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The 6 biggest deaths from Season 3 of Game of Thrones

If I could divide Game of Thrones into a play or a movie series, then I think Season Three would be the end of the first part. One of the bloodiest seasons in the show, this saw a lot deaths across the board, with major, secondary, and minor characters all biting it. By season’s end, a lot of players had been taken out of the game.

Let’s just ignore the obvious pick for the number one spot, though, and remember that this season had a lot of other deaths. Here are the six biggest deaths for Season Three of Game of Thrones

#6- Ser Jeor Mormont, “And Now His Watch is Ended”

Ser Jeor Mormont was an important secondary character in the early seasons of the show. At the start, he was Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, becoming Jon Snow’s mentor, and even giving him his family’s sword, Longclaw. He essentially molded Jon into the leader that he would become. But Game of Thrones has a habit of killing off good men in awful ways. When members of the Night’s Watch mutiny at Craster’s Keep, Jeor is murdered by the mutineers in the process.

This death had a big impact on our two main characters in the Night’s Watch, Samwell and Jon. Without Jon or Jeor to protect him, Sam is forced to fight his own battles and become more of a warrior. As for Jon, Jeor’s faith in him proves to be well-placed, as he becomes the leader the Night’s Watch needs in the fight against Mance Rayder’s army, and eventually, one of the leaders Westeros needs for the fight against the White Walkers

#5- White Walker, “Second Sons”

In Season Two, Jon discovered that Craster had been sacrificing any sons his daugther-wives bore to the White Walkers in exchange for safety. Even after he was killed, the White Walkers intended to collect on that deal, coming after Gilly and her newborn son. Samwell Tarly managed to step up to protect the woman he loved, and slew the White Walker with a dragonglass dagger.

Aside from giving Sam the first of several badass moments, this was a pivotal moment in the show. Until now, the White Walkers appeared invincible. Having learned their weakness to dragonglass, Sam would bring that knowledge back to the Night’s Watch and humanity. That was the first step to preparing for the coming war against the White Walker.

#4- Beric Dondarrion, “Kissed by Fire”

After the Hound slays the leader of the Brotherhood without Banners, Lord Beric Dondarrion, in a Trial by Combat, everyone’s shocked to see Beric stand up, alive and unharmed. Apparently, the Red Priest, Thoros of Myr, has the power to bring Beric back from the dead. Even more shocking is the fact that this is the sixth time that he has done it.

Game of Thrones has already delved into the supernatural before: dragons, wights, White Walkers, and blood magic. But this was one of the craziest things that I had ever seen on the show. It started to make me believe that the Lord of Light may be real, and that he’s playing a role in the events of the show.

#3- Kraznys mo Nakloz, “And Now His Watch is Ended”

This man was one of the Good Masters, the Ruling Slave Master Elites of the city of Astapor. Under him, thousands of people were enslaved and subjected to horrible conditions. Then he made the mistake of trying to look down on Daenerys Targaryen. After tricking him into trading all of his Unsullied slaver-warriors in exchange for her dragon, Drogon, the Dragon Queen has him burned to death while the Unsullied kill all the other slave masters.

From the moment this man appeared, he had stuck his nose down on Daenerys, insulting her in Valryian and thinking she was just some stupid woman. The moment when he realizes that not only could she understand what he was saying, but tricked him, his face gives off a look of pure fear. We all shared that smug look on Daenerys’ face as Drogon barbecued the guy.

#2- Richard Karstark, “Kissed by Fire

When the North decides to declare itself independent, Rickard Karstark is one of the first of the Northern Lords to call Robb Stark the King in the North. As time went, his faith in his king waned. Frustrated at Robb’s decision to break his promise to marry Walder Frey’s daughter and losing two of his sons in the war, Rickard murdered two boys from House Lannister in cold blood. This led to Robb executing him for treason, but not before Rickard renounced him as his king.

While Rickard Karstark may have been a minor character, his death would have a big impact on the show. Without him, a good portion of Robb’s army left to return home, leaving him without enough men to continue fighting. This led Robb to return to ask Walder Frey for help, and that led to the horrible events that were to come..

#1- Everyone at the Red Wedding, “Rains of Castamare”

Where do we even begin with this? To start off, Walder Frey said he was willing to reopen his alliance with Robb Stark if his maternal uncle married one of his daughters. As it turns out, the wedding was a trap. The Freys, aided by the Stark’s own bannermen from House Bolton, turned on their guests, and slaughtered almost all of them. Just watch the video.

Even before I started watching Game of Thrones, I had heard about the Red Wedding. It’s one of the most famous moments in recent television history. A good part of the Stark characters were killed off, their army was destroyed, and the balance of power in Westeros had gone to the Lannisters. It also put all the people responsible for the massacre on my hate list. No other scene was as famous in Season Three as the Red Wedding.

Agree with my picks? Let me know what your favorite deaths were from this season

Click here for my favorite moments of Season Three.