10 ways Game of Thrones improved on A Song of Ice and Fire

7. Ygritte’s Death

A Song of Ice and Fire is not short on heartbreaking death scenes. While there are many that the show adapted pretty much straight from the page, one instance where the writers made things even more heartbreaking was the death of Ygritte, Jon Snow’s wildling lover from seasons 2-4.

Ygritte and Jon’s relationship was always one of the most bittersweet in the series. There are some truly beautiful scenes between the two characters, and the show did a wonderful job of bringing them to life. One moment that was already pretty crushing on the page was when Ygritte died. But there were painful mercies that George R.R. Martin granted us as well. While Ygritte does die in Jon’s arms, we don’t actually see her get her mortal arrow wound. Jon finds her already dying in the snow after the battle, and even takes some small solace in the fact that the color of the fletching on the arrow indicates it wasn’t one he fired personally.

In the show though….whew. We watch part of the battle from Ygritte’s perspective, as she sees phantoms of Jon with each Night’s Watchmen she fells. It all leads up to the climactic moment where Jon defeats the Thenn leader Styr, only to turn around and find Ygritte poised with an arrow aimed at his heart.

But instead of being afraid, Jon smiles, because he’s just so damn happy to see Ygritte. Ygritte hesitates to kill him.

We all know how it ended. Olly, the same kid who ends up knifing Jon only a season later, puts an arrow in Ygritte’s back. He thinks he’s saving Jon’s life, and who knows, maybe he was. We never got to see what would have happened if Jon and Ygritte had more time. But that agonizing close call, coupled with the fact that she dies directly as a result of hesitating to kill Jon, just makes the sequence hit home even harder.