Top 5 WOW Moments in the Series

[Ser Eric]

So, what are your top 5 WOW moments in the series so far?

It need not be a moment of any particular importance, it need not be series defining moment, it need not even be a anything particularly smart or intelligent. Any moment, any line, any monologue regardless of it's eventual consequences that just made you sit up and say "That was...WOW"!

1. Dany's Dragons hatching. I find Dany quite a boring character but this was superbly written and chilling even:

The third crack was as loud and sharp as the breaking of the world.
When the fire died at last and the ground became cool enough to walk upon, Ser Jorah Mormont found her amidst the ashes, surrounded by blackened logs and bits of glowing ember and the burnt bones of man and woman and stallion. She was naked, covered with soot, her clothes turned to ash, her beautiful hair all crisped away... yet she was unhurt.
The cream-and-gold dragon was suckling at her left breast, the green-and-bronze at the right. Her arms cradled them close. The black-and-scarlet beast was draped across her shoulders, its long sinuous neck coiled under her chin. When it saw Jorah, it raised its head and looked at him with eyes as red as coals.
Wordless, the knight fell to his knees. The men of her khas came up behind him. Jhogo was the first to lay his arakh at her feet. “Blood of my blood,” he murmured, pushing his face to the smoking earth. “Blood of my blood,” she heard Aggo echo. “Blood of my blood,” Rakharo shouted.
And after them came her handmaids, and then the others, all the Dothraki, men and women and children, and Dany had only to look at their eyes to know that they were hers now, today and tomorrow and forever, hers as they had never been Drogo’s.
As Daenerys Targaryen rose to her feet, her black hissed, pale smoke venting from its mouth and nostrils. The other two pulled away from her breasts and added their voices to the call, translucent wings unfolding and stirring the air, and for the first time in hundreds of years, the night came alive with the music of dragons.

2. Greatjon Umber, the Kingmaker!

“MY LORDS!” he shouted, his voice booming off the rafters. “Here is what I say to these two kings!” He spat. “ Renly Baratheon is nothing to me, nor Stannis neither. Why should they rule over me and mine, from some flowery seat in Highgarden or Dorne? What do they know of the Wall or the wolfswood or the barrows of the First Men? Even their gods are wrong. The Others take the Lannisters too, I’ve had a bellyful of them.” He reached back over his shoulder and drew his immense two-handed greatsword. “Why shouldn’t we rule ourselves again? It was the dragons we married, and the dragons are all dead!” He pointed at Robb with the blade. “There sits the only king I mean to bow my knee to, m’lords,” he thundered. “The King in the North!”
And he knelt, and laid his sword at her son’s feet.
“I’ll have peace on those terms,” Lord Karstark said. “They can keep their red castle and their iron chair as well.” He eased his longsword from its scabbard. “The King in the North!” he said, kneeling beside the Greatjon.
Maege Mormont stood. “The King of Winter!” she declared, and laid her spiked mace beside the swords. And the river lords were rising too, Blackwood and Bracken and Mallister, houses who had never been ruled from Winterfell, yet Catelyn watched them rise and draw their blades,
bending their knees and shouting the old words that had not been heard in the realm for more than three hundred years, since Aegon the Dragon had come to make the Seven Kingdoms one... yet now were heard again, ringing from the timbers of her father’s hall:
“The King in the North!”
“The King in the North!”
“THE KING IN THE NORTH!”

3.Wyman Manderley, the North remembers!

"Foes and false friends are all around me, Lord Davos. They infest my city like roaches, and at night I feel them crawling over me.” The fat man’s fingers coiled into a fist, and all his chins trembled. “My son Wendel came to the Twins a guest. He ate Lord Walder’s bread and salt, and hung his sword upon the wall to feast with friends. And they murdered him. Murdered, I say, and may the Freys choke upon their fables. I drink with Jared, jape with Symond, promise Rhaegar the hand of my own beloved granddaughter … but never think that means I have forgotten. The north remembers, Lord Davos. The north remembers, and the mummer’s farce is almost done. My son is home.”

4.Wyla Manderley, the Stark Defender

“I know about the promise,” insisted the girl. “Maester Theomore, tell them! A thousand years before the Conquest, a promise was made, and oaths were sworn in the Wolf’s Den before the old gods and the new. When we were sore beset and friendless, hounded from our homes and in peril of our lives, the wolves took us in and nourished us and protected us against our enemies. The city is built upon the land they gave us. In return we swore that we should always be their men. Stark men!”

