'Game Of Thrones' Power Ranking: Where Do The Players Stand After Season 6?

Game of Thrones season six is over, so you know what that means: it's time to talk about Game of Thrones for the next ten months or so. This most recent season was one for the books, the strongest batch of episodes since season four and a stirring climax for many of the show's most important characters and storylines. The television adaptation may have outpaced George R.R. Martin's novels, but that turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Free from having to strictly adapt the novels, Game of Thrones became leaner and meaner and more satisfying as a weekly television show.Game of Thrones also killed a bunch of characters. A truly unprecedented number of characters, even for a series famous for killing off its cast. The fat has been trimmed from the ensemble in the most brutal fashion imaginable and the survivors have seen more than one status quo uprooted. And you know what means: it's time to reassess the main players in this bloody game and see where they stand. It's time for a power ranking. (SPOILERS ahead, of course.)

Daenerys' former right-hand man has been infected with a disease that is certainly going to kill him and has been essentially exiled again, this time more out of pity than anger. If we never see Jorah again, we can only assume that he died alone and powerless while the woman he loves conquers a nation across the world. Ouch.

In a season where so many female characters revealed their toughest and most ruthless selves and seized power after taking a hammer to the Westerosi patriarchy, poor Gilly ended the season standing in the Citadel's lobby with a baby after being denied entrance to a library. The only silver lining here is that she got makeover, so at least she can feel a little prettier as she finds herself going absolutely nowhere.

The only surviving member of Bran's entourage is lucky to be alive, but now she's the sole caretaker of a boy wizard who can't walk and can barely control his powers. Her role at this point in the series appears to be "girl who drags the paralyzed boy through the snow."

Although she began the season broken and vulnerable, Melisandre began to find her old zealous self after resurrecting Jon Snow from the dead and dedicating her life to serving him. And then that turned around and bit her when the new King in the North learned that she, you know, burned a young child to death for good luck. He exiled her under threat of death. Maybe she can find Jorah and they can form a proper pity party.

Sam is the kind of unlucky soul who takes what he can get. Sure, stealing his father's sword and arriving at the biggest library in Westeros actually places the Night's Watch's new maester-to-be in a higher position than previous seasons, but that only means he's near the bottom instead of in the very bottom slot. There is no one less ambitious than good ol' Sam, who's just happy to still be alive at this point.

Over six seasons, Sandor has steadily fallen from "personal bodyguard to the king" to "vengeful construction worker" and you know that he really, really doesn't care. Now that he's signed up with the Brotherhood Without Banners, it'll be interesting to see if he can start living up to his fearsome reputation again and emerge from the shadows as a major player in the game.

Look, a powerful Faceless Man like Jaqen is always going going to wield some degree of influence on the world and he'll certainly bounce back in a big way...but let's just be honest: watching as your most promising assassin school trainee drops out and kills your second most promising assassin school trainee is a bad look, especially when they look like the only two trainees at the House of Black and White.

The Queen of Thorns' wicked wit and sharp tongue have allowed her to navigate a number of tricky situations and act as a powerful mouthpiece for the Tyrell family, but a mouthpiece is only valuable when there is an actual threat backing it up. With her son, granddaughter, and grandson all dead, Olenna is on the ropes. However, a potential new alliance with House Martell (and a certain conquering dragon queen) may change her fortunes in the near future.

Pod's success is directly tied to that of Brienne and he will always be slightly worse off than Westeros' most noble knight.

Despite being one of the most impressive characters on Game of Thrones and despite being a woman powered by conviction, bravery and sincerity, Brienne had one job this season (recruit the Blackfish and his forces) and she failed. This is the latest blunder for Brienne, who failed to protect Catelyn, failed to escort Jaime back home intact, failed to save Arya, and initially failed to save Sansa. Being a good person gets you nowhere. At the very least, she's officially attached to rebounding House Stark, which keeps her away from the bottom of the barrel.

