By 
0
0
Read Time:16 Minute, 31 Second
(Note: this post contains spoilers).
How can a show make you laugh, cry, scream in terror, smile in delight, and have you in constant suspense? It twists and turns every cliché, every character arch, interweaving plots and pulling them up and back down again. Game of Thrones is a truly incredible show. What makes it incredible are the characters, and wonderful acting and character development. Coupled with witty dialogue and excellent storylines, I think it’s one of the best shows ever made.
With each season it becomes more gripping and intriguing. Things unfold and people grow. Beloved characters are killed off and tortured. It has a delicious blend of evil insidious characters, good-natured compassionate characters, and those that may be bad or shady in one season and likeable the next. It also deserves high praise for having a great balance of solid male and female characters. Here are my verdicts on all the characters that have mostly stood out to me. The ones I love, the ones I hate, and the ones I sort of like but are unsure of.
Characters I love or like a lot
Tyrion Lannister. He has been my favourite from the beginning. I love Tyrion SO much; he is intelligent, funny, witty, handsome, brave, kind, and a survivor. He is pretty much my dream husband. I love that he’s been underestimated and looked down upon his whole life ‘I am guilty of being a dwarf!’ (LOVE THAT SCENE) and manages to triumph against all odds and survive.
Daenerys Targaryen. At first she’s this scared little girl being sold off by her cunt brother. Then she transforms into one of the most powerful and inspiring characters on the show (and at times scary). She is strong, feisty, fiery, empowering, brave, courageous – a true heroine. I wouldn’t describe Game of Thrones as ‘feminist’, I would just say that it has a brilliant mix of strong and well developed female as well as male characters.
Arya Stark. Likewise! Arya is so badass. Loved her from the start. Again, she is a survivor, who fights for her life even when things are looking bleak. I love how she doesn’t adhere to the ‘traditional feminine’ role especially in a time where women were expected to be ladylike and men got to be awesome soldiers and fighters. She’s a great fighter that fights as good as any man.
Jon Snow. He’s amazing (and sexy); brave, noble, courageous, kind and good-hearted, someone who cares about people and justice. He befriends the wildlings when he’s told not to (even gets with one of them), he goes to Dragonstone; despite being Ned Stark’s (alleged) bastard, he manages to survive and become King in the North; he’s even brought back to life.
Ned Stark. He was honest and loyal, a great character. It’s a shame he got killed off so unjustly in the first season. I love the fact that George R R. Martin isn’t afraid to kill off major characters. In real life we all die, and sometimes good people die at the ‘wrong’ time.
Samwell Tarly. I love him so much, he’s lovely, brave, kind, and him and Gilly are so sweet together. Another thing I love is characters that get looked down upon – Sam for being fat and ‘cowardly’, Tyrion for being a dwarf, Jon for being a bastard (although he isn’t really), Arya for being a girl, Daenerys mocked and not believed to have dragons – they then prove everyone wrong and show how strong and brave they are. Sam is intelligent and good-hearted and cures Ser Jorah and leaves with Gilly, determined to defeat the white walkers. I hope he isn’t killed off in the last season.
Robb Stark. One of the worst and most unexpected scenes for me was in ‘Red Wedding’, where him, his wife and his mother all were killed by the Freys. (Arya’s later vengeance is brilliant). I remember screaming in shock; my housemate had been waiting for me to watch that episode. I was so miserable for the rest of the evening and felt put off from continuing to watch (clearly it didn’t put me off that much; seeing Joffrey die a few episodes later cheered me up). Robb’s another valiant and courageous character determined to follow in his father’s footsteps but is sadly killed off.
Osha. At first she’s some wildling trying to hurt Bran, but then she becomes really likeable as she helps Bran, Hodor and Rickon escape after Theon takes Winterfell. She’s smart and brave and kind. I was so upset when Ramsay the cunt killed her, I was hoping she would kill him (though his death was beyond satisfying).
Brienne of Tarth. She’s BRILLIANT! Really adore her, another ‘underestimated’ character being a female knight where most are male. She’s one of the best fighters in the show, even manages to almost kill The Hound (I found that fight scene to be pretty pointless). Another awesome brave and courageous character who is true to her word.
Bronn. I like him a lot, he’s very funny, and he protects Tyrion so of course he’s great. I was worried he was going to die in Season 7; he certainly came close with Dany’s dragon. Again it’s interesting how he starts off being on the same side as Tyrion, and then in later seasons he’s on the side fighting against his friend. Nothing is black and white in this show; you never know who’s going to live or die.
Jaime Lannister. He has one of the best turnarounds. In the first episode he’s an arsehole that pushes a little boy out of a window after Bran saw him fucking his sister. He’s a Lannister so he’s a prick by default (unless he’s Tyrion). But then when Brienne takes him back to King’s Landing his wit and compassion shows, and his willingness to break his oath as Kingsguard to protect the people from the Mad King. Over time he becomes very likeable. The only terrible scene which sadly has never been re-addressed is when he rapes Cersei, which of course is not at all ok and I would say out of character.
