Highlights
- Ned Stark’s execution leads to Robb Stark’s rebellion and brings unimaginable horrors to the North.
- Jon Snow’s true parentage is revealed, highlighting his mistreatment by his family and his desire for the Stark name.
- The politics of the Seven Kingdoms tear apart the love between Jon Snow and Ygritte, leaving them separated and heartbroken.
The tragedies that beset the Starks on Game of Thrones affect the surviving members of the House until the end. Ned Stark’s unfair execution is the catalyst to Robb Stark’s rebellion, which ends in unimaginable horrors being inflicted on the North as a whole. Ned’s surviving daughters mourn his fate, and more characters are distressed elsewhere in and outside the realm.
Game of Thrones ends on a happy note for a few characters, while for others, it is an unending saga of tragedies. Ned’s household is gravely affected by the war, and the political instability of Westeros affects everyone, overall. Besides the ill effects of war, Game of Thrones also touches upon cruel fathers, people raised in the shadows, and the less privileged. Here are a few quotes that reflect the impressive emotional depth of one of HBO’s greatest shows.
1 “I Am Not A Stark.”
Season 1, Episode 1 “Winter Is Coming”
- Jon Snow
The bastard of Winterfell, Jon remains a man of few words from the beginning until the end of Season 1. He is told he’s the illegitimate son that Ned brought home from Robert’s Rebellion. The truth comes to the fore in the final moments of Game of Thrones Season 6, Episode 10 “The Winds of Winter.” Bran touches a Weirwood tree and sees his Aunt Lyanna entrusting baby Aegon Targaryen (renamed Jon) to Ned.
Game of Thrones Season 7, Episode 7 “The Dragon and the Wolf,” explicitly confirms the truth about Jon’s parentage via a conversation between the Three-Eyed Raven (Bran) and Samwell Tarly. Jon was never a bastard, and it’s saddening how fast he cleared that up to Bran in Season 1 due to the mistreatment he met at Catelyn and Sansa’s hands. He wanted the Stark name for himself, just like Robb, Sansa, Arya, and the rest.
2 “When We Had Feasts, Our Family Would Sit Up Here… And I’d Sit Down There.”
Season 6, Episode 10 “The Winds of Winter”
- Jon Snow
Jon’s Thrones journey has tons of ups and downs. He begins the show as Ned’s illegitimate son, rises to the rank of Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, is named King in the North, and later bends the knee to Daenerys Targaryen.
Growing up, Jon doesn’t receive the same treatment as Ned’s eldest, Robb. When he retakes his ancestral seat from the Boltons and restores Stark rule in the North, he goes over the painful memories of the Winterfell feasts. Jon takes a good look at everything in the Great Hall and tells Lady Melisandre that his family would sit at the great table, and he’d take an obscure corner. Catelyn and Sansa were awful to Jon, while Robb, Arya, Bran, and Rickon treated him well.
3 “I’ll Kill Them All! Every One Of Them. I’ll Kill Them All!”
Season 1, Episode 10 “Fire and Blood”
- Robb Stark
Robb is heartbroken by the news of Ned’s beheading. The said episode shows various Starks’ responses to the unjust killing of one of the most honorable men in the Seven Kingdoms.
Robb experiences a surge of strong emotions, followed by an intense physical reaction. He weeps by himself and hacks his sword at a tree until Catelyn calls to him:
Robb! Robb? Robb! You’ve ruined your sword!
Robb drops his weapon, hugs his mother, and promises to avenge his father’s death. The distraught Robb wants to kill every last Lannister and remains helpless because King’s Landing is a long way from the Starks’ war encampment.
4 “I Do Know Some Things. I Know I Love You. I Know You Love Me. I Have To Go Home Now.”
Season 3, Episode 10 “Mhysa”
- Jon Snow
Having gathered sufficient intelligence, Jon runs away from the Free Folk to go back to Castle Black and betrays his lover, the spearwife, Ygritte in the process. She finds him and draws her bow on him.
Jon makes a strong case for his actions and tells Ygritte he loves her but needs to return. She is unrelenting and shoots him with arrows as he rides away. Jon and Ygritte’s separation is a sad event because they love each other and things are out of their hands.
5 “Do You Remember That Cave? We Should Have Stayed In That Cave.”
