Top 20 Brutal Moments from Game of Thrones and House of the Dragons
These moments are not for the faint of heart...or the squeamish. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at the most horrifying, extremely violent, and disgusting moments from both “Game of Thrones” and “House of the Dragon.”
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00:00Things I do for love.
00:03Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at the most horrifying, extremely violent and disgusting moments from both Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon.
00:12This is my friend, tonight he's going to be your friend.
00:16Number 20, Damon kills the crab feeder.
00:19Brother, I have ordered 10 ships and 2,000 men to set sail from King's Landing, to join the effort in the Stepstones.
00:28Damon may be a D-bag, but there's no denying he is a fierce warrior.
00:32And, it doesn't get much cooler than watching him waltz out of the cave, Dark Sister in hand, and dragging what remains of Kragus Drehar.
00:40The crab feeder was occupying the Stepstones, and Damon was none too happy about that.
00:45He subsequently attacked the crab feeder in a siege and pursued him into a nearby cave system.
00:50And while we don't see the killing directly, we do see its aftermath, and it does not make for a pretty sight.
00:56It's a great moment for establishing the tone of House of the Dragon, informing viewers that it wouldn't be skimping out on either the battle scenes or the violence.
01:04Know that it is not my desire to see you fail in your cause, it is instead my hope that this aid will deliver the victory that has thus far evaded us.
01:16Number 19, Ser Roderick's beheading.
01:18Theon Greyjoy's betrayal of the Starks is upsetting for everyone involved.
01:23Ned Stark's war draws most of Winterfell's forces, led by Ser Roderick Castle, away and takes the fortress.
01:30After Roderick is brought back, he spits in the face of the traitorous Theon.
01:34My brothers are dead. They died fighting Stark men. Men like you.
01:39Aye, they died fighting the war your father started.
01:42When Theon's men insist he kill Roderick, Theon reluctantly does so.
01:48God's help you, Theon Greyjoy. Now you are truly lost.
01:52While Bran's pleading for Theon to stop makes the scene traumatic enough, what's worse is that Theon botches the beheading.
01:59Although we don't see the act in detail, the fact that he has to hack away at a man's neck and then kick his head off the rest of the way is disturbing enough in concept.
02:13Number 18, Ser Criston makes Lord Beesbury sit.
02:16As the Dance of Dragons escalates, dissension proves to be a very deadly venture, something that Lord Lyman Beesbury learns the hard way.
02:25I will not have this. To hear that you are plotting to replace the king's chosen heir with an imposter.
02:32His firstborn son is hardly an imposter.
02:34The master of coin on the small council, Lord Beesbury is one of the few who rejects the notion that King Viserys suddenly changed his succession plans on his deathbed.
02:43He's right, of course, but that means little in the House of Green, and even less to Ser Criston Cole.
02:48This is seizure! This is theft! It is treason at the least!
02:53Mind your tongue, Lyman.
02:56Ser Criston, incensed over Beesbury questioning Queen Alicent, makes the old man take a seat and then some,
03:03slamming his head down on his personalized stone ball.
03:06Which of us are you accusing of regicide, Lord Beesbury?
03:10Whether it was one of you, or all of you, I care not.
03:14I will have no part in this!
03:17Beesbury is killed instantly, and the rest of the council does nothing about it.
03:22Except promote Ser Criston to Lord Commander, of course.
03:26Let us have Lord Beesbury removed.
03:28No. The door remains shut until we finish our business.
03:34Number 17. Blackwood on Bracken violence.
03:37With so many houses in Westeros, it's understandable that not all of them can get their time in the spotlight.
03:42So credit this scene for giving us a glimpse of the rivalry between House Blackwood and House Bracken.
03:48Ours is a bond that has long endured, since Lucas Blackwood, the grandsire of my grandsire,
03:53aided the dragon in his war of conquest.
03:55Aye, the Blackwoods truly turned the tide on that one.
03:58As Rhaenyra receives suitors at Storm's End,
04:01she's greeted by the particularly young Willem Blackwood.
04:04Willem does his best under pressure,
04:06but even that isn't good enough for the spectating Geralt Bracken,
04:09who incessantly rags on him with insults.
04:12If chosen as your match princess, your day shall be easy,
04:16and night safe, under my protection.
04:19Protection? The princess has a dragon!
04:22Even though Rhaenyra elects to end the procession,
04:24Willem's indignance compels him to challenge Geralt.
