HBO’s fantasy epic Game of Thrones was a worldwide phenomenon that dominated TV ratings and pop culture. Based on the book series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, Game of Thrones has been praised for its high-quality production, its talented ensemble cast, its blend of realism and fantasy, and its epic battle sequences. But one of the show’s most defining elements is its unpredictable plot twists.
Game of Thrones is filled with shocking moments that leave its audience’s jaws on the floor. Characters are slain unexpectedly, sometimes in the most brutal ways. No one is ever truly safe in Westeros, not even the most significant and beloved heroes.
Most of the show’s plot twists, even its most vicious ones, are awesome. But as we get closer to the show’s divisive finale, we’re hit with awful plot twists that continue to leave a bitter taste in fans’ mouths all these years later. Here are ten amazing plot twists, and five horrible ones, that made Game of Thrones viewers gasp, jump out of their seats, and frantically message their fellow fans.
Great Twist: Jon Snow’s Parentage
Throughout Game of Thrones, Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) is known as the bastard son of Ned Stark. But the show’s later seasons reveal the epic truth about Jon’s parentage. He’s not Ned Stark’s son. The guy isn’t even a bastard. Jon Snow is the true-born son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, the heir to the Iron Throne.
Jon Snow’s heritage is one of the greatest plot twists ever, a revelation that has yet to come to light in Martin’s books. But avid fans of A Song of Ice and Fire managed to snipe out the truth about Jon Snow, following the subtle clues and trail of breadcrumbs that Martin left in his novels. The Jon Snow theory spread like wildfire, engulfing every person who picked up A Song of Ice and Fire book. Even fans who only watched the show became familiar with this theory by the time Game of Thrones confirmed it, which is why this is ranked lower on our list. But even if you were expecting it, Jon’s heritage still makes for an incredible plot twist.
Great Twist: Joffrey Is Jamie and Cersei’s Son
Game of Thrones’ first episode ends with a plot twist and cliffhanger that left viewers’ heads spinning: siblings Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and Cersei (Lena Headey) Lannister were having an affair. At the time, this incestuous relationship was unknown in the Seven Kingdoms.
Ned Stark (Sean Bean) spends much of the first season trying to uncover the mystery of what happened to his son Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright), who was pushed from a tower and left paralyzed after witnessing the affair.
Ned follows a trail of breadcrumbs that leads him to another shocking revelation: Cersei’s children, including her firstborn son and the new king Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson), aren’t related to the former king, Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy). “And they’re all Jaime’s,” Ned tells Cersei in their epic confrontation. It’s a major plot twist that ignites another civil war in Westeros, the War of the Five Kings.
Awful: Bran Becomes King
Westeros is looking for a new ruler after the death of Queen Cersei. Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) is brought before a council to help fill this position and determine the future of the Seven Kingdoms.
Apparently, his words carry a lot of weight, even when he’s a prisoner in chains. Tyrion proposes not Jon, or Sansa, or even himself as the new ruler of Westeros. He proposes Bran Stark for the young man’s unique, omniscient ability — and everyone at the council agrees. Bran is made king, even though he had minimal involvement in the story and seems to be detached from humanity.
Does he even care what happens to Westeros? This decision caused a lot of outrage among fans. No one had Bran on their Bingo card as the next king of Westeros.
Great Twist: Viserion Becomes an Undead Dragon
Even with an undead army of 100,000 zombies (or wights as they’re called in Game of Thrones), the White Walkers seemed to be at a disadvantage in their imminent battle against Westeros. Team Jon and Dany had three fire-breathing dragons that could soar overhead while torching the battlefield of White Walkers and wights.
The tide turned, however, when the Night King unexpectedly launched a spear that killed one of Daenerys Targaryen’s dragons, Viserion. We could all guess what was coming next: Viserion was resurrected as an undead dragon, a weapon of mass destruction for the Night King that breathed blue flames. Suddenly, the battle didn’t seem so uneven.
Great Twist: Joffrey’s Death
Since season one, Joffrey Baratheon was the villain that audiences loved to hate — a cruel, violent, and psychotic blend of unchecked privilege. Fans eagerly awaited the day when Joffrey would get his comeuppance. And then finally, it arrived.
In a shocking but satisfying scene, fans got to watch the wicked King Joffrey choke, suffocate, turn purple, and then die at his own wedding, before a crowd of his royal subjects. Good riddance.
Awful: Jaime and Cersei Die Together
In Martin’s third book, A Storm of Swords, Jaime thinks to himself, “I cannot die while Cersei lives…We will die together as we were born together.” Book readers hoped this wouldn’t come true, and it seemed to be going that way in Game of Thrones. Jaime’s character grew and flourished, turning him into more of a good guy, while Cersei doubled down on her evil ways and embraced her role as a villain.
