Game of Thrones is a master class in villainy. Each week, a new dark force rises in the battle for the Iron Throne. In some instances, this leads to a murderous and unpredictable psychopath like Ramsay Bolton. And in other situations, the deceit emerges simply from a desire to even the score. Nonetheless, this ebb and flow of sinister intentions is the element that's kept the show compelling for nearly a decade. So as the HBO series comes to its conclusion, let's count down 34 of the most vicious villains in Westeros.
Best Game of Thrones Villains
34 of the Most Vicious Villains in Game of Thrones History
34. Lord Varys
Introduced to us as the Westeros informant with an army of little birds at his disposal, he's the master of political alliances. He has presently sided with Team Daenerys and awaits the White Walker invasion at Winterfell.
33. Xaro Xhoan Daxos
The foolish merchant from Qarth sells Daenerys dragons in an attempt to gain control of the city for himself.
32. Viserys Targaryen
The abusive older brother of Daenerys sells his sister to the Dothraki in an attempt to reclaim his family's throne. We still cringe at the way he touches our Dragon Queen during the first season.
31. Khal Drogo
His heavily mascaraed eyes exude nothing but hate for Daenerys upon their first meeting, taking pleasure in her discomfort at his customs and treating her like property. But as the two grow closer, he breaks Dothraki tradition and sails across the sea to liberate Dany's lands from her father's killers.
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30. Mirri Maz Duur
This Lhazareen godswife enslaved by the Dothraki treats Drogo for a small wound on his back. When the khal's condition grows worse, she convinces his wife Daenerys that blood magic will save his life. The ritual leaves Drogo in a vegetative state, and to add further insult to injury, she steals the life force of the couple's unborn child as payment for the Dothraki's attack on her village.
29. Sandor "the Hound" Clegane
Long before Arya softened his hardened heart, the Hound was a man with no honour and no f*cks to give, not to his lord King Joffrey Baratheon and definitely not to his older brother Gregor Clegane. Despite finding peace under the auspices of the Brotherhood Without Banners, his gnarled visage and penchant for murder make him the kind of guy we love to hate.
28. The Sand Snakes
Obara, Nymeria, and Tyene Sand are the warrior daughters of Oberyn Martell and Ellaria Sand. They make the list for their dirty fighting tactics, particularly in helping their mother take control of Dorne by murdering Prince Doran Martell and his heir Trystane.
27. Ellaria Sand
This poisoned-lipped harpy is the former lover of Oberyn Martell, the mother to the Sand Snakes, and the woman who murders Cersei's daughter with a farewell kiss.
26. Theon Greyjoy
Even though the youngest Greyjoy is currently back on the straight and narrow, we can't forget the villainous acts of season two, where he pretends to burn Bran and Rickon in his takeover of Winterfell.
25. Locke
A trained hunter for House Bolton, he's best known for attempting to rape Brienne and cutting off Jaime Lannister's hand when the young lion stands up for the Lady of Tarth.
24. Jaime Lannister
We may like him now, but this Lannister is the OG villain for shoving Brandon Stark out of a window to save himself and his sister the embarrassment of having their incestuous relationship exposed. All it takes to bring him into the light is the loss of a hand, the admiration of Brienne, and a queen gone mad.
23. Lancel Lannister
He abandons his family name when he confesses to sleeping with his cousin Cersei and joins the Sparrows. His alliance with the radical religious order gives the High Septon the ammunition he needs to incarcerate Cersei and dismantle her influence over the throne.
22. Melisandre
She convinces Stannis to burn his daughter at the stake and puts leeches all over our beloved Gendry. The woman is a nightmare.
21. Septa Unella (aka Shame Nun)
Anyone menacing enough to make us sympathize with Cersei Lannister deserves to make this list. Her bell-ringing religious fanaticism ("SHAME!") is the stuff of legend. Of course, Cersei has the last word, having handed Unella over to the Mountain as a plaything to do with as he pleases.
20. The High Sparrow
The religious leader is responsible for almost toppling House Lannister and House Tyrell when he uses his appointment as High Septon to rally the Faith Militant and gain control over the impressionable King Tommen Baratheon.
19. Qyburn
He's a former maester thrown out of the order for his unorthodox experiments on the human body. Upon entering Queen Cersei's employ, he replaces Lord Varys as the Master of Whisperers on the small council and eventually becomes Hand of the Queen. Yet his resurrection of the Mountain and his creation of a potential dragon-slaying weapon called the Scorpion are his most heinous acts to date.
18. The Waif
This girl known as "no one" takes great pleasure in tormenting and eventually ambushing Arya during the young Stark's training days with the Faceless Men.
This brother of the Night's Watch leads the mutiny at Craster's Keep, where he and his band of criminals kill Craster and Lord Commander Mormont, whose skull he later uses as a chalice.