04:28Craven.
04:31We're leaving.
04:33We're immediately fearful for the significantly smaller Blackwood.
04:37So color us surprised when he runs through his tormentor.
04:41Season 2 brought us further Blackwood on Bracken violence,
04:43with the devastating aftermath of the Battle of the Burning Mill.
04:48Number 16. Nailed and stomped.
04:50The war in the Stepstones proves to be a grueling campaign for Daemon Targaryen.
04:55So imagine what it must be like for men on the ground.
04:58House Velaryon is coming for you!
05:02Daemon and the Velaryons are going up against Kragus Drehar,
05:05a.k.a. the Crab Feeder,
05:06who has earned his nickname by staking his enemies and leaving them for the crabs.
05:11That's already a terrible way to go, but leave it to Daemon to add insult to injury.
05:20As Drehar marks an unnamed Velaryon soldier for death,
05:24the latter promises retribution is coming.
05:27And sure enough, Daemon swoops in with his dragon Caraxes,
05:31leading the soldier to cheer.
05:33The trouble is, Caraxes lands directly on him.
05:41Yeah, top 10 House of the Dragon characters who celebrated too early?
05:45This guy.
05:46Number 15. Divorce, Targaryen style.
05:49Granted, Daemon may not have even cared to notice he crushed our last entry.
05:54This one, he definitely knew what he was doing.
05:57After Daemon spends four episodes ragging on his wife Rhea Royce,
06:08we finally get to meet her.
06:10Only, if this list is any indication, we would not know her for long.
06:27Ambushing her outside Runestone, Daemon does not have to say a word before Rhea realizes
06:32he's there to kill her so he can marry Rhaenyra.
06:34But before Rhea can do anything, Daemon gets her horse to upend and crush her.
06:44Knowing it'll look like an accident, Daemon motions to leave,
06:48but Rhea's goading compels him to finish her off.
06:51He grabs a nearby rock, and we are left to imagine the grisly conclusion.
06:57Number 14. A dragonrider's death.
07:10Like many characters in this world,
07:12Laena Velaryon was gone too soon, but at least she got to go out on her own terms.
07:17Sort of.
07:21Pregnant with Daemon's third child,
07:29Laena remarks in this episode that half the dragon eggs never hatch.
07:33With Queen Emma's failed delivery burned in our minds,
07:36this bit of foreshadowing immediately made us worry for her.
07:39And sure enough, Laena's birthing goes south.
07:52Rather than suffer another failed Caesarian section,
07:58Laena slips away and finds Vhagar.
08:01In agonizing pain, she pleads with her dragon to end her suffering.
08:13Vhagar is noticeably hesitant,
08:15but fulfills her master's request by roasting her alive.
08:19Laena probably didn't feel the flames for long, but boy is this death brutal.
08:25Number 13. Kristen kills Joffrey.
08:36If you're a character named Joffrey in this world,
08:39you probably should not go to wedding receptions.
08:42Granted, Rhaenyra and Laenor aren't hitched just yet,
08:45but we had a feeling their pre-wedding feast would not end without a little bloodshed.
08:56At this point, the tension between Rhaenyra and Ser Criston Cole is evident,
09:00and Laenor's lover, Ser Joffrey Lonmouth,
09:02tries to blackmail Kristen into keeping their secrets.
09:05Kristen, heartbroken over Rhaenyra spurning him,
09:08takes it out on the Lonmouth knight in front of everyone.
09:15Laenor tries to intervene, but to no avail,
09:24as Kristen pummels Joffrey's face into looking like hamburger helper.
09:28Seriously, no one mess with Ser Criston Cole.
09:32Number 12. The Mountain kills his horse.
09:35A commonly used method for giving a character official bad guy status
09:38is to demonstrate their negative attitude towards animals.
09:41This is generally done with a simple dislike of dogs or some other villainous spurn,
09:45but when you're talking about Ser Gregor the Mountain Clegane,
09:48everything is over the top.
09:50In the ultimate rage quit, after losing a joust to Ser Loras Tyrell,
09:54he kills his mount with a blow from his greatsword.
09:57Poor horse, he's been beaten to a pulp.
09:59Of course, it wouldn't be the last shocking death at the hands of the mountain.
10:11Number 11. Aemond loses an eye.
10:14It's him.
10:15It's him.
10:16It's him.
10:17It's him.
10:18It's him.
