The 23 Most Shocking Moments On Season 6 Of 'GoT'

Like many of the other seasons of Game of Thrones, Season 6 has had some surprises, dramatic events, and deaths. But unlike any season before it, those shocks came rapid fire. It's like every shocked intake of breath we expel at a given moment during this explosive season is somehow giving life to the writers of the series. (Yes, I'm technically theorizing that the writers of Game of Thrones are aliens who use our shock and awe as sustenance. Deal with it.) Anyway, all I'm trying to prove is that there have been some incredibly intense moments on Season 6 of Game of Thrones. I don't want to go out on a limb and call this the most shocking season ever because, personally, I'm still reeling from Ned Stark's death in Season 1, but this season is definitely up there.

Some of the surprises in Game of Thrones' 2016 outing have been wonderful and some of them have been terrible and some of them have been in this odd, middle ground area, but overall, this season has made me all feel a ton of emotions. Tissues and a fan to occasionally wave at oneself have been necessary viewing materials for for the past nine episodes. It's basically been a crash course in how to feel all the feels. And I do mean every. last. feel.

1. "Hold The Door"

When Bran warged into Hodor while also time traveling and then figured out he's the one who broke Hodor, it was not only a complete surprise to viewers, it was also one of the most devastating moments of the series. For GoT fans, asking to "hold the door" will never be a run-of-the-mill request ever again.

2. When Jon Snow Was Resurrected

Sure, we all knew it was coming, but we didn't know how it would happen. So it truly was shocking when Melisandre got to work, and began cutting off that beautiful mane for some weird science. Especially when she thought it didn't work and everybody left the room except Ghost and, for a brief moment, we thought we were all wrong about Jon's return.

3. When Arya Was Stabbed By The Waif

It wasn't so surprising that the Faceless Men were after Arya, but it was certainly shocking that the scrappy Stark let her guard down at all for The Waif to get close enough to get her. It's almost like she wanted to get caught. And maybe she actually did: after all, she did end up cornering Waify and taking her out.

4.When The Hound Came Back

Lots of fans were pretty sure the Hound was not dead and would be seen again, but it was certainly shocking to see in whose company he found himself. The Hound was hanging out with a religious group and laying low in one of the series' few pre-opening titles segments. The whole situation was definitely a bit of a surprise.

5. When King Tommen Decried Trial By Combat Illegal

Everyone was optimistic that #CleganeBowl was going to go down when Cersei opted for trial-by-combat as a means of proving her innocence. But because Tommen had the religious fanatics — and Margaery — in his head, he has decided that this means of judgement is unfair. What might be most shocking is that Tommen was kinda right.

6. When Edmure Tully Was Released

With those Freys taking such mediocre care of Edmure Tully, I was pretty sure he was a goner. Imagine my surprise when he was released and then surrendered the castle.

7. When The Masters Attacked Meereen

Overall, things haven't been that crazy in Daenerys' world. Sure, she set a bunch of Khals on fire and rode her dragon back to Meereen, but those are not surprising things for a Mother of Dragons and full-time conquerer to do. What was shocking was when the Masters were bold enough to attack Meereen. Good thing Dany and her dragons put them in their places (which was more satisfying than shocking, but great all the same).

8. When Yara Greyjoy & Theon Joined Forces

Honestly, Yara doesn't seem like the forgiving type. But she proved that blood is thicker than the salt water around those Iron Islands when she teamed up with her broken brother, Theon.

9. When Daenerys Showed Up Mid-Attack In Meereen

The gang in Meereen hadn't seen Dany in months and all of a sudden she just flies up to the top of the pyramid, riding a dragon. This was less shocking for us and very, very surprising for Tyrion, Missandei, and Grey Worm.

10. When Jaqen H'ghar Essentially Pardoned Arya

"Finally a girl is no one," he said. Excuse me but, what? She's now more than ever Arya Stark. This moment was shocking and continues to confound me.

11. When Tyrion Got Grey Worm To Tell A Joke

Sure, it wasn't the funniest of jokes, but even that small of a step into human emotion is surprising for Grey Worm.

12. When Jon Snow And Sansa Reunited

I literally thought a Stark would never see another Stark ever again until those two hugged it out. It was truly wonderful.

13. When Ramsay Was Eaten By His Own Hounds

Seriously, homeboy had it coming, but I was totally not expecting sweet vengeance to go down so... perfectly. I thought for sure something was going to go awry with his execution (like Jon finishing the job just with his fists or Ramsay dying in battle) and Sansa would get whatever one calls "blue balls" in the revenge business. But to have it be so fitting — Ramsay is eaten by the dogs he starves and trained to be killers while his victim, Sansa watches — was absolute perfection.

