Game of Thrones: The Best & Worst Moments from the Final Season

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

While the final season of GAME OF THRONES has come and gone, fans of the series are still mulling over everything they saw over the course of the final six episodes. There was blood, fire, snow, death, carnage, sex, love, sadness, more blood, more carnage and, sadly, lots and lots of head-scratching. While there were plenty of cheer-worthy, tear-jerking moments that validated everything we as fans loved about this series from moment one, there were also lots of instances where maybe we all felt like Rhaegal getting pierced through the heart and sent tumbling into the depths. 

Now that the show has ended and some time has gone by to let it all sink in, we here at JoBlo have extended our watch ever so slightly to pick out some of the best and worst moments from the series' conclusion. We got moments that made us clap, cheer and even shed a tear, but also some that made of groan, jeer and shed a tear for all sorts of reasons. 

But now it's time to count them all down. Whittling each list down to the six best and worst moments meant cutting a lot our favorite bits and biggest stresses from the list, but in the end, we have crafted a solid list of the moments we think will stand out and define the final season for years to come — for better or worse. 

Worst Moments:

6. Cupgate (Ep. 4, "The Last of the Starks"; Ep. 6, "The Iron Throne")

Art is not a perfect science. There’s room for error in every facet of the filmmaking process, and even some of the best movies and shows have some famous flubs. Very few, however, have left their mark on pop culture as the not one, but two very noticeable instances of modern-day beverages traveling through time and dimensions and ending up in this world where all drinks are likely half dirt.

The first and more egregious error came in the second episode, where after the intense Battle of Winterfell everyone is gathering to celebrate how they did not die, come back to life and then die again. During one moment, it became very clear to viewers one goblet was not like the others, and thanks to the power of the instant rewind we can see the Starbucks cup sitting dead in the middle of the table. How no one acting in the scene saw this, who knows? I get it, they had all just spent weeks and weeks slashing at dudes in zombie makeup and freezing off half their bodies, and Starbucks cups themselves just always seem to be around anyway – like air or angry tweets about Star Wars. But, seriously, how in the world of this so meticulously crafted show that they release making-of featurettes after each episode that no one spotted the macchiato next to the Mother of Dragons?

But, whatever, you live and you learn, and that was such a unique occurrence it was bound to never happen again. That is until two episodes later, on the most-watched episode of television in HBO history, that somehow Samwell Tarly magically invested plastic. Fans keeping an eye out for more gaffes wasted no time picking out the water bottle next to actor John Bradley’s foot during the Dragon Pit scene of the finale. Sure, it was harder to see than the Starbucks cup, but if there was any time to quickly go back and do a combover before the final episode to the most popular TV show ever aired, post-Coffeegate was the time to do it.

These moments are funny in hindsight, and everything has been fixed for repeat viewings (unlike all the other worst moments we’ll get into), but at the time they were enough to take us out of the experience of the show. Even fixed, the legacy of the final season of this epic show will forever have attached to it, “Yeah but remember when an aspiring screenwriter went back in time and left their shit everywhere?”

5. Death of Rhaegal (Ep. 4)

Everyone knew going into the final season that death would likely make up half the season with beloved characters of all stripes meeting their doom in one way or another. However, what no one was expecting was how many deaths would be executed so…randomly, to the point where the shock was immediately followed by sentiments of “What the f**k was that?!”

Perhaps no death lived up to that so exactly as the demise of the second to last of Dany’s dragons – Rhaegal. After suffering a few licks at the Battle of Winterfell, the big-but-not-as-big-as-Drogon beastie was on the mend, and soaring peacefully near Dragonstone without a care in the world…until he started spraying dragon blood out of his gizzard thanks to a sneaky, horny pirate firing from a Scorpion down below. Within seconds, the dragon crashed into the sea, never to be seen again. Again, shock, followed by “What the f**k was that?”

For the record, we should have seen this coming. Winning the throne was always going to be too easy for Dany with even just two dragons instead of three, to the point where we have to wonder why she bothered with the always morose Jon Snow and his winter problems. So, the playing field needed leveling – but did it need to happen so abruptly and, dare I say, so illogically?

