We’ve covered the Funniest Quote category for the Watchers on the Wall Awards, and now it’s time to narrow down the category of Best All-Around Quote of Game of Thrones season 4. We have a huge variety of nominees for you, courtesy of WotW reader submissions, with funny quotes, epic speeches, and witty soundbites from your favorite characters.
As with the other categories, we’re asking that you choose FIVE candidates for Best Quote in this preliminary round. You can choose fewer than five, if you want to, but no more.
At the end of 72 hours (Monday 9/8/14 at 7:00PM Eastern Time), whichever five Best Quotes have the most votes will continue on to the finals. (Note: in the final rounds, you will only have one vote to cast in each category!)
The results of the poll will be revealed when it’s time to choose the final winner of Best All-Around Quote in a few weeks. For now, review the lengthy list of nominees, reminisce about the great season behind us, and vote!
Thanks again to Greatjon of Slumber for gathering the submissions for this category!
HODOR
I was his horse
-but you will fly
-that’s a baby
-I’m guilty of being a dwarf
-Owen Teale’s badass battle speech
-bolt to the heart
Honorable mention:
-chickens! I consider that a funny quote, it’s in my funny quote list IIRC
YES
It better come down to Al Thorne and his little twats and Col Sandor’s chickens.
Oh man this is even tougher than best dramatic scene, I’ll have to think about it.
Just curious, and sorry if this is posted elsewhere, but when do final rounds begin, and when are winners announced?
My head is about to explode with all the possible choices!
Thanks for the Aemon and Ellaria quotes. Subtle and beautiful. Those are the moments that keep me yearning for more.
Arya’s revenge speech
Oberyn’s champion speech
The Hound’s chicken speech
The Hound’s death speech
Tyrion’s trial speech
Basically, all these came from the most dramatic scenes I voted for.
jentario,
I actually found the chicken speech to be more badass than comical.
Kind of completely off topic, but I just came up with how the show should have done (IMO) the whole Shae-Tywin-Tysha business. Tywin should never have slept with her (that felt out of character for show Shae which actually loved Tyrion- despite their fight and her being in the trial). Instead, Tywin sends Shae off. The mystery of what Tywin did to Shae (which Tyrion asks Jaime before they say their goodbyes) is what makes Tyrion go to Tywin despite all the logic and him wanting to survive (because he still loves Shae). Then he asks Tywin what he did to her and he keeps calling her a whore, we get the “wherever whores go” line and Tywin dies on the toilet. Now I’ll let this horse die and move on 🙂
Kevin,
It was both, really
This was unbelievably difficult. Anyway, these are the lines that impacted me the most in context, not necessarily the lines that I believe are the best written or peformed. I mean, for me Oberyn’s “Tell your father I’m here” is only THAT chilling because of the great music cue at that exact moment.
“I did not kill Joffrey, but I wish I had. […]” -Tyrion
“I wish I was the monster you think I am. […]” -Tyrion
“Tell your father I’m here. […]” -Oberyn
“I’ve come to the perfect place. […] I will be your champion.” -Oberyn
“[…] I will burn our house to the ground before I let that happen!” -Cersei
Honorable mentions, because I’d hate them to get no praise:
“I am your son. I have always been your son.” -Tyrion
“That’s not a monster. That’s just a baby.” -Oberyn
“[…] I am guilty of being a dwarf […]” -Tyrion
“[…] I’m going to eat every fucking chicken in this room.” -The Hound
“[…]There’s no safety, you dumb bitch. If you don’t know that by now you’re the wrong one to watch over her.” – The Hound
“I grew up in King’s Landing.” -Maester Aemon
It REALLY hurts not to include some of these precious lines. I hope other people vote for them. Huh, I guess I’m a big fan of Tyrion and Oberyn, aren’t I?
I’m not voting for quotes from the book. That is why AL Thorns gets my vote. THAT guy is so fucking amazing that even Spiderman stops pretending that he is.
jentario,
That would have been a very good way to handle it! But I think in their minds they had to have her die because GRRM did. Okay, let’s let that lie now. In this case, what is dead should stay dead.
