The 60 Most Important Deaths on Game of Thrones
By Corey Smith
59. Meryn Trant
As characters go, Ser Meryn Trant of the Kingsguard wasn’t terribly important, at least not at first glance. He wasn’t from a great house, didn’t command a large army or have dragons, and wasn’t even that good of a Kingsguard, at least according to the Hound. When Trant doesn’t come back from Braavos, Cersei doesn’t even ask about his whereabouts. What makes Meryn Trant’s death important isn’t the effect it has on the overall plot, but rather on one person: Arya Stark.
Trant murdered Arya Stark’s mentor, Syrio Forel, towards the end of the first season, and was the very first person Arya added to her kill list. He remained there until their paths crossed in Braavos, with deadly results for Trant. But as much as Trant had it coming, his murder was unsanctioned, and the Faceless Men punished Arya by blinding her and expelling her from the House of Black and White…for a while. It also intensified the rivalry between Arya and the Waif, a rivalry that would come home to roost a season later.
Watching Arya kill Trant was satisfying, but also disturbing; the brutality seemed to cross a line not easily uncrossed. It was another blot on her soul, and while she’s been on the path of redemption of late, it may yet come back to haunt her.
58. Myrcella Baratheon
Oh, poor Myrcella. Look, we aren’t going to argue that Myrcella’s death was important because of the emotional impact it had on us. Between her minimal screen time and her recasting (she was played by Aimee Richardson in season 2 and Nell Tiger Free in seasons 5 and 6), we barely knew anything about her, although she seemed a sweet girl who didn’t deserve the raw deal she got. Still, her death would go on to motivate several characters to action, most prominently her mother, Cersei.
Cersei was at a low point when she learned of Myrcella’s death. It wasn’t that long ago that she had lost her firstborn child, Joffrey, and she had just taken her Walk of Atonement. Speaking to Jaime after he returns with Myrcella’s body, Cersei lets us know that the prophecy of Maggy the Frog — the one that foretold the deaths of all of her children — was ever in her mind, and that she didn’t think she could avoid it. With Myrcella’s death, Cersei started to look at life in a fatalistic way. She started to think that she had nothing to left to lose, and when you’re think like that, you’re more apt to do things like blow up all your enemies when they’re gathered in a church.
Furthermore, Myrcella’s death provided Euron Greyjoy with an opportunity to get into Cersei’s good graces. He knew she wanted vengeance for her daughter’s death, so he brought her the woman responsible: Ellaria Sand. That gift cemented Euron’s alliance with Cersei, and led to one of the most chilling revenge scenes in the series.