2. Eddard Stark (Game Of Thrones)
Game Of Thrones rapidly became one of the most talked about shows of the last few years when it hit the screens in 2011, based on George R. R. Martin's highly successful novels, it promised to be a fantasy series which wasn't a great big ball of poorly scripted cheese, unlike so many before it. One of the reasons the show was both so highly anticipated and eventually popular was because of the presence of Sean Bean, a man known to put his all into every performance and to rarely leave the audience feeling let down. Bean played Eddard Stark, an honourable leader figure in the House of Stark, and, armed with a massive sword that looked gigantic and Viking-like than most fantasy novel readers could dare dream of, he looked every bit the invincible character of the show. Add to that that he was arguably being portrayed by the biggest name in the cast, and he looked more that invincible, he looked untouchable. So when Ned was imprisoned for treason and told that accepting his own death honourably would endanger his own family, we all probably thought we were going to see an enormous sword come scything through the necks of a few anti-Starks. What instead happened was he was forced to throw down his honour and pretend to be plotting against King Joffrey, which caused the King to order Ned's execution...more or less for Joffrey's amusement really. That's right, the biggest name, playing one of the most well-equipped characters in the show was beheaded due to a pesky lie, at the order of an incestuous child king. Pretty sure most of you weren't expecting that.