Saddest moment in series?

[Corvo the Crow]

This dream from a spring

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He dreamt an old dream, of three knights in white cloaks, and a tower long fallen, and Lyanna in her bed of blood.

In the dream his friends rode with him, as they had in life. Proud Martyn Cassel, Jory's father; faithful Theo Wull; Ethan Glover, who had been Brandon's squire; Ser Mark Ryswell, soft of speech and gentle of heart; the crannogman, Howland Reed; Lord Dustin on his great red stallion. Ned had known their faces as well as he knew his own once, but the years leech at a man's memories, even those he has vowed never to forget. In the dream they were only shadows, grey wraiths on horses made of mist. 

They were seven, facing three. In the dream as it had been in life. Yet these were no ordinary three. They waited before the round tower, the red mountains of Dorne at their backs, their white cloaks blowing in the wind. And these were no shadows; their faces burned clear, even now. Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning, had a sad smile on his lips. The hilt of the greatsword Dawn poked up over his right shoulder. Ser Oswell Whent was on one knee, sharpening his blade with a whetstone. Across his white-enameled helm, the black bat of his House spread its wings. Between them stood fierce old Ser Gerold Hightower, the White Bull, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard.

 

[Natruviath]

Either Sandor Clegane's death or Ned Stark's death

[Kandrax]

1 hour ago, Natruviath said:

Sandor Clegane's death

What did you say???????

[LiveFirstDieLater]

“I dreamt a wolf howling in the rain, but no one heard his grief," the dwarf woman was saying. "I dreamt such a clangor I thought my head might burst, drums and horns and pipes and screams, but the saddest sound was the little bells.”

[Clegane'sPup]

5 hours ago, Kandrax said:

What did you say???????

In response to your response about Sandor Clegane’s death -----

 

On first read, it appears that Arya left the Hound to die. It was sad because he was trying to bait Arya into killing him due to his festering wound.

A Storm of Swords - Arya XIII      A spasm of pain twisted his face. "Do you mean to make me beg, bitch? Do it! The gift of mercy . . . avenge your little Michael . . ."    "Mycah." Arya stepped away from him. "You don't deserve the gift of mercy."/

It is not revealed until the next book that maybe Sandor did not die. That perhaps he and his stallion are alive and well living on the Quiet Isle.

A Feast for Crows - Brienne VI      "You sound as if you pity him," said Brienne.    "I did. You would have pitied him as well, if you had seen him at the end. I came upon him by the Trident, drawn by his cries of pain. He begged me for the gift of mercy, but I am sworn not to kill again. Instead, I bathed his fevered brow with river water, and gave him wine to drink and a poultice for his wound, but my efforts were too little and too late. The Hound died there, in my arms. You may have seen a big black stallion in our stables. That was his warhorse, Stranger. A blasphemous name. We prefer to call him Driftwood, as he was found beside the river. I fear he has his former master's nature."     The horse. She had seen the stallion, had heard it kicking, but she had not understood. Destriers were trained to kick and bite. In war they were a weapon, like the men who rode them. Like the Hound. "It is true, then," she said dully. "Sandor Clegane is dead." "He is at rest." The Elder Brother paused. "/

[Kandrax]

39 minutes ago, Clegane'sPup said:

In response to your response about Sandor Clegane’s death -----

 

 

On first read, it appears that Arya left the Hound to die. It was sad because he was trying to bait Arya into killing him due to his festering wound.

A Storm of Swords - Arya XIII      A spasm of pain twisted his face. "Do you mean to make me beg, bitch? Do it! The gift of mercy . . . avenge your little Michael . . ."    "Mycah." Arya stepped away from him. "You don't deserve the gift of mercy."/

 

It is not revealed until the next book that maybe Sandor did not die. That perhaps he and his stallion are alive and well living on the Quiet Isle.

 

A Feast for Crows - Brienne VI      "You sound as if you pity him," said Brienne.    "I did. You would have pitied him as well, if you had seen him at the end. I came upon him by the Trident, drawn by his cries of pain. He begged me for the gift of mercy, but I am sworn not to kill again. Instead, I bathed his fevered brow with river water, and gave him wine to drink and a poultice for his wound, but my efforts were too little and too late. The Hound died there, in my arms. You may have seen a big black stallion in our stables. That was his warhorse, Stranger. A blasphemous name. We prefer to call him Driftwood, as he was found beside the river. I fear he has his former master's nature."     The horse. She had seen the stallion, had heard it kicking, but she had not understood. Destriers were trained to kick and bite. In war they were a weapon, like the men who rode them. Like the Hound. "It is true, then," she said dully. "Sandor Clegane is dead." "He is at rest." The Elder Brother paused. "/

I know about a grave digger theory.

[LiveFirstDieLater]

15 minutes ago, Kandrax said:

I know about a grave digger theory.

