Fans of HBO's Game of Thrones will know that Samwell Tarly is one of the nicest characters on the show. He's been lucky enough to survive relatively unscathed for the entire series, but his portrayer has a seriously tragic idea for how the character might shuffle off the Westerosi coil. Here's what actor John Bradley had to say about a possible demise for good ol' Sam:
I have thought of the most tragic possible way that he can die. I imagine him in the Citadel, having to reach up to the very top shelf for a book out of reach, climbs up the ladder, gets to the top shelf, as he reaches for the book that he wants, overbalances, falls into the books, the ladder falls away, he's dangling from the shelf by his fingertips. As he falls backwards, he pulls thousands and thousands of books down on to him, and the bookcase, and he's crushed under the weight of all those books.
Well, dammit. If John Bradley wasn't telling the absolute truth when he said he'd come up with the most tragic way for Sam to bite the dust, then no one who has ever lived has told the truth. I have to give the man credit, though, this is some serious Game of Thrones tricky death stuff right here. Can you imagine? Sam survives his stint at Castle Black, travels beyond the wall, a fight with a white walker, his father (who disliked him so much that he admitted he would rather kill Sam then have him inherit his fortune), the big war with the walkers and Cersei to come, and then the poor guy is crushed by his beloved books. Again...damn, that is some deep shit.
As John Bradley goes on to point out to The Wrap, Sam is scholarly almost to a fault. He's spent his whole life trying to keep out of the way of fighting, swords and killing, preferring to take solace from the brutal world in books and learning. It was his desire to keep away from more bloody pursuits that led Sam to the Night's Watch in the first place. His father, one of the most skilled military commanders in Westeros, was so ashamed of his focus on learning that he made Sam take the Black so that he wouldn't have to leave his fortune to him or have Sam lead his men into battle one day.
Sam has learned a bit more about self-defense since then out of pure necessity, but he still loves his books. This, of course, is why Jon allowed Sam to travel to Oldtown and study to become the new Maester of the Watch, especially since Jon is now desperate to find a way to defeat the white walkers, and Sam studying in the ancient city is their best hope of finding out how to do that.
Well, Game of Thrones just began Season 7, so you can tune in to HBO on Sunday nights to see if gentle, well-read Sam ever gets crushed to death by the books he loves so much. Be sure to check out our summer premiere guide to see what else you can catch on the small screen in the coming weeks.
