History GameOfThrones / TropesCToD

** And later in "The Bells" (Season 8, Episode 5) [[spoiler: Daenerys does just that to King's Landing]].

* DumbassHasAPoint: Played for DramaticIrony when Joffrey, the series reigning champion of petty stupidity, is seriously and rightfully concerned by the rumours of Daenerys and her dragons but is contemptuously dismissed by Lord Tywin.

* DesignatedHero: By the end of the series, the surviving members of House Stark have descended into committing deeds as murderous and treacherous as any other house, but the audience is still expected to side with them.

* TheDogShotFirst: In "The Children", [[spoiler:Shae]]'s reaction to spotting [[spoiler:Tyrion]] is to wordlessly scramble for a knife, prompting a deadly struggle, whereas in the source material the character is strangled in cold blood attempting to talk themselves out of the situation.

GameOfThrones/TropesA | GameOfThrones/TropesB | '''Tropes C To D''' | GameOfThrones/TropesEToF | GameOfThrones/TropesGToK | GameOfThrones/TropesLToO | GameOfThrones/TropesPToS | GameOfThrones/TropesTToZ |

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** [[spoiler:Daenerys]] becomes this when she needlessly mass-slaughters [[spoiler:the people of King's Landing]] and views this as 'liberating' the people from a tyrant, determined to continue this everywhere to achieve her vision of an ideal world.

** [[spoiler:Daenerys suffers one of these in Season 8. First, she finds out her LoveInterest Jon has a better claim to the throne and though he does not want the crown, she fears other will press his claim over hers. She loses Jorah, Missandei and one of her dragons in quick succession and her fears about people plotting against her prove right -- Sansa Stark tries to undermine her claim to the throne and Daenerys finds out her advisor Varys is plotting to replace her. She feels she will never win the love of Westeros, and finally, while Jon loves her, he is unable to get over their [[SurpriseIncest blood relationship]] and when Daenerys tries to resume their romantic relationship, he will no longer engage with her because of their incest. Feeling she has little left, Daenerys's mental state declines, she resigns herself to fear over love, and later 'snaps' under the weight of her grief and hatred, [[DisproportionateRetribution annihilating King's Landing]] -- even after its surrender, going after non-combatant men, women, and children too.]]

-->'''Jon:''' [[CallBack "Love is the death of duty."]]\\

** [[spoiler:Daenerys's first time in battle against the Lannisters after they took Highgarden is nothing short of a chaotic, horrific mess on the latter's part. At first Jaime and Bronn think they're just going to face off against a horde of Dothraki, difficult but possible. [[OhCrap Then they see Drogon flying in from the distance...]] ]]

** As a eunuch, Grey Worm is athletic but not particularly large, so he fights in a very light and graceful way...at least when he's not using ShieldBash.

** Arya becomes a [[spoiler: scary assassin]].
** Bran is a distant [[spoiler: HumanoidAbomination]].
** Sansa is herself [[spoiler: is a NobodyToNightmare hardened rape / torture survivor]].

* DealWithTheDevil: Craster is left alone by the White Walkers in exchange for the sacrifice of his newborn sons.

** Jon Snow is constantly caught between his duty to Night's Watch and family, justice, and love. First he wants to go to war beside his family, then the needs of the Watch require he overlook the crimes of Craster, then he falls in love with a wildling.

** In "Dragonstone," pop star Music/EdSheeran has a cameo as a Lannister soldier who sings "Hands of Gold at a camp site. The showrunners intended it as a gift to Maisie Williams, who is a fan, but the cameo received some backlash on social media.

** Hodor can crack walnuts bare handed in "A Man Without Honor." Thankfully, he's a GentleGiant.

** The Lannisters are jerkass blondes. The Baratheons are all [[TallDarkAndHandsome black-haired]] warriors. The Targaryens are all white haired and pale, because they're ''very'' descended from Valyrians. This actually plays a part in the plot considering hair color [[RoyallyScrewedUp isn't the only thing]] being passed down.

---> '''Jon''': "But I couldn't do it, because all I could think was 'What if I got her pregnant and she had a child, another bastard named Snow?' It's not a good life for a child."\\
'''Sam''': "...So you ''didn't'' know where to put it?"

