Game Of Thrones' Shocking Moments

From the very beginning of Game of Thrones’ very first episode, it was clear that this show wasn’t going to pull any punches. Sure, it’s fantasy, but it’s also dark, brutal, violent and terrifying, as seen in the show’s opening moments. When three members of the Night’s Watch are set upon by the dreaded White Walkers, some shit goes down. That, however, was nothing compared to what came next.

That scene was immediately followed by Lord Eddard Stark, one of the first season’s main protagonists, mercilessly beheading the only Night’s Watch member who escaped the opening scene alive. This ain’t Harry Potter, kids, it’s a brutal, uncompromising look at a violent medieval culture, where even the heroes will cut a dude’s head off while their 10-year-old son looks on, if that’s what they think needs to be done. It was shocking to see such a thing depicted at all, much less so early and with a child watching.

An execution with children in the audience wasn’t the only shocking thing in Game of Thrones’ first episode, as the series declared itself unafraid of confronting and exploring one of our society’s biggest taboos: incest.

From a story perspective, it was absolutely scandalous and earth-shaking that Queen Cersei would be involved in an incestuous relationship with her brother Jaime, especially since it calls into question the legitimacy of Joffrey Baratheon and his siblings. What makes it even more shocking, however, is how fearless both George R.R. Martin and the show’s producers were in introducing such a twist so early. Even more shocking than that, however, was what happened immediately afterward...

Game of Thrones viewers learned about Jamie and Cersei’s unorthodox relationship at the same time as one of the characters in the story, Bran Stark. Lord Ned’s 10-year-old son got his fair share of both sex and violence in the show’s first episode, observing both an execution as well as the medieval equivalent to a live sex show. It’s somewhat shocking that a kid scaled an abandoned tower and saw a guy giving it to his sister, but what Jamie did to him is what really shocked us.

In order to keep he and his sister’s scandalous secret, Jamie legit shoved Bran out a window, presumably intending to kill the little peeping tom. Attempted child-murder is, by definition, always at least a little shocking. Even more so when it’s perpetrated against a kid audiences just spent the better part of an hour getting to know and learning to love.

While maybe not on the earth-shattering level as some other events in Game of Thrones’ first season, the nature of Renly Baratheon and Loras Tyrell’s relationship certainly resulted in some gasps, as well as some particularly juicy fan fiction. That’s because instead of just being close friends, as many readers and viewers assumed them to be, the two are actually lovers.

Since the reveal, which sent me and likely many others to Google with a, “are Renly and Loras gay,” query, I’ve read numerous annotated and footnoted explanations as to how the original Martin novels actually do imply that the two are in a homosexual relationship with one another. This wasn’t shocking because I have any problem with it – in fact, I find it a pretty interesting development – but rather because my literary gaydar is apparently defective.