The 30 most heartwarming moments on Game of Thrones

5. Sam and Gilly reunite and kiss (“The Watchers on the Wall”)

KATIE: Earlier in “The Watchers on the Wall,” Maester Aemon told Sam, “Love is the death of duty.” Upon his reunion with Gilly, Sam takes that sentiment to heart. In not so many words, Sam recites the lyrics to The Calling’s “Wherever You Will Go,” promising Gilly that no matter what, he’s with her all the way from now on. To Sam, there are more important things than keeping vows he didn’t want to take in the first place, and only did on threat of death from his own father. He’s a man of the Night’s Watch and will do his duty by that title, but it’s no longer all that he has to hold onto.

Gilly helps Sam break free of his inhibitions just by being with him. Unlike his demanding father and the grueling Night’s Watch commander, Gilly doesn’t ask him to be anything he’s not, but urges and inspires him to reach his full potential. She sees Sam’s kindness as his strength, despite all those who mocked his softness as a shortcoming. Sam overcomes his fears to be the sort of man he feels that Gilly deserves, and in turn Gilly proves to him that he’s been that sort of man all along. All he needed was encouragement.

“I am a man of the Night’s Watch, Gilly. I made a promise to defend the Wall and I have to keep it, because that’s what men do,” Sam tells her in this scene. But keeping that promise doesn’t mean Sam can’t break at least one vow, because that’s a rather fair trade. So he goes in for the kiss because damn it if Gilly doesn’t inspire him to be the kind of man who takes charge of a moment.

Get it, Samwell Tarly. Get. It.