* CripplingOverspecialization: In the Season 3 Blu-ray ''Histories and Lore'', Littlefinger reasons that the true cause of the Targaryens' downfall was their reliance on dragons and their obsession with reclaiming this advantage after the dragons died out, though Varys counters that they continued ruling quite stably for more than a century.

* DarkerAndEdgier: The Stark family reunion from Sansa’s perspective...
** Arya is suddenly a [[spoiler: scary assassin]].

** Sansa is herself [[spoiler: is a NobodyToNightmare hardened rape / torture survivor and can easily out think Jon into an early grave if she wanted to]].
** Jon, though its a surprise because he started out as a bastard, dumped into the Night’s Watch, turned out most like Ned.

** [[spoiler:The Second Sack of Kings Landing]] for House Lannister. [[spoiler: Daenerys makes good on her threat to lay siege to Kings Landing, attacking with her forces, and utterly demolishing the city's defences with Drogon. This leads for a call for the Queen's surrender from its people, but once the bells signifying said surrender are wrung, a now-unhinged Daenerys ignores them and proceeds to lay waste to all that's left. Tyrion sets a captive Jaime free, urging him to take Cersei and run. Jaime succeeds in finding Cersei, but the two find their escape route blocked with rubble, and are crushed to death in each other's arms, leaving a broken Tyrion as the only remaining Lannister. Afterwards, resigned to the fact that freeing his brother will be viewed as treason by Dany, he throws away his Hand badge in front of Dany and her men, fully expecting to be executed. If not for the intervention of Jon Snow, the entire Lannister dynasty would have been wiped from the map in a couple of days.]]

* DarkMessiah: Daenerys and Drogo's son is prophesied to be the "Stallion Who Mounts The World," the ''khal'' of ''khals'' who will unite the Dothraki and lead them to dominion over the entire world.

** Olenna establishes herself as someone who can ''outsnark'' Varys, Twyin and even Tyrion - which is even more impressive considering her old age.

** Jon [[spoiler: kills Dany]] and is banished to the Night's Watch. As he's departing King's Landing, he sees Grey Worm, who fixes him with one that could almost cut Valyrian steel.

--> '''Cersei''': "Aren't you always so clever, with your schemes and your plots!"
--> '''Tyrion''': "[[DeadpanSnarker Schemes and plots are the same thing]]."

** [[spoiler:King Renly]] collapses into [[spoiler:Brienne]]'s arms after he is stabbed through the heart, and she holds him for a moment before he dies. She later remarks it was the only time she got to hold him.
** Subverted by [[spoiler:Talisa]], who's already dead by the time [[spoiler:Robb]] reaches her.
** [[spoiler:King Joffrey Baratheon]] dies in his mother's arms.
** [[spoiler:Pyp]] and [[spoiler:Ygritte]] both die in someone's arms in "The Watchers on the Wall".
** [[spoiler: Daenerys]] dies in [[spoiler: Jon's]] arms after he stabs her.

** Craster practices ParentalIncest with his daughters, and their daughters, and ''their'' daughters...

** Arguable with regards to Daenerys's attack on Kings Landing. Whilst she was always going to attack the city in order to get her throne, after Euron [[spoiler:shoots down one of her dragons]], and Cersei has [[spoiler:Missandei]] executed, Dany is clearly out for blood, and absolutely ''annihilates'' not just Cersei's forces, but most of the city - and its people - as well.

** Rather than a frenzied fanatic, Melisandre is always poised and eerily clam.

** A once powerful figure who resents a loss of importance and influence to ambitious upstarts manipulates a mass of zealots into becoming a private army of enforcers. These zealots upend society and throw aside the usual political intrigue in favor of brute force on behalf of their patron, but become increasingly difficult to control. The above could be describing [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Cersei]] and the [[ChurchMilitant Faith Militant]] in Season 5 or [[UsefulNotes/CulturalRevolution China in the 1960s.]]

** Arguable with regards to Daenerys's attack on Kings Landing. Whilst she was always going to attack the city in order to get her throne, after Euron [[spoiler:shoots down one of her dragons]], and Cersei has [[Missandei]] executed, Dany is clearly out for blood, and absolutely ''annihilates'' not just Cersei's forces, but most of the city - and its people - as well.

** Jon reasons that if they can kill Mance Rayder his wildling army will collapse back into their traditional rivalries. His reasoning is pretty solid, but his plan is less so [[SuicideMission and he knows it]].