14. When Daenerys Sent Jorah Away... Again

"Oh, hey, Jorah, I see you're totally going to be a Stone Man because of this crazy affliction, would you like to spend the rest of your life chilling with me while we search for a cure for you?" is the conversation that should have happened. Instead, Dany sent Jorah after his own cure, which is I guess a pretty good idea for a knightly task, but still a tad cold.

13. When Lyanna Mormont Was Ice Cold

That twelve-year-old girl is more intimidating than many of us can ever even dream of being.

13. When The Tyrell Family Tree Ended

I knew Cersei was going to take down the Faith Militant. Heck, I was even pretty sure she would be doing it with wildfire. What I didn't expect was that she would take down my favorite Tyrell (and Margaery's broken brother and idiot father) along with everybody else. This wasn't as gruesome as most GoT deaths, but it was so sad. RIP, Margaery and company.

14. Ellaria Sand Joining Olenna Tyrell And Heading Towards Daenerys

First off, let's start with how great it is to see the mostly flat Dorne plotline scooped up by Olenna. That woman can making anything interesting, and her Sand Snake mockery gave me life. Then, we find out that that these ladies and Daenerys could all be working together to take the Iron Throne, if everything goes to plan? Well, let's just say Season 7 is going to be crazy.

15. When Cersei Took The Iron Throne

We all knew Cersei was up to some crazy nonsense — there was the creepy Qyburn whispers about a rumor being true and a very real desire to take all her enemies out — not to mention that gal has been plotting since Day 1 — but I greatly expected her exploits to ruin her. But so far, Cersei seems to be feeling pretty OK and pretty queenly at that. Is it weird that I'm proud of her for girl power reasons?

16. When Tommen Took His Own Life

Guys, who's going to take care of Ser Pounce? Cersei is a sociopath who probably has no love for small animals. We all knew Tommen was going to die due to that Maggy the Frog prophecy, but whodathunk it would be by his own hand and due to actions by his mother?

17. When Everyone Was Shouting "King Of The North"

Uh... guys... remember what happened last time? As happy as I am that Jon's finally being treated as more than a bastard, I'm not comfortable with what happens to those who get that phrase chanted in their general direction.

18. When Arya Baked Walder Frey's Sons Into A Meat Pie

First off, may I just point out that I totally didn't realize Arya could do the face swap thing if she wasn't killing someone for the Many-Faced god. Cool trick, Arya. I had a feeling something was going to go awry with Walder Frey after he celebrated the Lannisters in that awkward feast, but I just assumed the Lannisters would be the ones to turn on him. It was nice that it was our girl Arya who got to kill a bunch of Freys. And who knew she could bake? She's a multi-talented girl, our Arya.

19. When Jon Was Getting Smothered In Battle

And we were all legitimately staring at our screens like zombies and heavy breathing as a means of calming ourselves down. Though I was convinced he wouldn't die again, especially by something as lame as getting trampled, it was a horrifying thirty seconds that I cannot unsee.

20. When Jon Snow Banished Melisandre

It seemed pretty clear Davos was going to out Melly for her straight up murder of a child as soon as he figured it out before the Ramsay battle. What wasn't clear was how Jon Snow would handle it. Excommunicating her was the perfect compromise, and a little shocking. I assumed he would be like, "Sorry, Davos, we need the witch's power. Did you see her bring me back to life?"

21.When We Found Out Ned Stark Lied About A Skirmish

Ned always told the Stark children the noble tale of how he took down a famous knight, Ser Arthur Dayne. When Bran goes back in time via The Three-Eyed Raven, we find out that what actually went down was far less noble — in fact, Howland Reed literally stabbed Dayne in the back to save Ned.

22. The Children Created White Walkers

Bran finds out that The Children are the ones who created the White Walkers to protect themselves from humans. Way to go, guys. Really stellar work.

23. The Mountain Was Just A Babysitter

We knew Cersei was up to no good and I'm sure we were all thinking there was going to be some sort of battle situation with her Mountain/Frankenstein in the finale. But alas, Gregor Clegane simply played babysitter — keeping Tommen in the Red Keep so he would miss out on the wildfire party at the Sept.

Season 6 of Game of Thrones was definitely not lacking in surprises. It's a good thing we've got a whole year until Season 7 because I'm not sure my little heart can take much more. Winter has come and it's time to see what that means for The Seven Kingdoms, but first let's all take a nice break and marathon something a little lighter like Friends. Our emotions could use the break.

Images: Tumblr/allison221b, darrenklainefan; Helen Sloan (3), Macall B. Polay/courtesy of HBO; Giphy (10); HBO (7)