We're EXTREMELY EXCITED here at Gadget Inspector HQ right now. Why? Because Game of Thrones is back in less than a week!

Everyone's favourite family-unfriendly fantasy show will return to UK screens on Monday the 25th of April. While you wait for the Season 6 premiere, why not fire up that awesome theme song and join us on a trip down memory lane as we revisit GoT's ten most shocking plot twists to date?

Still here? Marvellous - let's get stuck in:

1. Ned loses his head
(S1E9, Baelor)

Eddard Stark confesses to a crime he didn't commit in the hope that King Joffrey Baratheon will show him mercy and allow him to live out his days as a member of the Night's Watch. To the horror of pretty much everyone present (not least Ned's daughter Sansa), he's executed anyway. In hindsight, it seems daft that 'Sean Bean dies' was a plot twist we failed to see coming. But how many other TV shows have killed off the hero (not to mention the biggest name on the cast list) within the first 10 episodes?

(S2E5, The Ghost of Harrenhal)

 Season 2 of GoT was all about the War of the Five Kings, which saw a whole bunch of different people vying for control of/freedom from the Iron Throne. The first of those 'five kings' to bite the bullet was Renly Baratheon, who in The Ghost of Harrenhal was murdered by a shadow that looked suspiciously like his older brother Stannis. This moment was memorable not only because it featured the death of a fairly major character, but because it gave us a chilling glimpse of what Melisandre (Stannis's priestess/booty call) was capable of magicking up.

(S3E9, The Rains of Castamere)

Need we say more? 

(S4E2, The Lion and The Rose)

Westeros has never been short on nasty pieces of work, but from Season 1 onwards, Joffrey Baratheon was the GoT character that we all loved to hate. As main character after main character bit the dust, Joffrey - inexplicably and infuriatingly - remained unmurdered for a staggering thirty-one episodes. Then he made the rookie mistake of getting married, and naturally he was poisoned to death at the reception. Never has the death of a frightened teenage boy made so many people so happy.

(S4E9, The Watchers on the Wall)

The penultimate episode of Season 4 was entirely dedicated to the epic battle between the wildlings and the Night's Watch that by this point had been brewing for a couple of seasons. Many characters were lost in the skirmish - some of them even had names! - but Ygritte 'You Knorr Nothin, Jon Snorr' McWildling is the one we've missed most since. The relationship between Jon and Ygritte had seemingly come to an abrupt end in the Season 3 finale when she put several arrows in him, yet it was somehow still kind of heartbreaking to see her dying in his arms (dying, ironically enough, of an arrow wound).

(S5E8, Hardhome)

Ned Stark was telling everyone that winter was coming way back in the Game of Thrones series premiere (named, appropriately enough, Winter is Coming). 47 episodes later, long after Ilyn Payne's sword turned Ned Stark into Head Stark, winter finally arrived. Yes, it was a long wait - there's a reason they're not called White Sprinters - but boy was this scene worth it. 20 solid minutes of swordplay, tension, and zombies, all capped by that spectacularly creepy bit where the Night's King (pictured above) silently commands the slain wildlings to rise from the dead and join his unholy, unhurried army. Yikes.

(S5E9, The Dance of Dragons)

If your fondness for Stannis Baratheon survived all of his previous crimes (see point 2), this was probably the point at which you threw up your hands and said 'yeah, I'm done with this guy'. Stannis, preparing an attack on Winterfell, is worried that the wintry weather and his men's exhaustion will cost him the fight against the Boltons. So what does he do? On the advice of Melisandre, he burns his daughter Shireen at the stake, watching stoically as she screams for a rescue that never comes. Of course, this gambit backfires completely - the sight of a dude roasting his own child unsurprisingly prompts a fair chunk of Stannis's army to leave, taking the horses with them and leading to a complete whitewash of a battle in the next episode, Mother's Mercy. We'd say 'good', but the winners of that battle were the Boltons, a family so nasty they make Stannis 'Father of the Year' Baratheon look like the good guy.

(S5E10, Mother's Mercy)

If there's one question that's been playing on every GoT fan's mind for the last 10 months, it's the one regarding whether or not Jon Snow is still alive. The Season 6 finale turned Ned Stark's bastard into something of a Schrödinger's cat (or Schrödinger's crow, if you will); we last saw Jon lying on the ground, bleeding profusely having just been stabbed by his Night's Watch colleagues and that kid who killed his ex-girlfriend. Jon has been one of the show's central characters since Season 1, so this is a contender for the most shocking plot twist yet...if he really is dead. We're still hoping that he isn't - either way, we'll find out for sure on Monday.

