15 Thoughts You Always Have When Watching 'Game Of Thrones'
Whether you love Game of Thrones or totally hate it, this is definitely one TV show that is super hard to ignore. Die-hard fans know how intense the episodes usually are, and the truth is you have to put up with a bit of gore from time to time. Okay, most of the time. But the well-crafted plot, three-dimensional characters who honestly seem like real people, spectacular cinematography, and clever special effects all make it worth sitting through a couple of scenes that make you gag! This definitely isn't a show that you watch to wind down before bed because you're guaranteed to leave each episode revved up enough to get through a whole day of work. And it isn't a light-hearted, feel-good show that you can watch absentmindedly while you scroll through your Insta feed. But it's definitely an experience all on its own! Do you ever have any of the following thoughts while watching GOT?
15 “I Have To Shut My Eyes Or I'll Be Sick”
Let's just get this out of the way, GOT is gory AF! It's so gory that it makes the Saw movies seem child-friendly. Even if you don't mind a bit of fake blood in your fantasy television, it takes a pretty exceptional person to be able to sit through each episode without at least shutting their eyes once! If you're not up-to-date with the series you should probably stop reading now, but things that we've personally had to shut our eyes for include people's heads getting squashed like melons, good people being skinned like green apples, heads being melted with lava-like gold, faces being peeled off so others can wear them, public executions, and just about anything else you can think of. You know, the works! We also have to turn away to keep from crying. That's pretty much whenever one of the Starks' dire wolves is killed off -- if anything happens to Ghost, we're finding a new show!
14 “Of Course This Character Won't Die”
This is a thought that isn't specific to GOT because TV writers are usually reluctant to get rid of popular or important characters! But since the characters on this series are so perfectly fleshed out, we kind of get embarrassingly attached and if they died, we'd feel just about as sad as we would if they were real people in our lives! The tone of the show is significantly more dangerous than a lot of other series, so the characters are stumbling into potentially life-threatening situations in nearly every episode. It's fair to say that when you watch GOT you spend like 80% of the time on the edge of the seat gripping your pillow, praying that your faves are going to make it through. And sometimes, you can just tell that a character has a huge future ahead of them, and you're absolutely sure that they're going to make it to their destiny!
13 “OMG THEY DIED!!!”
Ugh! This is a thought that's pretty specific to GOT, which is notorious for killing off characters by the dozen. The writers of the show and author of the books, George R.R. Martin, totally don't care that your life is going to be shattered when you watch one of your favorites die, so this is a thought that unfortunately comes up way more than we'd like it to! To be fair, after a while you realize that nobody is off-limits, which is why you just about need blood-pressure medication to watch a string of episodes together. Our ultimate "OMG THEY DIED" moment had to be when Ned Stark was executed in the first season, and from then we knew that these people aren't into happy endings and rainbows. Even though we got used to it, we were still nearly shocked to death by the executions that took place at the Red Wedding. RIP.
12 “Those Two Make A Cute Couple”
Okay, so we've established this show doesn't fall into the romance category, but there are some cute couples in there! The cutest couple of the series had to be Ned and Catelyn Stark, who actually respected each other. That's rare in Westeros! We also totally shipped Jon Snow and Ygritte-who doesn't love a bit of forbidden love?! Robb Stark and Talisa were a cute couple, as were Oberyn Martell and Ellaria Sand. We'd even go so far as to say that we shipped Ramsay and Miranda-they were like the male and female embodiment of true evil so at least they matched! Since we're talking about GOT, just about every single one of those characters is dead now, but there are some cute couples who are still going strong! Here's to Daenerys and Daario, Sam and Gilly, and Missandei and Grey Worm. May you guys at least stay alive a while longer!
