Liam Cunningham: Upcoming scene is more shocking than Red Wedding

On June 2, 2013,  Game of Thrones fans got to see the infamous Red Wedding rendered onscreen. You remember, right? Book readers everywhere knew what was coming and prepared accordingly by pointing their cameras at their Unsullied friends and family. The reaction videos garnered millions of  hits and were talked about on late night shows by George R.R. Martin himself. That night, Game of Thrones finally eclipsed the show’s first major shocker: Ned Stark’s death in Season 1. Even last season’s “The Mountain and the Viper” wasn’t as brutally shocking as the night the Freys broke the sacred tradition of guest right.

Well, hold onto your seats folks, because according to Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth), an episode towards the end of Season 5 will hit even harder. Cunningham recently appeared on Thronecast, Sky Atlantic’s Game of Thrones after-show, where he was asked point-blank if Season 5 had any moments more shocking than the Red Wedding. His answer:

“I would think so, yes. It’s towards the end of the season, and when I got the scripts, when I got to this particular section, I went: ‘You’ve gotta be kidding me.’”

Now, before everybody loses it, let’s remember that Sophie Turner previously teased a “super traumatic” scene that will occur during Season 5, but later admitted that it only rated about a “6” on the Game of Thrones scale. When you start comparing things to the Red Wedding, context is everything.

Still, it’s fun to guess at what Cunningham could talking about. Warning: SUPER SPOILERY speculation is about to happen, so turn away, Unsullied, turn away.

OBLIGATORY SPOILER WARNING

Let’s take a look at where Davos Seaworth is now, in Season 5…he’s at the Wall. Next, let’s consider the fact that this season will be based on A Dance with Dragons, the 5th book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series. Knowing that Lord Manderly is not in Season 5, thus negating Davos’ story-arc in Dance, could Liam Cunningham be talking about something to do with Jon Snow? For the Watch, you guys.

Since Davos won’t be going on a mission for Lord Manderly, it stands to reason that he’ll be following Stannis as he marches on Winterfell. It’s also been heavily speculated that Sansa will return to Winterfell this year.

Who else is at Winterfell? Why, only the most sadistic bastard (literally), in all of Westeros, Ramsay Snow. My theory is thus:

Sansa is forced to marry Ramsay, who in turn does something rather awful to her. Maybe a good old-fashioned flaying? Forcing her to dine on her own fingers? Rape, while utterly disgusting to even mention, would not be outside the realm of possibility.

Perhaps Davos and Stannis are successful in re-taking Winterfell from the Boltons, and while scouring the castle for remaining Bolton men, they come upon Sansa locked in a dungeon. Unimaginable atrocities having been committed against her. That might be shocking enough to justify Cunningham’s comments.

But then again, Davos could be commanded to stay at the Wall, meaning that Davos would be present when Jon Snow gets shanked in the back. Let us not overlook the fact that Ghost was shown in Castle Black’s training grounds while Jon trained with the recruits during “The Wars to Come.” Are we seeing a bit of foreshadowing? From A Dance with Dragons:

“Jon fell to his knees. He found the dagger’s hilt and wrenched it free. In the cold night air the wound was smoking. “Ghost,” he whispered. Pain washed over him. Stick them with the pointy end. When the third dagger took him between the shoulder blades, he gave a grunt and fell face-first into the snow. He never felt the fourth knife. Only the cold…”

H/T Radio Times

• Published on 04/15/2015 at 4:00 PM CDT
• Last updated on 04/15/2015 at 4:21 PM CDT