The Game of Thrones leader board: Episode 6 update
The biggest show on the planet is gearing up for its final season and never has a bladed chair been quite so hotly – or rather coldly – contested. There are plenty of men fighting for the top spot, but Westeros is really a woman’s world and we’re rooting for someone with ovaries to emerge victorious. So, who are the female fighters and which of them stand the best chance of surviving – and succeeding the throne? ANNABEL BROG and MATT DUNCAN rate the remaining survivors, week by week, throughout Season 8. Warning: There be dragons and spoilers ahead…
Daenerys Targaryen
The lowdown: Dany still looks the most likely victor, claiming the kingdom alongside her nephew-lover Jon Snow (now revealed as the true-born Targaryen heir) and advisor Tyrion Lannister. Historically, three sibling dragon-riders conquered Westeros, and given Tyrion’s parentage has been questioned (albeit by his foul, bigoted father), there may be some genetic bombshells yet to drop. Plus, it creates a Targaryen/Stark/Lannister alliance that could be interesting. The only indication Dany may yet meet a grisly end is her icy vision in the House of the Undying (Season 2) and the showrunners’ predilection for throwing curveballs.
Episode 1 update: The combination of resting bitch-face exchanges with Sansa and Jon’s dented loyalty makes Dany’s future look a little less rosy.
Episode 2 update: Dany’s not giving Sansa straight answers (ask Littlefinger what happens when you don’t play straight with Sansa) and she can’t claim top-dog status now she knows about Jon’s parentage.
Episode 3 update: She lost one of her most steadfast supporters and had to unsheathe a sword to survive The Long Night, plus her relationship with her nephew Jon has gone from fiery to ice cold. But overall Dany came out the battle a few points up, having proved she is willing to fight when needed, two dragons intact, and with Missandei making a strong case for her when she pointed out to Sansa that if the ‘problem’ of her mistress went away, they would all be dead. She’s still in it to win it.
Episode 4 update: Bad Dany. Threatening to raze an entire city in order to depose a tyrant is not sane. Refusing to acknowledge your lover’s stronger claim to the throne is not noble. Getting on the wrong side of Varys is not wise. She’s turning bad so fast, it can only be a red herring.
Episode 5 update: Well, we know she’s going to start the final episode of the final season sitting on the Iron Throne, but after her actions in The Bells there’s no way she’ll finish it there. Is there…?
Final episode update: She’s currently dead, and there are no new series scheduled, so… but given this woman channels the magic of dragons, maybe a spinoff beckons. Though we’re not sure if any GoT fans will tune in to watch it…
Current chances of claiming the throne: 0/5
Cersei Lannister
The lowdown: We’d love her to win, if only so we can gorge ourselves on the series spin-off. But Cersei’s demise was foretold alongside the deaths of her children when she was still a little girl visiting fortune tellers at fairs. Plus, there must be some justice in the Westeros world, surely. We predict her faithful, love-sick twin Jaime adding Queen Slayer to his aliases, doing something noble while protecting Brienne of Tarth from Cersei’s malice.
Episode 1 update: Should we let Cersei share the claim with her rumored baby? Yes, let’s – just to stir things up.
Episode 2 update: Holding steady. Her absence from the episode means her life is currently safe. But not very interesting.
Episode 3 update: Although we saw not a flicker of the current Queen of Westeros, her star does seem to be rising: our glimpse of episode four’s action shows her smirking over a glorious – and crucially non-battle-weary – army. Will she pounce while the opposition is licking its wounds? We wouldn’t put it past her. Maybe that baby she’s carrying is the result of a deal with the blue-eyed zombie king (OK, that’s farfetched, but she is basically dead inside already).
Episode 4 update: It’s all became a bit Vaudeville with Missandei’s decapitation. Greyworm has painted a target on her back, and something tells us that the Kingslayer riding to her side won’t necessarily mean he’s got her back either.
Episode 5 update: Well, things aren’t looking good, are they? We’d say her hopes of a long reign are crushed.
Final episode update: Dead (in the least satisfying manner ever) and staying that way, which makes us strangely sad. Cersei was cheated out of her day of reckoning.
Current chances of claiming the throne: 0/5
Sansa Stark
The lowdown: In the early seasons, Sansa was a vain, self-serving pawn. But pawns become queens if they last the distance, and Sansa has survived both Lannisters and Boltons, so she’s earned it. Along the blood-spattered way she has learned nobility from Ned, brutality from Ramsay, scheming from Littlefinger and never to trust anyone from Cersei. Plus, she is still married to Tyrion, which may yet lead to something complex, though what that may be is anyone’s guess.
Episode 1 update: No change here. She’s still the smartest player in the game.
Episode 2 update: Sansa for Queen! Still backing the key players (Jaime); still recruiting champions (Theon, Brienne); still the smartest player in the game.
