‘Game of Thrones’: The Script That Killed Jon Snow

Millions watched the last episode of Game of Thrones Season 5 and gasped/cried/shouted at the television set as we watched Jon Snow get stabbed by his brothers on the Wall. We watched possibly the most tame death scene in Game of Thrones history that was also among the most heart- and gut-wrenching scene. Our beloved Jon Snow looked wide-eyed and speechless at one brother after another as they thrust their knives into his body “for the Watch.” Since that day, the internet, magazines, radio shows, TV shows, you name it, they’ve been buzzing about Game of Thrones and the death, and possible resurrection, of Jon Snow.

Did the Game of Thrones people really let Jon Snow die? So it seems. He was stabbed six times. As he fell to the frozen ground, we watched as ruby-red blood poured from his body onto the white snow. Here’s how it played out.

Wow. As painful as that is for Game of Thrones fans to watch, imagine writing it. Or imagine being Kit Harington, who plays Jon Snow, and knowing you have to play that scene. We imagine so many thoughts going through Snow’s mind and such a confused mass of emotion, not to mention physical pain. How would you play the part in this pivotal scene of Game of Thrones, the show that has captured the heart and mind of millions? Well, that’s what the writers are for. You do it with a script. And now, as reported by Entertainment Weekly, we have been treated to the script for the scene from the episode titled Mother’s Mercy in which our dear Snow meets his death at the hands of his brothers on the Wall.

It’s amazing that Game of Thrones writers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss could take just three pages to create the basis for the scene people can’t stop talking about. It’s three pages from the script for a Game of Thrones episode that won an Emmy. There are some lines that communicate so much in just a few words. Some insight into what Snow reads on the scrolls in the beginning of the scene.

“We hold the Night’s Watch in great esteem but have no men to spare…

War has ravaged our House and those who survived are needed at home…

Perhaps when winter has come and gone we shall send a few orphans.”

And Jon moving nearer to what will be the spot where Game of Thrones brings his life to an end.

“Several RANGERS have huddled around something or someone in the corner of the yard. FIRST BUILDER YARWYCK is here, and BOWEN MARSH.

JON

Where is he?

THORNE

Over here.

Jon steps past the semi-circle of rangers. Behind them, where Jon expected to see a wilding; no one.

But painted on the wall, a single word; Traitor.”

Our hero is stabbed repeatedly, six times to be exact. And then Olly approaches, crying. We’ve seen it play out on Game of Thrones already, we know what’s coming, but that lump returns to our throats reading the simple but emotion-filled words from the script.

” JON

Olly…

We don’t see the knife until Olly slams it directly into Jon’s heart.

Jon collapses. He stares up at Olly, who looks down at him, still crying.

OLLY

For the Watch.”

And finally, the end. THE moment. The Game of Thrones moment that’s etched on our minds.

“The brothers retreat, leaving Jon to die alone on the ground, bleeding out. The light goes out of his open eyes as we fade on Season 5.”

Jon Snow bleeding out. The light fading from his eyes. The end of Game of Thrones Season 5. And you have to admit, he looks pretty dang dead. But his head wasn’t chopped off. His body wasn’t burned. And in the Game of Thrones world, that means he very well may not remain dead.

Game of Thrones returns to HBO on April 24. Does Jon Snow return to life in Season 6 of Game of Thrones? We sure hope so.

[Photo by Ian Walton/Getty Images]