WiCnet Awards: And the Best Death Scene winner is…

The winner of the WiCnet Award for Best Death Scene in Season 4 is…Oberyn Martell! He joins Catelyn Stark and Ser Rodrik Cassel as a winner in this category.

Any category that Oberyn Martell (Pedro Pascal) is in in this year’s WiCnet Awards, he’s going to win. That’s science. Sorry, Tywin, Ygritte, Joffrey. You might have won in any other year. But Season 4 belonged to Oberyn.

Personally, I was pretty worried about this scene for two reasons. The first one is obvious: I love Oberyn, and watching “The Mountain and the Viper” knowing that Gregor Clegane would defeat him at the end of it was sheer torment. (The fight itself, as written about in more detail when it won Best Action Sequence, was a masterpiece of tension.) Oberyn brought a much-needed change in perspective to King’s Landing, reminding the Lannisters—and the viewers—that even among the rich and politically powerful, no one in Game of Thrones is entirely safe from retribution for past wrongs. And boy, are there a lot of past wrongs in Westeros. The Lannisters always pay their debts, and Oberyn was here to collect. His quest for justice might not have ended well for him, true, but no one in Game of Thrones should be taking a victory lap quite yet (Tywin).

The second reason I was on-edge had to do with the death itself….

See, in A Storm Of Swords, it’s… well… take it away, George:

”Elia of Dorne,” they all heard Ser Gregor say, when they were close enough to kiss. His deep voice boomed within the helm. “I killed her screaming whelp.” He thrust his free hand into Oberyn’s unprotected face, pushing steel fingers into his eyes. “Then I raped her.” Clegane slammed his fist into the Dornishman’s mouth, making splinters of his teeth. “Then I smashed her fucking head in. Like this.” As he drew back his huge fist, the blood on his gauntlet seemed to smoke in the cold dawn air. There was a sickening crunch.

Game Of Thrones is not a show that shies away from death, but that is gory, even for it. The Red Wedding, The Purple Wedding, the beheading of Ned Stark—it all looks so sterile next to Gregor Clegane squashing Oberyn’s head like a grape. I was worried that the show would punk out and maybe have Gregor behead Oberyn, or gut him. I didn’t think I’d ever actually see this…

…on a TV show.

Thankfully, I needn’t have worried. Don’t get me wrong—watching horrible, visceral violence like that doesn’t get me jazzed. I’m not sitting there cheering because Oberyn’s death in the show is as gross as it was in the book. It left me shaken and a little sick.

Which is entirely the point. Oberyn died as he lived—in a way that provoked intense emotional reactions from viewers. It just happened to be horror instead of “I f*cking love this guy!” He shook up the show from his very first scene, and he deserved a death scene that shook us up—or maybe just our stomachs. The death scene wouldn’t have had such an affect if it had been so graphic. Like I said, we Game Of Thrones fans are used to death. But used to graphic destruction of eyeballs? Not so much.

Here are the final results, so you can check out the margin by which Oberyn was able to beat his competition the way he couldn’t beat Gregor Clegane (sorry). Check back tomorrow to vote on Best Performance As A Villain!

• Published on 10/16/2014 at 2:00 PM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 12:40 PM CDT