The 60 Most Important Deaths on Game of Thrones

33. Olenna Tyrell

Of all the last words spoken on Game of Thrones, none were more boss than Olenna Tyrell’s. What else would you expect from someone nicknamed the Queen of Thorns?

After Jaime’s sack of Highgarden, Olenna was finished, and she knew it. But before she died, she stuck a verbal knife in Jaime’s gut and twisted, making sure she went out on top. Losing Olenna, who consistently provided some of the show’s best dialogue, was painful, but her death meant more than that.

For one thing, it meant the end of House Tyrell. True, the clock on House Tyrell was ticking when Margaery, Loras and Mace died at the Sept of Baelor, as Olenna was by then far past child-bearing age. But she could still get vengeance for those she loved, which is why she joined up with Daenerys. Still, the last surviving member of any house finally meeting their end is a big deal in Westeros. The Tyrells had ruled the Reach for for over three hundred years and had been stewards to House Gardener for even longer. Olenna’s death, together with the death of an important local noble like Randyll Tarly, leaves the Reach pretty much leaderless. The idea of the old guard being swept away is a consistent theme on Game of Thrones, and as much as we love Lady Olenna, she was caught up in that tide.

32. Renly Baratheon

As the saying goes, the brightest stars always burn out first, and Renly was nothing if not bright. Before being murdered by his brother Stannis’ shadow baby, Renly had assembled the largest army in the War of the Five Kings, bringing all the power of the Reach and the Stormlands with him on his slow and festive march to King’s Landing. Renly’s death sent the war spinning off into a bunch of new directions, affecting everyone from Robb Stark to Stannis Baratheon to the Lannisters.

In the immediate aftermath of Renly’s death, his armies split off, with the Tyrells and most of their bannermen going into a holding pattern while the Stormlanders went over to Stannis, which gave him the strength he needed to attack King’s Landing. Stannis did not keep his brothers’ leisurely pace. He forced Tywin to return to King’s Landing, which took pressure off Robb Stark and robbed Arya of an opportunity to bump Tywin off before he could do more damage. And the Tyrells wouldn’t stay idle for long, forging an alliance with the Lannisters that would shape the show for the next four seasons.

Finally, although it might have taken the better part of four seasons to catch up to him, Stannis would eventually pay for Renly’s death courtesy of Brienne’s Valyrian steel sword. Melisandre, watch yourself.