Prepare for Season 5 of HBO’s Game of Thrones: Season 4’s Top 10 Scenes and Character Updates

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​Season 4 was filled with lots of great scenes, plot twists, great quotes, and as usual… storylines happening all over the place.

The Best Scenes from Season 4

  1. Tryion's epic rant during his trial for murdering King Joffrey: The sneer was fantastic as well as the line, "I'm guilty of being a dwarf!" YouTube
  2. The death of King Joffrey: The structure of the scene was fantastic as Joffrey dies right when he seemed most invinceable and there were many suspects for us to speculate about. YouTube
  3. The Sword fight between Brienne of Tarth and The Hound: The screams of Brienne as she layed it all on the line made this different from all the other sword fights we've seen so far. YouTube
  4. The "Trial by Combat" battle between Prince Oberyn and The Mountain: They style and grace of Prince Oberyn was great to watch, until his head exploded. YouTube
  5. Sansa lying to cover for Little Finger duting the Lysa murder inquest: You just didn't know what was going to happen. But as her story unfolded and the lies poured forth, you felt the doormat of the series finally grew up.  YouTube
  6. Prince Oberyn telling Tryion he would be his champion: This was one of the few stirring moments in the series and the bond of the 2nd sons brought a tear to your eye. YouTube
  7. Mance Rayder's surrender to Stannis Baratheon: The nobility of Rayder and the projected power of Stannis came together in a great moment that Jon Snow helped smooth out. YouTube
  8. Tyrion shooting his father with two arrows: Its always good to see bad things happen to Tywin. And the emotions behind Tyrion's words are icy cold pain. YouTube
  9. Cersei tells her father about her Jamie is Tommen's father: All the things you hate about the Lannister's shine through in this scene. YouTube
  10. Khaleesi conquers Mereen: First, Dario Naharis wins a one-on-one battle, then she fires slave collars over the wall to fire up the slaves to revolt. YouTube

 

What Happened to the Main Characters

Tywin Lannister

  • The season starts off with him melting Ned Stark's old sword so he can give the newly one handed Jamie Lannister a smaller, but very strong sword. He gives Jamie some loving advice upon giving him the sword, "A one handed man with no family needs all the help he can get."
  • Tyrion shoots him twice with a cross bow while escaping, but he doesn't look dead. 

Jamie Lannister

  • Tywin wants Jamie to leave the King's Guard, but he won't leave.
  • Brienne of Tarth guilts him into looking out for Sansa Stark because of the vow he made to Caitlyn Stark when she released him from being a prisoner.
  • Taking his relationship with his sister to a new level of debauchery, he rapes his sister next to the alter holding their just killed son, King Joffrey. A truly horrible scene. 
  • He sends Brienne of Tarth out to find and protect Sansa Stark because of the promise he made with Caitlyn Stark
  • And… he helped Tyrion escape. I wonder what the blowback for this is going to be?

Tyrion Lannister

  • To save his mistress Shae, Tyrion tells her she's a whore so she will leave before Tywin finds out and has her killed. Bron takes her to a boat and she is to sail off to safety.
  • During the infamous wedding reception that killed Joffrey, Tyrion was ridiculed and embarrassed badly by the soon to be dead king. He also handled the wine several times that Joffrey was seen drinking right before his death. That soulless wench Cersei immediately accused Tyrion of being the killer and he is thrown in jail.
  • Tryion's trial is farce and when the woman he truly loves, Shae, turns on him, he breaks and goes on an epic rant about all that is wrong with everyone in King's Landing. With an assured guilty verdict on the way, he chooses a "trail by combat" to end things. Bron and Jamie decline Tyrion's invitation to fight The Mountain in this combat trial. But… in a great exchange, Prince Oberyn agrees to to be his champion. What a great scene!
  • Then, the overconfident Oberyn had his head crushed by The Mountain and Tyrion was set to die by hanging
  • Jamie and Varys setup an escape for Tyrion, and on his way out, he ends up shooting Tywin with two arrows as he was sitting on the toilet.  

Cersei Lannister

  • Her beloved son Joffrey is killed, she thinks Tyrion did it and is doing everything she can to rig the trail. There is a moment with Margaery Tyrell that Cersei admits Joffrey was a monster. 
  • We are reminded that her daughter is staying with Oberyn Martell's family. 
  • In a gripping moment, she tells her father that Tommen is Jamie's son. He says he doesn't believe her.

Stannis Baratheon

  • ​Stannis and that wicked witch Melisandre are burning all those who are in alignment with their gods. 
  • Davos Seaworth heads to the Iron Bank with Stannis torequest funds for his war to win back the throne. Davos builds a persuasive case and Stannis gets his army.
  • Stannis' army heads North of the wall and in one decisive battle, defeats the Free Folk army and captures Mance Rayder. 

