"Jon Arryn and Ned Stark were good men. Honorable men. But they disdained The Game and those who play it." Varys told Tyrion, the man who would finally convince Jon Snow to end 'The Game.' In Game of Thrones, power belonged to the best players of the game from the day Aegon Targaryen changed the rules by flying dragons into King's Landing.
Tywin was good at it and ruled for years both under the Mad King and Robert, but when Joffrey beheaded Ned Stark, the game got too complicated even for him. "Lannister, Targaryen, Baratheon, Stark, Tyrell. They are all just spokes on a wheel." Daenerys said. Daenerys was wrong though because it wasn't a wheel, it was a complicated game with unwritten rules. She was one of the biggest losers because she lost everything with all the odds in her favor.
10 Winner: Cersei
Cersei was an antagonist, so her death in the show was inevitable, but while she lasted, she was King's Landing's biggest winner. She was the smartest player of the Game of Thrones. She was only playing for herself, though, which made her a bad winner. She understood the politics of Westeros and King's Landing better than anyone alive after Tywin's death.
Her methods were evil, and she didn't care about the casualties, just the prize. As Jaime told Olenna, Cersei was going to build a peaceful world and people wouldn't care how she build it. She was Tywin Lannister's best student and when she got into the field, she outwitted even the best of players.
9 Loser: Daenerys
As Tywin told Tommen, the test wasn't just winning, you had to be smart enough to keep what you won; something Daenerys was very bad at. Daenerys Targaryen was the first Targaryen who came to Westeros with three full-grown dragons and ended up dead.
With three dragons and the largest army Westeros had ever seen, Daenerys was like Aegon, having the chance to win the game and change the rules if she wanted. She chose to burn down the field instead and would have become the queen of ashes if Tyrion didn't outsmart her by convincing Jon Snow to kill her.
8 Winner: Tywin Lannister
"Tell me why it is more noble to kill 10,000 men in battle than a dozen at dinner," Tywin asked Tyrion after killing Robb and Catelyn at the Red Wedding. Tywin was the power that ruled Westeros for many years since Robert Baratheon became king. He was the Mad King's Hand but took control of the crown by buying off members of the Small council including Grand Maester Pycelle.
Tywin then ran back to King's Landing to sack it ahead of Robert and Ned's arrival after the Battle of the Trident, setting himself up as the savior of the city. His play continued when he got Cersei married to Robert, Jaime in the King's Guard, and his cronies in Robert's Small Council. He was actually the King of The Seven Kingdoms from the day The Mad King died.
7 Loser: Baelish
Lord Baelish was a nobody that used chaos as his ladder to the top with the hope of sitting on the Iron Throne once. His plan worked perfectly from the day he got himself named the Master of Coin in Robert's Small Council to the day he killed Lysa Arryn.
His quest to gain real power saw him develop a vast network of spies making him the other all-knowing person in King's Landing after Varys. He single-handedly started the War of the Five Kings and nearly wiped out five great houses. He would have been the best player in the game...but he made a terrible move by underestimating the Starks.
6 Winner: Sansa Stark
Lord Baelish was the most dangerous man in the Seven Kingdoms after Tywin, but also one of the smartest men in the show. When Sansa came to King's Landing, she was naive and only planning to become a queen by marrying Joffrey, not realizing the forces she was up against.
After all the suffering she went through at the hands of Baelish, The Lannisters, and the Boltons, Sansa became the smartest player of the game. She played Baelish into bringing her an army to win the Battle of The Bastards then put him on trial before he could turn her against Arya and Jon. She then bested everyone when she chose to keep the North as an independent kingdom away from the problems of being ruled by King's Landing.
5 Loser: Stannis Baratheon
Stannis Baratheon was the only one of the five warring kings to reach the shores of King's Landing. His success was partly because of the magic he used to kill his brother which was brutal, but he still knew how to wage his battles. First, he retained Davos Seaworth as his Hand, allowing him to get the ships and the support of the Iron Bank to raise the army he needed.
He consolidated the power in the Stormlands and was nearly taking the North if Jon Snow had agreed to join his cause. However, he got blinded by his faith in the Red Witch leading to his loss to Ramsay Bolton, and later, his death at Brienne's hand; a just ending for everyone.
4 Winner: Jon Snow
Jon Snow was the only winner in the Game of Thrones that followed all the rules even when they didn't suit him. Jon ending up at the wall seemed like a big loss for many but it was actually a great win for him because he had accomplished his greatest mission. First, he saved the North, then the realm and, finally, the Night's Watch, making him the show's ultimate winner.
He wasn't even a player in The Game when the show started but he had the best skill of everyone on the show; patience. Unlike everyone whose winning ways started in a castle, he started at the wall where he had to prove himself to cruel people like Alastair Thorne, even losing his life in the process.
3 Loser: Catelyn Stark
Catelyn was a smart player but she was on the wrong team. Ned Stark was a great leader but a very bad judge of character, expecting everyone to play by the rules like he did which nearly got his house wiped out. Catelyn, on the other hand, was a smart woman that understood the dangers her house faced when they left Winterfell, she just didn't get the chance to take the lead.
She knew how to use her house's position to manipulate the politics of The North and The Riverlands so well. She nearly succeeded in allying with Renly before he died and also managed to gain Walder Frey's support in the initial agreement until Robb married Talisa. She was just a smart woman that died because she was forced to submit to dumb players.
2 Winner: Tyrion
Tyrion was by far the best Lannister in the show and also one of the best players of the game. He grew up hated by everyone in his family except his brother Jaime so he learned to fight for himself. He wasn't a good fighter either, but he knew how to use his head to come up with the smartest plans at the right moment.
He drew up the perfect plan for defending King's Landing against Stannis. His decision to choose Trial by Combat during his trial was smart although Oberyn Martell messed it up. After becoming Hand to Daenerys, he stayed in the game, eventually determining the fate of the Seven Kingdoms.
1 Loser: Eddard Stark
Ned Stark was smarter than Robert Baratheon, but still the worst player of the game because he lost The North and nearly got his house wiped out; something his ancestors avoided for eight millennia. He started a war with the Lannisters that he didn't have the slightest chance of winning, leaving his daughters in the hands of the most dangerous people in the world.
His mistakes started the day he left Winterfell. He expected the best from everyone and trusted the wrong people from the day he came to King's Landing until the day he died. He realized too late that he was in the game, and even then, made all the wrong decisions.
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