The Game of Thrones fandom is filled with people with varying understandings of the novels – some fans have read all the books, some have only watched the show. So what do the two sides think of the deaths this season? Well, the opinions are definitely different!
Hypable writers Michal Schick and Tariq Kyle are two sides of the same Game of Thrones coin: Michal has read the books, but Kyle hasn’t. So when all of these characters died this season, we decided to see how their opinions differ on the way they passed. Warning: Huge season 4 spoilers ahead, obviously.
Joffrey Baratheon
The non-book reader: After I’d heard rumors of the death, I was definitely looking forward to seeing this happen, along with everyone else. When it did, I thought that this death was absolutely brilliant. The way Joffrey was acting, cutting up the gift Tyrion gave him and forcing the smaller people to entertain them, I just wanted him beheaded!
But the poisoning was brilliant because he suffered, and he was begging for his mother. It wouldn’t be a fair death if he was just beheaded or killed quickly, and I absolutely loved seeing him squirm. Definitely one of, if not the, best deaths of the season!
The reader: This is a scene that gets better on a re-watch for me. They really took their time with the wedding feast – it’s so long and elaborate that I almost got a little bit bored while waiting for Joffrey to croak.
But on the re-watch, I started to appreciate the tension of the scene. The show doesn’t point you toward the massive event until just before it happens. The setup was deliberate and intense (and the game of hot potato played with the poisoned cup is brilliant) and Joffrey’s flexing his crazy-muscles one last time gives the scene great juice. I still wish the show had spent more time on Joffrey’s actual death, with the entire court panicking around him instead of standing there like idiots. But I think they were going for eerie and gruesome, and they certainly achieved it.
Oberyn Martell
The non-book reader: I’M SO PISSED! Game of Thrones really knows how to get you to like a character, and just when they give you hope they take it all away. Although, this death was gruesome and gory and horrible, and I actually kind of loved it. Those who don’t know me must understand that when it comes to character deaths, I actually really like them and what they add to the story. However, I feel like Oberyn’s death was almost pointless in the end.
Despite being grossed out, I liked the fashion in which Oberyn died because it was just so epic. However, I feel like his death was wasted now that Tyrion escaped. Jaime could have saved Tyrion at literally any point in time, and before he was sentenced to death. Now that Tyrion is gone, what was the point of Oberyn’s death? He died for nothing, in the end.
The reader: I’m still not over this. Oberyn’s death is shocking in the books, but it is a million times harder to watch onscreen. The scene was so vivid and dynamic, and Oberyn so incredibly powerful, that it is really competing against the way I’ve always imagined the scene in my mind. The show recreated the feeling of the duel perfectly, and I was desperately hoping – and even partly believing – that Game of Thrones would spare the Red Viper of Dorne. Alas, they stuck to the canon!
Pyp/Grenn
The non-book reader: You know, I never really had that much of a strong connection to either Pyp or Grenn. While I definitely understand that they were Jon’s friends and backed him up through anything, and they died fighting nobly, I wasn’t really affected by this death. I guess maybe that’s because we hadn’t really seen them bond as much as I’d like to have, but this was definitely one of the least impactful deaths for me.
The reader: I know it’s weird, but Pyp and Grenn’s deaths were some of the most traumatizing for me. Both characters are still alive in the books, and though they aren’t major characters in either medium, both of Jon’s friends were familiar faces that I relied on having in the Night’s Watch. I had expected that they would remain that way, and it still really hurts that Pyp and Grenn are gone.
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