King Joffrey

  • He got married and then he died which was pretty awesome. Little Finger claims to have done it to protect Sansa because of how much he loved her mother. 

Tommen Baratheon

  • He gets thrust into the spotlight when his older brother dies and he is now in line to be king. He's a nice, naive boy. 
  • Cersei and Margaery Tyrell scheme to get Margaery to marry Tommen who Margaery is already trying to seduce. 

Margaery Tyrell

  • Her second attempt to become a queen ends with Joffrey's death. But that won't stop her! 
  • She wastes no time seducing the new young king Tommen.

Brienne of Tarth

  • Lost in the sea that is the political nastiness of King's Landing, Cersei Lannister corners her at Joffrey's epic wedding reception and accuses her of loving Jamie. Brienne answers with stunned silence. 
  • Jamie Lannister asks her to find Sansa Stark, and Arya if she is alive,  and protect her. He gives her the sword made from Ned Starks valerian steel sword, a new suit of armor, and Tyrion's right hand man, Podrick Payne. Brienne leaving Jamie is very sad. 
  • While walking through the mountains, Brienne runs into Arya and The Hound and tells Arya that Catelyn told her to find her and bring her to safety. Arya doesn't believer, her neither does The Hound and an epic battle between Brienne and The Hound takes place with The Hound falling off the cliff to lose
  • Arya disappears after the battle.

Prince Oberyn Martell

  • The stylish Oberyn arrives at King's Landing for the upcoming wedding Joffrey wedding and immediately heads to a whorehouse and immediately stabs a Lannister. He's awesome!
  • His beautiful and erotic side kick Ellaria creates a stir wherever she goes.
  • He also let's us know he is there to avenge the death of sister, niece, and nephew at the orders of Tywin Lannister.
  • He volunteered to the champion in Tyrion Lannister's "trial by combat" so he could avenget the death of his sister and her children by killing The Mountain in the fight. He was fantastic, and stylish, and fought with a flare we had not seen before, until The Mountain crushed his head with his bare hands. Then he was dead.  He was such a great and colorful character in a series where almost everything is dark and dreary. It was a sad blow to the liveliness of the series. 
  • What will happen to Ellaria?

Varys

  • He's doing the usual things of walking around King's Landing, scheming, getting information from his birds, and making faces when people say things.
  • He implies to Oberyn that he would like to sit on the Iron Throne. 
  • He helps Tryion escape but it costs him his ability to stay in King's Landing. He's on the run with Tyrion. 

Daenerys Targaryen aka Khaleesi

  • She's slowly starting to realize that dragons may not be the best pets.
  • Daario Naharis, being played by a new actor, is still trying to win over the heart Khaleesi. Mostly through tricky romantic gestures followed by killing enemies in spectacular and comical ways.
  • She continues her world freedom tour by freeing the slaves of Mereen and focuses on maintaining rule across her conquered cities in Slaver's Bay so she can learn how to rule instead of invading King's Landing with her newly acquired ships thanks to Daario Naharis.
  • A slave bring to her throne room the a victim of her dragons, a burnt baby. This causes her to lock two of her dragons in a castle, but the biggest one is still out there roaming the skies. 

Jorah Mormont

  • His love for Khaleesi was never more evident than when he ran into Daario Naharis leaving her bedroom one morning. 
  • Tywin Lannister sends a message to Jorah, through Varys' little birds, that says he is pardoned for the services of spying on Khaleesi. Sir Barristan Selmy gets the letter and tells Khaleesi who is pissed! Khaleesi sends him away, after he confesses he loves her, and Jorah is now a man with no home. Where will he go?

Petyr Baelish – Little Finger

  • He was the chief architect behind the Joffrey murder in cahoots with Olenna Tyrell who claims she did it so her granddaughter, Margaery, wouldn't have to marry the sadistic ass Joffrey.
  • When he arrives at The Eyrie in The Vale with Sansa we find that he's the lover of Lysa Arryn and that he had her poisin her husband to death and mislead the Starks about something else. 
  • In a series with lots of awkward moments, Baelish kissing Sansa after they had a tense conversation is right up there. Lysa Arryn saw the kiss which sent her on a jealous rage that almost saw Sansa go out the "Moon Door." Baelish steps in and  sends Lysa to her death out the Moon Door
  • We find out that Little Finger grew up in Bravvos
  • Baelish places himself as the lead adviser for the little brat, and soon to be king, Robbin Arryn. In this way, he is setting himself up to rule the North