Their relationship worsened as her behavior became more and more dangerous and erratic. The pair disagreed on almost everything, including what to do about the itty, bitty problem of the White Walkers. Jaime wound up distancing himself from Cersei. Literally. He abandoned her at King’s Landing and traveled North to help in the battle against the White Walkers. He even slept with Brienne of Tarth.
Jaime had come such a long way in the show, both literally and figuratively. He had freed himself from Cersei’s shackles and was finally able to stand on his own. And then at the last second, Game of Thrones undid his entire character arc and sent him scampering back to his sister.
Despite their estranged relationship, Jaime and Cersei died in each other’s arms, as the Red Keep came crumbling down on top of them. Fans were upset to see this reversal in Jaime’s character — and were even more upset to see Cersei meet such a PG ending. At least, by Thrones standards.
Great Twist: Cersei Destroys the Great Sept of Baelor
After enduring imprisonment, suffering, and public humiliation at the hands of the High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce), Cersei becomes hellbent on taking revenge on those who have wronged her and concocts her most diabolical scheme yet.
On the day of her trial, everyone who’s anyone in King’s Landing gathers at the Great Sept of Baelor, including the High Sparrow, Margarey Tyrell (Natalie Dormer), and most of her family. It isn’t until it’s too late — when Cersei and her son, King Tomnen, don’t show up to the trial — that they all realize something is wrong.
The Great Sept explodes in an eruption of green flames, ignited by the wildfire that had been secretly stored underneath it. In one fell swoop, Cersei took out the majority of her enemies. Taking out the High Sparrow was an expected move. But killing Margarey and her family with wildfire — no one saw that coming.
Great Twist: Oberyn’s Death
Oberyn Martell (played by the then unknown Pedro Pascal) became an immediate fan favorite when he was introduced in season four. His badass personality and I-do-what-I-want lifestyle made him an alluring character.
Fans rejoiced when Oberyn volunteered to fight in a trial by combat for Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage), who was accused and imprisoned for King Joffrey’s death. Oberyn’s true objective was to kill Tyrion’s opponent, Gregor Clegane (Hafþór JúlÃus Björnsson), also known as the Mountain, who allegedly murdered Oberyn’s sister and her children. Despite the Mountain’s tremendous size, Oberyn actually manages to strike him down. Victory seems to be in the bag — until Oberyn gets cocky.
Rather than kill the Mountain, Oberyn taunts and screams at his opponent, demanding to know who gave the order to murder his family. In a stunning twist that we all should’ve seen coming, the Mountain flips the battle on its head. As for Oberyn’s head? The Mountain pops it like a balloon, leaving the audience as horrified and stunned as poor Tyrion.
Awful: Arya Kills the Night King
The very first scene of Game of Thrones didn’t include any major characters. It all began with the White Walkers, the evil, frozen creatures of legend. Since then, fans had been waiting for the White Walkers to invade Westeros, especially after their badass leader, the Night King, was introduced. The White Walkers’ long-awaited assault lasted only a single episode in the show’s final season, which was filled with dark shots, expected deaths, and a polarizing victorious blow.
Everyone was expecting Jon Snow to slay the Night King. Forget the Prince that was Promised/A Song of Ice and Fire prophecy, which many fans believe points to Jon Snow. Jon and the Night King had beef. They shared several tense and epic moments where they glared at each other from afar, as if sizing each other up, wordlessly committing to an imminent fight to the death.
These moments seemed to be setting up a rivalry that promised to rank among the best in television, alongside Batman and the Joker or Sherlock and Moriarty. But that promise was broken. We do see Jon and the Night King battle with dragons, but that’s about it. In the end, it’s Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) who comes out of nowhere (literally) and lands the finishing blow, using the very blade that we’ve seen in House of the Dragon.
In typical Thrones fashion, the showrunners wanted to subvert audience expectations by having Arya kill the Night King. But sometimes, the obvious choice (in this case, Jon Snow) is the right choice. The fact that Jon didn’t slay the Night King, or even cross swords with him, made this one of the show’s most disappointing plot twists.
Great Twist: “Hold the Door!”
If you’re a fan of Game of Thrones, then you know exactly what we mean when we say, “Hold the door!” By season six, Thrones had outpaced Martin’s glacially slow book writing and ran out of source material to follow. He did, however, provide showrunners with a few major plot twists — and this was one of them.
Since season 1, audiences had come to know Hodor (Kristian Nairn) as Winterfell’s gentle giant, a dim-witted but lovable character who could only mutter his own name. And we finally learn why in the season six episode “The Door”.
Using his Three-Eyed Raven superpowers, Bran and his consciousness travel back in time and come across a young Hodor, who, at that time, is named Wylis and is fully capable of speech.