 

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In early 2015, we saw the formidable Dress debate unfold across social media. Was it black and blue or white and gold? No one could decide, and it had everyone debating from your postman, to the guy that sells the apples down the market! It even had Kimye arguing over it, which well and truly proved that it had taken the world by storm! Thankfully the owner of the dress came forward and confirmed that was it is in fact black and blue (see, told you so)!

It was a great year for space, with plenty of interesting activity and new discoveries in 2015! There was a Total Lunar Eclipse in September, which produced a stunning red colour in the early hours UK time, as well as a Total Solar Eclipse in March (which we all got excited for but could barely see in the UK thanks to the clouds!). We also discovered that flowing water exists on Mars, and with flowing water comes life! But before you get all excited and starting packing your bags to visit, we also discovered that the atmosphere isn't locked inside the rocks, but instead has been lost in space! We do have some good news though, astronauts also discovered that you can now grow lettuce in space! Does that mean we could be seeing space allotments in the near future? Who knows? We're just hoping it doesn't taste like rocket. (Sorry for the terrible space pun).

Strange, potential candidates for the role of future US president was something of a theme in 2015. We found out that businessman Donald Trump would be attempting to represent the Republican party, giving us plenty of controversy to follow in the news! Kanye West also raised everyone's eyebrows at the 2015 VMA's, by announcing that he would be running for president in 2020. Could this be the first steps of Kanye's complete world domination?

There were plenty of great sporting moments in 2015 but we managed to pick a couple of our favourites. We'll start with Japan shocking the entire world by beating South Africa in their first game of the World Cup, something that no-one thought would ever be possible. New Zealand also became the first team to retain the World Cup in the history of the tournament, which isn't quite as surprising considering their excellent form (we only thought that they would have done it sooner)! There was also some great moments in athletics, with Jessica Ennis-Hill winning the world championship after not competing for 3 years prior to the event due to injury and pregnancy, what a comeback! Greg Rutherford also became only the fifth ever Briton to hold all four major athletics titles at the same time! In tennis, Great Britain also won the Davis cup for the first time since 1936, with Andy Murray achieving the greatest ever individual run in the competition's history, by winning 11 games! There really was no stopping the Scotsman! 

In 2015 we saw the return of the hit machine, Adele, with her number 1 single 'Hello' and the release of her new album, 25. Both of these absolutely smashed the records almost straight away, making this the absolute comeback of the year! On another note, although she is still a number 1 hit machine, we also found out that she still uses a flip phone! 2015 was also a great year for Drake, who managed to equal the Beatles' 50 year record, with 14 singles in the Hot 100 chart. This was later beaten by Justin Bieber,  who had 17 hit singles in the hot 100! Another memorable moment for Drake in 2015 was the release of the music video for his single 'Hotline Bling', which went viral due to his *ehem* questionable dance moves. Let's face it, even your dad wouldn't try to pull those off, but you know what they say; "Any publicity, is good publicity", right?

2015 was a great year for TV, with plenty of great moments that left us speechless. We had to say some sad farewells, from final episodes to character deaths, with all sorts of emotions taking hold of us! We'll start with season five of Game of Thrones, which had plenty of moments that left fans with their jaws wide open (even those who had read the books!). One of this season's highlights was the episode 'Hardhome', which left Jon Snow and all the GoT fans feeling rather hopeless with regards to the White Walker situation.. This season also left us on a major cliffhanger,  as we wondered whether or not Jon Snow was really gone for good (FYI he's not). We also had to say a sad farewell to some great shows, including Parks and Recreation, which left us with the closing the images of cast and crew members in an adorable group hug. We also had to say a sad farewell to Mad Men and Parenthood, as well as Brian Fuller's Hannibal (which we hope will return in the not-too-distant future). 

2015 was a great year for movies, and there is only one place to start, Star Wars! We saw the much anticipated return of Han Solo and Chewbacca, along with many other new and familiar faces.This long awaited movie didn't disappoint fans, absolutely smashing box office records thanks to a hoard of repeated viewings. This wasn't the only dose of childhood nostalgia that we got to experience, however, as we also got a brand new instalment of the Jurassic Park franchise in Jurassic World!  We also got to see what might prove to be Daniel Craig's last shot at Bond, in new film Spectre. 

There were plenty of great moments last year, and we're hoping there will be plenty more in 2016!

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