Their Watch Has Ended: Every Casualty of 'Game Of Thrones' Season Eight
Warning: This article is dark and full of Game of Thrones season eight spoilers.
With any season of Game of Thrones, you’d be foolish to expect to make it through with no casualties. In the eighth and final season, more central characters are expected to die than live — so as the war for the Iron Throne wages on, we’ll be updating this list with all of GoT‘s fallen soldiers — both honorable and downright evil. Read on for all the details of who doesn’t survive season 8.
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Lord Umber
The season’s only pre-Battle at Winterfell casualty, Lord Umber is discovered pinned to a wall in the very first episode. While we don’t witness the death itself, the discovery of his body plays an important role in alerting the Winterfell army to the Night King’s position.
The Dothraki Army
Does it surprise anyone that the Dothraki were at the front lines of this battle? Fierce, fearless warriors until the end, the Dothraki charged forward into the army of the undead — and suffered a swift, decisive defeat. As we soon find out, the sheer number of wights is impossible to fight. While some of the retreating Dothraki hopefully made it into the castle, the Battle at Winterfell saw nearly the entire Dothraki army fall.
Lord Commander Edd Tollett
One of Jon Snow and Samwell Tarly’s close friends, Edd Tollett (aka Dolorous Edd) was next to die in the Battle at Winterfell. After saving Sam from an attacking wight, Edd is stabbed in the back and swiftly dies. If Sam survives all this, we’d like to see a library built in Edd’s honor.
Beric Dondarrion
Ah, Beric. At last, he has fulfilled his purpose for the Lord of Light. Seeing Arya fight, Beric quickly realizes that she must be protected at all costs. With the help of The Hound, Beric hurls himself into an onslaught of wights to get Arya to safety, surviving several stab wounds before dying in the next room.
Lyanna Mormont
Lyanna Mormont has a fittingly heroic end, taking down an undead giant as she goes. Having already led her troops to defeat — and watching a startling number of them be killed in the process — Lyanna sees the wight giant come out and decimate everything in its path. She makes a decision to give up her life and charge the giant, who crushes her in the palm of his hand — but not before Lyanna stabs him in the eye and kills him.
Theon Greyjoy
In a moment that wrapped up his arc almost too perfectly, Theon dies protecting Bran Stark from the Night King. “Theon, you’re a good man,” Bran tells him seconds before. “Thank you.” Theon charges at the Night King, who quickly kills him. Not only does this moment allow Theon to atone for his crimes against the Stark family, it successfully delays the Night King’s approach, and presumably gives Arya the time she needs to get there.
The Night King & His Army
In a GoT moment that will go down in history, Arya leaps onto the Night King’s back and ends up stabbing him in the leg. As soon as her dragonglass blade makes contact, the Night King shatters and crumbles to the ground. In the following moments, the army of wights he’s resurrected and his fellow White Walkers collapse as well. This was Jon Snow’s plan all along, though he thought he’d deliver the killing blow himself.
Melisandre of Asshai
Melisandre plays a shockingly useful role in the Battle at Winterfell, lighting the army’s blades and the Winterfell moat with raging fire. She also delivers Arya a nice pep talk before she goes off to kill the Night King. When the battle is over, Melisandre removes her necklace and walks off into the snow, crumpling onto the ground. She knew her death was coming — and like Beric, she had finally fulfilled her purpose.
Ser Jorah Mormont
We can all agree that Daenerys Targaryen would be dead right now if it weren’t for Ser Jorah. Dumped to the ground by her dragon, Dany is surrounded by oncoming wights before Jorah bounds in to save her. He singlehandedly holds off the horde (Dany helps a bit, but she doesn’t look too comfortable with that sword) until the Night King is defeated. We’re sure this is the death he would have wanted — protecting his queen — but it’s tragic to see nonetheless.
Harry Strickland
The captain of the Golden Company was no match for Drogon and the Dothraki army, and so he met his death nearly as soon as we met him.
Varys
The master of whispers has whispered his last rumor. Varys knew he was entering the danger zone when he started openly plotting a coup d’etat of Daenerys and her government (read: Drogon). Ultimately, it was his friend Tyrion who ratted him and he met his death by dragon fire on a dark and stormy night in Westeros. Just like Melisandre told him he would.
Qyburn
If you think about it, Qyburn had the easiest death of all when The Mountain threw him like a rag doll into some rubble, essentially smashing his head in. At least he didn’t have to stick around to get burned by Dany.
The Hound & The Mountain
The Cleganebowl! It happened! The Hound (aka Sandor) and The Mountain (aka Gregor) finally faced off against each other as stunning visuals of Drogon and a collapsing Red Keep crumbled around them. But The Hound got his ultimate revenge against his brother, pushing the both of them into the raging fires below.
Jaime & Cersei Lannister
Haters gonna hate, but let the record show Jaime and Cersei were THE love story of Game Of Thrones. Yes, it was incest. Yes, it was toxic. Yes, it was manipulative. Yes, it was violent. But they couldn’t help but love each other and their children. And so, in true poetic fashion, the brother and sister died embracing each other as the ceiling of the crypts below the Red Keep collapsed on top of them. [Insert ugly sobs here.]
Euron Greyjoy
Oh, Euron. A douchebag to the end. After an intense sword fight with Jaime Lannister, during which the smug Greyjoy got some good jabs in, Euron died laughing, relishing in the fact that he injured/killed the King Slayer.
Everyone in King’s Landing
No, seriously. Daenerys surprised everyone in her army — except maybe Grey Worm — when she decided to ignore King Landing’s bell of surrender and went on a rampage with Drogon instead. Burning everything and everyone in her path, Dany went up and down the city’s parameters, getting all Dracarys on the nearly one million citizens of the city. The violence and destruction was truly staggering and it’ll come as no surprise that she’ll have to pay for it in the series finale.
Queen Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen, the First of Her Name, Queen of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lady of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm, Lady of Dragonstone, Queen of Meereen, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, the Unburnt, Breaker of Chains and Mother of Dragons
Who saw this one coming? A heartbroken Jon pleaded with Dany to show mercy to the remaining citizens of King’s Landing and the few Lannister soldiers who survived the massacre in episode 5. But she wants to hear none of it because a magalomaniac’s gonna do what a magalomaniac’s gonna do. With Tyrion’s words still ringing in his head, Jon seals Dany’s fate with a kiss as he plunges a knife into her stomach.
The Iron Throne
After finding his mother’s dead body, a heartbroken Drogon turns his rage and grief on the Iron Throne, melting down the 1,000 swords into a molten pile of steel.
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