I’ll admit it, I re-watch shows. They still carry the narrative capacity to enthrall me, though I have no delusions about their impending conclusions. Viewing the “how” or analyzing the “why” of a story is often far more engaging than simply knowing the “what.” I rewatched Game of Thrones recently, or as book readers know it, “A Song of Ice and Fire.” and, as a frivolous endeavor, I’ve organized a list of my top 5 Game of Thrones characters, in descending order.
The series generated some of the most complex and compelling Game of Thrones characters ever written for the small screen. As These rankings incorporate Seasons 7 and 8, which drastically altered my estimation of several highly regarded characters. I’d heartily recommend everyone rewatch Game of Thrones. It remains engrossing — a show that quite literally reinvented the landscape of fantasy television.
5. Olenna Tyrell: One of the Sharpest Game of Thrones Characters
Appropriately referred to as the “Queen of Thorns,” Olenna is the mistress of Highgarden, home to House Tyrell, overlords of The Reach, Wardens of the South. Scrupulous, cunning, ambitious, biting and incisive with words — Olenna is a consummate anti-hero, making her one of my favorite Game of Thrones characters. We root for her, in spite of her lack of moral compunction. She has one overarching objective throughout the series: advance the standing of House Tyrell, as ruthlessly as possible.
In this endeavor, Olenna is ultimately thwarted. Despite her keen aptitude for scheming and plotting, she is not exempt from error. House Tyrell has been destroyed by series’ end, buried into oblivion like several other great houses in Westeros. Her ambitions, formidable as they were, could not outrun the brutal arithmetic of power.
She still has one demonstrably delicious scene — one ardent viewer of the show still relish. Highgarden has fallen to the Lannisters. Olenna correctly understands her demise is approaching. Jaime Lannister, head of the invading army, approaches her individually in her castle. He carries a poisoned chalice and insists Olenna drink it. She is not eager to pass quietly into the night.
Jaime assures her, graciously, that the poison will be painless. It will catalyze a swift and dignified death. Olenna smiles wickedly and responds: “You know, I’d hate to die like your son. Clawing at my neck, foam and bile spilling from my mouth, eyes blood-red, skin purple. Must have been horrible for you, as a Kingsguard and a father. It was horrible for me.”
She pauses, juicily.
“Not at all what I intended. You see, I’d never seen the poison work before. Tell Cersei. I want her to know. It was me.”
Yes — the Queen of Thorns merits inclusion in these rankings for the sole, spectacular reason of murdering King Joffrey, the most capaciously villainous brat in the entire series. That confession, delivered with cold relish, is one of the finest exits in television history.of the series, has been destroyed, buried into oblivion like several of the other great houses in Westeros.
She still has one demonstrably delicious scene, however, one ardent viewers of the show still relish.
In it, Highgarden has fallen to the Lannisters. Olenna correctly understands her demise is approaching. Jaime Lannister, head of the invading army, approaches Olenna individually in her castle. In his hands, he carries a poisoned chalice, insisting Olenna imbibe it. Olenna, not eager to pass into the night, quietly, first initiates one last conversation before acquiescing.
Jaime assures Olenna, quite graciously, that the poison will be painless, catalyzing a swift and dignified death.
Olenna smiles wickedly, and responds to Jaime: “You know, I’d hate to die like your son. Clawing at my neck, foam and bile spilling from my mouth, eyes blood-red, skin purple. Must have been horrible for you, as a Kingsguard and a father. It was horrible for me.”
She pauses, juicily.
“Not at all what I intended. You see, I’d never seen the poison work before. Tell Cersei. I want her to know. It was me.”
Yes, the Queen of Thorns, for the mere reason of murdering the most capaciously villainous brat in the series, King Joffrey, merits inclusion in these rankings.
