Despite the danger of Westeros and the fights for the Iron Throne, several Game of Thrones characters survived, even though they should have died.

Game of Thrones was a uniquely high-casualty show. Particularly in its earliest seasons, Game of Thrones was infamous for lacking plot armor and for refusing to break the rules to let its heroes win. Instead, there were plenty of times the villains won and beloved characters died.

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Of the show's main characters, only a handful lived to the end of the series finale. However, their survival seemed improbable. With eight seasons of constant danger and bloody battles, few characters made it through Game of Thrones without a scene where their death looked apparent. In some cases, this served the story, but in others, it felt cheap.

Of all the deaths in the final episode, none were more shocking than Daenerys Targaryen's demise. She was one of Game of Thrones' principal protagonists from the first episode. Eventually, Jon Snow killed her, stabbing her while they kissed. At this time, Daenerys was the most heavily-protected person in the Seven Kingdoms.

Despite her loyal armies, Jon killed Daenerys right in front of her dragon, Drogon. Unlike every other time he'd responded to a threat to Daenerys, Drogon chose not to breathe fire at Jon. Instead, he melted the Iron Throne next to Jon before flying off. Outside of symbolism, there is no reason Drogon didn't kill him. This scene should've been Jon's last.

Arya Stark was one of the most accomplished members of Game of Thrones' cast. She learned lethal arts from dangerous people and became a fearless warrior and assassin. Though she had the skills to survive most of her scrapes, one in season 6 seemed simply too lethal.

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When the Waif attacked Arya for betraying the Faceless Men, she opened with a vicious sneak attack, dealing several deep wounds to Arya's gut. After this, Arya engages in a Parkour chase, swims in Braavos' filthy waterways, and fights the Waif to the death, all on a night's sleep and minor medical care. Game of Thrones made the mistake of opening the fight too brutally, making the rest look flat-out impossible. While fans are glad Arya survived, this should've marked her death.

One of the single most lethal events in Game of Thrones was the Battle of Winterfell. The White Walkers and their wights claimed the lives of several secondary characters and a few significant characters. However, an improbable number of characters survived, including those in clearly fatal situations.

In particular, Samwell Tarly's survival rankled some. Attempting to be a hero by joining the Night's Watch on the front lines, his cowardice returned and he spent half of the battle in a state of shock. Several times, he was shown to be immobile during raging battles or swarmed by wights. However, he survived the battle with no clear indication of how. Samwell should have died in this episode.

The Battle of the Blackwater was the first major battle shown in Game of Thrones, and the first sign of the show's big-screen ambitions. Its signature moment was Tyrion Lannister's opening defensive maneuver. He poured wildfire into Blackwater Bay and then devastated Stannis' larger fleet.

Davos Seaworth led Stannis' vanguard, and it was his portion of the fleet that Tyrion destroyed. The explosion was shown to be hugely damaging, killing a great many sailors. In particular, Davos' son Matthos died. Matthos was equally close to the explosion, but Davos somehow managed to survive.

Early seasons of Game of Thrones didn't downplay the importance of injuries. A single scratch killed Khal Drogo due to infection and Ned Stark was almost unable to walk for several episodes because of a spear wound to his leg. However, multiple slashes and arrows were shown to do little more than slow Tormund Giantsbane down.

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Tormund was undoubtedly one of the strongest and toughest wildling warriors, accounting for himself well during the Battle of Castle Black. However, the end of the battle saw him heavily wounded. He continued fighting despite numerous arrows in him, and Jon's final shot was almost played for comedy. Any ill-effects of these injuries were gone within days, despite lesser injuries felling other major characters.

Sansa Stark faced a great many terrors after marrying Ramsay Bolton, but few were more dangerous than Myranda. A jealous lover of Ramsay's, Myranda saw Sansa as a rival and seized the chance to threaten her during Stannis' attack. Although she wasn't going to kill her, Myranda was preparing Sansa to be taken prisoner and maimed by Ramsay.

Had Myranda been able to take Sansa to her and Ramsay's room, it likely would have been the end for Sansa. However, because Myranda took the chance to gloat and taunt her, Theon was able to overcome his torturous conditioning. He saved Sansa's life and threw Myranda to her death, but this only happened because Myranda gloated.

Few of the cast in Daenerys' story were better fighters than Grey Worm, but he wasn't unstoppable. The finest of the Unsullied, a season 5 scene saw him overcome by the Sons of the Harpy. Barristan the Bold saving Grey Worm doesn't make his survival unlikely, but the staging of it does.

Despite being fine warriors, both Barristan and Grey Worm fell to numbers, leaving Barristan dead and Grey Worm heavily wounded. What made the scene hard to take seriously was that between them, the two managed to kill every one of the Sons of the Harpy. Grey Worm killed the final one just moments before he fell unconscious, but he should have died.

Tyrion Lannister survived a great many ordeals over the eight seasons of Game of Thrones. He was captured, falsely imprisoned twice, made to fight on the front lines of several battles, and took part in nearly every war throughout Game of Thrones. One moment in season 8, however, made his survival simply improbable.

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During negotiations at the walls of King's Landing, Tyrion stepped forward to appeal to Cersei, and she prepared to have archers shoot him dead. Given that Cersei hated Tyrion more than anybody, and that she killed Missandei minutes later, there was no reason for Cersei to change her mind and let Tyrion live.

Brienne of Tarth had a decent claim to being the best fighter in Game of Thrones. She overcame enemies like Jaime Lannister and the Hound. However, the sheer odds of the Battle of Winterfell were against her, and the episode took the time to show her overwhelmed, pinned down, and helpless against hordes of wights on more than one occasion.

It wasn't impossible for Brienne and other characters in similar positions to escape, but Game of Thrones never actually showed how they managed it. The scene cut back and forth between Brienne being overwhelmed and Brienne fighting. Since there was no indication of why the wights failed to kill her on several occasions, Brienne shouldn't've survived.

One of the climactic moments of season 6 comes when the Night King leads the White Walkers to the cave of the Three-Eyed Raven. Outnumbered and trapped, the Children of the Forest and Bran's allies desperately tried to carry him to safety, only moments away from a horde of wights.

Several diversions failed to slow the wights. Summer and the Children of the Forest bought a few moments and only Hodor's sacrifice lasted any time at all. However, the White Walkers failed to catch up or kill them, even when Meera had to slowly drag Bran through the snow. Overall, the scene stacked the odds too highly against Bran without consequences.

NEXT: 10 Times Game Of Thrones Chose Style Over Substance

Isaac Williams is a movie-goer, TV watcher, journalist, blogger, gamer, comic book-fan, and roleplayer. He's been a bartender and a waiter, and now he writes lists for CBR. He focuses on TV shows and movies. In his free time, Isaac can be found gaming, reading, playing D&D, walking Birmingham's lengthy canals, and catching up on movies.

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