The Small Council: What Was the Best Death Scene of Season 5?

Death. On Game of Thrones, it’s never far, and Season 5 brought us plenty of it, particularly in the last few episodes, when characters started to die off faster than we could grieve for them. We’ll eulogize a few of them here, and argue what we think were the best death scenes of the bunch. Be sure to weigh in on our poll.

DAN: It’s a little odd to debate what the “best” death scene of the season was, since I’m not entirely sure how to apply the word “best” to this sort of sequence. What makes a death scene good? Should it be sad and wistful? If so, Maester’s Aemon’s death in his own bed after decades of service would win. Satisfying? I’d be lying if I said I didn’t grin a bit when Myranda kissed the pavement. Memorable? I’m not likely to forget Shireen’s death by fire anytime soon.

In terms of impact, Shireen’s death would probably be my pick, but since I already wrote about that for our “Most Dramatic Moment” roundtable, I’ll tip my hat to another shocking scene: Arya’s brutal killing of Meryn Trant.

The “satisfying” factor definitely comes into play here. Ever since killing Syrio Forel in Season 1, Meryn Trant has been a loathsome character, even without the show revealing that he was also a sadistic pedophile. It wasn’t pretty, but seeing Arya rip him to shreds was a little gratifying.

At the same time, Arya didn’t just kill Meryn Trant: she practically tortured him, stabbing out his eyes, gagging him, and making him grovel and whine before finally ending his life. The sequence went beyond “satisfying” and passed into the realm of “creepy and scary.” I have no doubt that Trant is better off dead, but this scene was about more than making Arya look like a badass. If she doesn’t get a grip on her anger, it could lead her down some very dark paths. Given what happens to her immediately afterward, it looks like it’s already started.

Also, I want to give props to Maisie Williams, Ian Beattie, director David Nutter, and the stunt team for making this scene look convincing. Williams is a little girl and Beattie a big man, but I had no problem believing that Arya could tear him apart like that. Thanks for maintaining the verisimilitude of your horrifying murder scenes, guys.

RAZOR: The best death scene for me, without a doubt, was Mance Rayder’s death is Episode 1, “The Wars to Come.” As a book reader, I was completely shocked, as this was one of the first of many deviations from the books in Season 5. Beyond that, though, I was impressed by the masterful acting by Ciarán Hinds.

The buildup to Mance’s death was masterful in its own right. From Stannis and Jon Snow’s meeting atop the Wall, to Jon imploring Mance to bend the knee, to the expressions of sheer agony on Hinds’ face as the flames began to lick at his legs, and finally to Jon mercifully putting an arrow through Mance’s heart, everything added up to a poignant death scene.

Was Shireen’s death worse? Arguable yes, because seeing an innocent little girl be sacrificed elicits a bit more sympathy than seeing a grown man go through the same thing. Also, Selyse’s 11th hour turnabout from religious zealot to caring mother was quite emotional. However, the camera looked away, and we didn’t actually see Shireen’s death throes…we only heard them. Both deaths were sacrifices to appease Melisandre’s Red God, and both were terrible to behold, but whether it was the differing buildup, the writing, or even the filming of the scenes, Mance’s death stands out to me as the “Best.”

ANI: TRAITOR.

There were a lot of things I was expecting when Jon Snow ran from the room, following Olly and his ridiculous story about a wildling taking about Benjen. As if. As a book reader, I thought perhaps we would see WunWun having a freakout as we do in the books, having been goaded and hurt by the Night’s Watch. Then  I thought maybe it would be a body they were hiding. WunWun’s? Tormund’s? GHOST’S?!

Nope, just a sign. A small, badly written sign portending the moment to come. The moment we knew it was all over.

