*promote

Self promoting this video and sending it back into the queue for one more try; last queued Wednesday, June 4th, 2014 2:10pm PDT - promote requested by original submitter lv_hunter.

Looking forward to see how Tyrion wriggles out of this one.

*quality

Boosting this quality contribution up in the Hot Listing - declared quality by kulpims.

I expect it'll be the same way Ned Stark did.

As much as this show surprises me and has trained me to expect the unexpected, this scene still totally blew my mind.

Almost as good as the red wedding.

well at least no one vomited (on camera)

but a few may need to change clothes...

GRRM feeds off of peoples tears!

Tags for this video have been changed from 'reactions, got, game of thrones, mountain, viper, the tears' to 'reactions, got, game of thrones, mountain, viper, the tears, spoiler' - edited by MrFisk

My reaction was: "Okay, that's it. I'm done with this show. I'll never watch Game of Thrones again and I'll never read the books, because the plot has gotten too repetitive and therefore extremely annoying!¹ It continuously uses the same pattern over and over again. Why should I bother watching the show if I know that every interesting and/or likable character (except Tyrion) will face certain death at the next best opportunity (George R.R. Martin said so himself, but I didn't expect him to do this every damn time) just as a means to shock the audience/readership and an attempt to make the plot seem unpredictable. But you know what? If you kill off the most likable and interesting character(s) every season/novel, this is very predictable. It's just lazy and unimaginative storytelling."

That's why I had already expected this to happen, although I really hoped it wouldn't, not only because I liked the character, but because this pattern is really starting to get old. Therefore, I just found it severely annoying, since it seemed so predictable and repetitive. However, I have come to terms with this outcome since then and I'll most probably keep watching the show, but I may never get invested in any character's fate again, because it can be easily predicted.

¹I'm not usually one to stop watching a show for any reason, except if it's really badly written and executed, and even then I give it at least several episodes to make up my mind. So I'm not one of those who say "If [insert character name] dies, I'll stop watching the show."

For everyone else who hoped for a different outcome: http://videosift.com/video/The-Mountain-the-Viper-Fight-Scene-Denial-Version-GoT

'The Mountain & the Viper' Fight Scene (Denial Version) GoT has been added as a related post - related requested by Lilithia.

You'll be missed (but not really).

Every death serves a purpose to the storyline. This isn't some "good guys always win" story, this is an Epic story of death, deceit, who who can out play who!

My best suggestion is stick around, the best is yet to come!

Yeah, I know. I hated it when Joffrey and Lysa died too. Why does he always kill the likable characters? So predictable

It hasn't been confirmed Prince Oberyn is dead!

He could still pull through!

Just a flesh wound, he's had worse.

If my rant above gave the impression that I did not like the show or that I questioned the overall quality of the show, this is not what I intended to say. What I wrote was just my immediate reaction to the scene and although I know that there will be more deaths like this to come, I don't actually plan to stop watching the show (although there were about 2 hours during which I was almost certain I would). I wouldn't want to watch a show in which everything is always great and the good guys (if there are any) always win and the bad guys always lose and everybody lives happily ever after. I believe, however, that the events of the story could be a bit more balanced, because even in real life the likable/nice/honorable guys (if there are any) don't always lose. Of course not completely balanced, just interspersed with some slightly more hopeful events every once in a while. There are ways to write a story in which these guys lose without having every single one of them die a horrible death, and other creative ways to depict the world's injustice. I really hope that every death serves the overall purpose of the story and isn't just for the sake of killing every character that becomes too likable or popular.

My reply was more of a general comment. But evey death serves a purpose in the book. It starts off something later on and steam rolls. If ned didnt die, there wouldnt of been this whole war in the first place. If Robb didnt die, he would have made his way south and it would be a different book all together.

This is a very dark epic for sure. But it has its awesome moments.

And well, without Oberyns death, we wouldnt have the exciting event thats about to happen too. "Where do whores go?"

I didn't say that only the likable characters died. I don't believe the death of an unlikable character compensates for the death of a likable one. I was referring to a quote by Martin, in which he stated that every time a character got so popular that the reader expected them to be the hero of the story, he had to kill them off immediately. I just hope that this isn't the whole reason for doing this but that it serves the bigger picture of the story.

I also really loved Joffrey as a character and I was sad, too, that he died, although it was very satisfactory after all that he had done. But he was still an interesting character who will be missed. So I don't only mourn the likable characters. I mourn interesting characters with wasted narrative potential.

Haven't read the books yet but I hear he survives somehow, so I'll bet that Jaime helps him escape, because that would help set up conflict between Jaime and Circe.

READ

Oberyn was a better character than pretty much any main character in any show I've ever watched (except McGyver of course!), the next few episodes better not disappoint

Ahhh... so people should write in how their favourite character "must die" because "they're so lame and boring".