11 “Those Two Are The Worst Couple”
For every cute couple we've encountered throughout the series, there were double the amount of horrible ones! When we say horrible, we mean that we could barely stand watching them interact, mostly because one person didn't deserve the other. Poor Sansa Stark has probably had the worst luck with boys, first being engaged to Joffrey who thought about shooting her with a crossbow and then to Ramsay who made Joffrey look like Gandhi. Her best relationship was probably with Tyrion, but none of them loved the other so we aren't on board! We also weren't behind Little Finger and Lysa Arryn (it was clear somebody was going to go flying through that Moon Door before long) and nor are we keen on Cersei and Jaime Lannister, for obvious reasons! There were also some couples who literally made us gag, like Walder Frey and his wives who were fifty years younger than him. Gross!
10 “Oh, Another Naked Person”
We guess that the show aims to be realistic (as realistic as a fantasy show can be, anyway), and realistically nudity is a part of this society. But wow! There is literally so much nakedness in this series that after a while, it doesn't actually shock you anymore. No body part is off limits, part of the series is set in pleasure houses, there are cultures in the show who walk around half-naked just because, and basically, it's impossible to escape a bit of flesh. Sometimes it's obvious that people are missing their clothes because of the shock factor and to please the male fans who wait all freaking week for that particular scene, but other times it is actually logical and crucial to the story, which we don't mind so much! Every time Dany emerges from the fire to prove her worth, she's totally naked. But the flames would burn her clothes, so it makes sense!
9 “Am I As Fierce As Khaleesi?”
Speaking of the Mother of Dragons, haven't we all secretly aspired to be as much of a boss as she is?! In a show that features an awful lot of women who are basically just objects to men, it is completely refreshing to have one of the most powerful figures on the show be a woman! Some of the moments in which Khaleesi inspired us with her fierceness include when her dragons first hatched and everybody first realized that fire can't hurt her, when she freed the slaves and they called her 'Mhysa' or 'Mother' (bless!), and when she burned the Khals to death after they threatened to assault her. Plus we live for all the epic moments she has with her dragons, including when Drogon flamed the slave master, and when he came to save her from the arena when the Sons of the Harpy tried to ambush her. She's just so good!
8 “I Need My Own Dire Wolf ASAP”
Eh, did we mention how fond we are of the Starks' dire wolves? Each Stark child was given a wolf pup in the first series, and they all fiercely defended their masters whenever danger was near. They mauled assassins, attacked thugs, bit douche-bag princes, and tragically sacrificed themselves to whole armies so their owners could have a chance of escape. The tears are real! Basically, having an animal who loves you that much sounds incredibly enticing to us. The wolves were never called and ordered to fight, but could always sense when something was wrong and defended the Starks to the end! Lots of people have been killed off the show, but we were never sadder than when Ned had to execute Lady, when Arya had to say goodbye to Nymeria, when Grey Wind was murdered in his cage, and when Shaggydog ended up as a throw rug on Ramsay's floor. Heartbreaking!
7 “F Those Damn Lannisters”
Very few characters are purely evil in the show, but as a bunch, the Lannisters just give off the evil vibe, particularly in the first couple of seasons. Since we're firmly Team Stark, the Lannisters got on our nerves quite a bit with all their shenanigans. You know, if it weren't for Jaime Lannister, Bran wouldn't be a cripple. If it weren't for Cersei Lannister, Lady and Nymeria would still be with the Starks. Joffrey, who was secretly 100% a Lannister, was the one who ordered Ned Stark to die, Tywin Lannister was partly responsible for the Red Wedding, and Cersei empowered the High Sparrow who made a total mess. Can these people be any more annoying! Admittedly, Tyrion Lannister is one of our favorites, and Jaime is a good guy who's made some mistakes. Our lives would just be a lot less stressful if the Lannisters as a group were nicer people.
6 “Wow, I'm Starting To Like This Character”
Hooray for character arcs! One of the best things about GOT is that the characters are so real and complex that they develop so much throughout the series, and you end up actually liking the people you hated in the beginning! We all thought Jaime was the bad guy when he pushed Bran out the window, but he's grown on us! The way he saved Brienne seriously boosted him up a few notches in our books! Dare we say it; Cersei Lannister was even mildly tolerable by Season 5. She's clearly not a great person, but she does love her children and kind of had a difficult past. We started off hating Khal Drogo, but ended up liking him and let's not forget Lady Melisandre! When she ordered Princess Shireen to die as a sacrifice, we were calling for her head, but she worked her way into the good books by resurrecting Jon Snow.
