'Game of Thrones' Season 4 Spoilers: Pedro Pascal Reacts to Oberyn's Shocking Battle Scene
"Game of Thrones" fans must wait until Sunday to see Tyrion's fate, but last night's episode "The Mountain and the Viper" already revealed Prince Oberyn's destiny.
Warning: spoilers ahead. In the latest installment to season four of "GOT," Prince Oberyn Martell, aka the Viper, took Tyrion Lannister's place in the trial-by-combat against Ser Gregor Clegane, akaThe Mountain. As promised by "GOT" showrunners, the scene "delivered beyond expectations," but not in Oberyn's favor.
During a bloody fight to the death, Oberyn won advantage over The Mountain, but the Prince of Dorne became obsessed with avenging his dead sister and demanded a confession from the humongous warrior. Instead of killing The Mountain, Oberyn perished in a shockingly horrific scene. Following the episode, Pedro Pascal who portrays Oberyn discussed his character and the violent death.
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"People love the brutal honestly of the show, that is uncompromising," he told Vulture of the final, fatal scene. "I got all 10 episodes of the season before I flew out to Europe, and I read them voraciously. I'm a fan of the show, and I was reading them like a regular fan first, you know? And I read all the episodes back to back, really, really quickly. And when I got to my final episode, I was really impressed by how similar it was to the scene in the books."
Pascal also offered insight to the behind the scenes look at his onscreen opponent- Icelandic strongman Hafpor Julius Bjornsson, who, despite his evil character on "GOT," is a "gentle giant" in real life.
"We had a lot of fun," Pascal said. "It was really, really challenging, and I was totally intimidating, and I wanted to get it right- for the readers, for the production, and for me. And everything lined up in my favor. Stepping into it was a really scary thing, but the doing of it was the most fun I ever had. It was nuts! With hundreds of extras watching, a lot of the main characters watching. It was big."
In a different interview, the actor offered his take on where Oberyn went wrong with The Mountain; the Prince of Dorne was obsessed with avenging the rape and death of his sister Elia and her children many years ago at the hands of The Mountain.
"Getting too close and being too far delivered by his own passions," Pascal told Entertainment Weekly. "Because ultimately, it is about defeating this man who raped and killed his sister, but before he can do that, before he can end this man's life, he needs a confession. He needs to hear it. And interesting, I had this great conversation with ['GOT' star] Lena Headey about Oberyn's journey, and how even though it ends badly, he still hears the confession, you know? I don't even need to go on after that once it's been said out loud."
"GOT" airs on HBO Sundays at 9 p.m. EST.
