You Win Or You Die: Ranking the 99 Game of Thrones Deaths

Image credit: HBO/Helen Sloan

Barristan Selmy and Brynden Tully

Brynden “the Blackfish” Tully and Ser Barristan don’t meet during their respective stints on Game of Thrones. In fact, they have very little do with one another. The Silverfox—ah, Blackfish—is concerned with Stark and Tully affairs, and Ser Barristan is in Essos following his impromptu retirement from Joffrey’s Kingsguard. Their paths don’t cross in the slightest. But the circumstances of their deaths are rather similar.

Both of these men are forces to be reckoned with, legendary fighters who could knock their foe to the ground with minimal effort. And yet, we never see these skills in action. Even in their final moments, when they should be fighting for their lives, they fall short of audience expectations. After all the fanfare, I think we all expected that these men would go out with a bang.

But that is hardly the case. Ser Barristan is taken down by the Sons of the Harpy in a back alley in Meereen. Later, the Blackfish dies offscreen defending his home, Riverrun, from the Lannister army. This has caused some speculation that this Tully is still afloat, but as of yet there’s no plausible reason for Jaime’s guard to lie to him. Little could be gained from the Blackfish faking his death at this point.

Not that I won’t still be pulling for him. After all, now that Clive Russell is well and truly off the cast list, who am I supposed to salivate over? Line up all the Jon Snows you want, but you just can’t beat the Silverfox’s rugged, no-nonsense good looks.