Over the weekend, while Lady Laura was busy tarting herself up for dinner with our friends on a rare night off from the kids, there I was…
Sat on the couch, dressed in my chinos and a roll neck, waiting.
And waiting.
And waiting some more, until, finally, I relented.
I whipped out my phone and decided to kill some time on Reddit, open to anything to distract me while Her Majesty got ready.
It wasn’t long before I stumbled upon the following post titled:
"Just saw the Red Wedding scene for the first time"
For those unaware, this refers to one of the most shocking and plot-twisting scenes in Game of Thrones (the TV series). If you haven’t watched GoT and would like to, now’s the time to back out.
I’ll see ya tomorrow, Legionnaire.
For everyone else who has watched it, I think we can agree it was probably the most “WTF” moment of the show.
To see Robb, his pregnant wife, and Catelyn butchered simultaneously — important characters, I should add — had Laura and me looking like this:
All of the comments under this post echoed our reaction, with one gaining plenty of upvotes:
“I would pay upwards of 70 dollars to be able to watch that episode again for the first time.”
Hear, hear!
That scene — which truly lived up to its name — was unlike anything I’ve ever watched or read since. I, too, would love to relive the shock and surprise of that one.
It’s moments like that which inspired me as an author to embrace all the chaos the muse throws at you.
To not fear killing off big characters.
Why?
Because it keeps you on the edge of your seat.
It makes you second-guess everything the author is (or might not be) doing, wary that at any page turn, another “What the Hell?!” moment is about to knock the seven hells out of you.
That, my Legionnaire, is the kind of storytelling I love to gobble up in droves.
It’s also the scenes I love to write.
Like Chapters 14 and 19 in Exiled…
Or Chapter 13 in One True King…
Or Chapter 24 in The Great Betrayal.
And for those still left shaken by those moments, sadly, the devastation doesn’t slow down in Book #6. I may or may not already have a scene (inspired very much by GoT’s Red Wedding) planned out.
More on that in 2026.
Until then, you can read all of the above chapters in their gut-wrenching detail by buying the books individually from retailers here:
https://books2read.com/dividedregionexiled
Or saving on the bundle at my Storehouse here:
https://djjwatsonstore.com/products/TDR-Bundle
DJJW