I chose:
-2 Tyrion quotes from his trial (the fact that there were 3 quotes from that same scene made this hard!)
-2 Oberyn quotes (“You killed her! etc…” and “that’s not a monster, that’s just a baby”). (EDIT: I love the “baby” quote, but I wish I could change my vote. I didn’t see that there was another Oberyn quote from that scene, “I will be your champion” was my fav quote by far!)
-The Hound’s quote about “safety”.
This is so brilliantly simple that I’m ashamed in the showrunners place for not including it.
Mine is the Furry,
Agreed.
jentario,
Tyrion killing Shae is more important to me than the “wherever whores go” line. Plus, Shae went back to being a whore, so sleeping with someone who pays her seems to be in character. Sleeping with morally repugnant people is a frequent occupational hazard for Westerosi prostitutes , I think.
“Say her name!” is one of the most memorable lines in the whole series for me; sad to see it left out of Oberyn’s signature quote. Still voted for it, of course. : ) Great work compiling everything!
Hodor Targaryen,
I don’t think it was in character for show Shae to turn to a complete traitor bitch and sleep with her lover’s daddy (while calling him “my lion”) given that she actually loved Tyrion. She didn’t have to return to being a whore (one would think they have her tons of money for the trial business) and while I agree that “wherever whores go” was crap in ADWD I’m sure the show wouldn’t ever repeat it so annoyingly. Plus, “wherever horse go” has a much better ring to it.
EDIT: and no more posts about this from me
For me, anything that Oberyn said.
I also had to vote for Jojen’s bold statement to Karl.
This is too hard…I kept reading these lines and thought “oh, gotta vote for that one” way more than 5 times.
So much fun just reliving each of these moments in my head again, hearing the actors voices while reading.
Al fucking Thorne buys the next round.
“Margaery will dig her claws in, you will dig your claws in, you’ll fight over him like beasts until you rip him apart! I will burn our house to the ground before I let that happen!” -Cersei
God, such an awesome line. If I was Lena Heady or HBO I would have submitted “The Children” for the Emmys, because of her fantastic acting in this scene.
My favorite quote of the season wasn’t an option. “Uncle Jaimie, Someone forgot to write down all of your great deeds.” – King Joff
jentario,
Well I guess this gets into Shae’s motivations, which is admittedly speclative. I don’t think sleeping with Tywin was a vindictive move on her part. After all, Tyrion was in all likelihood never going to find out. It was just the practical thing for her to do. She needs money (maybe) and protection, Tywin offers her that. She knows he’s a terrible person but that really can’t be a dealbreaker in her line of work. So I don’t see how what she did could be bitchy, honestly.
Hodor Targaryen,
Point is, she didn’t have to become a whore again- much less Tywin’s whore and much much less calling him the names she called Tyrion. It’s not that she should have avoided whoring for him because he was a bad person, but because he’s Tyrion father who was the main foil to their relationship from the beginning. Show Shae was built up as very different from book Shae, I’m not sure she’d jump on the golden pole for some fat stacks given the emotional implications. I’d actually expect her to lay off whoring at least for a while. But whatever, I wasn’t even supposed to post. This time I’ll stick to it.
Shouldn’t this be attributed to the Hound?
Tough, tough category. I had a hard time narrowing it down to five. Not gonna share my choices, though, since they’ll give me away as the Sandor stan I am. 😉
Voted for Savos quote about Stannis the Mannis, Tyrions trial quotes and Karl the fucking legend Tannee
The Hound wins everything. Season 4 MVP.
Kevin,
It was both, and it was one of the three greatest moments in the show’s history.
Tyrion Pimpslap,
Agreed. It certainly was one of my favorites.
