The 60 Most Important Deaths on Game of Thrones

5. Shireen Baratheon

Game of Thrones has a lot of death scenes, but only a few that make us ugly cry. Among those, Shireen’s death is definitely on top. Sure, it’s hard watching characters like Jon and Ned get bumped off, but at least they’re grown adults with flaws who died engaged in the life-or-death game of thrones. Shireen was different, a brainy, innocent child who loved her father, the same father who killed her in the hope of convincing his dark god to clear a snowstorm. We watched Shireen get tied to a stake and burned alive while her parents watched and she begged them to help. Her death may not have had the effect on same effect on the plot as, say, Robb Stark, but it sure as hell had an effect on us, and that counts for a lot.

And if your heart is as cold as the Night King’s, let’s get practical. Had Stannis not sacrificed Shireen, the greater part of his army may not have deserted him. Assuming the snows cleared up on their own (correlation doesn’t equal causation, Melisandre; Shireen probably could have told you that if you didn’t burn her), he may have had a chance of kicking the Boltons out of Winterfell ahead of schedule and saving the realm a lot of pain.

Also, had that happened, we could have all kept rooting for Stannis, the One True King and the Lord of Grammar, but burning his own daughter alive put him beyond our help.

4. Robert Baratheon

When the show begins, Robert Baratheon, the First of his Name, is king of the Seven Kingdoms. He’s a while into his reign and has grown fat and bored with the fragile peace he’s brought to the country, a peace he maintained largely with his strength of will, his strategic marriage to Cersei Lannister, and the threat of his giant warhammer. But there are people very close to King Robert — chiefly his wife — who don’t have his best interests at heart. Once Ned Stark becomes involved, the proverbial spark is lit, Cersei moves up her plan to kill her husband, and the Seven Kingdoms break into chaos.

There’s a lot that goes into setting off the War of the Five Kings, but Robert’s death is the first domino to fall, and the first domino is always the most important. His death may not have the emotional power of Ned’s — indeed, Robert’s own “children” hardly seemed to care — but without it, nothing that happens over the next several seasons, including Ned’s death, happens. Not many people may miss the old drunk, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t important.

Also, there’s a rich mine of memes all about Robert and the boar that gored him to death, which is important for different reasons.