10:19It's him.
10:20It's him.
10:21It's him.
10:22It's him.
10:23It's him.
10:24It's him.
10:25It's him.
10:26It's him.
10:27It's him.
10:28It's him.
10:29It's me.
10:30Vhagar is my mother's dragon.
10:32Your mother's dead.
10:33Vhagar has a new rider now.
10:35For a second there, it seemed like Aemond might be the one Targaryen boy
10:38of the next generation to not grow up with a mean streak.
10:41But it turns out the others tormenting of him would turn him into the worst of the bunch.
10:47After Laena's death, Aemond seizes the opportunity to claim Vhagar for his own.
10:52This does not sit well with the others, Vhagar being Rhaena's by right.
10:56Aemond is unremorseful, leading to a scuffle that sees Aemond
11:00deliver brutal blows to his nephews and cousins.
11:03Come at me again and I'll feed you to my dragon.
11:12However, Aemond gets it the worst when Jace blinds him with sand,
11:16allowing Luke the opportunity to slash his face.
11:19Aemond loses an eye in the ordeal, but he regrets it none considering what he gained.
11:2510. Ramsay Becomes Dinner
11:35If one character rivals Joffrey in the villainous department,
11:38it's the psychotic Ramsay Bolton.
11:40Luckily, he gets his comeuppance in the legendary Battle of the Bastards.
11:44Ramsay is viciously beaten by Jon and locked in the kennels of Winterfell,
11:48where he is met by the vengeful Sansa Stark.
11:50It's supremely satisfying watching her stand up to Ramsay
11:54and get revenge for all the harm he caused her throughout the show.
11:57And no death is more poetic than Ramsay being slaughtered by his own hungry dogs,
12:02the same dogs he used to kill his own stepmother and half-brother.
12:06You could say his own tools of torment came back to bite him.
12:159. Oberyn Martell's Death
12:21By season 4, audiences were starting to feel like they'd seen it all.
12:25The hardened viewers had watched their favorite characters die off or just disappear,
12:29endured scenes of torture and betrayal,
12:31breathlessly and patiently awaited the army of the dead,
12:34and then this happened.
12:41Even those who had read the scene in the book and knew what was coming
12:45were shocked by the graphic nature of the moment.
12:47To be honest, Eladia San's scream was all of us.
12:50We knew not to get too attached to any one character,
12:52but seriously, this is audience abuse.
12:578. Missandei's Death
12:59Missandei is one of Daenerys' closest advisors and friends.
13:03So when she's captured, Daenerys, as well as her lover Grey Worm, are quite upset.
13:15During the ensuing standoff at King's Landing,
13:17Missandei is displayed atop the wall.
13:20Despite Tyrion's best efforts to talk Cersei down,
13:23Cersei ultimately decides to have Missandei executed
13:26in front of the two people who love her the most,
13:29one of whom has a dragon.
13:30Missandei's final word, Dracarys,
13:33proves to be the last word on King's Landing as well,
13:35when the distraught Daenerys goes full Mad Queen.
13:457. Theon's Torture
13:50Theon's Torture
13:58Of all the terrible character journeys,
14:00Theon has perhaps had it the worst.
14:02One could argue that he brought it on himself,
14:04betraying Robb, killing innocent children,
14:06his clumsy capture of Winterfell and beheading of Ser Roderick,
14:09but seriously, Karma, this might be overkill.
14:12Over the course of multiple episodes in season 3,
14:14Theon is brutally tortured.
14:17The barbaric scenes do not let up,
14:19and there's just something so horrible about someone frantically begging for mercy.
14:23It is deeply disturbing.
14:24Of course, when you think it can't get worse,
14:26Theon is viciously castrated.
14:28Tortured both physically and psychologically,
14:31Theon becomes a husk of his former self,
14:33and audiences were left shaken.
14:436. Queen Emma's Death
14:46We suspected House of the Dragon would come out the gates hard in the first episode,
14:50but even we didn't expect this.
14:55Before Laena's complications,
14:57Queen Emma's experience reminded us how terrible it is to be a woman in Westeros.
15:01Her labors also go sideways,
15:03but she is without the benefit of a dragon to put her out of her misery.
15:08Instead, she's subjected to the decisions of the men around her,
15:11particularly her husband Viserys,
15:13who elects to have a c-section performed out of desperation for a son.