We don’t know that, do we? We have no idea if she was given money for her testimony, or if she was threatened (or both). We have no idea what her situation and motives were for testifying, and especially for sleeping with Tywin. It’s frustrating that so much has been left unclear. Did she ever get on the boat? If not, was she brought to Tywin’s chambers, as he asked in The Lion and the Rose? Did Cersei alone coach her what to say? Was Tywin involved? At what point and how did the thing with Tywin start?
That was a tough one.
– The 2 Tyrion quotes during his trial
– Daenerys speech
– Davos about Stannis
– There is only one hell
The Hound – “There’s no safety you dumb bitch!”
Annara Snow,
Al fucking Thorne.
jentario,
How about we don’t call women bitches on this website, alright? Thanks.
(Not sure why my Twitter name is showing instead of WotW one, but either way, it’s me.)
Sue the Pirate,
Yay your old WiC moniker
“Fine little blade. Maybe I’ll pick my teeth with it.”-Arya
“There is only one hell, Princess – the one we live in now.” – Melisandre
“You will never walk again. But you will fly.” – Three- Eyed Raven
I’m guilty of a far more monstrous crime. I am guilty of being a dwarf.” -Tyrion “You are not on trial for being a dwarf.” -Tywin “Oh yes I am. I’ve been on trial for that my entire life.” – Tyrion
I disagree. I’ve come to the perfect place. I want to bring those who have wronged me to justice, and all those who have wronged me are right here. I will begin with Ser Gregor Clegane, who killed my sister’s children, and then raped her with their blood still on his hands before killing her too. I will be your champion.” – Oberyn Martell
Not sure if I made it clear…..Al. Al Thorne.
Seconded.
IMHO Shae sleeping with Tywin just seemed out of character, a level of betrayal much worse than what she did at the Trial . The ending you suggested is graceful and logical.
This one was the fucking worst to narrow down. I found myself seperation the quotes into the quotes into two categories. First, I had what I would consider great “character” quotes. Lines that gave insight into what’s really going on inside the speaker and that shed light onto the motivations for their actions and their views on life. Like, I won’t do this since this is going to be a long comment anyway with the full quotes I’m pasting, but I WANT to write full, long paragraphs about how much some of these lines reaveal about these people in my opinion at least:
“I wish I was the monster you think I am. I wish I had enough poison for the whole pack of you. I would gladly give my life to watch you all swallow it!” – Tyrion
“Everywhere in the world, they hurt little girls.” – Cersei
”Do you know what leadership means, Lord Snow? It means that the person in charge gets second-guessed by every clever little twat with a mouth. But if he starts second-guessing himself, that’s the end. For him, for the clever little twats, for everyone.” -Alliser Thorne
“In a better world, one where love can overcome strength and duty, you might have been my child. But we don’t live in that world.” – Peter Baelish
“If I were as big as you I’d be king of the fucking world.” – Rast
Then I had what I considered great quotes in general. Like, I don’t think you need the context of the show to apreciate what these lines are saying about life and the world:
“When I see what desire does to people, what it’s done to this country, I am very glad to have no part in it.” – Varys
”Tis a big and beautiful world. Most of us live and die in the same corner where we were born and never get to see any of it. I don’t want to be most of us.” – Oberyn
“The young may rejoice in the new world you have built for them, but for those of us too old to change, there is only fear and squalor.” – Former slave
“Thousands of books and no eyes to read them. Old age is a wonderful source of ironies if nothing else.” – Maester Aemon
“I was nothing at all. And when you’re nothing at all, there’s no more reason to be afraid.” – Sam</strong
I decided to split my votes between the two categories, two in the first and three in the second, all indicated in bold. Still hard to do. The rest are basically my honorable mentions. I also wanted to vote for the Karl line, but just couldn't place it ahead of any of the others. That's just fun.
Man, I just realized that when the show ends there could be awards for the entire series. That would really suck to narrow down!
Here’s to all the clever little twats! Huzzah!