Jaime's number one guy peaked a few seasons ago when he was elevated from a lowly sellsword into a proper knight and he's been coasting since then, taking gigs from the Lannisters and coasting on his newfound power. Granted, it's not much power, but he also doesn't seem to be interested in obtaining more, which somehow makes him look more stable than many of those below him on this ranking.

Season six was a series of humiliations for Jaime Lannister, who was kicked off the Kingsguard by his own nephew-son and forced to wander the Riverlands and defuse the Tully uprising. Now that Cersei is sitting on the Iron Throne, his fortunes should begin to change...maybe. After all, even the guy who pushed a young kid out of a window in the pilot may take issue with his sister-lover's act of mass murder. He's in a tough spot.

On one hand, Euron is the new lord of the Iron Islands, which is good. On the other, his coronation concluded with him realizing that his niece and nephew had made off with a large portion of his navy, and then gone off and acted on the plan he had been pitching to his people in the first place (an alliance with Daenerys). Still, the ruler of one of the Seven Kingdoms with egg on his face is still the ruler of one of the Seven Kingdoms.

Daenerys' main squeeze isn't left in a bad position – ruling Meereen and policing Dragon's Bay (formerly Slaver's Bay) while she's off conquering a new continent is an important job and someone has to do it. However, it's the medieval fantasy equivalent of transferring the underling you slept with to a new department so you don't have to look at them any longer. Sure, Daario is on the winning team, but he's now working in the basement filing room instead of the top floor.

After years of torture and brainwashing, Theon Greyjoy has returned home and has finally begun to reassemble the shattered pieces of himself. He's still a mess, but he's also a mess who is attached at the hip to one of the more capable characters in the game, which goes a long way.

Although she was forced to flee her homeland after her uncle stole an election from under her nose and then swore to murder her, Yara is a star on the rise. She's pledged herself to Daenerys, which is a good move for just about anyone who cares about winning wars, and she has already made herself invaluable to the Mother of Dragons by offering up her large navy to the Targaryen cause. At this rate, she'll be lording over a reformed Pyke soon enough.

It's not clear how a translator will be useful to Daenerys as she invades a land where she speaks the language, but Missandei is still standing at the shoulder of an absurdly powerful woman when the season ends, which means that she slides into this position by default.

He may not seek much personal power, but as the commander of Daenerys' military forces, Grey Worm is the voice of the most powerful, diverse, and seemingly unstoppable army in the land. With air support from three dragons, naval support from the Greyjoys, and the utmost confidence from Dany herself, Grey Worm has quietly emerged as one of the most formidable people on Game of Thrones.

Over the past two seasons, Tormund has emerged as the de facto leader of the Free Folk and one of the most effective and reliable men in Jon Snow's ever-expanding arsenal of allies. He not only survived the Battle of the Bastards, he was allowed to sit amongst the rest of the Westerosi lords and ladies when Jon was declared the new King in the North. That's one hell of a promotion for ginger-bearded barbarian.

Gregor was an unstoppable monster before Cersei claimed the Iron Throne. Now, this hulking monstrosity is the muscle for the most powerful human in Westeros, ready and willing to torture and maim and destroy in the name of the Queen. The only real downside is that he's essentially a mindless zombie slave with no free will, but you don't need to have a single drop of humanity to spread fear and terror and leave your mark on the crown's enemies.

The Onion Knight began the season at a low point. Abandoned by his king, he had to watch helplessly from the sidelines as Stannis Baratheon fell and Jon Snow was assassinated. Then things really turned around for the guy. He became a member of Jon's inner circle, lending his frank and homespun wisdom to the Stark cause. When push came to shove, the King in the North even sided with the former smuggler instead of the red witch capable of resurrecting people from the dead, exiling Melisandre at Davos' request. He has the ear of a king once more...a king who will not fall under the spell of the woman who destroyed Stannis. That's a good place to be .