That's fair enough. I haven't read the books but the tv version butchered this scene in so many ways.

Up front note: nobody should be surprised Oberyn died - it's GOT - it's to be expected.

That said, I wish the director wouldnt have.... Oberyn (an experienced fighter) be cool as ice before the fight just to turn into a emotional wreck a few seconds into the fight.

Don't show us the Mountain as a lumbering hulk who then, after being fully run through with a spear twice and having a calf slashed, turn into a super ninja while Oberyn makes a beginners mistake and turns into a sloth.

The director going comic book bad guys on us sucked.

This scene is pretty close to how it goes down in the book, save a little variation in how the final blow is administered.

I also completely disagree, I think the director completely nailed it. It plays up to a lifetime of predictable cliché's only to turn them right around and give us a dose of cold hard reality.

Hero's frequently loose, villains frequently win, overconfidence is a weakness and having a just cause is no guarantee of victory.

Oberyn wins the fight but allows his need for vengeance to cloud his judgement. He starts calm and works himself into more and more of a frenzy over a neurosis he has carried for many years. IMHO this was portrayed pretty authentically, he starts calm (as he has learned to be) but as the fight progresses he allows the guard to drop and the raging emotions to manifest properly.

Now he can afford to let these bottled up feeling out properly, the mountain is right there and soon he will kill him! Throw in some adrenaline and the anticipation of that moment overwhelms the self control that earned him the title red viper.

I also don't see how you can describe the mountain as a "super ninja" here. Everything he does at the end is an exercise in brute strength, let's not forget he's wearing mailed fists, the blow to the mouth need not be especially strong or quick to do the damage. All he does after that is roll on top of him with the last bit of strength and rage he has (spurred on by his "beetle crushing" fuck everything mindset). Subsequently crushing the skull has more to do with his upper body weight as his hands alone.

A massive strong man yanks someone's legs out from under them, punches them in the mouth and then climbs on top (while they are stunned) to finish the job.

Being run through doesn't necessarily stop one's muscles from working until the blood loss kicks in. Doubly so with the adrenaline of a life or death fight (and the anaesthetic effect massive trauma has on the nervous system). There are countless stories of soldiers and criminals being mortally wounded by multiple shots to the chest who continued attacking till the blood loss overcame them. Gregor Clegane is exactly the sort of psycho who might exhibit such bloody minded behaviour.

I might also remind you that the Mountain has one more than one occasion been described as "swifter than might be expected for a man of such stature" i.e. not a lumbering hulk. He gets several blows in on Oberyn during the fight. Many of the swings are extremely heavy but they are calculated moves from an expert fighter who is more than capable of moving quickly when needed.

Oberyn is quicker, but the Mountain is not exactly slow (that's one of the reasons why the Mountain is/was formerly undefeated, he's big but can still move relatively quickly for his size).

And also the be fair for the fight, Björnsson wasn't trained on fighting with a sword either. In the book, Gregor is quite skilled with his sword. Sadly, Björnsson mostly swung it around, not a bash against him, but I'm sure with plenty of training and lots of choreography the fight could have been even more exciting.

And yes, the fight plays out nearly how it is in the book, his thirst for justice and vengeance over takes his caution to finish the mountain, hoping he would yield and confess. And ultimately get the confession that Tywin ordered it. Thus to get grounds to possibly get tywin. But alas, the mountain was able to kill him, and even survived the fight... kinda.

But the best is yet to come. "Where do whores go?"

I watched it carefully. His arm moves very fast for a dying man. Keep in mind, I think they set the tone of Oberyn's amazing speed and reaction time when they first introduced him and he nailed that guard's hand to the table. So I would have liked them to persist with that (as in, fast as the Mountain was he would still be too slow)

Being run through with a huge bladed spear twice will inflict massive trauma to a very vascular region, creating immediate blood loss and very quick hypovolaemic shock. I agree that you can keep going until your blood pressure is low enough to knock you down (I was a paramedic - that's bread and butter stuff for me). But he already fell down involuntarily. If he made a massive adrenaline fueled exertion after that I expect to see rainbows of blood coming out of the Mountain (for the viewers pleasure of course) and for you to be slower (you've got blood loss! - which doesn't speed you up).

As I wrote I haven't read the books, so a lot of the nuances will be lost on me (and other unenlighted).

I would have dropped the emotion and instead pushed the cockiness of Oberyn and let that be his downfall (and you could have almost the exact same ending).

I understand in the book the Mountain is like 8 feet tall. This would have helped with the skull popping effect (which is not possible by even the strongest men in our world). And it would have made it look cool with a veritable giant next to Oberyn.

I can't believe they left that out.

Tyrion's entire motivation for the next season is going to be completely different.