12 Backstabs In TV Shows We Didn't See Coming

Of all the betrayals in Game of Thrones,Game of Thrones, the “Red Wedding” likely looms largest. The scope and the characters betrayed make this the biggest one.

Robb Stark broke his promise to marry a Walder Frey daughter. Backdoor deals with the Lannisters and Boltons, plus a wedding to unite the houses, caused a massacre of main characters early in the show.

After Stark breaks the betrothal, his uncle, Edmure Tully, agrees to marry a Frey daughter to gain support. The Starks attend the wedding, falsely believing guest right protects them—a Westeros tradition meaning no host harms guests dining under their roof.

The Lannister song “The Rains of Castamere” plays during the party. This alerts Catelyn Stark that something is wrong. Indeed, she, Robb Stark, his wife Talisa, Robb and Talisa's unborn baby, Robb's direwolf Grey Wind, and hundreds of Robb's soldiers arebrutally slain.

It'sGame of Thrones, so all the culprits eventually die.

In a showthat might as well have been calledGame of Betrayals, a few moments stand out as extra backstabby. Theon's betrayal of the Starks is one example.

This happens in season two. Theon, a Greyjoy turned Stark hostage/adoptee, sides with his original family by taking the Starks' castle, Winterfell. During the siege,Theon kills his old mentorand forces Bran Stark to yield. Bran and his younger brother Rickon escape, so Theon slays two farm boys to look like Starks.

Theon takes the castle but earns no respect from his family. They refuse reinforcements, and the Boltons capture Winterfell next. Theon's men hand him to Ramsay Snow, Roose Bolton's illegitimate son. Snow tortures Theon and sends his severed penis to Theon's father, who shows no reaction. Theon then becomes Ramsay's slave.

Watching Theon viciously betray his adoptive family is hard to accept. But he later endures some of the show's worst events and slowly becomes honorable—giving him one of Game of Thrones' biggest redemption arcs.Game of Thronescharacters.

InBlack Mirror's “Beyond the Sea,” David and Cliff are astronauts on a long space mission. They transfer consciousness to identical robotic bodies on Earth. They live in their replicas like normal people, spending time off with their families, until David's replica is destroyed and his family is murdered by a technophobic, Manson-like cult. Stuck on a spaceship with a traumatized partner who endangers him and the mission, Cliff lets David use his replica sometimes.

David attaches to Cliff's body, home, and family. David attempts to seduce Cliff's wife, Lana. Cliff confronts David and cuts him off from his replica. David tells Cliff about an emergency on the ship. Cliff puts on a spacesuit to check. He finds nothing wrong.Outside.He goes back to the hatch outside the ship. He finds it locked and David gone.

David seems to leave Cliff to die so he can take over his replica. Later, David reappears. He lets Cliff back in, giving him his replica-access key tag. Cliff takes it and connects to Earth quickly.He finds his family murdered, just like David's.Only this time, David did the deed.

Anguished, Cliff returns to the ship. David appears calm and ominous. The story stops there. We wonder how anyone moves on from that.

Sarah O'Brien, Lady Cora Crawley's maid, fears she will be fired.Downton Abbey.She places a bar of soap on the floor next to the bathtub.Crawley slips and falls.She miscarries the male heir to the Crawley/Grantham fortune. She does not fire O'Brien. Instead, she seeks a maid for the elderly Violet Crawley.

Lady Crawley never fired O'Brien. Unlike other TV betrayals, the betrayed character never learns the treachery. O'Brien stayed quiet, but guilt made her a devoted servant.

Faith Lehane begins.Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Faith joins Buffy's Scooby Gang. Her unresolved trauma leads to bad choices. These choices cause the accidental murder of Sunnydale's Deputy Mayor Allan Finch.

Faith enters villainy by teaming up with Buffy's enemy, Mayor Richard Wilkins. Wilkins acts like the father Faith lacked. Wilkins manipulates Faith into attempting to murder Buffy's lover and in a duel with Buffy.a duel with BuffyThis leaves Faith comatose.

Faith takes time to return to the good side. She proves viewers who believed in her redemption correct.

