Game Of Thrones: 11 Most Unforgivable Cuts From The Books

8. Joffrey Sent The Assassin

After five books and three full seasons of Westeros spiralling downward into utter chaos, it's fun to look back from time to time and try to figure out who did what to whom to start off the war that would decimate the Seven Kingdoms. Was it when good old Ned lost his head? Was it when Catelyn kidnapped Tyrion? When Jaime flung Bran off of a tower? Or even way back when Jaime and Cersei began their incestuous affair? There's plenty of blame to go around, but the first move that really set off the chain of events was when an assassin appeared in Winterfell to murder the unconscious Bran with a Valyrian steel dagger, and it was thereafter a mystery that overshadowed most of the happenings of the first book (and season) of the saga. It was not until A Storm of Swords that we learned the truth. Upon hearing Joffrey boast of his familiarity with Valyrian steel, Tyrion connects the dots and realises that Joffrey was the only one vicious enough to order the murder of the young boy and foolish enough to arm the assassin with such a distinctive and valuable blade. The identity of the person who had tried to have Bran killed may no longer be particularly relevant to the overall plot in light of far broader atrocities over the years, but nevertheless, audiences deserved a resolution to one of the earliest mysteries of the series; with Joffrey now dead, it's unlikely that Tyrion will have the opportunity to associate him with the crime.