Game of Thrones isn’t the only show that knows how to kill off a character or two.
Here are the best and most devastating TV deaths.
Death is a part of life…but its an even bigger part of television.
So of course TV shows like to repay that favor by killing some of our favorites.
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30.
Teri Bauer
24
Jack Bauer is Americas James Bond.
Thus making his last-minute failure all the more painful.
Yet, tragically, he failed to save the life of his estranged wife, Teri Bauer.
Especially at the workplace with Nina, the comely spy who came between the Bauers.
Jacks shortcomings ended the first season on the stunning cliffhanger of a dead wife in his arms.
But this is notThe Princess Bride.
It was an ignoble end to an amazing character, which makes it kind of perfect for its show.
Played by John Hannah ofMummyfame with enough ham to open a deli, Batiatus was the show.
His fondness for the titular gladiator made him semi-endearing.
He was like a dog whisperer with real people.
But then pesky things like having Sura and Barca murdered made him a first-rate bastard too.
It is that murky ambiguity that made him so entertaining.
Also, the moment where he reaches for his stabbed wife in the fountain of blood?
A sympathetic monster to the end!
And yet, we could not help but root for the man.
That is probably why Majority Whip Frank Underwoods coldblooded murder of the fool was so gut wrenching.
Hodor (Kristian Nairn) was everybodys favorite simple-minded stableboy onGame of Thrones.
Unfortunately, its revealed that Hodor lived a much more tragic life than we initially realized.
At that moment, however, Bran wargs into Hodor and witnesses the young Wylliss life.
Its as tragic an origin story AND conclusion story that exists onGame of Thrones.
Matthew Crawley
Downton Abbey
Dan Stevens Mr. Crawley had a lot going for him in life onDowntown Abbey.
Better still, his beloved wife is in labor and about to give birth to his child!
What could possibly go wrong?
Well, crashing your car headlong into an oncoming truck is a start.
Such as showing him lying lifeless underneath a crushing car while blood pours from his blank stare into oblivion.
What a way to end a season for the quaint period piece!
Also, look over that he eventually got his own spinoff show.
This is the guy who has been tormented for 200 years from his Irish homeland curse.
Eternal, fiery torment.
That is pretty messed up.
To the point where Whedon would retcon it a year later.
Still, this singular moment loses none of its horror.
That makes the number of suicides after a Don Draper tongue-lashing jump to two.
This man knows how to close a deal.
Glenn Rhee
The Walking Dead
Glenn wasThe Walking Deads moral center.
He was a good person.
And this sadly was not a world in which good people survive.
There is also the fact that even though Ford died, his consicousness lived on.
The High Sparrow, Margaery, et.
al
Talk about a game winning move.
For much of season 5 and 6 ofGame of Thrones, Cersei Lannister looked like she was doomed.
Alison Bailey
The Affair
A big factor in what makes a TV death truly surprising is timing.
One could reasonably expect a death or two in a finale or a final season.
Also, this is a show about infidelity in Montauk.
Its not like anyone is battling on the Riverlands of Westeros.
After a life full of tragedy, Alison meets her end at the hands of ex-soldier Ben.
Christopher Moltisanti
The Sopranos
Christopher, the little nephew nobody wants, including Uncle Tony onThe Sopranos.
Tony Soprano raised a fatherless Christopher to be his protege and heir apparent.
Unfortunately, as Christopher grew older he showed himself to be a bloody fool.
Michael Imperiolis solid performance created the spitting image of impotent rage and lifelong screw-up.
At least, Tony would always love him like a nephew, right?WRONG.
The accident was, of course, Chriss fault, as he was driving high.
Afterwards, he finishes dialing 9-1-1 and reports the terrible incident with relief.
Everybody hates Christopher, but in that moment Tony became so, so much worse.
Nor can he leave a gang member who knows where the farm is alive.
Ultimately, he makes some valid points when he is not plotting the murder of his supposed friend.
Omar Little
The Wire
Who doesnt love Omar?
Yet, Michael K. Williams character onThe Wirewas just too cool to go out the way he did.
The little bastard probably was the one who got the Waco Kid too.
That sort of thing will happen when you bill your show as Hamlet on motorcycles.
