The 30 most iconic moments from Game of Thrones, ranked

4. The Red Wedding

When discussing Game of Thrones, it’s inevitable that the Red Wedding will come up sooner or later. With the possible exception of Ned’s beheading, the unexpected slaughter of Robb’s army is the most shocking moments from the first few seasons of the series. While Ned’s death proved that no one in the series is safe, Robb’s and Catelyn’s deaths drove that point home.

What really makes the Red Wedding shocking is that the majority of the episode is full of cheerful interactions between the characters. While Walder Frey is hardly hospitable to the Starks, we don’t sense that he’s more than merely grumpy, which is his usual speed. After making Robb eat some crow for breaking his marriage vow, he moves on and it seems that the whole affair will be forgotten.

In some ways, Walder Frey even seem magnanimous, presenting Edmure Tully with one of his more kind and beautiful descendants to take to bride. There’s excitement during the bedding ceremony, and Robb and Talisa share a sweet moment about their child to come. Nothing seems awry until the “Rains of Castamere” begins playing and Catelyn lifts Roose Bolton’s sleeve to find armor under his clothing.

From there, things get very bad very fast. Walder Frey’s betrayal is calculated and brutal, and Robb watches as his men are killed and his pregnant wife stabbed to death. Catelyn tries to save Robb’s life, but must also watch her son die. Her final, hopeless scream at the end of the episode says it all. The Red Wedding will go down in history as one of the most savage acts of war in Westeros, and one of the most unexpected plot twists in TV history.