15:25We watch in horror as Emma's cut open against her will,
15:29and to make matters worse,
15:31not only does she perish,
15:32but so does the baby.
15:34This is dark stuff.
15:375. Daemon Ends Vaemond
15:40The Velaryons have it rough in season 1,
15:42but no one arguably got it worse than Vaemond.
15:57By all accounts,
15:58Vaemond is technically right in his conviction that Driftmark should pass through him,
16:02seeing as Rhaenyra's children aren't actually of Velaryon blood.
16:06But as we learn from Ned Stark,
16:08being right doesn't mean diddly squat if you make enemies of the wrong people.
16:13Vaemond makes a vehement case for himself in the Great Hall,
16:21compelling Viserys to make good on his promise of removing the tongue
16:25of whoever calls his grandchildren bastards.
16:28Daemon, however, has other ideas,
16:30slicing off the top half of Vaemond's head with one swift blade.
16:36Suffice it to say,
16:38the Queen of Hearts would be proud.
16:404. Vhagar Chomps Arrax
16:44Vaemond was right in valuing Vhagar over his left eye,
16:47and this scene is grisly proof of that.
17:02With the Dance of Dragons starting in full swing,
17:04Lucerys travels to Storm's End on his dragon Arrax to ensure Baratheon's support.
17:10However,
17:11Aemond has already beaten him there with more to offer and a heftier dragon.
17:29Apparently above killing him,
17:31Aemond only wants an eye from Luc in retaliation for the one he lost.
17:35Based on what happens next,
17:36we're betting Luc wishes he had taken him up on that proposition.
17:40Aemond taunts Luc in the skies with a clear weight advantage.
17:44However,
17:45he's ultimately unable to temper Vhagar's fury,
17:49as the Queen of All Dragons bites through the small one and sends Luc to an early grave.
18:003. Vhagar's Fury
18:02Vhagar's fury is a powerful weapon,
18:04but it's not enough to stop Vhagar's fury.
18:07Vhagar's fury is a powerful weapon,
18:09but it's not enough to stop Vhagar's fury.
18:28This is perhaps the most infamous scene in the entire series.
18:32After the death of Eddard Stark,
18:34it looked like Robb was on track to avenge his father
18:37and take the North back as its own kingdom.
18:40Having never lost a battle,
18:41the young wolf seemed unstoppable,
18:43despite making a few little miscalculations along the way.
18:46Michelle Fairley's powerful performance only ratchets up the tension
18:50until the final brutal cut.
18:52To this day,
18:53the haunting refrain of the Reigns of Castamere remains the melody of treachery and defeat.
18:58The King in the North arises.
19:03The abrupt end to the King in the North storyline shocked fans everywhere
19:07and left viewers wondering upon whom they should pin their hopes moving forward.
19:192. The Fate of Shireen Baratheon
19:29One of the only truly innocent characters in the show,
19:35Shireen Baratheon,
19:37the only child of Stannis Baratheon,
19:39is sweet and kind to everyone she meets.
19:41As Stannis' bid for the throne continues to falter,
19:44Melisandre convinces him that the Lord of Light requires a sacrifice.
19:48Brought to the pyre,
19:49Shireen dies seeing her mother and father do nothing to save her,
19:53despite her heartbreaking pleas for help.
19:55Her mother, Selyse, belatedly tries to take it back,
19:58but it's far too late.
20:00It's one of the hardest scenes to watch in the entire series,
20:03and we were more than happy to see Stannis meet Brienne in the very next episode.
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20:26The Game of Thrones universe is filled with deplorable and unspeakable acts of violence,
20:30and none is more vile than what befalls Jaehaerys Targaryen.
20:34The franchise once again pushes the boundaries of what's acceptable on television,
20:38and while we don't see the murder itself,
20:41the implication is that it's not.
20:43It's not the murder itself,
20:45it's the fact that it's not.
20:47It's the fact that it's not.
20:48It's the fact that it's not.
20:50It's the fact that it's not.
20:52It's the fact that it's not.
20:54The implication, sound design, and resulting visuals
20:58are more than enough to disturb viewers.
21:00The event throws the dance of the dragons into even more disarray,
21:04and even Daemon supporters can't defend the deplorable depths
21:07to which he sunk after ordering the hit.
21:09It is one of the most horrifying things ever depicted on TV,
21:13let alone the franchise.
21:20Are there any other scenes that troubled you?
21:22Let us know in the comments below.