Still very few deaths in the shows history can match the suddenly brutality of Opie Winstons.
His name was Opie for Petes sake!
And perhaps thats why he had to go.
Theyre allowed to decide which one but Opie heroically steps up and takes a metal pipe for the team.
Radar storms out of the control center and everyone else is left to stand there in complete horror.
While not the most visually stunning TV character kill, it is the first.
To this day, it may be the most unexpected death in television history.
Indeed, while the show is titledThe Tudors, it might as well be called Henry & Anne.
At least for the first two seasons.
Ah, they had many ups and downs, as well as an all-around unwanted little baby named Elizabeth.
But passion turns to hate and Henrys wives were beginning to develop the habit of turning to corpses.
Heads rolled when Anne Boleyn was wrongfully accused of committing infidelity with multiple men, including her own brother.
She lost her head and the show lost its energy when Dormers smirk was separated from her neck.
She laughs at the foolish monarch with a knowing glare of what is to come for him.
In a show about throwing curveballs, murdering the spiritual heart of the series was one of the biggest.
However, it is not the last time we saw Locke.
Perhaps, it is for the best.
A big softie ending to a show with a big heart.
Carl Grimes
Carl Grimes was supposed to live forever.
Well not forever, obviously, but he was supposed to survive this whole dismal world.
Alas, this isThe Walking Deadand there are no happy endings.
While assisting a stranger named Siddiq arrive safely to Alexandria, Carl receives a zombie bite.
Carls death is notable for its pointlessness and thats why it belongs on the list.
Gus Fring
Breaking Bad
The death of villains doesnt normally make a blip on the TV landscape.
After all, theyre villains: dying at the hands of our heroes is what theyre supposed to do!
But Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) isnt just another villain.
Gus Fring is the gosh darn ubermensch.
Fring is a prim Chilean-American small business owner of a Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant franchise.
Hes also the most feared meth distributor in the American Southwest.
Gus ruthlessly conquers his rivals all the while wearing an unremarkable suit and a blank expression.
Someone had to die to end this business arrangement.
Adriana La Cerva
It certainly wasnt a surprise.
Despite growing up around wiseguys onThe Sopranos, Adriana was still only human.
The two-faced weasel cared about her as much as a snake cares for a mouse.
Give up the highlife to join her in Witness Protection!
With only seconds to live, Adriana realizes what is happening and tries to escape.
Silvio curses her out as he shoots her twice in the head while she crawls away.
Are we supposed to like the Soprano Family?
After scenes like this, it is hard to say.
Rita Morgan
Dexter
Oh, Rita.
But at least, Dexter put up the pretense of caring for her.
Like Dexters early beginnings, his son is baptized in a dying mothers blood.
The cursed circle may even repeat as Rita died without ever knowing why.
Ned Stark
The evil Lannisters have ensnared noble Lord Eddard Stark into a nasty Kings Landing trap.
It is a fantasy after all and Sean Beans face is on the poster.
Ned Stark is the LEAD!
This is not supposed to happen!
Joffrey beamed like a snotty brat on Christmas.
Robb Stark, Catelyn Stark, Talisa, et.
When Ned Stark died, there was still plenty of room for hope and righteous revenge.
But this is not that kind of fairytale.
Actually, massacre does not do justice to what amounts to the most terrifying sequence on television.
She does not even resist when the blade comes for her neck.
The Starks are truly damned.
Jimmy Darmody
Boardwalk Empire
On HBOs OTHER gangster show, death comes fast and often.
Jimmy welcomed the death.
Indeed, in retrospect it was inevitable that Jimmy would die.
Ever after surviving World War I, Jimmy was looking for an excuse to die.
Nucky was no longer half a gangster andBoardwalk Empirewas no longer half as entertaining.
Killing your second lead in the second season is a daring move.
Yet, it is also one that the series never recovered from.
Kenny McCormick
South Park
No list of great TV deaths is complete without little Kenny McCormick.
In the holiday themed throwdown, Kenny dies not once, not twice, but three times.
Second, he is cut in half by Kyle with a chainsaw, Sam Raimi style.
Really it counts three or four deaths in one episode.
So, do you agree with this list?
Or did we leave a major one off?
Let us know in the Comments Section below!