Episode 3 update: Not Sansa’s best week, to be honest. Save for a great plaited hairdo and a strangely heart-stirring hand kiss, she didn’t make too much of an impact in The Long Night. We’re expecting more greatness next week though, with Daenerys promising in the trailer for episode four that they will rip out Cersei “root and stem”. Will Sansa toe the line, or lead the North to rebel?
Episode 4 update: She wants it. She’s got the skills to do it. And she now knows that Dany doesn’t deserve it.
Episode 5 update: We may not have seen Sansa in episode 5, but her inability to keep a secret led to its events, and her odds increased anyway, as her competitors fell by the wayside – or rather got crushed by a collapsing city. Sure, she seems very removed from the action – and the throne – right now, but we wager she still has a key role to play.
Final episode update: She has a throne, if not the throne (which admittedly is a molten puddle now), and she looks pretty likely to keep it. We don’t see her going for the other six kingdoms, but top marks for getting a crown.
Current chances of claiming the throne: 5/5
Arya Stark
The lowdown: Now this would be fun. Unlikely – she just wants to kill, with the pointy end – but fun. Imagine a Westeros where Arya hooks up with Gendry – who, rather than Robert Baratheon’s bastard, is likely the legitimate son of Robert and Cersei*, given he is mysteriously still alive and around. Then a Stark/Lannister/Baratheon clan would be in charge. We’d tune in to watch that spin-off, too.
Episode 1 update: The throne is no more likely, but a kiss with Gendry is looking distinctly possible.
Episode 2 update: Could there be a little Stark-Baratheon-Lannister (see notes on Gendry’s parentage) bun in the oven with a very strong claim? Which we will pass up to Arya, to keep things moving…
Episode 3 update: Arya leapt up the ranks this week – quite literally. Does this mean she’ll be the one to claim the hot seat? Not today…
Episode 4 update: She’s probably the only character showing the mettle to rule Westeros – strong, single-minded, ruthless, brutal.
Episode 5 update: This really has been Ayra’s series; the bravest, least selfish and least power hungry of GoT’s female competitors. Yes, she ended up running away from her commitment to kill Cersei, but given King’s Landing was burning around her, we’d say that’s evidence of wisdom not weakness.
Final episode update: Never wanted it, didn’t get it. Didn’t (sadly) get to stick anyone else with the pointy end, either, although we did hang onto the hope until the very last credit that she was wearing Jon’s face when he murdered Dany. Now Arya’s off to new lands, where she probably won’t be queen either.
Current chances of claiming the throne: 0/5
*Cersei’s firstborn child – and the only one of her children actually fathered by her lawful husband Robert – had brown hair and apparently died. And Gendry remembers his mother having long blond hair.
Brienne of Tarth
The lowdown: We can’t see her wanting to be Queen of Westeros. It’s far more likely that she will have some altercation with Jaime that eventually causes him to realize Cersei needs a sword in her back. He’ll die in the process of ridding Westeros of his tyrannical sister, leaving Brienne free to run off with Tormund Giantsbane and perhaps become queen of the far-far North instead.
Episode 1 update: She barely made a mark in the first episode, but we predict that big things are in store for her soon.
Episode 2 update: Oh, Brienne. After the whole knighting thing, not to mention the glorious simmering love triangle with Tormund and Jaime, Ser Brienne is unlikely to live through the next episode.
Episode 3 update: The good news is that she survived. As did the warriors vying for her attention. The bad news is that she did little to advance her chances of sitting on the big metal chair. At this point, the battle for Brienne’s affections is getting more interesting than the one for the throne.
Episode 4 update: Broken-hearted, sobbing Ser Brienne is not nearly as much fun as sword-wielding, wight-killing Ser Brienne. And not as likely to last the distance, either.
Episode 5 update: It was always a long shot, but unless Brienne turns heartbreak into heroism, she’s out of the running.
Final episode update: After last week’s ‘warrior loses virginity and turns weepy’ fiasco, she frankly didn’t deserve it. And she didn’t get it, either.
Current chances of claiming the throne: 0/5
Catelyn Stark
The lowdown: At the end of the last series, Lady Stoneheart was as dead as her firstborn Robb. But the TV series has finally caught up with George R. R. Martin’s books in terms of revealing the Lord of Light’s followers’ predilection for raising the dead. Melisandre still has a part to play, and somehow we feel that might involve Catelyn. She’s not going to back Jon (all those years of hate won’t dissolve just because Jon is not Ned’s illegitimate son after all). We see her going with Arya. Maybe Sansa. But not her own claim.
Episode 1 update: Still dead.
Episode 2 update: Still dead.
Episode 3 update: Still a dodo. We might be onto a loser with this one.
Episode 4 update: Staying dead now the Lord of Light has fled the scene.
Episode 5 update: We’re beginning to feel embarrassed about this one. Let’s just pretend we never suggested it, shall we?
Final episode update: See above. OK.
Current chances of claiming the throne: 0/5