A man’s got to have a code – The Hound
A bolt in the heart – Littlefinger
We do not kneel – Mance
Everywhere in the world, they hurt little girls – Cersei
If you’re looking for justice – Tyrion
That was much harder to choose than I thought. Thorne and Oberyn killed it, and Tyrions trial was priceless, but the crown goes to the fookin legend from gin alley!
Honorable omitted mention:
My absolute FAVORITE quote from the viper vs the mountain was cut in the show version and it hurt me more than only cat…
“If you die before you say her name I will hunt you through 7 hells”
Oooh! And:
“Who the FUCK is Jon Snow”
That should be on at t-shirt
jentario,
I will respect your wish to keep the horse dead and shut up about it. Sorry for resurrecting it in the first place, couldn’t control myself.
I ended up picking a bunch of Tyrion quotes, though I tried not to. His lines (two different ones from the trial and his last line to Tywin) just hit me in the gut the most. Also picked Oberyn’s shouting at the Viper and the Hound’s “Do I have to beg you?”
mariamb,
I love how the whole snow falling foreshadowed Jon snow falling right before Karl got stabbed. I wish there was more of that. The only other time I noticed this type of thing on the show was when Littlefinger was talking about people dying on their chamber pot before Tywin got it.
Frankly, I think Daenarys had some of the best lines this season (mostly in Valyrian…), along with Oberyn and Tyrion (all of the scenes in prison are phenomenal, as was the first tense encounter between the two). But that speech before the gates of Meereen was a triumph.
RandomGoTfan,
Meh. Heady overacts, IMO. I think she’s actually one of the more overrated actors on the show, though season 4 was definitely her best. She’s improved markedly over time, but she still doesn’t quite do it for me…
“Then everyone is missing half the world’s pleasure. The Gods made that, and it delights me. The Gods made this… and it delights me. When it comes to war I fight for Dorne, when it comes to love… I don’t choose sides.”
From the ones we can choose:
“You raped her! You murdered her! You killed her children!” Oberyn
“I wish I was the monster you think I am…” Tyrion
“We do not kneel.” Mance
“Safety? Where the fuck’s that?…” The Hound
“I will answer injustice with justice.” Dany
I’m convinced that ASOIAF is at its core a story of fall and redemption for Theon Greyjoy. That’s why the show runners have given us so much of him, even when it seems like overkill, as it did in season 3.
Theon will rise from the cold ashes of a wintry Westeros as a phallus-less phoenix.
I have a soft spot for the Alliser Thorne speech on leadership. It’s a brilliant addition from the books, unlike a lot of these which were lifted, and for a moment it almost made me like Thorne, which is pretty damn commendable.
Grumble grumble… Stannis’ great line “I won’t be a page in someone else’s history book” didn’t make it…
“I did not kill Joffrey…” – Tyrion
“I am not your enemy…” – Daenerys
“You will never walk again. But you will fly.” – Three-eyed raven
“You remember where the heart is?” – The Hound
“I disagree. I’ve come…” – Oberyn
Sue the Pirate,
Can I call men bitches or is the word off limits? How about dick?
Mine is the Furry,
Shut up about it
jentario,
Just like every cowboy sings a sad, sad song. Every Rose has its Thorn. And that Thorne is Al.
jentario,
You didn´t ask me, but personally I would like a community free of all gendered slurs, whether it´s dick or bitch, and whether adressed at women or men. Why is that so hard for people to accept? Are these words so precious to people that they just have to use them even though they know are insulting and hurtful?
Queensmoot,
This is a show where some of the “best lines” mentioned in this very poll use the word cunt, so I wouldn’t get too touchy about it. “Bitch” is as mainstream as “asshole” these days. Cable channels don’t even censor it. No one is being sexist or purposefully hurtful to anyone else aside from very specific cases, and it’s clear when that is the case. I think the problem here is people that get easily insulted by things that are far, far from an insult.
When a guy does a no-no I call him a dick, when a girl does a no-no I call her a bitch. That’s not to say that dicks or bitches are all bad, but that’s just the slang these days.