5.Euron Greyjoy, the Godless

“Who knows more of gods than I? Horse gods and fire gods, gods made of gold with gemstone eyes, gods carved of cedar wood, gods chiseled into mountains, gods of empty air... I know them all. I have seen their peoples garland them with flowers, and shed the blood of goats and bulls and children in their names. And I have heard the prayers, in half a hundred tongues. Cure my withered leg, make the maiden love me, grant me a healthy son. Save me, succor me, make me wealthy... protect me! Protect me from mine enemies, protect me from the darkness, protect me from the crabs inside my belly, from the horselords, from the slavers, from the sellswords at my door. Protect me from the Silence.” He laughed. “Godless? Why, Aeron, I am the godliest man ever to raise sail! You serve one god, Damphair, but I have served ten thousand. From Ib to Asshai, when men see my sails, they pray.”

[Balerion the kitten]

Number one - Dany riding drogon

Dany hit him. "No," she screamed, swinging the lash with all the strength that she had in her. The dragon jerked his head back. "No," she screamed again. "NO!" The barbs raked along his snout. Drogon rose, his wings covering her in shadow. Dany swung the lash at his scaled belly, back and forth until her arm began to ache. His long serpentine neck bent like an archer's bow. With a hisssssss, he spat black fire down at her. Dany darted underneath the flames, swinging the whip and shouting, "No, no, no. Get DOWN!" His answering roar was full of fear and fury, full of pain. His wings beat once, twice...

... and folded. The dragon gave one last hiss and stretched out flat upon his belly. Black blood was flowing from the wound where the spear had pierced him, smoking where it dripped onto the scorched sands. He is fire made flesh, she thought, and so am I.

Daenerys Targaryen vaulted onto the dragon's back, seized the spear, and ripped it out. The point was half-melted, the iron red-hot, glowing. She flung it aside. Drogon twisted under her, his muscles rippling as he gathered his strength. The air was thick with sand. Dany could not see, she could not breathe, she could not think. The black wings cracked like thunder, and suddenly the scarlet sands were falling away beneath her.

Dizzy, Dany closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she glimpsed the Meereenese beneath her through a haze of tears and dust, pouring up the steps and out into the streets.

The lash was still in her hand. She flicked it against Drogon's neck and cried, "Higher!" Her other hand clutched at his scales, her fingers scrabbling for purchase. Drogon's wide black wings beat the air. Dany could feel the heat of him between her thighs. Her heart felt as if it were about to burst. Yes, she thought, yes, now, now, do it, do it, take me, take me, FLY!

One of the biggest jaw dropping moments in the series.

Number two - Dragons hatching.

Number three - king in the north.

Number four - Cersei being carried by "Robert strong" into the red keep.

A shadow fell across them both, blotting out the sun. The queen felt cold steel slide beneath her, a pair of great armored arms lifting her off the ground, lifting her up into the air as easily as she had lifted Joffrey when he was still a babe. A giant, thought Cersei, dizzy, as he carried her with great strides toward the gatehouse. She had heard that giants could still be found in the godless wild beyond the Wall. That is just a tale. Am I dreaming?

No. Her savior was real. Eight feet tall or maybe taller, with legs as thick around as trees, he had a chest worthy of a plow horse and shoulders that would not disgrace an ox. His armor was plate steel, enameled white and bright as a maiden's hopes, and worn over gilded mail. A greathelm hid his face. From its crest streamed seven silken plumes in the rainbow colors of the Faith. A pair of golden seven-pointed stars clasped his billowing cloak at the shoulders.

A white cloak.

Ser Kevan had kept his part of the bargain. Tommen, her precious little boy, had named her champion to the Kingsguard.

Cersei never saw where Qyburn came from, but suddenly he was there beside them, scrambling to keep up with her champion's long strides. "Your Grace," he said, "it is so good to have you back. May I have the honor of presenting our newest member of the Kingsguard? This is Ser Robert Strong."

"Ser Robert," Cersei whispered, as they entered the gates.

"If it please Your Grace, Ser Robert has taken a holy vow of silence," Qyburn said. "He has sworn that he will not speak until all of His Grace's enemies are dead and evil has been driven from the realm."

Yes, thought Cersei Lannister. Oh, yes.

Number five - Three eyed crow reveal.

[TheLightning Lord]

Stoneheart

Daznak's Pit

Dracarys

Only Cat

Is there gold in the village?

[Lord Davos Baratheon]

''Robert, Jon thought for one mad moment, remembering poor Owen, but when the trumpets blew again and the knights charged, the name they cried was 'Stannis! Stannis! STANNIS!'"

Makes me shiver. :wideeyed:

[Queen Sansa Stark]

Does the wow moment have to be a positive or negative one? Because if they can be both:

1. Robb being crowned King in the North

2. Red Wedding

3. Ned's beheading

4. Dany hatching the dragons

5. Lysa revealing who orchestrated the WOT5K

[Maelys_the_Monstrous]

1. Ned's beheading - The first definitive moment that forces the reader to abandon any thoughts that this is just another Tolkien-esque fantasy series.

