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Game Of Thrones went down in history as one of the all-time greatest television shows, and while the ending was certainly controversial, that didn't take away from the amazing storytelling that took place throughout the rest of the series.

While the show was heavily praised for its action, stunning special effects and the fact it was willing to take chances, one of the big reasons it was so popular was because the pure emotion that ran through it.

Audiences were deeply connected to various characters, with everyone rooting for different people and hoping others would be killed off. Because there was so much investment and time from the fans, it created some incredible moments of pure elation and utter sadness, and within this article, we will rank the 10 most emotional moments from the series.

10. THE DEATH OF NED STARK

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Let's get this one out of the way right off the bat, as it is *the* moment that everyone goes to when discussing emotional moments from Game Of Thrones, with this being not just one of the most shocking moments in the show, but in television history.

There aren't many shows that will be build up a main character for an entire season only to kill them off in the final episode, but that is exactly what the show did, leaving fans incredibly upset due to how much time they had invested into the head Stark family leader.

9. JAMIE CHOOSES CERSEI

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Jamie and Cersei Lannister had a very strange relationship, outside of the obvious fact they are siblings, with Cersei often pulling power plays over him and the pair seemingly having a different outlook on life, it seemed like Jamie was set to turn a corner at the end of the show.

Finally embracing his love for Brienne Of Tarth, with the pair being romantically involved, it seemed like Jamie was going to have a true heroes ending until he made the shocking decision to return to his sister at the very end.

8. SHAE'S TESTIMONY/BETRAYAL

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Tyrion is put through a lot of emotional moments throughout the show, but the testimony from who he thought was his true love, Shae, might have been the worst of the bunch, leaving him and the viewers at home utterly stunned.

With Tyrion being put on trial, the Lannister family pulled out a major surprise by bringing Shae to the stand, who went completely against the man who had been trying his hardest to protect her, with Tyrion begging her to not during the trial.

Things were made even more emotional when fans learned that she wasn't being forced to do that either, and she had in fact been sleeping with Tyrion's father the entire time behind his back.

7. YGRITTE'S DEATH

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Because there are so many deaths throughout Game Of Thrones, some of them do actually end up losing their emotional impact as people do become desensitized to them, however, one that certainly did bring a tear to the eye was the death of Ygritte.

While the death took place in a major battle episode and big characters were expected to be killed off, nobody thought something this emotional would take place within such a violent episode.

With Jon Snow and Ygritte finally locking eyes, everything slowed down as fans wondered if they would fight, but then out of nowhere, young Olly provided the arrow that shocked the world, leaving everyone an emotional wreck.

6. ARYA LEAVES THE HOUND

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Throughout the history of Game Of Thrones, there have been some incredible partnerships with different characters exploring the world of Westeros together with common goals, and one of the most popular amongst fans was that of Arya and the Hound.

They were an odd pair together and spent most of their time arguing, but that was all part of the charm, with the Hound clearly feeling like he had to protect her. However after his brutal fight with Brienne Of Tarth left him for dead, all he wanted was for Arya to end his life.

However, she decided to leave him to die and left him, bringing an end to their time together which was emotional for fans, although their eventual reunion was made even more impactful because of this moment.

5. SHIREEN'S BURNING

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Anytime a young character dies in a television show it is an incredibly emotional moment, but it is the situation surrounding the death of Shireen that makes it so emotional, because of how brutal the death is and the fact it is her father who makes it happen.

Shireen is sacrificed to the Lord of the Light, with Stannis believing that her death will make the difference, but when the idea was first discussed nobody actually expected he was going to go along with it.

Throughout the show, Stannis had always shown himself to be a good father, no matter what his other flaws were, and the decision to burn his own daughter to death was clearly a tough one, and it left many fans incredibly upset.

4. STARK FAMILY REUNION

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Not every emotional moment in Game Of Thrones involves death or betrayal (despite what the majority of this list might state) with this particular moment being emotional for many viewers, but here people were crying happy tears instead.

With the Stark's being the ultimate heroes in this story, everyone was desperate to see them get back together and reunite at some point after all the horrendous things that each character had to endure, with the fans just wanting to see one positive moment for them.

This was actually several different moments as the Stark family reunited at different points, but when they were finally all back together, it was one of the final seasons few moments of pure joy.

3. BECOMING A KNIGHT

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Speaking of a moment from the final season, the show decided to dedicate a major moment to Brienne Of Tarth, who had been one of the shows most skilled fighters, with the group preparing to battle against the Night King and his army, a fantastic scene was put together.

With many of the shows most important characters all deciding to get drunk on what they expected to be their final night alive, the topic of Brienne not being an official knight was brought up amongst them.

Eventually, Jamie Lannister stepped up (which made his decision to leave her even more emotional), and gave her what she had most wanted and knighted her, providing an incredibly emotional moment for the show.

2. RED WEDDING

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While those who had read the books knew exactly what was coming here, those who were purely fans from a television standpoint were left flabbergasted at the events of the red wedding, as nobody saw so much destruction coming.

This was a huge turning point in the entire series as the Stark family were cut down to size with King Robb, his wife, Queen Talisa, their unborn child, and his mother, Lady Catelyn all being murdered, alongside their bannermen.

This was emotional mainly due to the sheer horror of the entire thing, with fans being left shocked at the fact so many major characters had been killed all at once.

1. HODOR

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When it comes to emotional moments from Game Of Thrones, nothing beats the death of Hodor which revealed the backstory of the incredibly loyal character and the scene left many viewers with a few tears to wipe away, proving just how much detail is put into each character.

Even though Hodor is a frequent character throughout the show, the fact he only says one word and isn't heavily featured means he was someone that fans could easily have not cared about, but the show decided to give him a massive moment right at the last.

His commitment to protecting Bran Stark is what ultimately leads to his death. However, it isn't the fact he died that was incredibly emotional, it was the revelation that it was because of his loyalty to Bran that he ended up in that mental state, leaving fans shocked and heartbroken.