4. “The Hound,” Sandor Clegane
The quantity of memorable quotes from Sandor Clegane, “The Hound,” a consummate realist, is truly spectacular. Poetry of the crassest kind. Here are a few:
(On chicken)
“I understand that if any more words come pouring out your c*** mouth, I’m gonna have to eat every f***ing chicken in this room.”
(On loyalty)
“F*** the Kingsguard. F*** the city. F*** the King.”
(On survival)
“Hate is good as any to keep a person going, better than most.”
(On fear)
“Of course you are. You’re almost there and you’re afraid you won’t make it. The closer you get, the worse the fear gets. No point in trying to hide behind that face. I know fear when I see it. Seen it a lot.”
(On himself)
“I’m honest. It’s the world that’s awful.”
The Hound was ruthlessly burned by his sadistic brother, Gregor Clegane, “The Mountain,” as a child, and the vicious betrayal of someone he should have been able to trust forever shaped him as an individual. He becomes a tattered soul, wrapped in a crude iron suit of bloody pragmatism.
Chance introduces him to Lady Arya Stark, who he rescues from assured imprisonment after her father Eddard Stark, is unjustly beheaded. They develop a queer relationship, a strange mix of both admiration on his end; and revulsion, but grudging respect, on hers. They both share an acute understanding of pain, an unrepentant desire for revenge.
Sandor insists he’s only protecting Arya for the bounty on her noble head, but as the viewing audience observes the blossoming of their friendship, we know he’s being slightly disingenuous. He sees himself in little, voracious, Arya Stark.
Throughout the series, Sandor remains a force of unfettered physical violence. He’s a survivor, and that’s a difficult thing to accomplish, in the medieval world of Westeros. That alone makes him one of the top Game of Thrones characters.
3. Daenerys “Stormborn” Targaryen
Mother of Dragons. Breaker of Chains. Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea. Stormborn. Protector of the Seven Kingdoms. Queen of the Andals and First Men. The Unburnt. Titles, titles, titles.
Quite a grandiose resume for a woman of such inconsiderable physical stature. We first meet “Dany” as a timid young princess, cowed by her overbearing older brother Viserys. Naïve and starry-eyed, she becomes acclimated to the dispassionate nature of the world following her arranged marriage to Khal Drogo, the imposing Dothraki king. Her naivete quickly vanishes. A dragon is born — breathing fire and blood.
Betrayed by a vindictive witch in the Dothraki sea, Dany’s concealed power conspicuously presents itself. She has her khalasar erect a funeral pyre to burn the witch who killed Drogo through dark arts. Into the fire, she places three dragon eggs gifted by Pentoshi merchant Illyrio Mopatis. She walks into the flames herself. The audience presumes she will perish.
She doesn’t. She walks away miraculously unscathed, clutching three dragon hatchlings — Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion. These ancient creatures of Old Valyria now rest exclusively in the hands of one woman. It is one of the great dramatic entrances in television history.
Dany gathers followers and seeks refuge in Slaver’s Bay, Old Ghis. She asserts her dominion over the three Ghiscari cities of Astapor, Yunkai, and Meereen. She fashions a fledgling empire and elects to learn the art of lordship rather than immediately heading west. It is a choice that defines, and ultimately delays, her destiny.
The predations of the “Old Masters” — slaveowners whose property Dany confiscated — do not dissipate. Her life is constantly threatened. Even a strategic marriage to Ghiscari nobleman Hizdahr zo Loraq fails to ameliorate latent anger. Dany turns her dragons and armies loose. She defeats her enemies with “Fire and Blood,” reducing them to ash, then finally heads west.
Her tragedy arrives in the final two episodes. After helping Jon Snow defend the realm against the White Walkers, she eventually casts her inhibitions aside. Cersei Lannister, Queen Regent of King’s Landing, has Dany’s closest friend, Missandei, beheaded before her eyes. Dany’s rage transforms into “Fire and Blood.” She reduces the capital to ashes — a brutal, if explicable, decision.
