What was the best scene from the books in your opinion?

[Corvo the Crow]

Jon's beheading of Janos Slynt, events leading upto it and Stannis' nod of approval included. Even old gods or red rahloo do not have the power over  Stannis to make him approve of anyone, if you have his approval, you have nothing more left to achieve in your life as all else will pale in comparison.

 

Catelyn seizing Tyrion. It is also the single best scene in the show that was perhaps even better than the books.

[SuperMario]

2 minutes ago, Corvo the Crow said:

Jon's beheading of Janos Slynt, events leading upto it and Stannis' nod of approval included. Even old gods or red rahloo do not have the power over  Stannis to make him approve of anyone, if you have his approval, you have nothing more left to achieve in your life as all else will pale in comparison.

 

Catelyn seizing Tyrion. It is also the single best scene in the show that was perhaps even better than the books.

Great call. Her speech about all the men in the room and the oaths they swear was a great moment.

One other one I forgot that I always loved was when Renly laughed when he heard Joffrey's sword name of Lion's Tooth.

[Six Crows]

A girl and an old man, thought Asha, as the two were dumped rudely in the snow before her. The girl was shivering violently, even in her furs. If she had not been so frightened, she might even have been pretty, though the tip of her nose was black with frostbite. The old man ... no one would ever think him comely. She had seen scarecrows with more flesh. His face was a skull with skin, his hair bone-white and filthy. And he stank. Just the sight of him filled Asha with revulsion. He raised his eyes. “Sister. See. This time I knew you.”
Asha’s heart skipped a beat. “Theon?”
His lips skinned back in what might have been a grin. Half his teeth were gone, and half of those still left him were broken and splintered. “Theon,” he repeated. “My name is Theon. You have to know your name.” 

[Tucu]

I like the chat between Big Bucket and a couple of Stannis' men. It tells so much on how bad things will get before the end.

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"A little snow?" Peasebury's soft girlish mouth twisted in fury. "Your ill counsel forced this march upon us, Wull. I am starting to suspect you have been Bolton's creature all along. Is that the way of it? Did he send you to us to whisper poison in the king's ear?"

Big Bucket laughed in his face. "Lord Pea Pod. If you were a man, I would kill you for that, but my sword is made of too fine a steel to besmirch with craven's blood." He took a drink of ale and wiped his mouth. "Aye, men are dying. More will die before we see Winterfell. What of it? This is war. Men die in war. That is as it should be. As it has always been."

Ser Corliss Penny gave the clan chief an incredulous look. "Do you want to die, Wull?"

That seemed to amuse the northman. "I want to live forever in a land where summer lasts a thousand years. I want a castle in the clouds where I can look down over the world. I want to be six-and-twenty again. When I was six-and-twenty I could fight all day and fuck all night. What men want does not matter.

"Winter is almost upon us, boy. And winter is death. I would sooner my men die fighting for the Ned's little girl than alone and hungry in the snow, weeping tears that freeze upon their cheeks. No one sings songs of men who die like that. As for me, I am old. This will be my last winter. Let me bathe in Bolton blood before I die. I want to feel it spatter across my face when my axe bites deep into a Bolton skull. I want to lick it off my lips and die with the taste of it on my tongue."

"Aye!" shouted Morgan Liddle. "Blood and battle!" Then all the hillmen were shouting, banging their cups and drinking horns on the table, filling the king's tent with the clangor.

 

[Lya's Winter Rose]

"Only Cat" has to be the greatest scene in ASOIAF. 

I hated Sansa for two books, and it only took one chapter to turn her into one of my favourite characters.   

[Faint]

The Red Wedding, although I personally love Melisandre's introduction as well. 

[Stormourne]

Needle was Jon Snow's Smile. Nuff said.

[Falcon2909]

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Sunset found her squatting in the grass, groaning. Every stool was looser than the one before, and smelled fouler. By the time the moon came up she was shitting brown water. The more she drank, the more she shat, but the more she shat, the thirstier she grew, and her thirst sent her crawling to the stream to suck up more water.

Too bad the TV series didn't feature this scene

[mankytoes]

I have to go for the Red Wedding, because it was definitely the most shocking and powerful.

But to be a bit more original, Theon is my favourite character and he has some amazing scenes. The Reek reveal chapter was another exceptional "oh shit" moment, and his Winds chapter is superb, I'm another Stannis fan. Got to mention the wedding night scene, it seems bizarre to call it the "best" of anything, but it's one of the most upsetting things I've ever read.

That's all very grim, so I'll mention a favourite little happy moment- Stannis crediting Davos for getting him to save the Watch- " Lord Seaworth is a man of humble birth, but he reminded me of my duty, when all I could think of was my rights. I had the cart before the horse, Davos said. I was trying to win the throne to save the kingdom, when I should have been trying to save the kingdom to win the throne".

Maybe my favourite relationship/friendship in the whole series.

[Queen Sansa Stark]

On 7-9-2017 at 9:41 PM, Corvo the Crow said:

Jon's beheading of Janos Slynt, events leading upto it and Stannis' nod of approval included. Even old gods or red rahloo do not have the power over  Stannis to make him approve of anyone, if you have his approval, you have nothing more left to achieve in your life as all else will pale in comparison.

