The 25 Best Characters From Game of Thrones and Its Spinoffs, Ranked

9 min readLooking to lose a few hours? Head over to A Wiki of Ice and Fire, where countless contributors have chronicled thousands of years of Westeros’s history to the point where we probably know more about George R. R. Martin’s fantasy world now than our own. It’s easy to understand why. A world where dragons and magic affect the lives of King Henry VI and Anne Boleyn analogues is a lot more interesting that their real historical counterparts. And once they finally hit our screens for a big-budget HBO drama, it felt like the last time the world was truly all watching the same show at once.Since the days of Ned Stark and Joffrey Baratheon, the Game of Thrones universe has split into two spinoffs—House of the Dragon and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. That means even more characters to remember and preposterously long family trees to comb through. It also makes choosing our favorites that much harder. Even among all the best Thrones characters, who isn’t still rooting for House’s evil King Aegon II to succeed? How could you not love Ser Dunk? So, we tried to remember a time where we “knew nothing” again like Jon Snow and ranked the best twenty-five characters throughout Westeros.Helen Sloan/HBOAidan Gillen as Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish in Game of Thrones. 25. LittlefingerThe fact that Game of Thrones created so many despicable characters without losing its audience is a feat of its own. But that’s also props to actor Aidan Gillen’s performance. Petyr Baelish is such a manipulative and sneaky weasel that even at his creepiest and most pathetic you can't help but enjoy watching him on screen.Ollie Upton/HBOFabien Frankel as Ser Criston Cole in House of the Dragon.24. Ser Criston ColeSpeaking of characters you love to hate, I bet you’re surprised to see Criston Cole on this list. As actor Fabien Frankel joked while quoting Mean Girls, “This man is the nastiest skank bitch I've ever met. DO NOT TRUST HIM. He is a fugly slut!” Of course, that’s what made him such a great punching bag in House of the Dragon. Good villains are remembered, and no one’s ever going to forget how much they reviled Ser Criston Cole.Helen Sloan/HBOJohn Bradley as Samwell Tarly in Game of Thrones. 23. Samwell TarlyThere are very few "good" characters in Game of Thrones. No one is innocent. And anyone who comes close to the moral heart of the show is killed swiftly and brutally. Yet somehow, dear sweet Samwell Tarly (played lovingly by John Bradley) makes it through the endgame against all odds, proving that even those of us with no notable physical talents can survive in the cutthroat land of Westeros.Helen Sloan/HBOIwan Rheon as Ramsay Bolton in Game of Thrones.22. Ramsay BoltonThis (legitimized) bastard is the reason we all watched the last two seasons through our fingers. The torture-obsessed villain tried his best to fill the void that Joffrey left, and he might have even succeeded at becoming an even more despicable foe. When hounds ate him alive, the cheer that went up across the land did more to unite the world than any other event in 2016.Helen Sloan/HBOBella Ramsay as Lyanna Mormont in Game of Thrones.21. Lyanna MormontLyanna was the coolest kid in Westeros. The role skyrocketed Bella Ramsay’s career, as her spirited and wise-beyond-her-years leader of Bear Island inspired the North to continue the fight against the White Walkers. Had she not died by fighting a giant, she would have been every viewer’s No. 1 choice to become the new Queen of the North.Steffan HillDaniel Ings as Ser Lyonel Baratheon in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.20. Ser Lyonel BaratheonDaniel Ings stole the show every time he was on screen as “The Laughing Storm” in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. His friendship with Ser Dunk brought an epic, “dude’s rock” feeling to the Thrones franchise that rivaled The Lord of the Rings’s fellowship. Call it recency bias, but if there’s any direction this series heads next, I hope to see Ser Lyonel front and center.Helen Sloan/HBODaniel Portman as Podrick Payne in Game of Thrones.19. Podrick PaynePodrick was the most loyal squire in all of Westeros. He wasn't the smartest. He wasn't a particularly good fighter. But he was faithful through and through. First saving Tyrion's life at the Battle of the Blackwater, then going on odd-couple adventures with Brienne of Tarth. Plus, he's supposedly so good at sex that the women in Littlefinger's brothel refuse to take his money.HBOPedro Pascal as Oberyn Martell in Game of Thrones. 