You may remember him as the guy who bullies Samwell Tarly at Castle Black during the first season. He also participates in the Night's Watch mutiny at Craster's Keep, where he stabs Lord Commander Mormont in the back and then abandons his fellow mutineers to save his own hide. Luckily, Ghost the direwolf hunts him down and doles out some much-needed justice.
Craster is the incestuous wilding who lives on a homestead North of the Wall with his daughters turned wives. Any wife who bears a son has the child sacrificed to the White Walkers as payment for sanctuary on their land.
Once the Master at Arms for Castle Black, Alliser leads the rebellion against our beloved Jon Snow.
He betrays House Stark in the orchestration of the Red Wedding simply because Robb Stark declined to marry one of his daughters.
While we can't knock him for attempting to fight for his claim to the Iron Throne, we'll never forgive and never forget how he sacrifices his daughter Shireen Baratheon to the Lord of Light.
Commander of the King's Landing City Watch, he vows to support Ned Stark during the tension with Cersei and Joffrey but murders Ned's supporters and aids in Lord Stark's capture. He later murders all of King Robert Baratheon's bastards at Joffrey's behest. Then, when he finally gets sent to the Wall for his crimes, he attempts to defy Jon Snow during the 998th election for Lord Commander.
He murders his brother Balon to seize the Salt Throne and uses his new authority to capture Yara, who has aligned with Daenerys Targaryen. He is named commander of the Lannister fleet after he defeats Daenerys allies in Blackwater Bay and delivers Ellaria and Tyene Sand to Queen Cersei. But it's his determination to get the Mad Queen pregnant that leaves us feeling disgusted.
A member of the Kingsguard under Robert, Joffrey, and Tommen Baratheon, Meryn routinely engages in behaviour unbecoming of a knight like beating Sansa Stark during her tenure at King's Landing and consorting with underage girls in the brothels of Braavos.
During the War of the Five Kings, Roose murders Warden of the North Robb Stark at the Red Wedding and allies with House Frey and House Lannister. Roose is then appointed Warden of the North by King Joffrey Baratheon. He soon takes control of Winterfell and brokers his bastard son's marriage to Sansa Stark.
His political alliances and financial double dealings lead to the deaths of Ned Stark, Joffrey Baratheon, Jon Arryn, and Lysa Arryn. He also sells Sansa Stark to the Boltons and attempts to pit the Stark sisters against each other for control of the North.
As Warden of the West, the lord paramount of the Westerlands, and patriarch of House Lannister, he is one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in Westeros. In his quest for power, he pushes his daughter, Cersei, into an abusive marriage with the philandering warlord King Robert Baratheon, which results in her bearing children with her brother. He also has a tumultuous relationship with his son Tyrion Lannister, whom he despises for surviving when his wife Joanna incurs complications at childbirth. This tense relationship culminates in Tywin blaming his son for his grandson's death and taking pleasure in doling out the death sentence. Luckily, Tyrion takes matters into his own hands and kills his father before the execution can take place.
Hell hath no fury like a mother lion scorned. At the death of her son Joffrey, she blames her brother Tyrion and attempts to have him killed. Upon the murder of her daughter Myrcella, she captures Ellaria and Tyene Sand only to slowly poison the latter to death while her mother watches on. And when Margaery Tyrell attempts to use the High Septon to manipulate Cersei's son King Tommen, she blows up both usurpers in the Sept of Baelor.
The older brother of the Hound is best known for crushing skulls and ripping out spinal cords. After an unfortunate loss to Oberyn Martell during a trial by combat for Tyrion Lannister's life, he is reanimated by Qyburn's dark arts and tasked with acting as Queen Cersei's personal bodyguard.
His decision to publicly execute Ned Stark is just the beginning of his heinous acts. He tortures his betrothed, Sansa Stark, stating his mother taught him never to hit a woman. However, he commands Meryn Trant to undertake the task. He eventually sets aside the promise of marriage to Sansa in favour of a potential union with Margaery Tyrell, leaving Sansa to marry his uncle Tyrion as consolation. He later proceeds to berate the two for failing to consummate their marriage. To further humiliate Sansa in the wake of the Red Wedding, he plots to surprise her with her dead brother's head until his grandfather intervenes. And in one of his more lighthearted moments, he commissions a play for his wedding feast titled "The War of the Five Kings" where Sansa and Tyrion are unfavourably portrayed.
Ramsay is the bastard son of Roose Bolton, best known for the sadistic tactics he uses to control Theon Greyjoy and Sansa Stark. Thanks to the protections of nobility given to him by his father, he is able to kill and maim with impunity. So he uses dirty tactics to defeat Stannis Baratheon's army and wages a war against Jon Snow, which he loses thanks to Sansa's last-minute deal with Lord Baelish and the knights of the Vale.
We are still learning the extent of the Night King's powers, but after he kills Viserion and uses the dragon to breach the Wall, we are in awe of his might and the size of his undead army. Not to mention, his destruction of the Last Hearth and subsequent march on Winterfell have us worried about the overall fate of Westeros.