Meanwhile, back in the present timeline, Bran’s unconscious body, Meera (Ellie Kendrick), and the adult Hodor are under attack by wights. Young Wylis takes notice of the time-traveling Bran — and the effects of this silent interaction are devastating.
Wylis somehow gets his wires crossed between present and future, where Meera screams repeatedly at the adult Hodor, “Hold the door!” Hodor keeps his tremendous weight pressed against the door, barring any wights from getting through and chasing after Meera and Bran.
As the two make their escape, young Wylis falls to the ground, convulsing, his voice echoing Meera’s desperate pleas: “Hold the door, hold the door!” These three words gradually mesh together into a single word, Hodor, becoming the namesake of the character. It’s a powerful, heart-wrenching scene that results in one of the most memorable deaths on the show. Leave it to George R.R. Martin to come up with a tragic finale for a supporting character who only speaks one word.
Great Twist: The Birth of Daenerys’ Dragons
We get a very different Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) at the beginning of Game of Thrones. Innocent, weak, and submissive, she spends much of her young life fleeing from place to place, trying to avoid King Robert’s assassins. At this point, dragons are gone from the world, extinct, an unusual plot point in the world of fantasy. That is, until Dany performs a miracle.
She steps into a massive funeral pyre — and like a phoenix reborn, she emerges from the ashes, unburnt, with three baby dragons. This awe-inspiring event brings dragons back to the world. In doing so, it levates the fantastical nature of Game of Thrones — and makes Daenerys a more formidable contender for the coveted Iron Throne.
Awful: Daenerys Becomes the Mad Queen
Since season one, Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) has been depicted as one of the most morally good characters on the show, a hero to the common people. She often followed the sound advice of her counsel and restrained her worst impulses. She was rarely cruel or malicious for no reason and never exhibited the madness that had claimed her infamous father, the Mad King.
But in just two episodes of its final season, Game of Thrones undid Dany’s character arc and turned her into a mass-murdering lunatic. This descent from hero to villain could’ve been beautifully tragic, even logical, if the show had actually fleshed out its development. But the writers instead rushed to the finish line and fumbled Dany’s character arc along the way, unraveling one of the show’s best heroes in the blink of an eye.
Great Twist: Ned’s Death
There’s no shortage of deaths on Game of Thrones. But this one…this one may just be the most iconic of them all. Ned Stark (Sean Bean) was the main character of Game of Thrones‘ first season. An honorable and goodhearted leader, he was the very portrait of a noble hero — which is why no one saw his death coming.
Everyone was blindsided by Ned Stark’s execution, even the other characters. Killing off your main protagonist in the first season?! It was unfathomable at the time, even after we heard the swing of the executioner’s blade. Ned’s death was a momentous event that had a giant ripple effect; it continued to impact the show and characters, and also the audience, years after it happened.
It also set the precedent for the show’s episode nine formula, where crazy things were expected to happen in each season’s penultimate episode. As devastating as it was, Ned’s tragedy brought Game of Thrones to new heights of popularity. It showed us all what we were really watching: a brutal and unpredictable series, where no one is ever truly safe — not even the hero.
Awful: Jon Is Banished
As mentioned earlier, the truth of Jon Snow’s heritage revealed him to be the heir to the Iron Throne. And absolutely nothing came from this epic plot twist. In the series finale, Jon is banished beyond the broken Wall to live among the Wildlings, forbidden from ever returning to Westeros. This poor bastard (literally, but also not really).
He spends eight seasons fighting, and even dying, to protect everyone around him, and in the end, he’s cast aside like a minor supporting character. In Game of Thrones, the hero has never won and gotten what he deserves. But this conclusion just feels colder than a White Walker.
HBO was working on a series that would follow Jon Snow into exile and capture his new life, but this spin-off was recently canceled. Apparently, the team couldn’t find a story that excited them, which just confirms how lame Jon’s ending truly was.
Great Twist: The Red Wedding
Sometimes, the most obvious choice is the right choice. And what else but the Red Wedding could be the greatest plot twist in Game of Thrones’? After betraying his marriage pact, the King of the North, Robb Stark (Richard Madden), tries to make peace with the insulted Walder Frey (David Bradley) by betrothing his uncle to one of Frey’s daughters. All seems to be forgiven, as House Stark and House Frey enjoy a wedding ceremony. Everything’s OK, right?
WRONG! So very, very wrong. In a shocking twist, the Freys betray the Starks and slaughter them all. The wedding turns into a bloody massacre that has since been dubbed “the Red Wedding.” We’ve seen plenty of shocking violence in Game of Thrones before, but nothing of this caliber.
The Freys kill Robb’s pregnant wife, a character who was actually spared in Martin’s books, before finishing off Robb himself. Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley), Robb’s mother and Ned’s wife, is the last to die. After her throat is slit from ear to ear, the episode cuts to black and the credits roll, giving viewers some time to pick their jaws up off the floor.