5 “I Would NOT Have Done That”
Sometimes GOT just makes you want to grind your teeth because you'd never make the mistakes that some of the characters make. There's nothing worse than seeing a character walk right into a sticky situation through their own stupidity, because in GOT, sticky situations usually end up in a beheading. The classic example is when Robb Stark broke his oath with the Freys by marrying Talisa. Yes, we totally shipped this couple, but couldn't he just keep his oath and marry Walder's daughter, win the war with Walder's help, and then deal with his love life? Damn the Starks and their honesty! It was early on, but we felt the same way when Ned confronted Cersei about the legitimacy of her children instead of telling somebody who could do something about it. Literally, it was a moment of screaming “NO!” at the TV. We also feel this way about Theon Greyjoy's whole life.
4 “That Would Shock Me But I'm Super Numb”
As we've mentioned, there's a lot of nudity and a lot of gore in the series that does sometimes make you close your eyes until it's over. But there are some things that we can actually handle watching because we've seen so much of it that it's no longer a big deal. Back in the day we probably wouldn't have been able to handle a hanging scene or somebody getting burnt at the stake, but now those things are as stimulating as background scenery. When you think about it, it's shocking how many “upsetting” situations are now in the low-key category for us GOT fans! Obviously every now and then there's a scene that we still can't handle, like swords through eyes and all the wonderful things that take place on Ramsay's wooden cross, but we've definitely come a long way! We could probably even enjoy a snack while watching the next execution.
3 “Humans Are SO Mean”
There are a few deeply good characters in the series whose kindness just makes our day, like Tyrion, Jon or Sam. Mostly though, the cruelty in the show is real. Even the characters who aren't purely evil can usually get a bit mean as they try to get what they want, and even “good guys” like Ned and Robb Stark and Khaleesi aren't opposed to chopping off a head or two when the need arises. So you basically leave each episode of GOT pondering at how humans are actually really mean. Well, the humans in this world anyway! Stabbing people in the heart just isn't a huge deal for most characters, and a lot of them have learned to anticipate danger from strangers instead of kindness. Almost everybody has an ulterior motive and is in it for themselves, and you kind of give up on humanity a little bit as you're watching!
2 “I Wish This Were Real”
It's brutal and bloody and makes you give up on humanity, but there's still a moment in every GOT episode when you wish it were all real! Even when your faves are in dangerous situations, their world is for the most part so much more exciting than yours. You wish you had your own dire wolf, your own dragons, your own King's Guard, and your own castle. You even end up wishing that the people were real, and it's always a shock when you remind yourself that they're actually not! We wouldn't mind being BFFE with Arya or Khaleesi, and definitely having a Brienne of Tarth to follow us around. Just quietly, we also wouldn't mind having our own Jon Snow, Robb Stark or Daario Naharis. Either one would be fine! Watching GOT isn't a light-hearted experience, but it's definitely an escape in some form. Somebody needs to make a GOT theme park!
1 “But I'm Glad It Isn't”
As much as we wish that the good parts of GOT were real, we're happy that it is simply entertainment that we can use to escape! Yep, we'd love to run wild with wolves, touch fire, see into the future, and marry one of the Starks, but we wouldn't cope with one-quarter of the things these people have to go through. It's all fun and games until you find yourself strapped to Ramsay's cross, locked beneath the Red Keep or being set on fire because Melisandre thought she had a vision. We get way too attached to these characters, so the one thing that saves us when any of these things happen is remembering that this has all come from somebody's imagination, and nobody we know is actually having their head crushed like a grapefruit or being married off to a sadistic monster. Thank goodness! It isn't real, but that doesn't mean we love it any less!