Game of Thrones Season 5: 10 Most Shocking Moments So Far
9. A Bad Way To Go
Farewell, Mance Rayder, we hardly knew thee.
That’s how fans of the show unfamiliar with the source material felt, in any case. For those who’ve read George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Rayder is a far more significant character and doesn’t suffer the same grim end that Game Of Thrones viewers witnessed in the Season 5 opener.
Nonetheless, all men must die, as the saying goes, and often horribly. Mace Rayder’s demise is a perfect case in point.
The-King-Beyond-the-Wall had been held captive at Castle Black since Stannis Baratheon’s army advanced into wildling territory in the Season 4 finale. Go-between Jon Snow pays him a visit to convince him to bend the knee and recruit the wildlings to support Stannis’s assault on the North, informing Rayder that failure to comply will result in him being burned alive.
Rayder, consumed by pride or merely desperate for a little warmth, refuses the offer and accepts his fate at the stake, barely containing his screams until Jon Snow takes matter into his own hands. That an arrow through the heart is a blessing tells you everything you need to know about life in Westeros.