The 60 Most Important Deaths on Game of Thrones

23. Shae

Shae, a camp follower turned royal handmaiden and significant other to Tyrion Lannister, may have not been one of the great movers and shakers of Game of Thrones, but her death still sits high on our rankings, in goodly part because of the effect it had on Tyrion.

His whole life, Tyrion had been looked down upon and belittled my his father Tywin and sister Cersei. But no matter how bad their abuse became (what Tywin did to Tyrion’s first wife, Tysha, was particularly egregious), Tyrion never broke faith with his family, even when the dangerously erratic Joffrey ascended to the throne. If you can endure all that, its gonna take a lot to make you break. Enter Shae.

Tyrion’s love for Shae and the sense of betrayal he felt when finding her in his father’s bed was the final straw. After a horrible struggle, Tyrion killed Shae, and then climbed the stairs and killed Tywin. From that point forward, Tyrion was gunning for House Lannister, and even joined with Daenerys Targaryen so he could help take them down. Shae’s death has already proved important, and there’s still one season to go.

22. Theon Greyjoy

Theon Greyjoy may have quietly had the best character arc of anyone on Game of Thrones. His story wasn’t as flashy as Daenerys Targaryen’s or Jon Snow’s, and he was never as heavily featured as Arya Stark or Tyrion Lannister, but this guy did a lot of growing over the course of eight seasons.

Theon began the show a smug, ambitious Stark ward who was carrying around more hurt than he realized. Theon’s desire to be accepted by his Ironborn family led him to do some very unsavory things, including killing a couple of innocent farm boys during his ill-advised capture of Winterfell, which he botched so badly the place ended up burning down.

Fans wanted to see Theon punished…but by the time Ramsay Bolton was done exacting his cruel tortures, our allegiance had completely shifted. Yeah, Theon screwed up, but no one deserved that.

Theon changed from a cocksure upstart to a groveling worm and finally, after he fled Winterfell with Sansa, to a different, more haunted, more textured character. A lot of credit has to go to actor Alfie Allen for selling this transformation every step of the way, right up until the moment Theon died defending Bran Stark from the White Walkers during the Battle of Winterfell.

Theon’s death may not have been “important” to how the story played out after that, but it was done masterfully, and deserves to be on here to mark the final resting place of one of the show’s best characters. – Dan