Game of Thrones can essentially be reduced to a series of deaths, dragons, and genitalia put on show in an endless cycle – but fans have noticed something bizarre about how exactly characters get offed on this show.
Redditor razobak09 posted an incredible theory that claims deaths in the show are often presented as an homage to how they lived, specifically the terror and death they may have wrought on their enemies.
For example, “Ned Stark used his greatsword Ice to behead the Night’s Watchman; he was beheaded with his own sword. Joffrey gave the command to execute Ned; he was killed in a way that took away his ability to speak.”
“Tywin ordered the Red Wedding, where numerous Stark men were killed by crossbow-wielding musicians; he was killed by a crossbow. Roose Bolton killed Robb Stark with a knife to the heart; he was killed by a knife to the heart. Walder Frey ordered Catelyn Stark’s throat cut at the end of the Red Wedding; he had his throat cut by Arya.”
“Ramsay Bolton was fond of feeding people to his hounds; he was fed to his own hounds. The Sand Snakes were each killed in a way that mirrored their own style: Nymeria was strangled by her own whip, Obara was impaled with her own spear, and Tyene was killed by her favorite poison. Olenna Tyrell killed Joffrey with poison; she was executed with poison.”
“Littlefinger betrayed Ned Stark by putting a knife to his throat, and the Valyrian Catspaw Dagger was used in the attempt to have Bran Stark assassinated, which he intentionally blamed on the Lannisters, sparking the Lannister-Stark conflict. He was executed by having his throat cut by the Valyrian Catspaw Dagger.”
Other commenters started pitching in their own contributions, growing the list immeasurably. If you’re not convinced already, how about these examples: “Jon killing his Night’s Watch brother Qhorin Halfhand; he was later killed by his Night’s Watch brothers. Ygritte killed many people with arrows; she was killed with an arrow.”
“Arya killed Polliver in the same fashion. Lysa Arryn loved throwing people through the Moon Door; she was shoved through the Moon Door. The One True King Stannis the Mannis killed his brother by way of his female assistant; he was later killed by his brother’s female assistant.”
“Lastly, Tywin gave Tyrion sh*t his entire life, literally making him in charge of all the sewers of Casterly Rock; Tyrion killed him on the sh*tter.”
Game of Thrones certainly does have a love of poetic justice; what’s most interesting here, however, is the potential to predict the nature of future deaths on the show. If Cersei, for example, created a massacre with wildfire – could she potentially get turned into dragon BBQ down the line?
Whatever happens, we’ll discover all during the eighth season of Game of Thrones, the six episodes set to reach HBO either late 2018 or early 2019.