Season 4, Episode 9 “The Watchers on the Wall”
- Ygritte
One of the most poignant quotes in Game of Thrones comes straight from Ygritte in the final phase of the Battle of Castle Black. Her story ends the moment Olly’s arrow pierces through her.
As Jon cradles a dying Ygritte in his arms, she asks him about the last time they were together in the cave beyond the Wall. Jon assures her they will go back there, knowing full well she won’t make it through the night. Jon also hears her say the famous quote – “You know nothing Jon Snow,” one last time. Ygritte suffers a tragic end in Game of Thrones, and even though she and Jon loved each other deeply, the politics of the Seven Kingdoms tore them apart.
6 “Let It End!” Please…”
Season 3, Episode 9 “The Rains of Castamere”
- Catelyn Stark
- “Let It End! Please… He Is My Son, My First Son! Let Him Go And I Swear We Will Forget This, I Swear It By The Old Gods And The New, We Will Take No Vengeance.”
Catelyn remained fiercely protective of all her children throughout Game of Thrones. When the North was plunged into a war due to the Lannisters, and to some extent, the naive Lord Stark’s comedy of errors, Robb declared war.
The war began with Robb summoning bannermen to free Ned from imprisonment and catapulted into a full conflict after the latter’s execution. Robb was declared King in the North by the Northern Lords. He fell off his pedestal due to his political inexperience, and inability to detect Walder Frey’s treachery. The Lannisters conspired with two of Robb’s allies to orchestrate the mass murders, colloquially known as the Red Wedding.
Tywin bought the Boltons and the Freys and had Robb and his host massacred at the Twins at the wedding feast of Roslin Frey. Catelyn’s pleas for mercy were ignored, and she helplessly watched Roose Bolton plunge a dagger through Robb’s heart. Her words are gut-wrenching because she had known Lord Walder ever since she was a little girl, and he’d violated the sacred Guest Right.
7 “Mother!”
Season 3, Episode 9 “The Rains of Castamere”
- Robb Stark
The merry-making came to a halt at the Twins when Walder Frey signaled the beginning of the massacre. Robb watched the end of his reign and the decimation of his kingdom before he could consolidate it. In the said episode, Robb’s wife, i.e., the woman he set aside one of Walder Frey’s girls for – the pregnant Talisa, was repeatedly stabbed in the stomach by Lothar Frey.
Robb barely got a moment to process the emotional shock, and he remained fixated on his wife’s corpse. He remained silent the whole time, but accepted his defeat and soberly called out to his mother one last time. The sad part is that Robb didn’t wage war for glory and titles but to restore the honor of his House. The Young Wolf, as he was called, bowed out of the war not with a bang but with a whimper.
8 “Loyalty.”
Season 2, Episode 6 “The Old Gods and the New”
- Arya Stark
After being captured and taken to Harrenhal, Tywin Lannister chose Arya as his cupbearer, not knowing who she was. He took to her very quickly because of her wit. Arya told Tywin tales about her father – Ned, who she maintained was a stonemason. She did what she had to survive, including lying to Tywin repeatedly about her family. When he asked:
Where is your father? Is he alive? Who was he?
Arya replied he was dead and that “loyalty” killed him. It was the most truthful thing Arya had said to Tywin. The fact remains that Ned’s unwavering loyalty towards his wastrel of a friend, King Robert Baratheon killed him, and scattered his family apart. He would have lived had he simply knelt before the illegitimate king, Joffrey. Tragedy had forced Arya to grow wise beyond her years, and she no longer spoke like the brat she was at the beginning of Game of Thrones.
9 “You Are No Son Of Mine.”
Season 4, Episode 10 “The Children”
- Tywin Lannister
Tywin’s beloved wife, Joanna, died giving birth to Tyrion, and that is why he was despised by everyone except Jaime. In the aftermath of the Purple Wedding, Tywin, who in the heart of his hearts, knew that his youngest, Tyrion, wasn’t culpable in Joffrey’s assassination, sentenced him to die. His eldest son, Jaime, freed Tyrion, but he looked forward to exacting vengeance.
Before escaping, Tyrion visited their father one last time because he looked for closure. Tywin put on an act until he was shot by Tyrion. Tywin denied Tyrion his place and forced the wittiest person around him to take the dark path. He left him scarred and denied him parental affection even in his last moments on Game of Thrones.
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