** "The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword" is an ancient custom in the North, where the incumbent Lord Stark [[JudgeJuryAndExecutioner personally judges and carries out executions]]. It's meant as a safeguard against tyranny because a ruler who hides behind paid executioners soon forgets what death is and may become arbitrary. Ned's son, Robb, later follows this philosophy.

* DisappearedDad: Rhaegar Targaryen is revealed to be this to Jon Snow. He died shortly before Jon's birth, while Jon's mother Lyanna Stark died shortly after his birth. However, before she died, she left Jon in the care of her brother Ned Stark, Jon's uncle, who raised Jon as his own child and protected him from the Baratheon regime by hiding his true parentage, as Robert Baratheon would have killed Jon if this ever came out (meanwhile, Jon hasn't the slightest clue of any of this).

** Soon after [[spoiler:Khal Drogo]] declares his intention to RapePillageAndBurn all of Westeros, but quickly dies due to an infected wound.

** Daenerys becomes this as her dragons grow.

* DramaticNecklaceRemoval: In "The Night Lands", Balon Greyjoy rips off the chain fastening of Theon's cloak when he learns it was paid for with gold, something he considers effeminate.

* DressHitsFloor: A rare male version of this trope occurs in "The Wolf and the Lion" when Loras removes Renly's pants and undergarments in one movement and lets them drop to the floor.

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: It is frequently noted in Season 2 how much better the Lannisters' prospects would be better if Joffrey hadn't [[spoiler:had Ned Stark executed]].

** Podrick Payne is a bumbling and stammering squire, but he comes to Tyrion's rescue in battle none the less.

** Cersei dons a black robe for her coronation after the Green Trial.

** Stannis states in the ''Histories and Lore'' segments that this was Robert's greatest gift and allowed his to cement his rule and defeat the Greyjoy Rebellion.

* DownerEnding: Each season ends on one for some characters, but it is always somewhat balanced by upbeat endings for other characters.

* DoomedMoralVictor: [[spoiler:Ned Stark]] is remembered by many as a good man undone by the DeadlyDecadentCourt.

** And later in "The Bells" (Season 8, Episode5) [[spoiler: Daenerys does just that to King's Landing]].

** Also from the Japanese dub, Bran Stark is voiced by Creator/JunFukuyama, who already had some experience [[Anime/CodeGeass voicing]] [[VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles screwed-up princes]] [[spoiler: who also have the ability of manipulating living beings with this eyes]].

** Also from the Japanese dub, Bran Stark is voiced by Creator/JunFukuyama, who already had some experience [[Anime/CodeGeass voicing]] [[VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles screwed-up princes]].

* CameBackStrong: In response to Meera's [[DudeWheresMyRespect complaint]] about his formal "thank you" for bringing him back to Winterfell from far beyond the Wall, a quest that cost [[spoiler:Hodor, Jojen and Summer]] their lives, Bran implies that he, too, died in a sense as ''he'' is now the Three-Eyed Raven and no longer the Bran she once knew.

*** The family's WomenAreWiser aspects are played up on account of the two most competent Tyrell sons (Willas and Garlan) being AdaptedOut, Loras' character arc stalling in Season 3 and 4, and Mace's fecklessness being exaggerated from a blustering but tenacious man into an ineffectual and sycophantic MommasBoy.

** All of the characters belonging to noble houses, wear their respective house colors at some point or another. Lannisters in red and gold, Starks in grey, white, or black, Tyrells in green and gold, Baratheons in yellow and black, etc. Played with Daenerys whose house colors are red, black,and white but didn't officially start wearing the color scheme until late season 6 beginning with her white dress.

*** Thus, by the start of Season Eight, it looks as though the Stark contingent will have ''more'' Valyrian Steel weapons than they have characters qualified to use them effectively!

** In Season One, Ned Stark is investigating the death of the previous Hand, and sends his guard captain to interrogate Ser Hugh, who arrogantly refuses to speak to an underling but states he will speak to Lord Stark himself. Ser Hugh then dies in a suspicious jousting accident, so Ned doesn't have the opportunity to find out what he knows.

** Toward the end of Season Six, Tyrion swears to Daenerys, "I believe in you. It's embarrassing, really. I'd swear you my sword but I don't actually own a sword." When Daenerys tells Tyrion she needs his counsel, not his protection, he answers, "It's yours. Now and always."