In any case, this site has it’s rules and I’ll keep my opinions to myself if the mods here want me to.
Well, speaking for myself, I’m a bitch who likes dicks.
I loved fourth season but I didn’t find the quality of the writing exceptional, overall. Lack of subtlety maybe.
There are some really strong lines though, here are the ones who did it for me and why :
“I am not your enemy. Your enemy is beside you. Your enemy steals and murders your children. Your enemy has nothing for you but chains and suffering, and commands. I do not bring you commands. I bring you a choice. And I bring your enemies what they deserve.” – Daenerys
Because I love these epic, peplum-like, dracarysian-feel moments. I enjoyed Emilia’s delivery of what I found to be a credible demonstration of strenght and charisma.
”Do you know what leadership means, Lord Snow? It means that the person in charge gets second-guessed by every clever little twat with a mouth. But if he starts second-guessing himself, that’s the end. For him, for the clever little twats, for everyone.” -Alliser Thorne
Because -to me- it foreshadowe’s what will happen with Jon in next or sixth season. A nice reflection on the question of leadership that builds up Thorne’s character and motivations a little more.
“Tell your father I’m here. Tell him the Lannisters aren’t the only ones who pay their debts.” – Oberyn Martell
Unbowed, unbent and unbroken, The Red Viper is here to stir some shit. It’s canon, it’s bad ass, it’s well delivered, it’s smartly placed, it rests on a reference we all know and love.
“The deed is done, faded; only speaking of it can make it real.” – Littlefinger
I don’t really know why I love this line, but it’s pobably because it’s fucking true and relevent to the story and life in general. Some deep shit. I tend to find Littlefinger’s lines in the show (as opposed to in the books) a bit pompous and self-indulgent. This was not one of those times.
“The pain was bad. The smell was worse. But the worst thing was that it was my brother who did it. My father, who protected him, told everyone my bedding caught fire. You think you’re on your own?” – The Hound
Beause they managed to make one the roughest characters in the show sound touching, without making him sound cheesy and lose credibility. This is the subtlety I’m looking for, that is sometimes lacking I find.
I like her but I’m not going to call you all the names under the sun because you don’t. We all react differently to people and situations. There are certain actors (I’m not thinking of “Game of Thrones” here) that leave me cold. This is not strictly speaking any actor’s fault but the inaccuracies in the 1998 “Elizabeth” film and its sequel made me rather cold towards Cate Blanchett, though to be fair she did not write the script.
When we have a category this strong, there are inevitably going to be 10-15 nominees (at least) that I’ll rue not being able to vote for. So I just scanned the list twice, picked the quotes that stood out to me the most, and tried not to look back. I’ll look forward to seeing what makes it through to the finals, because given the breadth and depth of the available selections, and the diversity of our community here … this is the one category where I have absolutely no idea what will ultimately come out on top.
“I understand if any more words come pouring out of your cunt mouth, I’m going to eat every fucking chicken in this room.” — The Hound
“I did not kill Joffrey, but I wish that I had. Watching your vicious bastard die gave me more relief than a thousand lying whores.” – Tyrion
“That’s not a monster. That’s just a baby.” – Oberyn
”Do you know what leadership means, Lord Snow? It means that the person in charge gets second-guessed by every clever little twat with a mouth. But if he starts second-guessing himself, that’s the end. For him, for the clever little twats, for everyone.” – Alliser Thorne
“I am your son. I have always been your son.” – Tyrion
“Between them they don’t have enough men to raid a pantry!”
That list is too short
LordVega,
That was in the funny quotes poll. Go vote for it.
Hodor Targaryen,
Yes, exactly – which is why I ended up not choosing anything, for now anyway. Need to think more on it.
Save The Clock Tower,
This one was the fucking worst to narrow down. I found myself seperation the quotes into the quotes into two categories. First, I had what I would consider great “character” quotes. Lines that gave insight into what’s really going on inside the speaker and that shed light onto the motivations for their actions and their views on life. Like, I won’t do this since this is going to be a long comment anyway with the full quotes I’m pasting, but I WANT to write full, long paragraphs about how much some of these lines reaveal about these people in my opinion at least:…..