First of all, it’s not like Euron Greyjoy was hiding behind the bushes waiting to open fire. He sailed a big chunk of his armada to Dragonstone – a place where Dany’s army knew that he knew how to get to – and was able to just open fire out of nowhere. How the hell do boats manage to sneak up on not one, but two soaring dragons and the woman riding them? Seriously, they’re smart enough to know the symbolism of an Iron Throne and how it perpetuates a toxic cycle of chaotic power conquests, but they can’t notice which boats aren’t theirs?

Look, I get why Rhaegal needed to die. Dany needed that extra kick to get to the point of rage she would come to next episode, and killing one of her children is a pretty good way to do that. But the emotional power of the scene is robbed by the need to get a shocking death in the mix, and sadly it got there with a serious logical leap. Was it sad? Of course! He was a good dragon who fought the good fight and gave Jon Snow a bit of a badass bump, but narrative decisions robbed the moment of some of its weight.

4. Ghost Snub (Ep. 4)

Imagine, for a second, being Ghost. First, you're born alongside four other less-cool looking brothers and sisters, and while they're being picked from the litter and passed to the Stark children you're being ignored off to the side. Then, suddenly, a strapping young lad with a mop of black hair picks you up, and says, "Hey, got one more!" Then, while the rest of your siblings were either getting killed or being sent into exile, you spend your whole life fighting tooth and claw alongside your master, like the most loyal of boys. Finally, at the end of it all, and after suffering scars and losing half an ear, and when it seems like it has to be goodbye for good, that lad who is now a leader of man looks over at you, and gives the equivalent of a "Later, dude."

If that stings, then that's how it felt watching this scene play out in the fourth episode of the final season. Ghost just fought the dead army when he had no earthly reason doing so, but dammit, he did it anyway like a furry little dragon. Did he get any appreciation? Was he given a bone from a long-dead dragon that will never go dull no matter who long he chews on it? This may seem a near-comical complaint, but the fact of the matter is Jon's bond with Ghost is the longest he's had with anyone not in his human family. To have him simply nod to his wold=f like a guy in a Mini Cooper acknowledging another guy in a Mini Cooper doesn't seem to make sense for the character.

I know I know, in the series finale he gets to make up for this after the two are reunited and get to possibly spend the rest of their days together – but the thing is, it’s not like Jon knew that was going to happen. As he was leaving Winterfell he told Tormund to take Ghost with him back to the North, as that’s really where he belonged. That was meant to be goodbye for good, and he probably gave a random baker a more heartfelt hug than he did his companion of several years – and one who saved his life on several occasions. In the end, it was reported that it was purely for budget reasons why Ghost couldn’t get his pats, but then the next episode Dany burned down all of King’s Landing atop a dragon. Couldn’t have shaved off at least one or two buildings on fire so Ghost could get a hug?

This isn’t a big narrative flub or a massive logistical hole that brings the energy down like some of the other stuff on this list, but it’s just one of those small areas where we could’ve gotten a tender, impactful emotional moment, which was squandered. Not only was it a serious gut-punch, but it also didn't make any sense for the character. And all because, why? The writers knew it would be made up for later? This is puppy love we’re talking about! There is no shortage of tears or joy that can be shed.

3. Charge of the Dothraki (Ep. 3, "The Long Night")

After years of waiting for the Army of the Dead to clash with the living, The Battle of Winterfell was perhaps the biggest event in the whole series to date. Set to be the longest continuous battle in the history of movies or television, this was to be the most epic of epic showdowns. And how does it start? By the commanding forces of the living sending out the most skilled warriors who perhaps ever lived, the Dothraki, charging into the dark with no idea the size of the enemy forces, and with flaming swords that were more like laser pointers in terms of lighting things up.

Not only were they charging, but big catapults were launching flaming projectiles overhead to make their charge look cooler, with Ser Jorah riding alongside them and Ghost being nowhere near where any dog should be! Who cleared this dog for combat?? I want names!