* {{Dracolich}}: In the season 7 episode "Beyond the Wall", [[spoiler:one of Daenerys' dragons, Viserion, is slain by the Night's King and sinks into a frozen lake. It's later dragged out of the ice by the army of the dead and resurrected as a Wight. In the next episode, "The Wolf and The Dragon", the Night King rides it into battle and uses it to [[BreachingTheWall destroy the Wall]]. He breathes blue fire, apparently.]]

* DreamWeaver: The Three-eyed Raven turns out to be a [[spoiler:real person]] who is communicating with Bran and Jojen this way.

** In Season 7 we see that the farmer and his daughter that Arya and the Hound had spent the night with in Season 4 have, as the Hound predicted, died by the start of winter. Their bodies are found in a bedroom where, facing starvation, the farmer [[MurderSuicide stabbed his daughter]] and then himself.

** {{Zigzagged}} by Sansa and Tyrion in Season 3. Sansa specifically calls Littlefinger too old for her, but makes no mention of this regarding Tyrion, who (while younger than Littlefinger) is still at least twice her age. Conversely, only Tyrion seems to take issue with Sansa's age, even though he admits to bedding girls not much older.

** Houses Stark, Lannister, Arryn, and Martell were kings or regnant princes before they bent the knee to the Targaryens and became wardens.

* CrazyPrepared:
** Jaqen H'ghar somehow managed to keep a dart poisoned with wolfsbane, which Tywin describes as rare, concealed throughout his captivity just in case he needed to kill someone on cue. [[spoiler:Justified, since he's an assassin, so it's pretty likely that he'll both need this dart and that he was able to get it through the massive organization he works for.]]
** Jaime lampshades when Brienne has a second sword to oppose him after he steals one. Of course, it's quite foreseeable that Jaime might try to steal one, making a backup [[BatmanGambit surprisingly logical]].
** Varys happens to have a map of all the secret tunnels of King's Landing in "Blackwater" so the audience doesn't have to look up the word [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postern postern]]. He also apparently kept a human-sized crate in his chambers for over a season just in case he needed to make a CallBack while smuggling someone out of the city in "The Children".

** Jaqen H'ghar somehow managed to keep a dart poisoned with wolfsbane, which Tywin describes as rare, concealed throughout his captivity just in case he needed to kill someone on cue.

* CreateYourOwnHero: At the start of the show, the Starks are a peaceful, close-knit family who are happy to remain at Winterfell and care for the North under the King's rule until events early in the narrative [[PartyScattering separate them]], initially splitting them into Ned/Sansa/Arya in King's Landing, Jon/[[CoolUncle Benjen]] at Castle Black, and Catelyn/Robb/Bran/Rickon at Winterfell and they are further separated due to unfortunate events. All the while, the Lannisters' ambitions and [[spoiler:habit of brutally murdering House Stark members (Joffrey executes Ned and Tywin conspires with the Boltons and Freys to murder Catelyn and Robb) contribute to turning the younger Starks into an increasingly ruthless, badass bunch who are bent on getting vengeance for their loved ones and protecting the smallfolk from the Lannisters and Boltons. And, in terms of undermining the Stark's reputation and support, it wasn't a great idea to kill members from the most honourable House in the kingdom in the most ''dis''honourable way possible.]]
** Specifically between them all: [[spoiler:Cersei and Joffrey abuse Sansa for years, which led her to helping reclaim the North with Jon after [[BrotherSisterTeam they took back Winterfell]] from the Boltons; Jaime cripples and almost kills Bran, who develops supernatural powers as a result; and Twyin's arranged-murder of Robb and Catelyn is witnessed by Arya, resulting in her becoming a finely-honed warrior barely into her teens. Even Joffrey trying to kill Arya's direwolf Nymeria ended with her becoming the leader of a massive wolf pack loyal to the Starks.]]

* CombatAestheticist: Oberyn Martell believes in putting on a good show in front of a crowd, including lots of weapon-twirling and acrobatics. Somewhat justified as a way to [[IntimidationDemonstration distract his opponent]], as well as make it [[ConfusionFu hard to tell what's flashiness and what's an actual attack.]]
* CombatBreakdown: The duel between [[spoiler:Sandor and Brienne]] starts with swords and finishes with grappling, biting, and rock-clubbing.