Now, I’ll say this: as a book reader, back in 2011, when Jon Snow passed out before even feeling the fourth blade, I was so mad. Here I was fooled…AGAIN. Between Jon’s unreliable narration, the misdirection, and the buried clues, I had once again—ONCE AGAIN—not seen the death coming. Fool me once with Ned—shame on you Martin! You used my well-read fantasy trope assumptions against me! You bastard! Fool me twice—Catelyn put so much stock in guest right! She never saw this coming! Who murders an entire family at a wedding? You bastard! But fool me three times?

It’s partly why I didn’t think the show could pull off Jon Snow’s death the way they did Ned’s death and the Red Wedding. Hell, I didn’t think they could pull off the Red Wedding. I thought by then too many people would have read the novels and/or wikipedia and/or spoilers. I was pleasantly surprised when the shock of the Red Wedding matched—nay, surpassed—that first outcry from show watchers when Ned died. But there was no way they could pull it off a third time. Yeah, Martin did it in he books, but the show? With all the Olly lurking and foreshadowing? There’s no way! There’s just no f*cking way!

Which is why the genuine freakout on my Twitter feed when Jon Snow went down on his knees, staring at Olly, silently begging…anyone but you…was a stunner. Really? Three times? The show really fooled you all three times? Well damn done, show. There’s no death this season that can beat that.

Oh and for the record, as someone who spent the last four years convinced Jon Snow was going to warg into Ghost and Melisandre was going to resurrect his body and he’d warg back and the whole Night’s Watch would fall at his feet and it would be amazing? After seeing how many times he got stabbed and seeing his body, lying cold in the snow staring sightlessly, I’ve changed my mind. The Bastard of Winterfell is dead as dreams.

KATIE: I want to say Myranda’s abrupt fall from Winterfell’s most fabulous catwalk did it for me like nothing else could, and the satisfaction of that certainly could have sustained me had it not been for Selyse’s suicide.

Did I jump for joy? No, I save my jumps for the demises of Joffrey and, eventually, Ramsay. But was I sad to see the queen go? No to that, too. Despite her turnaround in the face of her daughter’s death, the Selyse we knew was a spiteful mother who would go to any lengths to appease Melisandre and the Red God — perhaps even more so than Stannis would. Selyse always put her newfound faith first, often reassuring her husband that this way was the way, and only repented when she saw the tragedy and destruction that kind of faith demanded, when it was too late. I can’t say I was surprised, either. Selyse was never in this for the long haul, and after we saw her fall apart during Shireen’s sacrifice, it was only a matter of time before she went the same way.

Because, in her own way, Selyse was a sacrifice as well. While one death was murder and the other self-inflicted, they both died by necessity — the daughter to fulfill a prophecy (of sorts), and the mother because she couldn’t bear to live with the sin that that prophecy had caused her to commit. The theme of Stannis’s entire mission is how dangerous it is to blindly follow and to take the word of someone based on that shared belief, and both Shireen’s murder as well as Selyse’s suicide are the worst case scenario results.

But before I had time to think about it, much less analyze, what cinched this death for me was the visual. It’s a quick cut from Stannis to his wife — hanging, quiet in the early morning fog of the woods, clear in her lifeless expression that not even death cleansed her of her grief. The gray of her face and the muted colors of the landscape gave the shot its properly morose feel, and it’s just grotesque enough to be reminiscent of a horror film. “Haunting” sums the scene up nicely, and haunt me it will.

CAMERON: The more I think about it, the more I really like how Stannis went out. There’s a certain poetic beauty in Brienne being the one to kill him, and not just because of Renly. Earlier in the season, Brienne tells Pod, “There’s nothing more hateful than failing to protect the one you love.” Stannis failed to protect his own family from himself, and the price was an utterly devastating massacre of the remainder of his people. Stannis’ last words are as heartbreaking as they are, well, Stannis-y: “Go on, then. Do your duty.” In a season full of flashy deaths (and a whole heap of them, too), I liked the quiet simplicity of this one the most.

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• Published on 07/17/2015 at 1:00 PM CDT
• Last updated on 07/17/2015 at 9:25 AM CDT