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It’s been thirteen years since HBO’s Game of Thrones debuted, and five years since the acclaimed adaptation of the George R.R. Martin saga wrapped. During that time viewers were feted with a staggering death toll and a compendium of medieval torture methods that would make even Genghis Khan wince. No show since has come close to rivaling GOT’s torture porn vibes—honorable mention to The Walking Dead—which saw characters meet their makers in just about every conceivable way the fetid mind could conjure. (Remember Tywin Lannister’s crossbow end on the toilet? The King’s Landing version of passing in your slumber.)
But nature is healing, even in Westeros, and fans can be forgiven for forgetting the heat index of dragon’s breath. This summer’s return of House of the Dragon jolted viewers back into the butcher shop. Just how violent is the second season of the George R.R. Martin prequel series? Its premiere episode, “A Son for a Son,” featured a mother forced to play Sophie’s Choice over which of her infants would die, followed by the off-screen beheading of the tot. Visceral sound effects have always been a GOT superpower, and there was no avoiding the excruciating horror of the child’s fate, even if viewers didn’t actually see it. (It was bad, though apparently not bad enough for Vulture to declare that it “should have been nastier”.)
So what’s in store for the rest of the season, which culminates in early August? If past is prologue, grab a pillow to shove your wrenched face in, lest you catch a glimpse of the carnage, which promises to be as creative as it is excruciating. Of course, not all deaths are created equal. In our own twisted game of “Would You Rather?”, we ranked the Game of Thrones franchise’s worst ways to die, including House of the Dragon’s recent kill list. Even for the fabled Targaryens, the night is long and full of terrors.