Sansa Stark

  • She's in King's Landing with her husband, Tyrion, who she hates in some way but clearly really doesn't. She also upset about her dead brother Rob and mother.
  • She unwittingly plays a role in the murder of her much despised brother-in-law, King Joffrey, and has to go on the run because of it. With the help of the mysterious peasant who gave her the necklace, she gets out of King's Landing and onto the ship of the chief architect of Joffrey's murderLittle Finger!
  • Little Finger and Sansa head to The Eyrie in The Vale and are welcomed by the child King, and totally whacky, Robin Arryn, and his mother, Sansa's aunt the Lady Regent Lysa Arryn. 
  • Sansa is interviewed by the leaders of The Vale who rightly question the motives of the newly arrived Little Finger after the death of Lysa Arryn. In a great performance, she lies to cover for Little Finger in the death of Lysa and a new bond is formed between the two. Our little girl is all grown up! 

Arya Stark

  • She's still in the company of The Hound who is trying to get her to her aunt so he can get a reward. 
  • She gets Needle, the sword her father gave her, back after killing a couple of the King's men in bar room brawl. 
  • She starts to rack up quite a kill list as her and The Hound wander around the country side. 
  • She runs into Brienne of Tarth but does not believe Brienne is really there to help her. After Brienne pushes The Hound off a cliff, Arya goes out on her own and makes her way to the coast. She finds a captain going to Bravvos and gives him the iron coin that Jaqen H'ghar gave her in season 2 (more here on Jaqen). 
  • The Hound was left for dead, but is he dead?

Bran Stark

  • He's spending alot of times in his warg ways, less in the real world. 
  • His traveling clan of Hodor, his direwolf Summer, and Jojen and Meera Reed
  • They are caught by the mutinous Night's Watch crew living in Craster's Keep. The are rescued by the Night's Watch crew that was sent to kill the mutineers. Locke, the taker of Jamie Lannisters right hand, tries to take Bran to the House of Bolton, but Bran wargs into Hodor's head and Hodor kills Locke. 
  • Bran Stark found the red tree and the one eye raven and had a wise looking man say things that are just things and he told Bran he would fly. 
  • Jojen died on the way. 

The Free Folk (The Wildlings)

  • Ygritte and Tormund are in a group that are looking to attack the Night's Watch at Castle Black and they make an unholy alliance with the cannibal clan the Thenns.
  • They unleash their attack but lose the first day of the battle and Ygritte is killed and Tormund is captured.  
  • On the second day the army of Stannis Baratheon shows up and conquers the Free Folk army. Mance Rayder is taken prisoner. 

Jon Snow 

  • He lived! Ygritte's arrows did not kill him. And then the leaders of the Knight's Watch also decided not to kill him for breaking rules.
  • He leads a crew of Knight's Watch to Caster's Keep to kill all the mutineers. 
  • In the battle with the Free Folk at Castle Black he leads the Knight's Watch in holding the fort for the night, but he does have his beloved Ygritte die in his arms. 
  • He heads out to kill Mance Rayder to end the war, but Stannis' army shows up and takes Mance away. 

Theon Greyjoy

  • The tortured, dickless wonder is continuing to be the pathetic ward of the insane Ramsey Snow of the House of Bolton and is one of the most depressing characters in cable history. His nickname is Reek
  • Theon's sister, Yara Greyjoy, attempts to rescure Theon from Ramsey's grasp, but at the moment when Theon needs to run away with her, he refuses. Yara ends up leaving him there and tells her shipmates, "My brother is dead."
  • Ramsey dresses him and sends him to negotiate the surrender of some of the Iron Born army. Theon is successful, so of course, psycho Ramsey kills them all. 
  • A continuing storyline of pain, misery, and boredom.

The House of Bolton

  • Locke, the take of Jamie Lannister's hand, is given the job of tracking down Bran and Rikkon Stark to rid the North of any possible rivals of the Bolton's rule. Locke finds Bran at Craster's Keep but is killed before he can take Bran away.
  • Ramsey Snow, after conquering another city and slaughtering its army, is rewarded by being given the last name of Bolton. His father fully recognizes the psycho comes from his seed. 

The White Walkers

  • They picked up a baby left by the current occupants of Craster's Keep and performed a ceremony where they touch the baby and the baby's eyes turn that ice blue color that implies they are now a White Walker.
  • Other than that, they must be on vacation in Florida or something because they are gone for most of the season.

Gendry

  • The bastard son of the dead King Robert Baratheon rowed away at the end of season 3 and hasn't been seen since. I wonder if he is in Florida with the White Walkers.