Duh, it looked cool as hell, but it was the first in a series of boneheaded tactical moves that showed that clearly no one on the side of the living knew what they were doing, which would have made sense had Jon Snow not once, but twice, had massive fights against the undead in the past. The dead are a massive wave of unflinching carnage, so taking them head-on was just all kinds of moronic. Not to mention, in the process, almost an entire culture of fighters was wiped out in seconds with the reaction of, “Well, that went poorly.”

The battle as a whole was objectively cool and appropriately scary, but like a lot of some of the more visually shocking and epic moments, it all came at the cost of narrative logic and the kind of tension that made battles like Hardhome and Battle of the Bastards so gripping. While things got better as it went on, the Charge of the Dothraki was visually striking but mentally vacant start to one of the most anticipated episodes of television in history. Seriously who the f**k let this f**king dog there!? Was it the soldier who left their coffee cup on the table?

2. Death of Cersei Lannister (Ep. 5, "The Bells")

Cersei Lannister was undoubtedly one of the best characters in the history of the show since episode one, with star Lena Headey owning the role from second one. Across seven seasons she dominated her scenes and grew more and more compelling with each episode. She plotted with the intellect of her father Tywin, loved and hated fiercely and proved time and time again the smartest person in any room. Come season eight she got to pull out the stops and…drink some wine…and look out windows…and screw a trashy pirate…and look out the window some more.

Come season eight, it was clear Benioff and Weiss just didn’t have any more story to tell with her, opting instead for having every other character in the show rant about her Evil Queen vibes or discuss her possible plans, all as a way to keep her in the discussion. Ultimately, she got not much else to do than exude an air of villainy, which was not enough. The season needed more Cersei, not just because she was perhaps the most compulsively watchable character in the series, but so that when it came time for her ultimate death, it would have the largest possible impact.

When it came time for Cersei to die, it was in the hands (er, hand) of her brother/lover Jaime, whom she tried to have killed earlier in the season if you remember. The death itself may not have been as gruesome as some of the more bloodlusty fans wanted – like having her get eaten by Drogon or have Arya skin her alive and turn her into a new dress for Sansa – but it was certainly a poetic end in terms of the actual event. Everything she killed and fought for to have – the Red Keep – came tumbling down on her as her lover held tight and assured that none of it mattered anymore. Headey played the scene wonderfully, evoking fear, sadness and ultimately acceptance.

Yes, the act itself was poignant, which was a surprising end for the show’s top villain. But like much of the season’s moments, it was a moment that felt entirely unearned and rushed to, with little development leading up to it in the final episodes. So little time is spent with her that any emotional grasp and understanding we have of her needed to be pulled from past seasons. There were few moments of introspection, growth or anything else that would’ve made it even more poignant and powerful than it could’ve been. This would’ve been more passable if it weren’t Cersei, but she was too big a character to be left on the sidelines for virtually the whole season. The moment itself works best for the death of Jaime, who had a stronger arc of failed redemption in the final episodes, but for Cersei, it was a bullet point ending after an entire storybook of gripping character development.

1. Death of Missandei (Ep. 4)

Since season three, Missandei had been Dany’s closest and only female friend, on top of being one of the very few people of color in the main cast. While she may not have been vying for the Iron Throne, it’s for these reasons why she was a very important character for the series and why her role should have been more pivotal than ever as she came to a new, foreign land and saw her friend descend into villainy.  However, in the worst moment of the series, it was determined that the best course of action was not to find a way to use and explore her as a character but to chop her head off for the sake of rage fodder.

At first, Missandei’s death is merely a demonstration of poor execution. We saw her only minutes before sharing a nice moment with Grey Worm as they near Dragonstone, only for her to be lost during the Greyjoy attack, and next be seen in chains. There was no time to let the suspense around her character being held hostage by Cersei build, as The Mountain swung his sword minutes later.

Not only was this unnecessary fuel for rage on Dany’s part, as she was already at that level after the death of her dragon, the decimation of her army, and coming to loose grips with the fact that Jon was, you know, her nephew and the rightful heir to her throne. But more importantly, the death of Missandei squandered all the potential for more great scenes that could’ve come out of keeping her alive.

