Season 1, Episode 1: “Winter Is Coming”
By bookending this episode with the White Walker attack on the Night’s Watchmen and Jaime Lannister’s quip about “the things we do for love,” the creators establish the series’s intense stakes and foreshadow two elements that fuel the show for its duration: the threat of the Night King and the Lannisters’ dominance of power. However, this does not imply that the middle of the episode lacks emotional heft. On the contrary, across the Narrow Sea in Essos, Viserys Targaryen brokers a marriage between his sister Daenerys and the Dothraki warlord Khal Drogo in hopes that their military might can help him reclaim the Iron Throne. As one of her wedding gifts, Daenerys receives three petrified dragon eggs . . . and thus, the seeds of a new leader are sown.
Season 8, Episode 3: “The Long Night”
In any other season, an episode of this magnitude would act as a season finale. But as the series comes to an end, the creators give us an early surprise with an uninterrupted view of the Great War. Though heavily criticized for the darkness of its visuals, this installment deserves accolades for the varying emotions conveyed during each wave of the attack. From the lights-out disappearance of the Dothraki to the walkers scaling the walls of Winterfell to Jorah Mormont laying down his life for Daenerys to Arya’s defeat of the Night King, this episode has something for everyone.
Season 1, Episode 9: “Baelor”
Season 4, Episode 10: “The Children”
This is another huge season finale full of character-defining moments. For instance, Daenerys grapples with chaining her dragons after Drogon kills an innocent child in Meereen. Beyond the Wall, Jon attempts to put an end to the wildling conflict by assassinating their king, Mance Rayder, but finds himself relieving the free folk leader of an inhumane death when Stannis beats Jon to the task. In the dungeons of King’s Landing, Tyrion awaits execution for the murder of King Joffrey, but his brother Jaime helps him escape — but not before Tyrion seeks revenge by killing his father and Shae, the woman who betrays him. And in the Vale, Brienne shows her loyalty to House Stark by fighting the Hound (and winning!) to protect Arya, who hides so she can travel alone to Braavos.
Season 6, Episode 5: “The Door”
Season 5, Episode 10: “Mother’s Mercy”
“SHAME! SHAME! SHAME!” The word haunts our dreams but also acts as an incantation that forces us to feel for one of the most vicious characters in the show’s history, Cersei Lannister. Meanwhile, on a ship outside of Dorne, Cersei’s brother-lover, Jaime, confesses to Myrcella that he’s really her father, only to have her die in his arms seconds later . . . a parting gift courtesy of the Sand Snakes.
As seasons finales go, this is one of the best, as every scene contains an emotional payoff either for the audience or the characters. For example, Brienne decapitates Stannis for his crimes against Renly Baratheon. Sansa and Theon escape the wrath of Ramsay Bolton by jumping from the walls of Winterfell.
Season 1, Episode 10: “Fire and Blood”
Season 6, Episode 10: “The Winds of Winter”
This season finale contains a series of memorable moments that speak to the show’s themes of power and duplicity. At the Twins, Walder Frey awaits the arrival of his sons to celebrate their recapture of Riverrun only to encounter a vengeful Arya Stark. She reveals his sons lay to rest in his dinner pie before slitting the old man’s throat. In King’s Landing, Cersei Lannister uses wildfire to destroy Queen Margaery and the High Sparrow at the Sept of Bealor. However, the move comes at the cost of her son King Tommen, who commits suicide over the loss of his queen. At Winterfell, Jon Snow accepts the role of King in the North while Littlefinger attempts to conspire against his new leader. And in Meereen, Daenerys pronounces Tyrion the Hand of the Queen and the two of them, along with a massive armada, set sail for Westeros.
Season 6, Episode 9: “Battle of the Bastards”
The title tells the tale on this one — Jon Snow vs. Ramsay Bolton in a gritty battle for the fate of Winterfell. Along the way, hundreds die, including Shaggydog, Rickon Stark, and Wun-Wun the giant. Yet what’s most notable here is that Sansa Stark ultimately saves the outmatched Northern forces and helps win the battle by calling upon Littlefinger to bring in the Knights of the Vale. She then enacts her revenge against Ramsay by feeding him to his own hounds.
Season 3, Episode 9: “The Rains of Castamere”
