by Matthew Thompson
Game of Thrones is my favorite TV show still on the air. With its fourth season about to debut this coming Sunday I thought I’d try and do a few quick blogs before the premiere. These will give any new readers an idea where my preferences lie as far as favorite characters, storylines and so on. Today, I thought I’d start by counting down my five favorite characters from the series. While I’d be lying to say the books had no impact on this list, I am basing it more on the stuff covered in the show so far. Well here they are:
5. Tyrion Lannister: If I had to guess, Tyrion is probably the most popular character among fans of the show. He isn’t really my kind of character with his penchant for drinking and whoring, but he is such an excellent character that I can’t help but love him anyway. He’s shown to have a brilliant mind which makes him easy to respect despite some of his other proclivities. You can see it early on in the series. The way he squirmed out of trouble in the Eyrie comes to mind immediately. But it was his time serving as the Hand of the King where he really showcased his cunning and mettle. Just as important as his mind is Tyrion’s sharp tongue. He is responsible for many of the show’s funniest moments which just adds to his likability. The imp didn’t have as prominent a role in Season 3, but he should get a bigger focus in the upcoming fourth season.
4. Jon Snow: Jon may seem a bit boring next to the rest of the characters on this list, but I’ve always found his storylines compelling and I typically enjoy the “good guy” characters. He is one of the more noble people on the show and while that might not always get you far in this world, Jon seems to be getting along well enough. I’ve loved watching his ever evolving arc play out so far. He was an outcast in his own home at times as an unwelcome bastard at Winterfell. He was excited to head off to The Wall and forge his own path, but arriving there brought about a number of realizations. While he may not have been treated as well as his half-brothers at home, he had things much better than some of the outcasts who join him at The Wall. And he also realizes The Wall is shell of its former self making his new role not exactly what he had in mind. Jon’s interactions with his brothers in black as well as recent companion Ygritte are a lot of fun too and he is a great as our window into the events up north.
3. Jaime Lannister: I never would have imagined Jaime making a list of my favorite characters at first, but here he is. He didn’t exactly put his best foot forward when he is caught having an affair with his sister, the queen, and throws young Bran out the window to keep him from telling anyone about it. But I am a sucker for character growth. From his cocky villainous beginnings, he eventually hits rock bottom. Captured by Robb Stark then losing his sword hand and with it much of his identity, we begin to see a change in him showing a more honorable side through his rescue of Brienne and his story of how he became the Kingslayer (which is a fantastic nickname regardless of how it came about). And his sarcastic attitude means he can also make us laugh.
2. Arya Stark: Arya is a ton of fun right from the moment we see her sneaking around and goofing off as King Robert shows up in Winterfell. I love her preference for tomboy-ish things as opposed to needlepoint and being a proper Westerosi lady. She shows up her brother Bran when it comes to archery. She prefers her dancing lessons to involve a sword. And she would rather chase cats around King’s Landing than swoon over boys like her sister. She is slowly becoming a bit of a pint-sized badass over time as she struggles to get by after fleeing the capital. It should be fun to see what she gets into in Season 4.
1. Daenerys Targaryen: While there are moments and events during the series I enjoy more, I think Daenerys’ Season 1 storyline might be my favorite arc. Seeing her go from a timid girl basically sold off into a marriage she wanted no parts of to slowly taking charge of her life more and more to eventually becoming the Mother of Dragons… well it was pretty awesome. She has been my favorite character ever since. Her ability to show compassion and heart as well as be a badass make her easy to root for. Her freeing of the slaves in Astapor remains my favorite moment in the show so far and is adapated from the book about as well as I could have hoped for. Plus she has dragons which doesn’t hurt.
That will do it for my favorite GoT characters. Be sure to let me know yours in the comments below. I am hoping to do a blog on some of the events I’m looking forward to in Season 4 (that will obviously be for book readers only) and maybe a favorite moments on the show so far blog. We’ll see how it goes. Anyway, thanks for reading!
