Take your pick!
Not slick production values or clever writing but an endless capacity to shock its viewer is Game of Thrones greatest USP.
Ever since the enormously popular HBO show, based on George R R Martin's best-selling action fantasy, came into existence in 2011, it's delivered one unforeseeable bombshell after another with its deadly treatment of popular characters.
Nor did any amount of criticism disturb the maker's fondness for gore or nudity. That's one reason why we do not envision a desi version, as fun as it sounds, on our telly screens in the near future.
With season six in full swing giving us everything we hoped for – thrill, darkness and unpredictability, here's a spoiler-filled look at 15 of its most wicked moments so far. Vote for the one that takes the cake in the poll below.
Bran's fall!
Game of Thrones meant business from day one.
In the first episode itself, Winterfell Lord Ned Stark's second youngest son Brandon aka Bran climbs up a tall tower only to catch siblings Jaime and Cersei Lannister engaged in an act of incestuous intimacy.
To prevent his secret from coming out, Jaime impulsively pushes Bran out of the window resulting in his crippling.
Ned Stark's beheading
Unlike the sly, selfish folks around him, Sean Bean's swashbuckling portrayal of the noble Eddard 'Ned' Stark was an easy winner. So it's only natural his beheading came as a rude surprise to its fans.
But Game of Thrones is nothing if not mean.
The Red Wedding
Throats, belonging to some of the most beloved characters in the TV series, get sliced off like a game of Fruit Ninja in the final few seconds of the infamous Red Wedding episode involving betrayal, tragedy and near annihilation of the Stark family.
The Purple Wedding
Weddings are an ominous affair in Martin's fictional universe. And yet another meets a cruel fate when Cersei's illegitimate older son and Iron Throne ruler Joffrey Baratheon is poisoned in a manner most gruesome at a grand feast following his marriage to Margaery Tyrell.
Despite being one of the most despised characters on the show, Joffrey's end felt both gratifying and grotesque.
Oberyn's skull-squelching execution!
People die all the time in Game of Thrones but ferocity unlocks new levels in the unprecedented savage violence during the combat of Ser Gregor Clegane and Oberyn Martell in the episode titled, The Mountain Versus the Viper.
At first, Oberyn looks all set to win only to be crushed by Clegane so inhumanly, the image of the latter scooping out his bleeding eyeballs and brains hasn't left a single viewer's memory.
Lysa breastfeeds Robin!
Nothing wrong in showing a boy drinking from his mother's bosom, you say? But what if the concerned son is a 10-year-old (Robin) cozying up to Mommy (Lysa Arryn) for nourishment?
Inappropriate, right? We thought so too. In fact, a licensed mental health counselor Colleen Jordan dubbed Lysa as the most "mentally ill person in Westeros."
Theon Greyjoy's loss of dignity and more!
After the deceit and spite Theon Greyjoy extended to the Starks, you'd think it's only fair he should suffer the same fate.
Except villain Ramsay Bolton has even more appalling ideas in mind as he tortures and mutilates Theon, rechristens him Reek relishing his emotional, mental, most of all, physical degeneration while gorging on sausage to imply his sick mentality.
Night King's Zombie trick!
The White Walkers always looked dangerous. Expectedly then, the battle against the wildlings led by Jon Snow doesn't end pretty.
What's even more shocking is how the White Walker's supremo Night King revives his seemingly collapsed army into blue-eyed zombies by simply lifting his arms in the air.
Khaleesi eats horse heart!
The platinum-haired Khaleesi and mother of dragons -- Daenerys Targeryn is easily GoT's number one hottie.
But beauty cannot make the sight of her wolfing down a horse's bloody and raw heart, for the sake of a healthy baby, an appetizing one.
Jaime's unforgivable crime!
While Game of Thrones succeeds somewhat in humanizing the incest link between Cersei and Jaime Lannister, it cannot defend the revolting moment where the latter violates his sister's right next to their dead son's body.
Sansa's horror wedding!
We reiterate, Game of Thrones doesn't care for weddings. So the one of convenience between the revolting Ramsay Bolton and long-suffering Sansa Stark had no chance of happiness.
Secretly, the viewer hoped Bolton wouldn't be the monster he always is when forces himself on Sansa in the presence of Theon as he goes on to in yet another disturbing scene from the show.
Cersei's Walk of Shame!
Cool and cruel and mostly in control of her countless games and manipulation, Cersei's vulnerable side surfaces after she agrees to atone for her 'sins' to the High Sparrow and his fanatical cult.
Which means public humiliation of the Queen mother -- walking down the streets naked, hair chopped while spectators pelt stones, spit and abuse.
That's extreme even for Cersei.
When Night Watch betrayed Jon Snow!
Jon Snow's growing alliance with the Wildlings doesn't go down well with a few members of the Watch setting the stage for one of the most eye-popping betrayals of last season triggering much uproar and speculation.
One by one selected traitors of the Night's Watch stab their weapon into Snow's unsuspecting guts leaving us to hope for something sensational in the ongoing season. Boy, has it lived up to that promise?
Tyrion's double revenge!
Tyrion Lannister has got a way with words and wine. Though often ridiculed for his diminutive stature and decadent lifestyle by his smug father Tywin, he's one of the most misunderstood and mysterious characters on Game of Thrones.
But scratch under the defensive humor and there's a man capable of playing as foul as he gets. That's precisely what he does on learning about his father and supposed soul mate Shae's treachery.
Sacrificing Shireen
Young Shireen is an unfortunate victim of Melislandre's deceptive sorcery after she convinces her client Stannis Baratheon to believe her scar-faced daughter's sacrifice is the only obstacle between him and the throne.
Horrifically, he approves of her suggestion to burn poor Shireen alive even as his previously indifferent wife screams her lungs out in protest and disbelief.
