Saddest moment in the books.

[Lord Balbi]

The sack of Winterfell.

Winterfell was, by far, my favorite place in Westeros. To see it burned and sacked like that was really heart breaking. I hope we get to see it being rebuilt. By Starks!

[Northern Rose]

1. The Bran chapters when he is realizing he'll never get to climb again or be a knight.

2. Arya getting SO close to her family before the killings.

3. Ygritte dying.

4. Tyrion and Tysha, Tyrion and his father, Tyrion and his sister, Tyrion and the people of King's Landing. Tyrion's whole freaking life. The guy never catches a break.

5. Khal Drogo & little Rhaego's deaths.

[Raksha the Demon]

I do not want to start Sansa bashing here but let's get things into proportion:

The incredibly horrifying event in her life was to be forced to see her father executed, btw this happened to her sister too. The saddest and truly desperate moment in her life, the ultimate desaster for a child to see a parent die that way.

Compared to that all abuse experiences, even the beating by the guards, the knife at her throat ( she got away with luck), the unwanted marriage (lucky again), the manipulative abduction by LF and the murder attempt by her aunt are ugly but.........

Compare it to Pia, the prostitute at Harrenhall, another character who started out as beautiful girl: raped many, many times, teeth knocked out, scarred, health lost.......

Sansa still has her health, her beauty, there are people who do her laundry, cook her food and light her fire.

By now she has lost her status as daughter of a great lord and is totally dependant of a sinister guy who intends to use her for his own purposes, seduce her, rape her or marry her off.

Does she have to work for her living like 99% of Westerosi population? Should I pity her for going down from lady to bastard? Oh, those poor village prostitutes can hardly go down any further, they are rock bottom already. Who as a reader would not prefer to identify with the damsel in distress and her plot armor instead of realizing what is done to women in general in that world!

Sorry but there are Idontknowhowmany female characters I pity more than her, to begin with Myrcella and certainly not to end with any peasant girl out there freezing and starving.

"snowcastle" was a wonderfully poetic and melancholic description, like many Sansa chapters very well written but Sansa herself does not touch my heart, I cannot weep for her like I can for the nameless or for characters like Catelyn or Jeyne Poole.

I'm getting tired of the implication that various Sansa moments should not be regarded as the saddest in ASoIaF. The original poster asked us what we thought were the saddest moments in the series; not who were the people who least deserved to suffer and who suffered most? It's a subjective question; and I don't think it's fair to say that this-or-that moment shouldn't be considered as sad as that-or-this moment because X had it worse than Y.

Readers of ASoIAF identify with many different characters; and have the right to find that, say, Theon's wishing he had died with Robb, is one of the saddest moments in ASoIAF even if Theon is not exactly (!) innocent; or to find that the sight of the innkeeper Masha's hanged body is the saddest moment (I don't know if anyone did), or the Red Wedding, or many moments during Arya's long journey into darkness, or Sansa's building Winterfell in the snow.

ASoIaF is teeming with tragic, heart-wrenching moments. To say, no, a particular moment can't be the saddest because the character involved did not suffer as much as other characters is fruitless, in my opinion; because the post asked not who suffers the most during ASoIaF, but what did various readers personally consider to be the saddest moments of the series.

I personally could not pick just one moment in ASoIaF to be the saddest, there are so many...

Let me try for five, in no particular order:

1. After trying for hours to restore his mind, Dany suffocates Drogo. Tragic, because Dany had only recently awakened from a painful labor to learn that her child was dead and her beloved husband a vegetable. She has lost what remained of her family, is alone in a disintegrating tribe; and has come to the end of hope; and kills her husband because she believes that is what he and his culture would want. It's not a decision, or an act, that any 14-year-old should have to carry out.

2. Two Arya moments stand out for me; but I'll go with one. I think it was in ASOS: The Hound and Arya are holed up in some small village for awhile, and little girl (a few years younger than Arya) wants to befriend Arya, is impressed by her, follows her and tries to emulate her. Arya finally grabs the child's doll (which I think was a soldier, or thought of by the little girl as a soldier) and destroys it, to drive the child away. Considering that Arya was initially someone who was kind to others, particularly children of lower social status, and used to know all the names of the children of the Winterfell staff/domestic, this is a very sad sign of Arya's own emotional trauma; the mixed emptiness and anger and bitterness inside her.