The Hound. Again, he starts off being a prick you don’t really like, and then becomes really likeable. He even fights alongside Jon in the end. I was a bit sad when Brienne supposedly killed him. I got confused as to why Arya just stood there and watched, but later it was revealed that he was no longer on her list and she didn’t want to hurt him.
Ser Davos. He’s great, really genuine and good-hearted, and saves Gendry from Lady Melisandre. He’s the one who also convinces her to resurrect Jon Snow. He’s a very important character in the wars between the kings and between the dead and living.
Grey Worm. Who doesn’t love Grey Worm? He’s a great fighter and loyal to Dany. Not to mention him and Missandei make such a cute couple (though in the books she’s a child so that doesn’t happen).
Missandei. Same as above really, she is loyal to Dany and I hope that if her and Grey Worm do end up dead (you never fucking know with this show) that it’s in each other’s arms.
Characters I hate or can’t stand
Joffrey Lannister. BLURGH. If it’s any consolation the guy that played him is the opposite in real life, completely lovely and humble. Joffrey’s death was orgasmic relief. He’s the AJ Soprano of GOT, only far nastier and vicious. A heartless arrogant cowardly psycho – just an utter waste of a person. This should put anyone off incest – you might wind up with a kid like Joffrey.
Viserys Targaryen. Whenever I see siblings that don’t get along great I’m so thankful that my brother and I aren’t like that. Thankfully this useless cunt dies early on. He’s such a waste of space piece of shit; such a brilliant turn of events that his bad-ass sister becomes the Mother of Dragons. If he was the Daddy of Dragons he’d have lost his dragons by season 3.
Ramsay Bolton. This man is disgusting, vile, cruel, insidious – argh just thinking about him makes my skin crawl. I would say Ramsay Bolton and Annie Wilkes are the most horrific characters I’ve ever come across in fiction. I’m reading/watching and just like ‘NOOO GET AWAY! PLEASE DIE!’ Of course psychopathic characters are all over the place in fiction, like Steve Stelfox in Kill your friends, but while that is a humorous book that makes you laugh at how vile Steven is, there is nothing funny about Annie or Ramsay’s portrayals. Ramsay’s scenes make me want to cry. The pain he inflicts on Theon, Sansa, his family and god knows who else is too much. I shrieked and cheered when Jon Snow beat up this cunt and Sansa fed him to the wolves. Even at the end Ramsay was still sly and slick, a true psycho that became what he was – dog shit.
Walder Frey. He’s so full of shit. The only scene I enjoy with him in it is the one where Arya kills him and then kills his family whilst pretending to be him.
Tywin Lannister. Like I mention below with Cersei, I don’t think Tywin is as bad as the others mentioned above. He’s cruel and calculating but he isn’t crazy or illogical. He’s a very selfish man that will make his own children miserable if it helps to maintain the Lannisters as rulers of the Iron Throne.
Cersei Lannister. She’s an interesting one. I don’t like her but I don’t hate her like I hate her son or Ramsay or Walder Frey. She’s nasty, but not for the sake of being nasty. She was a woman trapped in an unhappy marriage in love with someone it was taboo for her to love. She loves her children, even the horrible one, and loves Jaime, who despite being a likeable character did rape her and the show never again addressed that. She does awful things to further her own goals but she doesn’t do it for the sake of being an arsehole; for her it’s a means to an end. She is a villain I do admire and don’t see as totally bad; in the early seasons I didn’t actually mind her much and felt sympathy for her.
Lord Baelish. He’s just so sly and manipulative. The last episode where Arya, Bran and Sansa plotted against him was really confusing, they should have made it more obvious that they were tricking Littlefinger by pretending to go against each other. I genuinely was worried Arya had gone from a badass fighter to a psycho that was going to kill her sister over writing a letter. It seemed very out of character; the fact that it was all a set up to eventually kill Littlefinger should have been clearer.
Lysa Arryn. What a crazy weirdo. I didn’t like her at all; she wanted to kill my beloved Tyrion, and then she threatened Sansa. I can’t say I cared much when Littlefinger pushed and killed her, she was a neurotic bitch anyway.
Ellaria Sand. I hated her for killing Marcella who was innocent. Her brother was right to try to maintain peace in Dorne after the death of Oberon. Oberon was great, but he chose to fight for Tyrion and he could easily have killed The Mountain had he not been so cocky. When Euron captured them and Yara I ached for Yara but didn’t give much of a toss about the Sand Snakes. I will say however that what Cersei did to them in the end was wonderfully wicked and vile. Forcing a mother to watch her child die in front of her with no chance of helping her – man that was fucked up. Can’t say I blamed Cersei though; losing all your children must fuck with you.
Randyll Tarly. I didn’t like him at all for how he treated Sam, his own son. When Dany burned him alive I didn’t care, but agreed that her also killing his other son was a bit much. Those moments make me worried that Dany will end up going mad and end up dead, particularly as she’s one of my best characters and I’ve been rooting for her during the whole show.
The Faith Militant. I rated Cersei so much for when she blew up the Sept. It was sad that Margaery and Loras ended up dying as they weren’t bad characters, but the whole Faith Militant was just an example of dangerous religious fanaticism. Good riddance.