18. Oberyn MartellYou don’t need me to tell you that a lot of people die in Game of Thrones. Still, the death of Oberyn Martell felt the most unfair. He won his duel with the Mountain, but he was robbed of his revenge. The head-crushing was absolutely the most brutal death in the show. But he was impossible not to root for. Thanks to Pedro Pascal, the actor brought an effortless cool to a character that book readers already loved.Helen Sloan/HBOCarice van Houten as Melisandre in Game of Thrones.17. MelisandreSince the Red Priestess’s death, Thrones has been afraid to bring her dark religious magic back into one of the spinoff series. Remember when she birthed an assassin made of shadows? And how did her necklace keep her so young? Melisandre was at the center of most, if not all of Game of Thrones’s what the f**k moments, and she deserves her flowers. Plus, she brought back Jon Snow too.Helen Sloan/HBOJerome Flynn as Bronn in Game of Thrones.16. BronnBronn is one of the best archetypes in medieval fantasy—a sellsword who doesn’t care what side he’s on as long as it’s the one that pays the most. Who can blame him, really? Played with a sly wink by Jerome Flynn, Bronn of the Blackwater is the kind of scoundrel mercenary you can't help but root for. Sure, he'll run you through with his sword to the highest bidder, but it worked for him, didn't it?Theo Whiteman/HBOTom Glynn-Carney as King Aegon II Targaryen in House of the Dragon.15. Aegon II TargaryenWith one line—”I’m aliiiive!”—Tom Glynn-Carney cemented his demented Targaryen prince as one of Westeros’s greatest villains. Even for a show like House of the Dragon, where almost everyone on screen is unredeemable, it’s not entirely crazy that such a large viewer base is now rooting to see him retake the throne.Steffan HillPeter Claffey as Ser Duncan in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.14. Ser Duncan the TallA Knight of the Seven Kingdoms sets a wholly new tone to the world of Westeros. That’s what makes Ser Duncan the Tall’s long-legged and bird-brained hero so different from everyone else on this list. But at the same time, he’s one of the few inspiring characters in the whole franchise. You don’t have a heart if you don’t root for Dunk, and Thrones doesn’t give the audience many chances to feel like that outside of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’s main hero.Helen Sloan/HBOMaisie Williams as Arya Stark in Game of Thrones.13. Arya StarkEveryone loves Arya. There is no debate here. I wish I could say it's because she killed the Night King—because she did kill the Night King—but Arya is so much more than that. She fucks up. She gets lost. She finds her way back, even if it's not the way we expect. She travels to strange lands, meets bizarre people. Her story could have been a whole series.Helen Sloan/HBORory McCann as Sandor Clegane in Game of Thrones.12. Sandor "The Hound" CleganeAs we'll see in the top half of this list, many of the best Game of Thrones characters are its villains. This is for a couple of reasons: Because pretty much all our heroes die before their character arcs are complete. And because in Martin's world, good and evil can sometimes be interchangeable—the characters we hate can find redemption.Helen Sloan/HBOEmilia Clarke as Daenerys in Game of Thrones.11. Daenerys TargaryenFor 90 percent of the series, Daenerys was hands down the best Game of Thrones character. Not just because she was the only character with dragons before House of the Dragon, but because the show really had us believing that she was destined for the throne. Daenerys was the leader Westeros deserved, more deserving certainly than Jon Snow, and especially Bran Stark.HBOCharles Dance as Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones.10. Tywin LannisterTywin is the best politician on Game of Thrones, which is why he died one of the silliest deaths. Charles Dance was also one of the few veteran actors who knew what to do for the role the second he stepped onto the set. Ruthless, cunning, and everything a lion represents for the Lannister family, Tywin knew what it took to rule—for better or for worse.Helen Sloan/HBODiana Rigg as Olenna Tyrell in Game of Thrones.9. Olenna TyrellYou might have noticed that not many people grow old in Game of Thrones. The few who do? Well, that's a clear indication that they played the game just about as well as anyone could. No one played the game with more style and grace than Olenna Tyrell. She quietly and proudly instigated the assassination of a horrible child king when she had Joffrey Baratheon poisoned at his own wedding. Plus, she didn't reveal her involvement until season 7 when, in her final moments, she said to Jaime, "Tell Cersei. I want her to know it was me." Cold.HBOSean Bean as Ned Stark in Game of Thrones.8. Ned StarkThe best characters are the ones you remember long after they're off-screen. Ned Stark's death not only haunted the entirety of the series that came after, but it also changed television as we know it. Viewers who hadn't read the books were stunned when Ned was beheaded in season 1. At that point, Ned was the primary