--- title: Game of Thrones Callback Makes Theon's Death Even Sadder description: While protecting Bran as he waited out the Night King during the Battle of Winterfell, Theon finally got the chance to fully redeem himself. canonical: https://time.com/5580286/game-of-thrones-theon-hint/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-04-30T16:04:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T23:24:56.944Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: This Game of Thrones Callback Makes That Theon Scene Even More Meaningful og:description: "You're a good man" og:url: https://time.com/5580286/game-of-thrones-theon-hint/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c0988a895408f29/6989492209208f5959413c0f/gameofthronesseason8theon.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: GameofThronesSeason8Theon og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Game of Thrones Callback Makes That Theon Scene Even More Meaningful twitter:description: "You're a good man" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c0988a895408f29/6989492209208f5959413c0f/gameofthronesseason8theon.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This _Game of Thrones_ Moment Makes That Theon Scene Even More Meaningful Than You Thought  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Apr 30, 2019 4:04 PM UTC  Theon attempts to hold the Night King off from the godswood, where Bran is waiting. Theon attempts to hold the Night King off from the godswood, where Bran is waiting.Helen Sloan—HBO  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Apr 30, 2019 4:04 PM UTC **Warning:** This post contains spoilers for [_Game of Thrones_ ](http://time.com/4913247/game-of-thrones-season-8-premiere-date/)[season 8](http://time.com/4913247/game-of-thrones-season-8-premiere-date/). [Theon Greyjoy](http://time.com/5574913/game-of-thrones-theon-sansa-bran/) finally got the chance to fully redeem himself for betraying the Starks back in season 2 of _Game of Thrones_ when he was protecting Bran Stark as he waited out the Night King in the godswood during the [Battle of Winterfell](http://time.com/5578054/game-of-thrones-battle-of-winterfell-deaths/). After fighting off a swarm of wights alongside his fellow ironborn defenders, Theon charged at the Night King in a last-ditch effort to save Bran from what seemed like a certain death. “You’re a good man,” Bran told Theon before he did, seemingly giving Theon the closure he needed to forgive himself for his past mistakes. “Thank you.” Unfortunately, Theon was no match for the Night King, who avoided his spear before fatally running him through with it, killing Theon. But Theon’s sacrifice proved to be a helpful move as [Arya managed to save Bran](http://time.com/5579377/game-of-thrones-arya-kill-night-king/) by stabbing the Night King with her Valyrian steel dagger moments later. Of course, that doesn’t make his death any less sad, especially when you factor in a promise that Theon made to Robb Stark way back in season one. As was pointed out by [Reddit user McConnells\_Neck](https://www.reddit.com/r/gameofthrones/comments/bj0tly/spoilers%5Fi%5Floved%5Fthis%5Fcallback%5Fto%5Fs01e02%5Ftheon/), _Game of Thrones_‘ second episode ever saw Robb assert that he wouldn’t hesitate to go to war with the Lannisters after Catelyn reveals that Bran didn’t fall from the tower, but was thrown. Theon immediately insists that he will stand behind Robb if it comes to that, prompting Maester Luwin to call them out for jumping the gun. “What, is there going to be a battle in the godswood?” he asks. Guess that wasn’t such a crazy idea after all. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5580286/game-of-thrones-theon-hint/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5580286/game-of-thrones-theon-hint/"},"headline":"This Game of Thrones Moment Makes That Theon Scene Even More Meaningful Than You Thought","datePublished":"2019-04-30T16:04:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T23:24:56.944Z","description":"\"You're a good man\"","url":"https://time.com/5580286/game-of-thrones-theon-hint/","keywords":["Television","game of thrones","TV","clickmonsters"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c0988a895408f29/6989492209208f5959413c0f/gameofthronesseason8theon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c0988a895408f29/6989492209208f5959413c0f/gameofthronesseason8theon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"GameofThronesSeason8Theon","caption":"Theon shooting a flame-tipped arrow on Game of Thrones","creditText":"Helen Sloan—HBO","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/television/","name":"Television"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5580286/game-of-thrones-theon-hint/","name":"This Game of Thrones Moment Makes That Theon Scene Even More Meaningful Than You Thought"}}]}] ```