3. The Red Wedding; not so much for poor Robb's death, but because Catelyn, his mother, who believes that two of her sons are dead, one daughter missing presumed dead, and the other daughter married to someone Catelyn thinks of as 'vile' and 'monstrous', sees Robb killed before her eyes, and goes mad right before she is killed too.

4. Sansa's being forced to look upon her father's severed head, as well as her teacher's, by the vicious young king she once regarded as her destined Prince Charming, daring to defy him, being slapped so hard it draws blood, seriously considering not only pushing Joffrey to his death and falling with him, and then being stopped by Sandor's intervention, when he dabs the blood from her broken lip, and thanking him. The last line of the scene - She was a good girl, and always remembered her courtesies - is quietly heartbreaking, at least to me. Maybe I'm cheating, since it's an entire scene, not just one moment, but I couldn't separate the moments...

5. In ADWD, the horrible deaths of the men who ate of the bodies of their dead comrades; because they were starving - Stannis and Melisandre condemn them to be burned alive, in hopes that their deaths will end the snowfall. I'm no fan of cannibalism, but the men didn't eat human flesh for frivolous reasons, they were starving and desperate, and I don't think they deserved to be burned alive. One of them reiterates "We was hungry...we was starving" (quote approximate, don't have the books handy), even as the flames start up his leg. Horrible.

There are many more moments, or scenes, I could mention, but I don't have the time right now. The above-mentioned are really just a handful...

[the Scorpion Knight]

Nobody mentioned the scene where oberyn describes how he met tyrion the first time in casterly rock with his sister?

[Cap Ou Pas Cap]

I'm getting tired of the implication that various Sansa moments should not be regarded as the saddest in ASoIaF. It's a subjective question; and I don't think it's fair to say that this-or-that moment shouldn't be considered as sad as that-or-this moment because X had it worse than Y.

"Saddest" and "Sad" are too different to use one in place of the other. And another great differrence is to say "IS" and "makes me feel" or to add "in aSoIaF" while meaning "In this characters life".

[arya horsefaceless]

Ned dying wasn't sad to me (though I saw the show before the books). It was more WTF!? You can just kill the main character like that!? (at least, he seemed like the most important character at the time). I was more confused than sad

RW same thing, though it was really sad for Arya to come so close and to arrive just in time to see that. That to me was the saddest moment.

[DornishKnight]

The entirety of ASOS, really.

Specifically: When Sansa is married to Tyrion and the Tyrells ignore her. Margaery then gives Sansa a heartbroken look,

[Dacie]

Maester Aemon dying. I know there are tons of scenes more tragic, but for some reason when he is on the boat talking to "Egg" I cried like a baby.

[koftroy]

I had to add Theon...a victim of war from the day he was given to the Starks, to his actions at Winterfell and as Reek. But that is a bigger discussion.

All I will say about Sansa is that she is the weakest of the Stark children. I have never liked her as she is a follower , but I also think she, would have been the perfect daughter: she did everything right and there was going to be Queen. But it was not played out that way, and I think she has Stockholm syndrome, PTSD, and has none of the special talents any of the other Stark children have. Arya, Bran and Jon are all wargs+ another gift. Robb, never had a POV, but he was winning the war, and was a gifted strategist, natural leader, and was on his way to becoming a great, King, leader, whatever.

Sorry about the OT on Sansa...

[Riffraff]

Ygritte. I <3 red heads

[Free Northman]

I had an interesting experience.

When I first read the books I passed over things which now, 15 years later, are extremely disturbing to me.

I now have a 1 year old daughter myself, and upon rereading Clash of Kings, I now find the story of Weasel, the crying girl clinging to Arya's leg in the Riverlands - absolutely heartrending.

The way she eats mud out of sheer hunger, cries whenever Arya leaves her and is totally terrified all the time was extremely disturbing and saddening to me.

Just imagining my daughter in her position I actually had trouble reading through those parts.

This got me thinking. I often dream about what it would be like being an author. But I actually find that I could not bring myself to write about such misery if I was writing a book, because I would be too disturbed by it.

