Many House of the Dragon fans found themselves shocked when the most recent episode, "Faceless Men," opened with the Butcher's Ball, a notorious battle during the Dance of Dragons most notable for resulting in the death of Ser Criston Cole (Fabian Frankel). Ser Criston has been a series staple thus far, with Frankel's first appearance as the character taking place in the show's pilot, "The Heirs of the Dragon." In fact, at the time of Cole's death, Frankel had appeared in more House of the Dragon episodes than series leads Emma' D'Arcy (Rhaenyra Targaryen) and Olivia Cooke (Alicent Hightower).
However, equally surprising as Cole's death is the fact that it kicks off the episode. Usually, when a major character in an HBO Westeros series dies, the episode is structured around their death, ultimately building up to it in the last few minutes. However, Cole is killed towards the very beginning of "Faceless Men," with the episode then moving on from the Butcher's Ball. While the structure of Cole's death feels unusual, several other major characters from House of the Dragon's predecessor show, Game of Thrones, also die towards the beginning of an episode.
1. Robert Baratheon
When Game of Thrones begins, King Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy) sits the titular throne. However, his character was never meant to last long, with much of the show's future conflict revolving around the question of his succession. Robert ultimately succumbs to wounds suffered during a hunting trip, although, unbeknownst to him, his wife, Queen Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) had her cousin Lancel (Eugene Simon) ply him with too much wine before taking on a boar in an attempt to kill the king.
Robert's death takes place towards the beginning of the seventh episode of Game of Thrones season 1, "You Win or You Die." The rest of the episode follows the slain king's Hand, Ned Stark (Sean Bean), and his plan to ensure that Robert's rightful heir takes his place, and not Prince Joffrey (Jack Gleeson), secretly the bastard son of Cersei and her twin brother Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). The episode then ends with Cersei thwarting Ned's plan and ultimately arresting him, a far more fitting cliffhanger than a death everyone saw coming a mile away.
2. Renly Baratheon
Much like his older brother, Renly Baratheon's (Gethin Anthony) death kicks off another Game of Thrones episode. In his case, Renly dies at the beginning of season 2, episode 5. "The Ghost of Harrenhal," when a mysterious shadow flies into his camp and stabs him in the back. The rest of the episode follows the fallout of his murder in his Storm's End camp, with Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie), who audiences know to be innocent, taking the blame.
Renly's death pays off a terrifying cliffhanger from the previous episode, "Garden of Bones," which ends with Ser Davos Seaworth (Liam Cunningham) leading Melisandre (Carice van Houten) into a dark cave. Melisandre disrobes, appearing to be pregnant all of a sudden, before giving birth to a terrifying shadow. In placing this scene in the episode prior to Renly's death, Game of Thrones successfully builds up suspense regarding the shadow, and what Melisandre's magic can do, before shocking audiences with another king's demise.
3. Stannis Baratheon
Continuing the theme of the Baratheon brothers dying in the beginning of an episode, Robert and Renly's middle sibling, Stannis (Stephen Dillane), is killed towards the start of the season 5 finale, "Mother's Mercy." After sacrificing his daughter Shireen (Kerry Ingram) in the previous episode to ensure victory in the coming battle, Stannis instead discovers that half of his troops have abandoned his cause. Nevertheless, he still commands them to press on, only to suffer a swift and brutal defeat at the hands of the Boltons. Then, Brienne finds a severely wounded Stannis and executes him for Renly's murder.
Ultimately, had Stannis died later on in the episode, his demise would have felt overshadowed by another big death: Jon Snow (Kit Harrington). The final scene of "Mother's Mercy" sees Jon killed in a mutiny at the hands of his fellow men of the Night's Watch. Jon's death had fans scrambling and speculating all throughout the time between seasons 5 and 6, so spacing out Stannis' allowed his death to feel the weight it truly deserved without playing second fiddle to Jon's.
4. The casualties of the Sept of Baelor explosion
Towards the beginning of the season 6 finale, "The Winds of Winter," Cersei is expected to face trial in the Sept of Baelor. However, instead, she plants a wildfire cache beneath the holy site, setting it off with many of her enemies still inside. This plan results in the deaths of several major characters, including Margaery (Natalie Dormer), Loras (Finn Jones) and Mace Tyrell (Roger Ashton-Griffiths), the High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce), and Grand Maester Pycelle (Julian Glover), all within the episode's first few minutes.
Showcasing these deaths so early on in the episode allows the rest of the runtime to explore the storyline's resolution, while also ending the season with one of the most anticipated moments in the series: Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) finally setting sail for Westeros. Additionally, when Cersei's son, King Tommen Baratheon (Dean-Charles Chapman), learns of his wife Margaery's death, he jumps out a window, allowing Cersei to become ruling Queen of Westeros, and continuing the tradition of a Baratheon featuring in each entry on this article.
5. Varys
In the first entry on this list to be completely devoid of Baratheons, Varys (Conleth Hill) is killed off towards the beginning of the series' penultimate episode, "The Bells." After discovering his conspiracy to crown Jon Snow as King of the Seven Kingdoms, Daenerys executes the Master of Whisperers by dragonfire.
Given that the rest of the episode follows Daenerys' razing of King's Landing, killing off Varys later would have felt out of place. Instead, his death serves as one final reminder of Daenerys' instability before things take a dark turn.
For more from Westeros, tune into House of the Dragon season 3, airing on Sundays on HBO Max.
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