Her character was compassionate, thoughtful and wise, and these traits could’ve made for any arrangement of complex scene work this season – especially at the end. How great would scenes have been between her and Cersei, two polar opposite perspectives and experiences from different sides of the world clashing at odds? Or she could’ve not been taken captive, and as Dany slowly showed signs of a dictator and not the liberator she stuck by for all these years she began to, perhaps, challenge her queen’s opinions and motivations. The potential was all there for some compelling drama that could’ve defined her character for all the better in this final season. But instead, she got maybe one solid moment all season and one chance to say something sort of cool before her head dropped to the ground at King’s Landing, becoming the ultimate symbol for how the final season could've gotten so much more from so many of its characters. But hey, it made Grey Worm and Dany mad, so I guess that’s all that matters, right?!

Best Moments

6. The Hound vs. The Mountain (Ep. 5)

GAME OF THRONES has had no shortage of hatred and rivalries across its eight seasons: Tyrion and Tywin; Varys and Littlefinger; Jon and Ser Allister; Arya and…well, Arya sort of has issues with everyone. But one of the most deep-seated and boiling rivalries ever – and one kept alive by the angry eyes and snarling attitude of a single hulking, vengeful killer – is that between The Hound, Sandor Clegane, and his somehow even bigger brother, The Mountain, Gregor Clegane.

We learned the story early on of how the bigger of the two big brothers burned young Sandor’s face near clean off when he found him playing with one of his toys, and The Hound never forgot and never forgave. As the years went on and Gregor became more and more of an unstoppable monster all the Hound could do was think about getting his sweet revenge. Fans had also been waiting eagerly for the day when the two would clash swords and shake the very earth to its core, and in the penultimate episode of the final season audiences finally got the fight of the century – the Clegane Bowl!

The Hound is a bit more reserved and calmed by his years of traveling with the young Arya, learning to give the tiniest of damns about anyone other than himself, while The Mountain was turned into a literal monster after a basically fatal fight with Oberyn Martell. Changed but angry as ever, the two squared off as the Red Keep crumbled due to some, uh, let's call them outlying circumstances going on outside.

As close as a clash of titans as we ever got on the show, the two hulking soldiers clashed blades as Mountain proved to be just a giant sack of meat and potatoes who could be run through with a broad sword, only to pluck it out like a piece of broccoli from his teeth. The battle was epically staged by Miguel Sapochnik with some impressive visual effects, especially with the smoke and ash filling the daytime sky in the background.

The fight was all rage and heavy hits, with Sandor getting at least one bit of black comedy ("Why won’t you fucking die?!”), all before deciding the only way to end it was by sending them both into the flames in surprisingly poetic fashion. This moment had been building since season one, and while there was A LOT of other stuff going on this episode, fans got to leave seeing at least one element live up to the hype in a big way.

5. Arya and Gendry (Ep. 2, "Knight of the Seven Kingdoms")

 In the second episode of the final season all of our favorite characters were mulling around Winterfell because A.) there isn’t much else to do there and B.) because they were coming to terms with the fact they would soon be dead by morning at the undead hands of the Night King’s army. That meant a lot of people sharing stories or having those precious last moments together, and even doing things they’ve never done before, because f—k it, they all may die tomorrow.

One of the most cheer-worthy, internet-busting scenes of the whole show was when Arya, still with her calm cool and super assassin vibes, approaches Gendry, and after having made up her mind after looking him over in the previous episode, decides to check off a big box on her bucket list.

Their relationship has been teased since the second season when the two were on the lamb together after the events of the first season, and Arya’s interest in Gendry was greatly hinted at when she sees him doing his blacksmith thing with his shirt off. In seasons since she was off training to become the killer to kill all killers, suffering all kinds of blows, going blind, and walking out of the House of Black and White like she owned the building. Once the two characters were reunited in the first episode of the final season there was a feeling the two would pick things back up and take their relationship further, and in the episode where it was now or never Arya, with a whole new brand of confidence, takes what she wants and takes one more big step toward putting the girl we have been watching grow up behind her.