One Tree Hill.The season three finale shows a school shooting. Keith Scott persuades the shooter, Jimmy, to let students leave. Jimmy then shoots himself. Keith's brother Dan arrives. He picks up Jimmy's gun and fatally shoots Keith, framing dead Jimmy as the killer.She fatally shoots Keith.She also frames deceased Jimmy as the murderer.

Dan retaliates for the dealership fire he thought Keith started. It was actually Dan's ex-wife Deb. Dan initially escapes blame. However, witness Abby Brown tells Dan's son Luke. WB drama happens before Dan goes to prison. Eventually, Keith's ghost forgives him.

A minor character named Kathy nearly turned.Friends.intoEnemies.

Kathy meets Chandler at Central Perk while waiting for a date with Joey. Kathy and Chandler start feeling things for each other despite her relationship with his best friend. They kiss. This costs Joey his girlfriend and nearly his friend; he forces Chandler into a crate to make amends for his betrayal.

Chandler officially dates Kathy. He gets nervous seeing her in a.He plays a highly sexual game.He accuses her of cheating with co-star Nick. Chandler's initial paranoia seems like a neurotic flaw. However, when he apologizes to Kathy, he finds out she is sleeping with co-star Nick. That ends it.

The first season ofTrue Detective Martin “Marty” Hart and Rustin "Rust" Cohle investigate a string of murders. The investigation's danger and complexity bring the partners closer. They sleep with the same woman. Only one, or maybe neither, consented.

The woman is Maggie Hart, Marty's wife, whom he constantly cheats on. Cohle respects Maggie and resents Marty's infidelity. Maggie finds another affair and takes revenge. She has sex with a drunk, vulnerable Cohle. This actdestroys the marriage and partnership.After a new lead restarts the investigation a decade later, both men start to mend.

Wallace, Bodie, and Poot are teenage friends and drug dealers onThe WireTheir relationship gets tangled when Omar Little, Brandon Wright, and John Bailey rob a stash house. Because their boss owns the house, a bounty is placed on the robbers. Wallace collects on Wright by finding out where he is at a pinball parlor. Then, Wright gets tortured and killed.

Wallace feels guilty about the murder and tells the police. Bodie and Poot are tasked with looking after him. They go to his house under false pretenses and, after much doubt,put three bullets into their friend.Wallace was only 15.

Many fans feel thatMeredith Grey ruinedher husband Derek Shepherd's clinical trial was the worst thing she did to him on the long-running seriesGrey's Anatomy.

Grey tampered with Shepherd's clinical trial for a new Alzheimer's drug to stop Adele, the sick wife of her father figure Richard Webber, from getting a placebo. This caused Grey's firing, Shepherd's ban from the FDA, the couple's split, and Webber's exit as chief surgeon. (At least it's amorally complex betrayal)..

In another betrayal, Alex Karev, one of Grey's best friends, exposes her. He is jealous she might get named Chief Resident over him.

Thinking of TV's worst backstabbers, Phyllis Vance fromThe Office comes to mind right away. That is sarcasm. Yet, her exposing the affair between Angela Martin and Dwight Schrute is an underrated betrayal.

Vance caught the pair having sex after Toby Flenderson's going-away. Martin got engaged to Andy Bernard. Vance blackmailed Martin into party-planning subordination for silence. Martin grew tired and called Vance's bluff, sure she wouldn't mess up her party-planning power by exposing their relationship. Vance then blurted it out in front of most coworkers, excluding Bernard.Angela has sex with Dwight.

Bernard learns this and challenges Schrute to a duel. During their silly fight, they talked about Martin's cheating and both ended things with her.

The characters find out at the very end ofGossip Girl the charactersdiscover the identityof the blogger who aired their dirty laundry for years. It is Dan Humphrey—not a girl—an aspiring writer who started the blog to get with Serena van der Woodsen and her elite Manhattan society.

AmongHumphrey's many betrayalsRumors spread about Jenny's sex life; Asher Hornsby is outed as gay; Blair Waldorf suffers a miscarriage; van der Woodsen's drug overdose is exposed.

Despite all this, van der Woodsen is happy with Humphrey's final reveal and marries him. Fan reactions went fromangrytoincredulous.