Warning: Did you see the headline of this post? Seven bloody hells it is nothing but spoilers for Game of Thrones seventh season, so if you aren’t caught up on the show and want to avoid them, it’s best to not march through the opening of this protective wall.
Game of Thrones‘ seventh season hasn’t been universally embraced by everyone (myself included), but even then an up-and-down season of the show is still better than most things on television. Especially during a year when every episode featured at least one “holy s***” moment, and usually a lot more.
So while we’ve already turned our gaze to the show’s eighth and final season, we needed to take some time to appreciate season seven’s best, most exciting, most heartwarming, and most shocking moments.
And there were a lot of them.
ARYA FULLY AVENGES THE RED WEDDING
Season seven’s first scene might have been its most satisfying, with Arya doing the seemingly impossible and bringing winter to the house responsible for the Red Wedding.
LYANNA MORMONT READIES TO FIGHT
Our favorite little lady didn’t get as much screen time this season as we might have hoped, but watching her stand up to Lord Glover about why even the daughters of the North should train to fight the White Walkers, herself included, was a great reminder of why we love her no nonsense attitude.
DAENERYS RETURNS TO HOME TO DRAGONSTONE
It might have been a very (very) long walk from the beach to Aegon’s famed table, but finally having the Mother of Dragons away from Meereen and fully a part of the game in Westeros was long overdue.
ARYA AND BRIENNE DUEL
One and only one complaint: this sequence didn’t last 45 minutes.
THE LOOT TRAIN ATTACK
Oooooh, so that’s what dragons can do. This entire sequence might be the single most impressive battle ever filmed in television history, a truly stunning display. Not to mention Bronn shot a freaking dragon with a scorpion bolt.
RANDYLL AND DICKON TARLY DIE BRAVE BUT BRUTAL DEATHS
Oooooh, that’s also what dragons can do (when their owners are blind with rage). Shout out to Randyll Tarly for proving he wasn’t total garbage in his final moment, and also to poor Dickon who showed he was much braver than you ever would have guessed from someone with such a stupid name.
EURON’S SURPRISE NAVAL ATTACK
How did he know exactly which ship had his targets on? Who knows! But that didn’t take away from the strange beauty of watching a fiery nighttime naval attack from a deranged emo pirate.
OLENNA TYRELL GOES OUT IN STYLE
Dying at the hand of your mortal enemies isn’t ideal, but if you have to go go out in style, like Lady Olenna did when she confessed to Jaime that it had been her who poisoned Joffrey.
GILLY STUMBLES ACROSS THE MOST IMPORTANT ANNULMENT EVER
Sam is going to get all the credit, but never forget it was Gilly who found out Rhaegar and Lyanna had been legally married, making Jon Rhaegar’s trueborn son and rightful heir to the Iron Throne. Arguably the biggest revelation in show history, and all because Gilly loves old useless trivia.
SAMWELL TARLY: BOOK THIEF
The Citadel is a maddening place full of crusty old maesters and their bead pans, where you need a special library card to find any books that can help. We don’t normally condone stealing books, but Sam was justified this one time.
HOT PIE!
Hot Pie! HOT. PIE. Best moment of the season? Some might say no, but they would be wrong.
SAM CURES JORAH’S GREYSCALE
Forget that the maesters have been sitting on a cure for one of the world’s worst diseases, or that Sam was capable of performing surgery with zero training, and just enjoy that Jorah was saved.
THE HOUND BURIES THE DEAD
More than just being an awesome easter egg for book readers, grave-digging Sandor Clegane showed that real personal growth is possible for anyone when he buried the father and daughter he had stolen from years earlier. It was a sad moment, but also one of the season’s most humane.
WE FOUND GENDRY, AND HE HAS A WARHAMMER
“Where’s Gendry?” Turns out he’s been busy mastering the weapon his father Robert Baratheon made famous when killing Rhaegar Targaryen. Gendry was gone for way too long, but it turned out the wait was worth it.
CERSEI GETS HER REVENGE ON ELLARIA
It’s not often Cersei is completely justified for being evil, but Myrcella was totally innocent when Ellaria Sand and the Sand Snakes poisoned her. Oberyn would never have killed a child, so Ellaria really had it coming when Cersei kissed Ellaria’s daughter Tyene goodbye.
JON SHOWS DAENERYS THE CAVE DRAWINGS ON DRAGONSTONE
A powerful reminder of how the First Men and Children of the Forest stopped the White Walkers together made for a powerful scene. Plus, whoever made those cave drawings was really good. Those White Walkers were fantastic.
REUNIONS REUNIONS REUNIONS
Stark siblings, Bronn and Tyrion, Davos and Gendry, Sansa and Hot Pie (Hot Pie!), Brienne and the Hound, Tyrion and Podrick—season seven brought characters with long, meaningful relationships back together again and it was great.
JON AND DROGON MAKE A CONNECTION
Game recognize game, and dragon recognize blood of the dragon, even if his name is Snow.
ZOMBIE POLAR BEAR ATTACK
“Zombie Polar Bear Attack” sells itself.
TORMUND AND THE HOUND PITCH THE BEST BUDDY COP SERIES EVER
Give these two a six-season order right now.
DAENERYS SAVES THE DAY AT THE FROZEN LAKE
Even supersonic ravens and dragons flying at the speed of a 747 can’t erase how awesome it was to see a dragon save some of our favorite characters from a full-fledged zombie attack.
ARYA KILLS BAELISH AND REUNITES WITH SANSA
They didn’t make it easy on us, but the Stark sisters finally worked through their problems and exacted revenge for all of the horrible betrayals Littlefinger had committed against their family. Him trying to talk his way out of the situation even after his throat had been slit was also one of the best moments of characterization we’ve ever seen.
THE NIGHT KING KILLS VISERION
It’s real tough to top a blue-eyed ice demon bringing down a dragon with a magical ice javelin and then recruiting him into his army of the dead for pure awesomeness.
THE NIGHT KING RIDES VISERION AND BRINGS DOWN THE WALL
Unless you follow that up by having him ride that dragon to bring down the Wall and bring the dead into Westeros.
JON AND DAENERYS (WHO DON’T YET KNOW HE’S HER NEPHEW) GET INTIMATE
They don’t know what they did was gross, so we’ll let them have it for now. Even if not all of us understand why some of you were rooting for an aunt and her nephew to hook up. Maybe you owe Jaime and Cersei an apology right now? Unless you’ve always been okay with that. In which case Jon and Daenerys knocking boots was probably your favorite moment in show history.
THE ARMY OF THE DEAD MARCH ON WESTEROS
Daaaaaamn. Seven seasons of waiting for the White Walkers to pass the Wall and it finally happened, and it was insane.
But what about you? What great moment from the season did we forget about? Let us know in the comments below.
Images: HBO