Sex has been used in GOT mostly for its, well, sexiness, but very rarely has it been used as part of such a triumphant character moment. Not only is it a perfect extension of Arya and Gendry’s arc, but it adds an adult element the show had been lacking in for the last few seasons. So many characters deserved big moments this final season, but none more than Arya, and this is not the last time she appears on this list. 

4. Knighting Brienne of Tarth (Ep. 2)

Ever since season two Brienne has been proving herself an honorable, dutiful and fierce warrior across the Seven Kingdoms. In her first scene, she bested Loras Tyrell in single combat, became part of Renly’s Kingsguard, went through tremendous trials to get Jaime back to King’s Landing on request of Catelyn Stark, defeated the Hound and was just a general badass across multiple seasons. Still, the patriarchal social rules of the land refused her the right to be called a knight, which is something she had sadly made peace with.

That is until episode two when after a discussion about Tormund suckling on giant’s milk the matter is breached on the eve of the Night King’s attack. While said milk story would’ve been hard to follow, Jaime Lannister manages to one-up the bearded Wildling by offering to knight Brienne of Tarth once and for all, making her the first female knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

The moment is poignant and beautifully played out by Gwendoline Christie and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, as the two let the moment linger and as the camera captures their soulful performances and the tenderness of the scene. With each tap of the sword on her shoulders, the emotional weight gets heavier and heavier, and when she rises, the small gathering around her cheers her name.

In a season filled with shocking moments and all sorts of depressing bits, this is one of the few genuinely tender and incredibly happy moments we get to see. Wonderfully acted and shot, Brienne finally got the honor she has been worthy of since her earliest episodes. Great, now I’m gonna cry again!

3. Montage of The Starks (Ep. 6)

The final few episodes of this last season are divisive, to say the least, and there are certainly some positives and negatives to take away from them. That includes the finale, which was far from terrible but not quite amazing either. A lot of the problems that permeated the final season were still very much present, and yet, the episode absolutely delivered on some gripping, poetic, and damn-near mesmerizing moments to send the series off.

One of them came in the episode’s final minutes, after Tyrion and King Bran’s – yeah King f—king Bran of all people – were left to do their ruling with a new small council. The Stark children – including Jon Snow, who we learned isn’t a Stark in name – have been to hell and back across the series, and all alive, the final moments were about sending them to the places they belong, and this was done in a sweeping montage that was (almost) enough to make up for any flaws across the rest of the season.

Starting off, we see Jon, Sansa and Arya gearing up for their new adventures: Jon straps on Longclaw, now back at Castle Black; Arya dons Needle and her Night King-killing dagger and; Sansa outdoes every single piece of clothing ever put to the series with a white/silver gown, embroidered with the leaves of the Weirwood tree and looking like the damn Queen of the North.

All their stories get the proper conclusion in this masterfully assembled final cut, as Jon travels with the Wildlings into the North, perhaps only to find them a new home but also maybe to live there for good; Arya is traveling by boat to the world west of Westeros, once again carving out a path no one else had dared do before her and; Sansa is given a crown and named Queen in the North over her own independent kingdom, leading from her ancestral home. Fit to Ramin Djwadi’s pitch-perfect score that combined the Winterfell and the main GOT theme, the ending may not have been as grim, violent or prophetic as some expected, but after so much of all that stuff filled recent episodes this ending left on an emotionally hefty note that gave deserving characters the peace and identity they’ve suffered to attain for all these years. And, finally, Ghost got his pats.

2. Tie: Jaime and Tyrion (Ep. 5); Tyrion and Jon (Ep. 6)

Ever since the start of season five, after Tyrion had his best season ever with the fourth, the show struggled to figure out what to do with him. He served as Dany’s Hand and advised her on how to approach conquering Westeros, perhaps not as effectively as he would’ve liked. Tyrion was far from the hard-drinking, hard-sexing and quip-sending man in King’s Landing, and had taken on a much more, let’s call it measured, personality. He observed and let the gravity of everything he was becoming part of settle in, and in the last two episodes, he got his best scenes in years.