 

Catelyn seizing Tyrion. It is also the single best scene in the show that was perhaps even better than the books.

You forget the best part about this:

"Frog-faced Lord Slynt sat at the end of the council table wearing a black velvet doublet and a shiny cloth-of-gold cape, nodding with approval every time the king pronounced a sentence. Sansa stared hard at his ugly face, remembering how he had thrown down her father for Ser Ilyn to behead, wishing she could hurt him, wishing that some hero would throw him down and cut off his head"

Jon will probably get a big hug from Sansa if she ever learns this. 

That Catelyn and Tyrion scene is indeed brilliant. One of the few things the tv-show actually did good. 

[BalerionTheCat]

Davos and the Manderlys. Always my favorite:

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! ...

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.

[Free Northman Reborn]

Two that come to mind:

1. Arya nominating Jaqen H'gar as her third name.

2. Arya retrieving and using Needle in the scene with the Hound, the Tickler and the gang.

Another one that always stays with me is when Arya is leading Hot Pie, Gendry and the gang through the devestated Riverlands and they ride underneath an apple tree full of hanging corpses. The others are horrified, but Arya just reaches up and picks an apple from among the dead men, and starts eating it.

[Joso'sLeftOne]

Arya and the ghost of high hill(?)

Cersei being taken by the sparrows

Jon being named lord commander

Theons winds of winter sample chapter (probably my favorite as I'm a huge mannis fan)

 

[WhiteOwl18]

"Edd, fecth me a block!".

Iconic.

[Corvo the Crow]

On ‎10‎.‎09‎.‎2017 at 5:28 PM, Queen Sansa Stark said:

You forget the best part about this:

"Frog-faced Lord Slynt sat at the end of the council table wearing a black velvet doublet and a shiny cloth-of-gold cape, nodding with approval every time the king pronounced a sentence. Sansa stared hard at his ugly face, remembering how he had thrown down her father for Ser Ilyn to behead, wishing she could hurt him, wishing that some hero would throw him down and cut off his head"

Jon will probably get a big hug from Sansa if she ever learns this. 

That Catelyn and Tyrion scene is indeed brilliant. One of the few things the tv-show actually did good. 

I'd be very disappointed if he gets just a hug. I was hoping for a Jon-Sansa marriage in the show (after R+L=J is revealed) and while I am shipping Jon + Val in the books, I don't think Val will survive to the end so same applies for the books.

 

Another scene that I can't believe I forgot to add:

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!"

Few in the series inspire such devotion from his men, even after suffering a great defeat just a short while ago and facing such odds

Thanks to Jojo'sLeftOne for forcing me to remember.

[Edgar Allen Poemont]

The conversation between Qhorin and Jon after he lets Ygritte go, coupled with Qhorin's sacrifice. To me, this is the beginning of the transformation from boy to man for Jon. Interesting too, that it is a sort of blood sacrifice. They screwed it up so bad In the show, that's when I stopped watching. Fetch me a block is high on my list too.

[4 Eyed Crow]

Right now, I can think of

• AGoT Bran III, when Bran has his first encounter with the 3 eyed crow
• The scene in ADWD that documents Tyrion's drunk voyage and stay at Illyrio's house. It never gets old

[Carolyn]

I re-read it recently and am surprised it doesn't get more love: Sansa at dinner with the Tyrells! Suddenly you have all these new characters that you have previously only known on hearsay, and the really effective staging of 'a BEAR! a BEAR!' and then 'here's my cheese' at the end. I just LOVE IT, but it also sets up a mystery about what on earth the Tyrells are going to do with the knowledge, and on a re-read it's heart breaking to see Sansa's hopes raised.

[Фейсал]

Sansa sings Sandor a song. That was really the moment the Hound broke and realized the hardened killer was just a shield he made for himself, that he was better than that.

I really hope its not revealed that he did actually rape her.

[Ferocious Veldt Roarer]

“You said the words,” Pyp reminded him. “Now my watch begins, you said it. It shall not end until my death.”

“I shall live and die at my post,” Grenn added, nodding.

“You don’t have to tell me the words, I know them as well as you do.” He was angry now. Why couldn’t they let him go in peace? They were only making it harder.

“I am the sword in the darkness,” Halder intoned.

“The watcher on the walls,” piped Toad.

Jon cursed them all to their faces. They took no notice. Pyp spurred his horse closer, reciting, “I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men.”

“Stay back,” Jon warned him, brandishing his sword. “I mean it, Pyp.” They weren’t even wearing armor, he could cut them to pieces if he had to.

Matthar had circled behind him. He joined the chorus. “I pledge my life and honor to the Night’s Watch.”

Jon kicked his mare, spinning her in a circle. The boys were all around him now, closing from every side.

“For this night …,” Halder trotted in from the left.

“… and all the nights to come,” finished Pyp. He reached over for Jon’s reins. “So here are your choices. Kill me, or come back with me.”

This is a good one, no doubt.

(I, personally, always get my mood up when I read of Grampa Arstan surprisingly, thoroughly, beating the shit out of the mighty Titan's Bastard. I think that scene deserves a passing mention every once in a while).