In the final episode, Jon Snow murders her, almost unilaterally deciding she is unfit to rule. Her death was unfair. She had honest impulses, but perhaps too much power for one person alone to wield. In her place, the remnants of Westerosi nobility elect Bran Stark — his “compelling story” his only apparent qualification.
2.) Sansa Stark: A Game of Thrones Character Transformed by Survival
Weird selection for one of the top Game of Thrones characters, I acknowledge. Much of Sansa’s appeal resides in her character development — from the most tepid and demure of women to a calculating and frank leader of men. It is a transformation few characters in the series match in scope or credibility.
As an adolescent, Sansa desires nothing more than a comfortable castle and a noble prince of her father’s selection. She receives her wish, becoming betrothed to the man-child Prince Joffrey “Baratheon,” heir to the Iron Throne. Joffrey quickly disabuses her of any romantic fancy. He views her as a plaything and relishes her emotional pain. She endures his cruelty with grim patience, learning early that vulnerability is a liability.
She escapes King’s Landing through the machinations of the enigmatic Littlefinger, after Joffrey is poisoned. Littlefinger is infatuated with her and uses that infatuation as both shield and snare. From him, Sansa learns the art of politics — the game of thrones itself. She learns to disclose as little information as possible. She learns to trust as few people as possible.
Her education is brutal, and it works. Once “Brienne the Beauty” escorts her safely to Winterfell, Sansa is a fundamentally different person. She is a sagacious political chess-player, astute in reading people and ruthless in leveraging their weaknesses. Her earlier naivety has calcified into something harder and far more useful. At the conclusion of the series, Sansa argues vociferously for the independence of the North. Her wishes are granted. In place of Jon Snow, she is crowned Queen in the North. Of all the character transformations witnessed across the entire run of the show, Sansa’s evolution constitutes the most complete transfiguration. She becomes exactly what Westeros demanded of her — and nothing less.
1.) Arya Stark
Arya Stark, like Dany, defies gender stereotypes from the outset of the series. In the first season, her father explains the schematics of her future as a noblewoman: “You will marry a high lord and rule his castle. And your sons shall be knights, and princes, and lords.”
Arya demonstratively shakes her head: “No. That’s not me.”
One sentence. That single line permeates her entire character arc. She becomes an exile after her father, Eddard Stark — Lord of Winterfell, Warden of the North, and Hand of the King — is beheaded. Like “The Hound,” she grows possessed by a desire for violent revenge. Revenge, the bitterest of pills, swallows her soul entirely.
After wandering Westeros from fiefdom to fiefdom, attempting to reconnect with the scattered Stark clan, Arya decides to become a “Faceless Man” — a member of the legendary assassin cult in Braavos. She organizes a death list, which she recites every single night. It is an act both chilling and deeply human — a young girl weaponizing her grief.
The most electric scene featuring Arya’s fruition of revenge transpires at “The Twins,” stronghold of House Frey. Their lord, Walder Frey, orchestrated the “Red Wedding” — the massacre of Robb and Catelyn Stark, Arya’s brother and mother. Arya returns the favor with cold precision.
She arrives at “The Twins” in disguise — a skill mastered during her training with the Faceless Men. She serves Walder a dish made from the remains of his sons, with whom she has already dealt. Walder responds with horror. Arya removes her mask and delivers these words:
“My name is Arya Stark. I want you to know that. The last thing you’re ever going to see is a Stark smiling down at you as you die.”
She slits his throat. Catharsis. Justice.
In a more significant, if somewhat anti-climactic blow, Arya also eliminates the Night King in Season 8 — the most threatening foe of the entire series. A small girl with a small blade, extinguishing the apocalypse. It is exactly the kind of moment her character was always building toward.
Arya is resourceful, determined, ferocious, clever, and loyal. She is a study in quiet, lethal resilience. If there is a hero in this series, it is certainly Lady Arya Stark. Although, as she would say herself — “I’m no lady.” Truly my favorite out of all the Game of Thrones characters.