11 ‘Game of Thrones’ Universe Villains, Ranked from Bad to Worse
When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. And in the Game of Thrones universe, winning often involves plumbing the depths of depravity. Even Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), who spoke of breaking the wheel of tyranny in Westeros, committed mass murder in the final season of HBO’s hit drama.
Now Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon — which just kicked off production on its second season — is showing how a family feud among Daenerys’ ancestors ripped House Targaryen apart.
And soon, HBO may rewind the clock even further with another spinoff. Variety reports the network is contemplating a series that would follow Aegon I Targaryen, the great-great-grandfather of House of the Dragon’s Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine), as he conquers six of the seven kingdoms and became the first king of Westeros.
Of course, if Aegon doesn’t become a villain himself, he’s bound to face baddies along the way. Of the evildoers from Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon so far, here are our picks for the most significant, ranked from bad to worse.
11. Daemon Targaryen
Though he supports wife Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) claim to the Iron Throne, let’s not forget Daemon’s (Matt Smith) demonic tendencies. He chokes Rhaenyra, for example, when she mentions the Song of Ice and Fire prophecy. And that’s not even the worst of his domestic violence: Earlier in the season, he bludgeons then-wife Rhea Royce (Rachel Redford) to death with a rock to free himself up to remarry.
10. Aemond Targaryen
Oh, Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), what did you do? The one-eyed prince’s feud with nephew Lucerys Velaryon (Elliot Grihault) turns deadly in the House of the Dragon Season 1 finale, when Aemond mounts his dragon, Vhagar, and pursues Luke and his dragon, Arrax. Aemond only intends to bully his nephew, it seems, but he loses control of Vhagar, and the dragon kills both Luke and Arrax in one bite. And with that history-making chomp, Aemond has turned succession drama into all-out war.
9. Tywin Lannister
Whereas other villains on this list get literal blood on their hands, Tywin (Charles Dance) executes his villainy from afar, orchestrating the Red Wedding with Roose Bolton (Michael McElhatton) and Walder Frey (David Bradley), for example. You’d think that a man so concerned with his family’s legacy would care more for his own flesh and blood, but Tywin also ordered Tyrion’s (Peter Dinklage) execution. On top of that, he wanted always wanted Tyrion dead, as he admitted right before Tyrion killed him.
8. Walder Frey
Before Arya serves him a heaping serving of revenge — in the form of a pie baked from the flesh of his sons — Walder rules over Riverrun with equal parts pettiness and lecherousness. After Robb Stark (Richard Madden) snubs his daughter, Walder lures the Starks to the nuptials that would soon be known the Red Wedding. And during the ensuing carnage, when Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley) threatens to cut his wife’s throat amid the ensuing carnage, Walder says, “I’ll find another.”
7. The High Sparrow
The High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce) decides upon a sadistic way to “shame, shame, shame” Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), forcing her to walk nude through the streets of King’s Landing to atone for her sins. Indeed, this high septon often resorts to torture in the name of the Faith of the Seven, physically and psychologically tormenting Loras (Finn Jones) and Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer), too, and eventually holding power over King Tommen Lannister (Dean-Charles Chapman). Until, that is, he comes face to face with an even more powerful force: the explosive substance known as wildfire.
6. Petyr Baelish
The master manipulator dubbed Littlefinger (Aidan Gillan) says that chaos is a ladder, and he tries to climb that ladder to the highest seat in Westeros — getting Lysa Arryn (Kate Dickie) to murder her husband, Jon (John Standing), and then pushing Lysa out the Moon Door to her death. But he crosses the Starks one too many times — betraying Ned (Sean Bean), for example, and then handing Sansa (Sophie Turner) to the Boltons — and Arya (Maisie Williams) slits his throat.
5. Joffrey Baratheon
Cersei’s children Myrcella (Nell Tiger Free) and Tommen died as innocents, relatively speaking, but not Joffrey (Jack Gleeson). During his short life, the little tyrant orders the Hound (Rory McCann) to kill Arya’s friend Mycah (Rhodri Hosking); he has Ned executed and then confronts Sansa with the head of her late father; he kills hordes of citizens, including Robert Baratheon’s (Mark Addy) illegitimate children; and he tortures and kills Ros (Esmé Bianco).
4. Ramsay Bolton
Illegitimate sons can still earn respect in Westeros — look at Jon Snow, for example — but Ramsay (Iwan Rheon), Roose Bolton’s son, has a mind only for violence. He tortures and ahem, dis-membersTheon Stark (Alfie Allen). He kills Rickon Stark (Art Parkinson). He has his dogs maul his stepmother and his half-brother. And he abuses and forces himself on Sansa, who ultimately gets comeuppance when he feeds Ramsay to his own hounds.
3. Cersei Lannister
Cersei endures unspeakable trauma on her way to the Iron Throne, including the deaths of all of her children. But she also displays a cruel streak as wide as the Narrow Sea — making Ellaria Sand (Indira Varma) watch the death of her daughter, for example, or beheading Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel) in front of Daenerys. And in one unforgettable moment, she sips wine as the Great Sept of Baelor explodes in the distance.
2. Daenerys Targaryen
At the end of Season 8, Daenerys is so blinded by rage toward the Lannisters that she torches King’s Landing, killing thousands if not hundreds of thousands of innocent souls… as well as Cersei and Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). Later, in the Throne Room, Jon Snow (Kit Harington) begs Dany to show mercy, but she’s is too far down the path to madness, the path that so many of her Targaryen ancestors traversed.
1. The Night King
Of course, while the rich and powerful of Westeros play the game of thrones, they ignore the Night King (Richard Brake and Vladimír Furdík) until it’s almost too late. The Night King, the O.G. White Walker, lost any sense of humanity eons ago and has spent the intervening centuries gathering on a murderous rampage, amassing an army of the dead that overtakes the realm until Arya stops the Night King with one deft jab with a dagger.
