It’s the most successful series on premium cable since The Sopranos. Its eighth and final season, eagerly awaited by its legion of fans, just got underway. Of course, in today’s splintered video world, more than half the country has never seen a single episode, and is wondering what all the fuss is about. Those of us who are Game of Thrones fans know how special it is, and how it’s unlike anything else that’s ever been on television.
Of all the articles and columns written about the series over the years and leading up to its final season, there’s one aspect of the show seldom touched on. Never before on television has there been a series with so many strong, independent, well-written female characters. Virtually all of them have overcome, defeated, pushed aside, or killed domineering men who threatened or abused them. All have become forces in their own right, and each is substantially different from the others. (Of course, much of the credit here goes to George R.R. Martin, author of the series of novels on which the show is based, as well as the wonderful actresses who bring the characters to life.)
Here’s a brief rundown of the major kickass women populating Game of Thrones. Many spoilers follow.
Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke): The exiled princess of the Targaryen dynasty (her father, dubbed “The Mad King,” was murdered), who possesses three petrified dragon eggs, is forced by her abusive brother to marry a powerful warlord of the savage Dothraki people.
To summarize the first seven seasons, she has her brother killed after he threatens her unborn baby (who is killed by a sorceress after her husband dies). After she has the sorceress killed by tying her to her husband’s funeral pyre, she places the dragon eggs on the fire, and steps into the flames. She emerges unscathed, with three baby dragons.
Determined to return to Westeros, claim her rightful crown, and rule over the Seven Kingdoms, she goes from city to city, freeing slaves (and killing their masters), amassing an army, and acquiring ships to sail west (with the help of her three now full-grown dragons). Along the way, she faces and overcomes many challenges to her leadership, killing all the condescending and abusive men who under-estimate her and stand in her way.
She is eventually captured by the Dothraki, and as widow to one of their warlords, is told she will either be forced to live out her days with the other widows, or face an even less appealing fate. She sets fire to their temple, killing all the Dothraki warlords. She emerges from the fire unscathed, and is now the unquestioned leader of the Dothraki hordes.
She is determined to defeat the evil Queen Cersei, and take what she believes is her rightful place on the Iron Throne and rule the Seven Kingdoms. She forges an alliance Jon Snow (King of the North). But before they can battle Cersei, they must face an even greater threat – the undead White Walkers, who threaten all who live.
Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey): Cersei is one of the truly evil characters on television. But she was made that way by being mistreated by powerful men her entire life.
She sleeps with her twin brother, Jamie, and has his children. She has her husband, the king, killed before he can find out her children are not his true heirs. She manages to install her son, Joffrey, on the throne with herself as Queen Regent and chief political advisor.
After King Joffey is murdered, she has her brother and political rival, Tyrion, arrested for the crime, even though she knows he is innocent. Jamie helps him escape (Tyrion eventually becomes a key ally to Daenerys Targaryen). Cersei’s younger son, Tommen, becomes king. To form an alliance with House Tyrell, Tommen is betrothed to Margaery Tyrell, who immediately makes Cersei feel her position controlling the king is threatened.
Religious leader, the High Sparrow, finds out about Cersei’s incest, as well as her hand in her husband’s assassination, and has her arrested. She is stripped of her authority, tortured and humiliated. Cersei is allowed to return to the castle to await her trial. Just as her trial is to get underway, Margaery Tyrell realizes neither Cersei or king Tommen is in attendance. She knows something is wrong and tries to warn everyone to get out. The High Sparrow scoffs at her concerns and stops her from leaving. Cersei has a cache of wildfire under the structure detonated, killing everyone inside – all of Cersei’s enemies and everyone else unlucky enough to be there. King Tommen, seeing all of this take place from his window, and knowing his wife is dead, commits suicide.
In her final scene of the sixth season, Cersei is crowned Queen and sits on the Iron Throne. In Season 7, as all the major players get together to try and figure out how to battle the White Walkers, we learn that Cersei is only pretending to join them in a temporary truce, hoping to solidify her power as many of her enemies are in danger of falling.
Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner): Sansa has perhaps seen as significant a transformation as any of the characters in the series. We first saw her as a spoiled, sheltered, oldest daughter of Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell.
She is promised in marriage to King Joffrey in order to join their houses. But when her father discovers the truth about Joffrey’s birth (his parents being brother and sister), Joffrey orders him beheaded. The entire Stark household, except for Sansa and her sister, Arya, are executed. Sansa suffers tremendous abuse at the hands of Joffrey, but when he is murdered, she sees her chance and escapes. Unfortunately, things are about to get much worse.