So I wonder whether Martin is disturbed by some of the horrific events in his books at all, or whether he simply hardens himself against it.

[DrogEriGalOn]

My most painful read: That sweet, innocent, heartwarming, funny love scene between 13 year old Tyrion and Tysha, described when Tyrion lies wounded after the battle............ And knowing what happened later, especially in a reread.

This was mine too. You beat me to it! Just did a re-read of COK

[DrogEriGalOn]

So I wonder whether Martin is disturbed by some of the horrific events in his books at all, or whether he simply hardens himself against it.

There was a recent interview where Martin said he wasn't disturbed when writing Theon's "Reek" chapters. He was more focused on what would make the readers disturbed.

[jvvst3]

I think Visery's death so probably my sadness moment. While he was a terrible person and not a character who I liked especially, he just seemed so weak, helpless, and cowardly in his final moments. Made me sad.

[Gingerly Grumkin]

Stick them with the pointy end. When the third dagger took him between the shoulder blades, he gave a grunt and fell face-first into the snow. He never felt the fourth knife. Only the cold …

seriously? Stick them with the pointy end! Fuck u GRRM

[Shay Baratheon]

* the Red Wedding

* Rodrick Cassel's murder

* Maester Leuwin's murder

* Eddard Stark ofc

[ServantOnIce]

Wow, folks again, let's not take this too serious . . it's all opinion on an great fantasy work.

My saddest moments

1. Arya after the Red Wedding . . just so much pain, in her mind her Dad, Bran, Rickon, Robb, and Mom are all dead, all she has left are Jon Snow and Sansa.

2. The Death of Lord Mormont at Craster's keep . .. the young women being raped, the murder of the rest the entire mutiny. The Old Bear deserved better than to die that way.

3. The Red Wedding . . Robb, his wolf, Catelyn, all the good men the Umbers, and all the men killed by their "allies" and "friends" you had folks who had rode to war together butchered by their comrads.

4. The Death of Joffrey . . . . I still think the series lost something when Joffrey died. It was good that he got what was coming to him. But the story has lacked a central antagonist and has a huge whole that hopefully Euron Crow's Eye and Roose Bolton will fill.

5. The rape of the daughters and wife in front of the Lord who was captured by the Iron Born. Having your kids and wifed raped in front of you while you are helpless is a horror that too many people on our planet have experienced. After reading that, I felt the Iron Born should all be tossed into the seven hells by a nice hurricane.

6. The people who are being tortured by Maester Q. Maester Q. seemed normal at first then went all Dr. Frakenstein on us . . . can't wait for him to become dragon food.

7. Lady Hornwood's death. Rich old heiress forced by violence to marry then starved to death in her own lands.

8. Brienne's pain about being rejected by that Connington dude, and then failing Lady Catelyn and Renly. Brienne really felt that she let Renly die, then her being hung by Cat StoneTully.

[JAHman28]

My saddest moment was actually a happy moment. When Sansa was walking through the Eyrie, and she saw the snow, which reminded both her and me of a happier time and place at Winterfell. She reminded me of Ned, of Jory, of Luwin, of a Bran that could walk and Arya Stark, who gave way to Arry, Nan, Weasel, Cat of the Canals and No-one.

[TeamDanyArya]

- Ned dying

- The RW

- Sansa rebuilding Winterfell in the snow at the Vale. Finally, finally she showed some emotion regarding everything she had been through. I started tearing up when she was building it and when stupid Robert Arryn tromped through it.

- The sack of Winterfell by that prick Theon

- Everything that's happened to that poor "Arya" back at the ruins of Winterfell

- Robb saying "Grey Wind"

- Jon saying "Ghost"

- Arya getting rid of all her possessions except Needle. While I was reading it, I kept saying "You can't rid of Needle!" over and over.

- Brienne's last POV chapter

- Dany snuffing out the shell that was Drogo

[Humphrey Plantagenet]

A series of moments rather than a single moment…but having seen Jon find himself a place on the Wall, and some friends to replace the family he’d lost, his deliberate and systematic alienation of himself from it all after he’s become LC is heartrending to me.