In Game of Thrones, you win or you die. And suffice to say there’s been a lot of people not winning lately. Season six of our favorite fantasy series has just kicked off, and it’s as bloody as ever. The writers for the first episode, “The Red Woman” took to the cast of characters like Orson and his beetles. As Tyrion aptly put it as he and Varys wandered through the streets of Meereen, “Whoever you are, where ever you go, someone wants to murder you.”
Let’s see who succeeded.
R.I.P. Prince Doran Martell
It was a sad episode for anyone expecting Prince Doran to put Ellaria and her Sand Snakes in their place after the murder of Princess Myrcella in season five. In retrospect, it should have been obvious that none of them would go down without a fight. And of course they’d have a coherent plan past “kill the princess for revenge!” That plan involved putting a dagger through the heart of Prince Doran and letting him live just long enough to learn they’re going to assassinate his son, as well. Harsh.
R.I.P. Areo Hotah
Poor Areo Hotah. He was so much cooler in the books where he actually got to use his axe to carve up a few Sand Snake conspirators. As a POV character in A Feast for Crows, he was our eyes and ears into the goings on in Dorne. So it is unfortunate to see him assassinated so easily with a knife in the back from Tyene Sand. He didn’t save his prince. He didn’t even manage to take a swing at his attackers. Bowed. Bent. Broken.
R.I.P. Dornish Messenger
Hey, don’t kill the messenger! Argh, you killed him anyways!
R.I.P. Prince Trystane Martell
Goodnight, sweet prince. You were too beautiful and innocent for this world. Even when your cousins were dishonorable enough to metaphorically stab you in the back by staging a coup, you still don’t defend against the possibility that they may literally stab you in the back, too. Here’s hoping he had a couple extra ceremonial death rocks kicking around his ship. The Martells are gonna need them.
R.I.P. Bolton Search Party
Just when it seemed like Theon and Sansa were destined to return to the clutches of Ramsay Bolton, in comes Brienne of Tarth and Pod to save the day. This was another desperate and hard fought fight as the search party was made up of four mounted men and two soldiers with hounds. The only guy who goes down easily is the one so surprised that Brienne is a woman he doesn’t notice her sword until it’s cleaved through his collarbone. Take that, patriarchy.
Podrick’s training seems to be going along well; he manages to kill one of the Bolton men on horseback. And another soldier dies at the hands of Theon, who’s getting less and less Reeky as time goes on.
This week’s final tally…
Major Characters Killed: 3
Other Characters Killed: 7
Total Deaths: 10
That’s quite a few souls for the Many-Faced God. Will episode two see even more? Don’t forget to let us know what you thought of the deaths from this week’s show, and who you think is the next to go. All men must die… but hopefully it won’t be any of our favorite characters.
