Many TV shows are lucky if they produce one or two characters who stick with audiences after the credits have rolled. Game of Thrones, which ran on HBO from 2011-2019, seemed to crank them out every week. From the tragic Ned Stark to the ambitious Daenerys Targaryen to the clever Tyrion Lannister, these characters quickly became household names, and people loved watching them interact every week.
Even though the show's supporting characters were memorable. Who can forget Brienne of Tarth, the noble-hearted giantess who defied gender expectations to become a knight; or Tormund Giantsbane, wildling warrior who loved her from afar?
Actually, Tormund made his intentions pretty clear. He was spellbound by Brienne the instant time she rode through the gates of Castle Black in the season 6 episode "Book of the Stranger" and remained interested in her for nearly the rest of the series, even though it was clear she did not reciprocate his feelings. It became a running gag, immortalized in moments like this one from Episode 605, "The Door," where Tormund makes eyes at Brienne as they leave Castle Black as members of Jon Snow and Sansa Stark's encourage, and Brienne looks like she's about to invent the first human resources department:
As it ends up, that moment was completely unscripted. "There was the episode where they’re all leaving Castle Black together and there’s a shot — it wasn’t scripted at all — of two of them on horseback and she looks at him and he smiles at her," showrunner Dan Weiss told Entertainment Weekly back when the show was still running. "It’s not something you could ever write. It’s just this moment where this guy is creeping out on her and he smiles in a way that makes her very uncomfortable and she just looks away. I saw it 150 times and every time it made me laugh; it’s purely the two of them."
The scene in the episode before where Tormund states at Brienne over the dinner table was also driven by the actors doing what they felt like. "It’s great because there was no dialogue written for that, or major stage direction, there was just a line like, 'He stares at Brienne because he’s never seen a woman like that before.' And then we let the actors do what they do," said showrunner David Benioff.
Fans geeked out over little silent moments like this for years, all because of the small choices the actors made. It's hard to capture lightning in a bottle, but you know it when you see it.
We haven't yet seen anything quite like this strange interplay on HBO's new Game of Thrones prequel show House of the Dragon, but maybe that'll change in the show's second season, which premieres on HBO and Max on Sunday, June 16. As for Gwendoline Christie and Kristofer Hivju, who played Brienne and Tormund respectively, they've both gone on to big success, with Christie appearing in Netflix shows like Wednesday and The Sandman and Hivju appearing in Cocaine Bear and The Fast and the Furious franchise.