The Triple Option 
Personally I don’t like Dany. Some of this comes from having read the books.. I just don’t think she is all she is cracked up to be (and I think she might have a touch of the Targaryen madness). Plus after Book 1 she was so boring, she does nothing for about 4 books. The TV show has tried to speed it all up.. but I find her too arrogant, and not in the fun way!
My list is more:
1. Jaime
2. Jon Snow
3. Tyrion
4. Arya
5. Davos
I did love Robb Stark, and had a soft spot for Renly. *sob*
Varys gets honourable mention too!
*This contains mild book spoilers*
Well four out of five in common isn’t bad I guess? Jaime’s an awesome top choice too. Dany definitely seems divisive among book readers which is kind of understandable. I think the pacing of her storyline in Books 2 and 5 are particularly slow which makes it frustrating for some. Even though I love her, I can’t defend some of that Book 5 stuff.
Okay now to come to her defense! Personally I think some of the best chapters post-book 1 are hers. Freeing the slaves at Astapor (ASOS) and Daznak’s Pit (ADWD) are in my top five chapters in the series. I also loved the book version of The House of the Undying (so many prophecies/visions to obsess over) plus stuff like the duel outside Meereen in ASOS and the reveal about Drogon early in ADWD were great. That is my way of saying something has happened since Book 1!
Now I have to take a shot at one of your picks… ummm… well Robb was terrible at playing the game of thrones! So take that! (I still liked Robb too). Davos and Varys are great picks as well. Thanks for the comment! Love hearing other people’s choices for these.
I agree Dany has some awesome chapters (also Strong Belwas!), but over all she’s just not for me! I am very interested in what The Winds of Winter will bring for her though. Book 1 was definitely her strongest.
I know, Robb was awful at the Game! Bless him. Too much like his Daddy! I cried a lot in THOSE chapters though.
I do love Jaime.. incest aside. When the TV show started I kept telling people just wait.. just wait.. Jaime is the best!
I’m guessing Strong Belwas won’t be in the show either which is a bummer. It looked like Daario was doing the duel outside Meereen in the trailer I saw… which isn’t nearly as cool. I do wish Dany was packed up and ready to head off to Westeros already. It seems she may not get there until the end of TWOW.
I know some of my friends who only watch the show are starting to come around on Jaime. That is just going to continue this season. He has so much good material. Can’t wait to see how they handle it. Thanks again for discussing it with me.
So many great characters, it’s hard for me to pick only 5. My picks would mostly match yours except the orders may be different. Tyrion and Arya chapters are always the most enjoyable for me to read. What I like about Arya is that she’s true to herself, even if disguised as someone else – I can see her as a master of disguise assassin when she grows older. Dany has some of the best moments on the show, can’t wait to see what the dragons do next. Do you plan on doing episode reviews like last season?
It was hard to narrow down to five because of the plethora of great characters. I had a longer list at first but decided to just go with five. Glad to hear we think alike on these ones though!
I am hoping to do weekly reviews again. I know we talked before about how it can be tough to do them weekly and on time. You’ve been doing a great job of it with shows like TWD and SHIELD this year. I think GoT Season 3 was the only one I ever really pulled it off with consistently. I am definitely going to do the GoT S4 premiere review. And I am hoping after that I will feel motivated to keep it going for the rest of the season. I just haven’t done any episode reviews in a while. Need to see if I still like doing them. If I still enjoy it, I may do Orphan Black as well.
I am also working on adding a podcast to the site. Which is something I’d like to use to discuss Game of Thrones. But not sure if I will have it up and running soon enough. I will be having guests on it, so you are welcome to come on and discuss some GoT or Arrow or whatever with me some time once I get it going.
Thanks for commenting! Enjoy the premiere tonight!
I enjoyed your GoT Season 3 reviews, it adds to the fun to hear other fan’s thoughts and breakdown. If you do Orphan Black reviews it’ll probably give me added motivation to keep up with the original airing – I only finished the first season last month. Thanks so much for inviting me to your podcast, I’m actually very shy and quiet but I’ll keep it in mind. 🙂
Cool. Hopefully I will get back into the reviews. Looking forward to checking out your Game of Thrones ones as well of course!