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

Image credit: HBO/Helen Sloan

Margaery, Loras, and Mace Tyrell

Cersei’s fireworks show may take the cake for Game of Thrones’ most shocking moment. It at least has to break the top five. Even so, Margaery’s death came as such a blow. Mace was of little to no consequence, and Loras was pretty far down the rabbit hole as it was. But Margaery always seemed too clever. She was always one step ahead of the game, which is how she managed the board so well. It appeared that death couldn’t get his hands on her. She was simply too quick, and her love for her brother especially compelled her to do whatever it took to keep him safe.

But no amount of cleverness or speed would have freed her from Cersei’s wrath. The Queen Regent had become an unstoppable force in her humiliation and anger. She had festered too long with her thirst for vengeance. With the discovery of the wildfire, she had her moment, and she wouldn’t waste it.

Tommen’s suicide was a brutal scene to be sure. But I don’t know that anything will haunt me quite as much as the image of Margaery and Loras turning to look at the High Sparrow, just as the man realizes that they need to escape the Sept of Baelor. Too little, too late, and one of the series’ most fascinating women is lost because of it.