The first came when he discovered his brother Jaime had been taken prisoner by Dany’s troops and set out to free him. He understood the city was going to come down tomorrow, and as one last effort to do something right for the people in his life, he cut his brother loose and told him how to get Cersei out of the city. He may not have known the exact fate his brother would meet, but he knew it would be the last time he would see him.

His brother was the only person who treated him like a human being, and he finally shared his real emotions with him in a heartfelt way. Again, in a season filled with death, horror and all sorts of head-scratching, it’s these little touching moments that put the best final stamp on this long-running series.

In the next episode, Tyrion again got another one of the series’ best scenes, right after he was made prisoner for freeing his prisoner brother – talk about the wheel, amiright? Tyrion is visited by Jon, and the two, reminiscent of a scene between Tyrion and Varys in episode four, get honest about the implications of Dany’s actions. After seeing the devastation she wrought on the city, Tyrion is confident that she will do the same to the rest of Westeros. In a poignant series of lines delivered excellently by Dinklage, Tyrion sums up Dany as a true villain, one whose lines between justice and tyranny are skewed and has shown she makes little distinction between those who must be liberated and those who really need saving.

Together, these scenes make for some of the best work Dinklage has done on the show in years, perhaps since his trial in the fourth season, and while he still had a few more scenes left to go, made him one of the big winners of the final stretch, bringing out his most emotional and honest sides in a one-two punch.

1. Arya Gets the Night King (Ep. 3)

The big question going into the Battle of Winterfell was all about who, if anyone, was going to get the Night King. I mean, was the show going to really end with Winter taking everything over? Of course not! Someone was going to get that pointy-headed fool one way or another, and so it was all a matter of who got the gig.

Many assumed it would be Jon Snow, as he was the one who made the Night King his number one enemy for the past few seasons and had centered all his motivations on fighting back against him. This would’ve been fine if entirely expected. However, in the series’ most rousing, surprising and perfectly badass moment, Arya, the girl who had been training for years and made a habit out of telling the God of Death “Not today,” emerged out of the shadows and lunged at the Night King just when everything seemed lost

What made the moment all the sweeter was not just Arya showing up for the kill, but that she got it by doing the ol’ fake out, dropping her Valerian steel dagger into her free hand and stabbing the emotionally vacant asshole in his dead chest. The world is then saved, and Arya had won the Ultimate Master of Death crown.

Other moments on this list surge with emotion and profundity, but this one is the most triumphant, cheer-worthy and unexpectedly perfect of the entire season. Sure, some may not agree with it, but those people are wrong. Arya earned that kill after years and years of training and, in this episode, devising a strategy no one thought of, i.e., hiding in the shadows like a cat and pouncing when Kingy’s guard was down. It was a heroic end to an exhausting episode, and if she couldn’t kill the queen, this was the next best option.

———-

Perhaps no final season in the history of television will have a harder time ending things than GAME OF THRONES. Not only did it have to wrap up the complex stories of over a dozen characters *and* live up to insurmountable fan expectations that can only come from being the most popular television show ever around the world, but it had to do so with the shortest episode count of any season. On that note, there was almost nothing this show could do to live up to everything, and perhaps it was born to be the divisive ending it was. 

But no matter what, everyone in front of the camera and behind it pulled out all the stops to deliver an epic final season and tons of moments that will live up to the best bits across the whole series. Arya getting hers on numerous occasions; Sansa slaying in every scene; Tyrion getting his most compelling moments in years and; the cast as a whole delivering their best work. When the season faltered, and for sure it did, it all can be tucked under the one massive umbrella of cramming too much into too small an episode count. Not only should we have not left the world of Westeros as fast as we did because it's a magical place with dragons and big adorable wolves, but also because if there was any season that needed as much time as ever to end things on the right note, it was this one.  

But no matter, what we got is what we got, and there's a lot to love and a lot to not. Perhaps, at the end of all things, maybe a case can be made that an ending that keeps people talking and debating is just one way to keep the series alive for generations.