protagonist of the show and Sean Bean the show's biggest star. His death defined Game of Thrones as a story in which every single character could die at any given moment, setting a precedent for an epic television series that doesn't focus on one primary hero. Typical television, storytelling, and fantasy tropes of the hero's journey were thrown out the door the moment Ned died.Helen Sloan/HBOKit Harington as Jon Snow in Game of Thrones.7. Jon SnowJon Snow is one of the dumbest characters in Game of Thrones. He’s basically a stand-in for the audience, taking us around Westeros as every character tells us that we’ve never seen anything that the world has to offer yet. That naiveté made him more relatable, sure, but it also killed him. Had a witch not brought him back from the dead, the hero who helped save Westeros and then shock us all by doing the unthinkable in the finale would just be a blip in the history books. Instead, he’s one of the characters we wanted to follow for a potential sequel—the likes of which may never materialize.Ollie Upton/HBOEmma D’Arcy as Rhaenyra Targaryen in House of the Dragon.6. Rhaenyra TargaryenRhaenyra gets the benefit on this list of being played by two of House of the Dragon’s best actors: Milly Alcock and Emma D’Arcy. Fans were so smitten by Alcock’s performance that they were angry when the time-jump occurred. Still, that doesn’t mean D’Arcy didn’t carry the torch by becoming the show’s main driver thereafter. There’s a lot of Daenerys in Rhaenyra, and that isn’t without the prequel’s intentions, but let’s just hope that our new Queen doesn’t let us down as quickly (if at all).Helen Sloan/HBONikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister in Game of Thrones.5. Jaime LannisterJaime's path through Game of Thrones remains astonishing. In the early seasons, he's up there with his son Joffrey as the worst of the worst. But by the end of the series, he's closer to Brienne of Tarth. I still find myself wondering how we got there. In a lot of ways, Jaime offers proof in this bleak, fucked-up world of Game of Thrones that we're not all truly lost. Redemption is possible for even the worst of us. Much of that success is thanks to Nikolaj Coster-Waldau's ability to pull off the arrogant personality of a Lannister and the subdued emotion of a man redefining himself.Helen Sloan/HBOGwendoline Christie as Brienne in Game of Thrones. 4. Brienne of TarthBrienne was a true knight. A knight so pure and good that she managed to help guide Jaime Lannister back to the light. She won our hearts early, when she told Jaime in season 2: "All my life, men like you have sneered at me. And all my life, I've been knocking men like you into the dust." It's rare to find a character so easy to root for in Thrones, especially as she sought to protect the Stark children. But Brienne’s stoic honor never meant that she was a static character. Beneath that knightly exterior, Gwendoline Christie brought an emotional honesty to Brienne that made her so deeply human.HBOJack Gleeson as Joffrey Baratheon in Game of Thrones.3. Joffrey BaratheonI can hear your blood boiling through the screen. Has there ever been a more detestable character on TV? It's true, unlike the best characters on Game of Thrones, Joffrey’s transformation is more from a spoiled little prince to a spoiled little king. But damn, does he do it so well! Actor Jack Gleeson's sneering, whiny voice is forever seared into the anger receptors of our brains, along with the images of his privileged smirk.Helen Sloan/HBOPeter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones.2. Tyrion LannisterTelevision never had a character quite like Tyrion Lannister. Tyrion demanded that the audience question what it meant to be a hero, a villain, or a leader. He constantly reappraised who was deserving of power, and he never let anyone push him around. On top of all that, Peter Dinklage’s performance as the Lannister sibling was unmatched. When he delivered some of the finest monologues of the series, everyone around him was forced to step up their game as well.Helen Sloan/HBOLena Headey as Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones.1. Cersei LannisterCersei said it best: "When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die." Truer words were never spoken. Love her or hate her, Cersei won the game of thrones until her final agonizing moments. Yes, the show writers let Cersei down in the finale in the same ways they let Jaime down, but she's the villain at the heart of this series from beginning to end. Lena Headey captured a human depth in Cersei, who was never given any other way to succeed in Thrones’s deeply misogynistic world. Instead, she learned to take what she would not be willingly given. As we watched Cersei manipulate, betray, and claw her way to the top, we saw that, in another story, she might have been our hero.