Then I had what I considered great quotes in general. Like, I don’t think you need the context of the show to apreciate what these lines are saying about life and the world
That is a great idea, its the same problem I have been having but couldn’t figure out how to group them . If you don’t mind, I’ll use those groupings to make my choices.
(Help, I forgot to put that quote in blocks,, and the edit box won’t let me. I tried refreshing but it didn’t work)
“I did not kill Joffrey, but I wish I had. Watching your vicious bastard die gave me more relief than a thousand lying whores.” – Tyrion
”Nothing makes the past a sweeter place to visit, than the prospect of imminent death.” – Maester Aemon
“I am your son. I have always been your son.” – Tyrion
“That’s not a monster. That’s just a baby.” – Oberyn
“If you want justice, you’ve come to the wrong place.” – Tyrion
These are my favorites five but I could have easily voted for the most of them all… this season gave us some beatiful quotes, I’m being honest.
So many great choices. This was a fun category to collate the votes for. And I could have chosen any of about 20 to be honest, but I went with these five:
Tyrion’s “I did not kill Joffrey,” because that was a literal ‘chill moment’ when I saw it.
Cersei: “Everywhere in the world, they hurt little girls.” Because yes, that’s true.
Tormund: “No. All she talked about was killing you – that’s how I know.” Because it went a long way toward giving Tormund Giantsbane the somewhat paternal side toward both Ygritte and Jon Snow. I really do hope we see a bit more of that friendship in Season 5. Tormund’s humor (in the previous episode) and this scene did a lot to really round out what I had thought by then was an under-served and under-developed character.
Jojen’s “I saw you die tonight.” Jojen was another character who I thought had been a bit underserved by the show – missing was his fatalistic nature, which we got in the earlier great scene where he sees his hand on fire, and Bran at the weirwood tree. This line speaks to that too – after all, Karl could have killed him at that point – but the grin on his face as he says it makes it all badass, particularly as the only male characters who are less equipped to deal with physical threats (by themselves) are probably Bran and Hodor. So I love that moment.
Last is Oberyn’s awesome speech to Tyrion. It’s thrilling, it’s the culmination of a great conversation between the two, and just blows me away.
Honorable Mentions: It pains me to leave out the Hound’s recollection to Arya of his being burned by his brother, and even more to leave out Alliser Thorne’s badass speech to the Night’s Watch. Awesome. Too many great lines in Season 4.
Funny, because I can’t imagine the show without her.
The floor was open a few weeks ago to nominate any and all comers. If you weren’t there then, apologies. But that’s the story.
I switched my votes several times since Friday, because at first sight I voted all 5 Petyr Belish quotes. ALL FIVE. That’s just insane considering how much I love Tyrion’s and Oberyn’s! I still got three of Petyr’s in the end because I find them incredibly good and smart and perfectly delivered by Aidan Gillen himself.
Also one of Oberyn’s:
”Tis a big and beautiful world. Most of us live and die in the same corner where we were born and never get to see any of it. I don’t want to be most of us.”
And Mance’s:
“We do not kneel”. Powerful line. Made me almost stand up and applaud.
LordVega,
Yay! That’s my best comedic line!!! To think Stannis delivered it lol… I think Dillane is a bit of a genius 🙂
Hodor’s Bastard,
For me that qualifies as best love quote! The Ellaria one. Such a longing in it, love, plea, hope and desperation all at the same time. My heart broke when I heard it, knowing what’s about to happen.
Best Al Thorne quote ever!
http://youtu.be/a4617ROLhGI
For me this should be between Oberyn’s “You raped her…” and Tyrion’s “guilty of being a dwarf” quotes. Alliser Thorne’s speech was brilliantly delivered as well by Owen Teale (in a way few actors can master, Kit included), so that goes in as well.