The 25 Best Game of Thrones Characters, Ranked
25. George R.R. MartinThe nastiest villain in Game of Thrones history isn’t Ramsay Bolton—it’s George R.R. Martin, the puppet master who gave us a genre-changing series and then refused to finish it. Maybe if he finishes The Winds of Winter before 2040, we’ll revise our ranking. George, if you’re seeing this, we hope you’ll take our criticism as motivation. Write like the wind, buddy.
24. Ramsay BoltonOkay, he’s the second-nastiest villain. This (legitimized) bastard is responsible for all the season 5 torture porn that sent some viewers running for the hills and left others watching through their fingers. When hounds ate him alive, the cheer that went up across the land did more to unite Americans than even Joffrey Baratheon’s death.
23. HodorHodor. Hooodor, HODOR. Hodor? Hodor, hodor, hodor! Hoooo…..ld the door.
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22. 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.
21. Bronn”Sides” don’t matter when it comes to Bronn—only gold. And who can blame him, really? In this land of backstabbing and shifting loyalties and toppled dynasties, the only objective truth can be found in the shining consistency of cold, hard currency. 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?
20. LittlefingerOh, Littlefinger, you sneaky, creepy little shit. He’s playing 50 games of speed chess at once. His love of Caitlyn Stark and Sansa Stark is both weird and problematic. But sometimes when serving himself and his own obsessions, he can briefly do things that help our heroes along the way. Otherwise, Petyr Baelish is only looking out for number one. Beneath a calculating exterior from Aiden Gillen, there’s a real sense of inferiority, the air of a pathetic man who manipulated his way to the top. You can’t help but feel sorry for him. Almost.
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19. Lyanna MormontThe coolest kid in Westeros. Lyanna Mormont has maybe ten minutes of screen time in the closing episodes, but damn if they aren’t memorable. Bella Ramsey brings an unexpected intensity to the Lady of Bear Island. She battles and dies bravely after bringing her meager house to fight alongside the army of the living: “We are not a large house, but we are a proud one, and every man from Bear Island fights with the strength of ten mainlanders.”
18. MelisandreAh yes, the Red Priestess, whose religion is wrong almost as often as it’s right. Who and what she is exactly, we never really find out. Why was she randomly old when she took off her necklace, even though we’d seen her without her necklace before? These are the questions that Game of Thrones never really bothers to answer. But no one watches Game of Thrones for answers, exactly. It’s more about the shadow babies, and Carice van Houten’s spooky prophecies. And perhaps she is so memorable because the Red Priestess remained largely a mystery long after the show ended. And she brought Jon Snow back, so there’s that, too.
17. Sansa StarkIn both the books and the show, Martin, Benioff, and Weiss struggled with writing Sansa’s character. They often fell into easy tropes and, at their worst, used horrible abuse and sexual assault to move her character arc forward. While much of the character building is unforgivable, there is some genius nuance to Sansa, who learns to weaponize the ways of the court, masters the art of deceit, and finds her rightful place as the Lady of Winterfell. Sophie Turner brings a quiet grace and power to the role, showing the subtleties of Sansa’s growth over the course of eight seasons. Now, if only she had been the one to end up on the Iron Throne…
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16. VarysThe Spider, the Master of Whisperers. He serves the realm and the realm alone. In the books and the first few seasons of Thrones, the mystery of Varys seems to be building to bigger, stranger things. And while the show writers seemed to not have the time or interest to develop those threads fully—ending with him getting executed by Daenerys?—Varys as a whole remains one of the most fascinating characters in the series. Much of this is thanks to Conleth Hill’s slippery performance, never letting his presence overtake a scene—but making his influence known. Varys is also responsible for some of the most memorable lines in all of Thrones, making astute observations about the nature of power.
15. Oberyn MartellYou don’t need me to tell you that a lot of people die in Game of Thrones. But the death of Oberyn Martell feels the most unfair. It’s the one that makes me the most angry. He won his duel with the Mountain. But he was robbed of his revenge (and also his head was crushed in his adversary’s hands, which is absolutely the most brutal death in the show). But also, the Red Viper of Dorne was just damn cool. That’s thanks to Pedro Pascal, who brought that effortless cool to a character that book readers already loved. “Today is not the day I die…”
14. The HoundAs 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 of our heroes die before their character arc is complete. And because in Martin’s world, good and evil can sometimes be interchangeable—the characters we hate can have redemption and find their way back to the light.
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13. Daenerys TargaryenLet’s get this out of the way immediately. Daenerys Targaryen’s evil turn in the final season is absolutely abysmal, lazy writing. And had she been given any conclusion that was even logical, she would be much higher on this list. Because for 90 percent of the series, Daenerys was hands down the best Game of Thrones character. And it’s not just because she has dragons. (But also because she has dragons!) It’s because she has the dignity and strength to embrace her true self against all odds. She never stops fighting. She never gives up. She inspires legions through her actions and presence. Daenerys was the leader Westeros deserved, more deserving certainly than Jon Snow, and especially Bran Stark with his creepy Patriot Act powers.
12. Podrick PayneThe 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. And did I mention he’s supposedly so good at sex that the women in Littlefinger’s brothel refuse to take his money? That’s certainly more than Jon Snow could say.
11. Beric DondarrionBeric the immortal! The undying man with an eye patch and a flaming sword was easily one of the show’s best side characters. Sitting just outside the top 10 seems quite fair for one of Game of Thrones’s coolest yet inconsequential characters.
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10. Ned StarkThe best characters are the ones you remember long after they’re off-screen. And Ned Stark’s death not only haunted the entirety of the seven seasons 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 “Baelor,” the ninth episode of season 1. At that point, Ned was the primary protagonist of the show and Sean Bean the show’s biggest star. His death defines Game of Thrones as a story in which every single character could die at any given moment. And his death also set 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. And George R.R. Martin proudly displayed his head on a spike as a warning of what was to come.
9. Tywin LannisterTywin is the best politician on Game of Thrones, which is why he died one of the silliest deaths. Ruthless, cunning, and everything a lion represents for the Lannister family, Tywin knew what it took to rule—for better or for worse.
8. Olenna TyrellYou might have noticed that not many people grow old in Game of Thrones. And the few who do, well, that’s a pretty clear indication that they played the game just about as well as anyone could. And no one played the game with more style, grace, and effortless cool than Olenna Tyrell. She quietly and proudly instigated the assassination of a horrible child king when, in season 4, she had Joffrey Baratheon poisoned at his own wedding. But 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.”
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7. Jon SnowUntil that Jon Snow solo series officially receives the go-ahead, we’ll just have Game of Thrones to remember our naive, reluctant hero by.
6. Brienne of TarthThe one true knight to be found in Westeros. A knight so pure and good that she managed to help guide Jaime Lannister back to the light. A character who makes her outlook on life known early in the series when she tells 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 this series—especially because she holds true to her oaths, protecting the Stark children for Catelyn when they need it the most. But that stoic honor doesn’t mean Brienne is a static character. Beneath that knightly exterior, Gwendoline Christie brings an emotional honesty to Brienne that makes her so deeply human.
