The 30 most iconic moments from Game of Thrones, ranked

17. Wildfire explodes on the Blackwater

The Battle of the Blackwater is the first of Game of Thrones’ large-scale battle sequences, and it’s still among the best. The most exciting moment comes when Tyrion obliterates a good portion of Stannis’ navy by exploding a ship loaded with deadly wirefire on Blackwater Bay. It’s visually spectacular, and let viewers know that Game of Thrones was going to aim higher than most other shows. And it has real emotional stakes because Davos Seaworth, whom fans had already grown to love, is on one of Stannis’ warships. We wouldn’t learn if he’d survived the explosion under the season after.

But for Tyrion’s trick, things could have been much grimmer for House Lannister. After all, Cersei had so little confidence that she planned on poisoning both herself and her youngest son should Stannis breach the castle. Luckily, Tyrion’s wildfire holds the invading army off long enough for Tywin to arrive and rout the bulk of Stannis’ forces. The wildfire trick demonstrates Tyrion’s brains over brawn approach, something he’ll use when he joins up with Daenerys Targaryen later in the series.

This moment also inspires Cersei to use the substance later, albeit for far more selfish reasons. When Tyrion comes up with this plan, he still balks at the idea that there’s so much wildfire just sitting beneath King’s Landing. What if it were to fall into the wrong hands? If he only knew.