of people in their mother's quest for the throne. And they definitely didn't ask to be taken beyond the Wall to fight the Night King. Poor Viserion was just following his brothers and being a good dragon for his mom when he meets his end at the hands of the Night King. He didn't deserve to go out like that! And now he's the Night King's undead ice slave. It isn't right!
After Jon is revived in season six, Ghost's appearances drastically declines. But the albino direworlf makes a comeback in season eight, where he's right in the thick of it all during the Battle of Winterfell. Ghost survives — and loses half of his ear in the process — but he doesn't stay in Winterfell for long. Jon asks Tormund to take the direwolf with him when the Free Folk head back to their home further North. The former King in the North leaves his long-time companion behind without so much of a "good boy." Poor doggo.
WE WERE ROOTING FOR YOU. WE WERE ALL ROOTING FOR YOU!!!
The fact that Jaime leaves fresh from Brienne's bed to go back to Cersei in King's Landing and dies in her arm is just the worst.
Just when you think there is a shred of hope that Ygritte and Jon might actually make it, she is killed in the battle at the Wall. It's the worst. And then Jon has to burn her body! Obviously he doesn't want her to become a wight, but come on — this is traumatizing.
He loves her so much, and she just has to go and let him down . . . with his own father, no less.
WHY DIDN'T HE JUST ZIG-ZAG?!
The Hound tackles two of his biggest fears, fire and his older brother, in the penultimate episode of season eight. He kills the zombiefied Mountain by tackling him into the burning rubble that King's Landing is rapidly becoming, the both of them likely dying on impact. But that's only after he manages to convince Arya to let go of her revenge mission to kill Cersei and save herself. A true friend till the end.
Poor Rhaegal! He was just following his mother's instructions and flying to Dragonstone when Euron's fleet shoots him out of the sky. While his brother Drogon is able to dodge the incoming spears, Rhaegal is completely taken by surprise and crashes into the ocean below.
SHE DOESN'T EVEN CARE ABOUT THE INCEST.
Lest you forget about how devastating this moment is — it's truly horrible.
He just wanted to save Bran, the very person responsible for his speech impediment. Hodor, you loyal giant. We'll miss you.
I'm not doing this today.
Robb, pregnant Talisa, Catelyn . . . all gone.
Poor, sweet Tommen. He and his sister were the only truly good Lannisters and they were wrecked by the misdeeds of their family. He lost his beloved Queen and a Sept-load of his people in one rush of wildfire, all thanks to his own mother. He was probably the last pure soul in all of the Seven Kingdoms. The visible heartbreak on his face is so painful, it's hard to believe that anything can top this. And yet . . .
SHE'S JUST AN INNOCENT CHILD WHO SPENDS HER WHOLE LIFE TRAPPED IN A CASTLE. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Ugh, why did this have to happen!? Sansa has already been through so much in her young life before Petyr sells her to a recently legitimized Ramsey Bolton as a bride. All she wants is to get her childhood home back, but instead she's brutalized. And because he really is the worst, Ramsey makes Theon/Reek watch.
We are still 100 percent in our feelings about this one. Missandei dies after Euron catches Daenerys and company by surprise, leading to her kidnapping. Before she's beheaded, she tells Daenerys to burn everything down, calling out "Dracarys!"
The true Lady Bear of Bear Island literally goes down swinging and there's no better way for her to meet her maker. (Aside from peacefully, well into old age.) When the wights invade Winterfell, Lyanna is one of the soldiers leading the charge and takes out a literal giant. She gets crushed in the process, but at least she took him with her. A true legend!
This is TOO fresh! After everything the former Northman has been through — being exiled from his home, hopelessly falling in love with a woman who will never feel the same, and getting greyscale — you think he'd get a happy ending. The swordsman bravely protects his Khaleesi from hordes of wights until he succumbs to his wounds, dying in her arms. RIP, to a real one.
In conclusion: why do we even put ourselves through this?!