10 Shocking Deaths That Changed Game Of Thrones

7,794.

That, according to some rough estimates, is how many deaths have occurred on Game of Thrones in the space of six seasons. That's an average of almost 130 deaths per episode. Even for a show as notorious for killing people off as Thrones is, that's an absolutely ridiculous number.

Of course, a lot of those are made up of casualties of war, from epic battles such as Blackwater and Hardhome, and so many will be characters whose names we never learnt. Season 6, meanwhile, started bringing the dead back to life.

(A further note on Season 6 - we haven't truly had a chance to sit with those deaths in the way we have those that preceded it. So they're not included for now, until we see, for example, how Cersei's rule impacts things, or what time travel is really going to mean.)

However, even when you begin to strip away all the nameless faces who paid the ultimate - or Iron - price in the background, the death-rate in Westeros is still alarmingly high, and fans have long since discovered the harsh lesson that comes with getting too attached to a particular character.

There's been fan favourites such as Prince Oberyn, children killed by their fathers, fathers kills by their sons, death by having molten gold poured over your head, and every other horrific way of killing someone imaginable.

But while they shocked and saddened us, how many had a lasting impact? Not only on our hearts, but the show itself and the characters in it. Death in Westeros can change the course of power, upset or restore order, and throw Seven Kingdoms into chaos. Somehow managing to narrow it down, these are deaths that truly and irreversibly altered the series, for better or worse.