Euron Greyjoy. Man what a psycho! He is such a prick. I’m looking forward to his probable death; hoping Theon will kill him. See if we were to compare him to Ramsay, I would say Ramsay is worse because Ramsay at least was smart; Euron is utterly nuts.
Characters I have mixed feelings on, came to like, or like but don’t strongly love.
Stannis Baratheon. Ah, see I don’t know how I felt about him. I was glad Brienne killed him and not one of Ramsay’s, as she did it in the name of honour. I think he was too swept away by the ‘Lord of light’ crap. Would he have been a good king? Hard to know.
Lord Varys. I wasn’t sure about him initially but I do really like him, he is genuine and kind and helps Tyrion escape as well as supporting Dany’s claim to the Iron Throne.
Sansa Stark. I didn’t like her much in the beginning, thought she was boring and twee and bratty unlike her awesome sister. But I slowly started to rate her and feel sorry for her being stuck in King’s Landing with that prick Joffrey and everyone else. By Season 6 Sansa becomes badass – the way she watches calmly while Ramsay is eaten alive by his wolves shows her utter character transformation. Like Daenerys she goes from being a scared little girl to a collected, blunt and rational woman who no longer believes the world is a Disney fairytale.
Lady Melisandre. If this were a different type of show, she would have been some evil sorceress. She isn’t a nasty person at all; she’s a crazy religious fanatic who does awful things in the name of beliefs, but she isn’t an evil or cruel person. I don’t think she gets enough credit or kudos for bringing Jon back to life; I don’t recall him thanking her once. I guess his thanks is sparing her life rather than killing her for burning a child alive.
Ser Jorah. I like him, I just find his unrequited love for Dany a bit irritating, like come on dude move on. I was really happy when Sam brought him back to life, though I was more happy that it showed how awesome Sam is.
Margaery Tyrell. I liked her but found her a bit ‘too’ nice, like she seemed a bit fake at times. I thought her death was sad and she deffo didn’t deserve to go through all that merciless torture from the Faith Militant.
Ygritte. She really irritated me at first, but I warmed to her and Jon together after a while. The actors are engaged in real life, which is really cute. Her death was weird because Olly killed her thinking he was saving Jon’s life and doing right by him, but I doubt she was actually going to kill Jon and they loved each other. Plus Olly also killed Jon and ended up dying himself.
Shae. I thought she and Tyrion were sweet together and first but then she just got super jealous and irrational over Sansa knowing full well that the whole marriage was staged and that long term her and Tyrion being together would have been difficult. I got confused when Tyrion killed her until I realised that he was shocked that she had slept with his dad and killed her in anger. Her resulting storyline was very sad; Tyrion knew he had to be cruel to be kind in order to save her, but sadly he couldn’t and ended up killing her himself.
Theon Greyjoy. I think his story arch is the saddest. All the characters go through shit but what happens to him is one of the most horrific elements of the show. He starts off as this hot cocky dude, then becomes an arsehole who turns against his (practically) brother, then is tortured, raped, and physically and emotionally abused by the disgusting prick Ramsay Bolton. So many of his scenes made me cry or want to cry. Seeing a person reduced to that and then Yara going to try and save him and me thinking what if that was my own brother – I just can’t. Also, I’ve been watching the show over the course of a couple months, but in the GOT time frame it’s been going on for years, and so Theon was tortured by Ramsay for years. How do you overcome something so horrible? I hope he rises up and becomes himself again. In real life he’d have a lot of intense therapy, but I don’t think therapy exists in the world this is set in.
Catelyn Stark. I think she’s brave and courageous, though I didn’t like her hatred towards Tyrion. Her death scene along with Robb and Tulisa as mentioned earlier really threw me off guard. Her and Cersei are the fiercest mothers; they’re very different but they both love their children.
Tommen Lannister. He’s the opposite of Joffrey; he’s sweet and kind but also a walk over who I felt was way too ‘nice’ to be King. I had a feeling he would kill himself in the end. I think he should have been way tougher on the Faith Militant; you could tell even Margaery thought he was a bit wet and wimpy.
Bran Stark. I like Bran, although he is a bit bland personality wise besides being a sweet kid who has special powers. I would say he is probably the most important character in the show, being the Three Eyed Raven who knows everything. Bran is the only one who knows that Jon is the true heir to the Iron Throne.
I predict that either Jon and Daenyrys will end up as King and Queen of the throne together, or everyone will be so traumatized after the white walkers come that the throne will be destroyed. I reckon Arya will kill Cersei, and Jaime will end up dying too. I hope Tyrion doesn’t die; I feel like he’s survived this long to stay alive, and plus he isn’t a ‘hero’ as Dany said so it’s unlikely he will die. I reckon Bran and Samwell Tarly are going to be the most important characters in figuring out how to deal with the white walkers. Can’t wait for Season 8 anyhow!
I know this post was seriously long; if you plodded through it good on you! Do you love Game of Thrones as much as I do? Who are your most and least favourite characters? Lemme know below!
Happy
0 %
Sad
0 %
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
0 %
Surprise
0 %