Oh there’s a grave digger, waaaaay over town... who digs on me?

[JaneSnow]

On ‎1‎/‎19‎/‎2016 at 5:55 PM, dornishdame said:

Jon II in Thrones:

Jon lowered his eyes. She was cradling one of Bran's hands. He took the other, squeezed it. Fingers like the bones of birds. "Good-bye," he said.

He was at the door when she called out to him. "Jon," she said. He should have kept going, but she had never called him by his name before. He turned to find her looking at his face, as if she were seeing it for the first time.

"Yes?" he said.

"It should have been you," she told him. Then she turned back to Bran and began to weep, her whole body shaking with the sobs. Jon had never seen her cry before.

It was a long walk down to the yard.

Wanting what happened to Bran to happen to someone else instead of him is something I can understand; the natural reaction to a child's accident is why my child? Why my son or daughter? But, as far as Jon is concerned, they have lived under the same roof for almost a decade and a half; we know from Benjen's convo with Jon in Jon I that he mostly sits with his half-siblings at dinner; we know from Jon XII in Storm that he was educated alongside Robb (when considering Stannis's offer of Winterfell and legitimacy, Jon thinks of Catelyn's look when he beat Robb at sums); Catelyn in essentially his step-mother. I find it sad that in almost a decade and a half, she has never called him by his first name. It isn't just her fault - Ned should have told her about Jon's mother years ago - but what you are left left is a motherless boy who feels an outsider in his own home. 

Bran III in Dance:

"Hodor," said Hodor.

Meera began to cry.

Bran hated being crippled then. "Don't cry," he said. He wanted to put his arms around her, hold her tight the way his mother used to hold him back at Winterfell when he'd hurt himself. She was right there, only a few feet from him, but so far out of reach it might have been a hundred leagues. To touch her he would need to pull himself along the ground with his hands, dragging his legs behind him. The floor was rough and uneven, and it would be slow going, full of scrapes and bumps. I could put on Hodor's skin, he thought. Hodor could hold her and pat her on the back. The thought made Bran feel strange, but he was still thinking it when Meera bolted from the fire, back out into the darkness of the tunnels. He heard her steps recede until there was nothing but the voices of the singers.

I have quoted the above, but really what I find sad is the fact that what we are seeing is Bran's first crush in the knowledge that it can't go anywhere. Aside from Bran's destiny within the cave, his injuries are so severe that they really preclude anything other than loving friendship. In Thrones, Eddard V, he speaks and thinks of the consequences of Bran's fall - 

"Yet someday he may be the lord of a great holdfast and sit on the king's council. He might raise castles like Brandon the Builder, or sail a ship across the Sunset Sea, or enter your mother's Faith and become the High Septon." But he will never run beside his wolf again, he thought with a sadness too deep for words, or lie with a woman, or hold his own son in his arms.

Add to that the feelings Meera has of doom, there is a sense that this will not have a happy ending. 

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Something cold moved in her eyes. "I told you to leave," she said. "We don't want you here."

Once that would have sent him running. Once that might even have made him cry. Now it only made him angry. He would be a Sworn Brother of the Night's Watch soon, and face worse dangers than Catelyn Tully Stark.

 

Well said. This one also makes me said since it implies that Catelyn has made him cry at some points. I mean, he was only a babe when he came to Winterfell. How old was he before he realized that Catelyn wasn't his mom, and that he was a bastard? How many times did toddler!Jon call Cat "mommy" only to be pushed away?

[Haus Berlin]

Nice idea for a topic, @dariopatke. I bet quite a lot us are trapped into certain character's heads and moved by what happens to them or by GRRM's wording, when it creates a sense of foreboding. These are the most touching moments for me.

 

I sometimes feel overwhelmed in Bran's POVs, because he has a hard time to shield himself from the outburst of feelings other people allow themselves around him. Robb's and Meera's crying are hard to bear through his eyes.

 

A fateful feeling gives me Beric in ASOS:

 

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“Can I dwell on what I scarce remember? I held a castle on the Marches once, and there was a woman I was pledged to marry, but I could not find that castle today, nor tell you the color of that woman’s hair. Who knighted me, old friend? What were my favorite foods? It all fades. Sometimes I think I was born on the bloody grass in that grove of ash, with the taste of fire in my mouth and a hole in my chest. Are you my mother, Thoros?”

Brienne is such a melancholic character and I'm always very sure on my re-reads that Beric's fate will be hers. Especially when she is around Catelyn and their words and touches fail so miserably to console the other. Never does she show appetite or interest in life. She never remembered her mother and Renly's memory is already fading. It's always so sad to see young people giving away their lifes. Those are never the lucky ones amongst our societies. Brienne was never poor, but her self-worth is far from sapphires or gold dragons.