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

Image credit: HBO/Helen Sloan

Viserys Targaryen

Now here’s a death that shocked me far more than Ned’s ever would. When Khal Drogo gives Daenerys’ brother his coveted crown in the form of molten gold that melts his face off, I thought this surely had to be some sort of hoax. Out loud, I demanded, “Can they do that???” It had seemed to me that Viserys was one of the series’ big baddies. Surely they couldn’t kill him off with so little ceremony? Didn’t he have more tantrums to throw?

This was the moment, for me, when I knew Game of Thrones was no joke. No matter how good or bad a character seems, they’re fair game as long as their story has been told. And for Daenerys’ own to continue, her domineering brother had to be removed from the equation. He was never going to make it back to Westeros, let alone the Iron Throne.

All the same, he did indeed get his crown. It just killed him sooner than Westeros’ would have.