Wow.  Only a show following a George R. R. Martin series like Game of Thrones could kill off its leading character slash star during not only its first season, but even before the season finale.

So how did fans react?  Well you can read the comments in our review, or you can at least join these three fans as we discuss "Baelor" in our round table!

1. Favorite Game of Thrones quotes from the episode?

Jim G: Tyrion: What kind of accent is that? Shae: Foriegn.

Carissa P:  Bronn: This sounds like a boring game. 

Eric H: Since everyone else is going with the most entertaining scene from the episode, I'll give it to Robb's "If we do it your way kingslayer, you'd win. We're not doing it your way."

2. Holy crap.  Goodbye Ned!  Reactions to how killing off the main star/character!?

Carissa P: There was never much pomp and circumstance to chopping off the head of a major character in the real world of Earth (think of Anne Boleyn), so I didn't expect much more for Ned. George R R Martin is not known for keeping characters around just to make the readers/viewers happy. I say, good for him. It's his world!   

Jim G: When reading this one even made me throw the book across the room and I refused to touch it for more than three days! While I was not near as attached to Sean Bean as Ned, I still had to leave the room for fear of throwing something at the TV. *shakes fist at GRRM* Damn you and getting me attached to Ned!!! 

Eric H: Despite having known of Ned's death in the book, I was still hoping HBO would pull a True Blood and keep a fan favorite like Lafayette Ned alive.  They could have re-written the entire story if it meant I could keep my loyal Stark. 

3. Approve of how the show handled the (screen time for the lack of) major battles?

Carissa P: It's difficult to get all the details down of a big ole bloody battle, especially in an hour surrounded by other storylines. Since only 2000 of Robb's men went to battle, I think it was meant to be short and sweet and to come from nowhere.

Jim G: I think it fit well with the flow of the episodes. Had the season had 12 episodes instead of 10 they would have had time to dedicate to the battles. And for Carissa, there were two battles. The one with 2,000 men, and the one where Robb captured Jamie with the other 18,000 :)

Eric H: Total cop out.  I didn't see Lord of the Rings skip any major battles.  Heck they showed battles that barely got a paragraph in the book.  I wanted to see how they took down the Kingslayer.

4.  What do you think of Shae for our man Tyrion?

Carissa P: I like her. She's completely different than I imagined and want her to stick around. She seems very grounding for Tyrion. After hearing the story of his love for the prostitute that Jaime set up, it's obvious he's been looking for a replacement with less pain involved all his life. Maybe he's found her!

Jim G: I love her! I am reselecting this as my favorite casting! I am glad we got to hear Tyrion's story of his first love it makes me like Shae that much more!

Eric H: Sorry, guys.  She's not working for me or my little man.  I love Shae as a character.  But she's not at all what I pictured...

5. Joffrey.  Any words for the jerk that took Ned's life?

Carissa P: Die, bastard, Die! 

Jim G: Agree with Carissa, Die in a fire, you filthy bastard!

Eric H: I can truly only express my feelings with the following:

BONUS:  Neither really apply but feel free to rate the episode on the DUS / HGN scales and whine...

Carissa P:  Sure would be nice if the girls had their direwolves at their sides for comfort and protection. Especially Arya. I guess Nymeria just went wild out into the woods? I've renamed my cats Lady and Nymeria. Not that they listen to the new names, but I thought you should all know that. Ha. 

Jim G: In honor of the Stark girls I too have renamed Carissa's cats to Lady and Nymeria but they can't really hear me from California.

Eric H: 0 on the DUS scale.  We got zero dire wolves when Robb's was so key to his battle and -1 on the HGN for not showing Shae nude.  How was I supposed to make a proper answer to the fourth round table question without a full inspection of the merchandise?

Eric Hochberger is the programmer of TV Fanatic, so please forgive his mediocre writing. His programming is far better. Follow him on Twitter and/or email him. Just don't request threaded comments. They're coming.