Lord Baelish, another duplicitous man in her life (who Sansa doesn’t know betrayed her father) persuades Sansa to marry Ramsey Bolton, the heir to the North, telling her it will enable her to avenge her family. He turns out to be a sadistic monster who rapes her on their wedding night, and then continues to abuse her. She eventually manages to escape.
She finds her half-brother, Jon Snow, and together they get a handful of northern lords to help them fight Ramsey Bolton’s forces. After defeating him in battle (with the help of Lord Baelish’s army), Ramsey Bolton is taken prisoner.
In her final scene of season 6, Sansa literally feeds Ramsey to his savage hounds, and the close-up of her walking away with a gradual grin lighting up her face indicates she is now a force to be reckoned with. In season 7, she discovers Baelish’s many deceptions, and while filling in for her brother as ruler of the North, has him executed.
Arya Stark (Maisie Williams): Arya Stark is introduced to viewers as the tomboy opposite of her ladylike older and more reserved sister, Sansa.
We first see her playing with a sword gifted to her by her half-brother, Jon Snow. After Joffrey kills the Stark household, Arya escapes, and hides out on the streets of King’s Landing, disguised as a beggar. She poses as a boy to join recruits marching north to the Night’s Watch (a place where your former identity doesn’t matter), whose residents live behind a massive wall of ice, and are sworn to protect the Seven Kingdoms.
The marchers are attacked and captured by the Lannister army. Arya saves the life of the leader of the Faceless Men guild of assassins, who promises to help her. Arya escapes and barely avoids the massacre of much of her remaining family at the infamous Red Wedding. She is eventually taken in and trained by the guild of assassins (killing several men who threaten her along the way).
Arya’s final scene in the sixth season shows her disguised as a serving girl, cutting the throat of Lord Walder Frey (who killed her brother Robb and mother, Catelyn at the Red Wedding). She already killed his two sons and cooked them in a pie she serves to him right before killing him. Her quest to find and kill those who have betrayed her family continued into season 7, where she is reunited with Sansa and John Snow. She is the one who Sansa has kill Lord Baelish, as Arya gets revenge on yet another man who has betrayed her family.
Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie): From strictly a physical ability standpoint, Brienne of Tarth, a knight sworn to serve Catelyn Stark (Sansa’s and Arya’s mother), is the most badass woman on Game of Thrones (more badass than any of the men as well).
She is tasked with finding Sansa and Arya Stark and returning them to Catelyn. She forms an uneasy reliance with Jamie Lannister. After Catelyn is murdered at the Red Wedding and King Joffrey is killed, Jamie gives Brienne his Valyrian steel sword (which she dubs “Oathkeeper”) to help her find Sansa and bring her to safety. She spends much of the time through season 6 searching for Sansa (and dispensing numerous men along the way).
Brienne comes upon a group of soldiers sent by Ramsey Bolton to capture Sansa. She kills all the soldiers and then offers Sansa her services. She reveals to Sansa that Arya is still alive. Sansa sends Brienne to Riverun to seek the aid of Blackfish Tully for the army she is forming with Jon Snow. But when she gets there, Jamie Lannister has the castle under siege. Just as Jamie is overrunning the castle, Blackfish helps Brienne escape, without resistance from Jamie, who has developed a strong bond of friendship and respect with Brienne.
Brienne’s final scene in season 6 shows her in a small boat escaping the castle with Jamie looking on from the balcony. She turns and they wave to one another in a regretful farewell. In season 7, Sansa sends Brienne to meet with her new potential allies at King Landing (because Sansa doesn’t want to be in the same room as Cersei).
Other strong female characters in the series, all of whom overcame horrendous situations of their own, include Yara Greyjoy (Gemma Whelan), who claims the throne of the Iron Islands usurped by her uncle, Eliana Sand (Indira Varma), Queen of the Dorne and sworn enemy of Cersei Lannister, and Lady Oleanna Tyrell (the great Diana Rigg), whose son and grandchildren were killed by Cersei Lannister. At the end of season 6, all three are allied with Daenerys Targaryen as they sail with her toward Westeros. All three are captured in season 7, with only Yara Greyjoy surviving (barely).
Season 8 promises some epic confrontations. Will it live up to the hype? Will one of these great women wind up as ruler of the Seven Kingdoms? Will any of them meet an untimely end? I’m guessing Game of Thrones will be one of those rare series where the final season soars to even greater heights than those leading up to it. Winter is here.
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