2. Syrio Forel taking on the Lannister guards - Just such a kickass ending for a kickass character (and yes, I'm afraid he really is dead)

3. Red Wedding - Doesn't really need an explanation.

4. Doran's 'Fire and Blood' exchange with Arianne - probably my favourite bit of the last two books.

5. Oberyn's death - Just so graphic

[Westorosi Batgirl]

1. The Red Wedding

2. Ned's execution

3. The hatching of the dragons

4. The Purple Wedding

5. Lyssa's confession and death

[KingStoneheart]

1. Eddard Stark's death.

2. The Red Wedding.

3. Lady Stoneheart.

4. The Mountain and the Viper.

5. Tyrion killing the Mighty Tywin.

[Bobby b's bobby]

1 dany riding drogon or maybe hatching dragons

2 kitn

3 red wedding

4 stannis Stannis STANNIS

5 Oberyn dying

[Northernmonkey]

1. The King in the North

2. Stannis Stannis STANNIS

3. The North Remembers

4. The Kingsmoot

5. The Pink Letter

[TheWhiteWalker]

1. Red Wedding

Jon Snow's assassination

Dany's first flight.

Ned's beheading.

Pink Letter

Could have added more, but OP said just five.

[First of the First Men]

1. Stoneheart reveal - grim but soothing chapter. First we learn through Merrett's POV that being a Frey is kinda shitty too, then you realize that there will be revenge for the RW.

Kevan's death - So that's Varys' real agenda...

Lysa's death

"Stannis! Stannis" STANNIS!!!!"

Dragons hatching

Dany flying

OK, that was 6.

The King in the North speech never did it for me for some reason

[Cashless Society]

1) Lysa's reveal.

2) Varys in cahoots with Mopatis.

3) Pink Letter

4) The North Remembers

5) All the going's on in the Citadel.

[Truly Just Man]

1) Stannis! Stannis! STANNIS!

2) On your knees, Onion Knight / Then we'll make new lords

3) The North Remembers

4) Red Wedding

5) The Purple Wedding

[Benjaneson]

1) (1:72 Dany X) Daenerys the Unburnt, Mother of Dragons - the moment that nobody was expecting that changed everything

2) (2:47 Arya IX) Arya blackmailing Jaqen H'ghar with his life - probably the most original idea in the series

3) (3:74 Arya XIII) Arya and the Titan's Daughter at Saltpans - the most unexpected of journeys

4) (3:80 Sansa VII) Lysa's confession and death - when you thought you'd understood everything...

5) (5:69 Jon XIII) The Bastard letter - when the real villains (seem to?) win everything

Ned's death and the Red Wedding were surprises, but they weren't 180 degree twists from out of nowhere

[Drogon's Personal Trainer]

Just for sheer Wow factor:

1. Dany rides Drogon

2. Dracarys

3. Dragon birth

4. Only Cat

5. Varys' little birds running amok at the end of ADWD

[Jon Fossoway]

1. Meribald´s account of the broken men and his own experience as one.

"But it was a war. It was a war."

2. Stannis´s charge on the wildlings and STANNIS, STANNIS, STANNIS!

3. The Purple Wedding. Man, that was messed up.

4. Robb Stark and the Battle of the Whispering Wood.

[SkinnyManderly]

Besides these that were already mentioned: shieldhall speech. I have read it screaming "wow! what? no! stop! what are you doing!..." internally.

[SeethemFly]

1) "Only Cat"- I was reading this on a plane, and I was so shocked and being so loud about it that everyone was giving me weird looks.

2) Ned Dead - The first point when you work out what kind of series this is.

3) Varys' murders of Pycelle and Kevan - I never thought he could be so personally brutal.

4) Lady Stoneheart's reveal - I found that chapter chilling.

5) The Dragon's Hatching

[James of the Blackwater]

1) The North Remembers - "The north remembers, Lord Davos. The north remembers, and the mummer’s farce is almost done. My son is home.”

2) Stannis! Stannis! STANNIS!

3) The Mountain Vs the Viper - YOU RAPED HER! YOU MURDERED HER! YOU KILLED HER CHILDREN! ELLLLLLLLLLLLIIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

4)Arya killing the Bolton Guard escaping out of Harrenhall - Slitting his throat and her picking up the coin and whispering Valar Morghulis, you knew that Arya was going down a dark path after this moment.

5) Tyrion Killing Tywin - In the end. Tywin Lannister did not shit gold.