He may be cold and almost alone and unable to walk and not entirely sure how to use his tremendous psychic powers, but Bran has evolved into one of the most important and powerful people in Westeros. As the new Three-Eyed Raven, he has the power to literally reshape the world and reach into history for answers and revelations. Unless he instantly screws everything up (and he is still Bran), he's suddenly become the most important player in the coming war against the dead.

Yes, the Dorne subplot is still the worst thing on Game of Thrones by country mile, but you have to hand it to Ellaria Sand. She not only personally murdered Doran Martell and seized control of the kingdom despite being having only a tenuous connection to ruling family (she was the partner of Doran's dead younger brother, for crying out loud), she did it without inspiring any protest whatsoever. You've got to respect someone who can get away with such a bold coup and you've got to really respect someone who sees which way the wind is blowing and sides with House Targaryen. She also gets bonus points for having the good taste to recruit Olenna Tyrell to her cause.

As one of Jon Snow's first and most loyal allies in his war against Ramsay Bolton, Lady Lyanna Mormont deserves to be ranked high for backing the right guy at the right time. However, this brash and bold young woman was also the breakout character of the season amongst fans, so she gets a major meta-boost. The fact that we don't spend significantly more time with her this season is criminal.

In terms of direct and traditional power, Arya Stark is still lingering near the bottom of the totem pole. However, she's one of the few characters on this show truly in charge of her own destiny and she's a face-changing assassin who finally has the skills to start picking off the men and women who wronged her family. She won't be ruling any kingdoms anytime soon, but as the corpses of Walder Frey and his sons prove, she's become judge, jury, and executioner, all in one compact and deadly package.

For a few shining moments, it looked like Littlefinger was in position to sit near the very top of this list. It was his last-minute cavalry charge that saved Jon Snow's army from oblivion, which means that the Lord of the Vale is the only reason House Stark has reclaimed Winterfell and the only reason there's a new King in the North. Littlefinger has made himself invaluable to the only leader who actually understands the true threat facing Westeros. However, his naked ambition and his failure to secure a more, uh, direct alliance with Sansa causes him to plunge a few numbers here. He's the clear first among equals in the Stark entourage, but that's a genuine disappointment for Littlefinger.

Season six of Game of Thrones has seen Sansa Stark emerge from a cycle of abuse to become the second most powerful person in the North and the closest confidant to the King in the North. Her transformation has been painful (and in the real world, controversial), but there's strength in overcoming pain and trauma. There's also strength in having the nerve to play the game of thrones as well as Sansa does these days. She may be standing in Jon's shadow as he gets the glory, but we all know who's really going to be calling the shots in the wars to come.

The world's wiliest spymaster not only helped Tyrion Lannister bring Meereen back from the brink, he secured an alliance between House Martell and House Targaryen (and maybe House Tyrell, too). Varys has always been crafty and he has always been the smartest guy in the room, but now he's the smartest guy in the room owned and operated by the Queen who has officially become the odds-on favorite to win the Iron Throne once and for all.

Cersei's list of allies has grown thin over the years, but she's always been able to count on Qyburn, the former maester who transformed Gregor into a zombie slave and took control of Varys' network of "little birds" for his own nefarious purposes. Now, he's one of the only people at the Queen's side and one of the only people she trusts implicitly. He hasn't displayed the cunning of Varys or the ambition of Littlefinger, but his terrifying lack of ethical boundaries may make him the most dangerous advisor-to-the-crown that the Red Keep has ever seen.

Let's ignore for a moment that Jon Snow is only alive because Melisandre resurrected him from the dead and that he only won his battle with Ramsay Bolton because Littlefinger rode to the rescue and that Sansa is just as important to the Stark cause behind the scenes. To the public eye, Jon is the leader of the newly revitalized House Stark, the new King in the North that will lead the Northern houses to victory against enemies both human and magical. Hell, he's somehow managed to broker peace between wildling refugees and the old houses of the region. Toss in that deep bench of allies and you have the first Stark in a good long time who doesn't look like a dead man walking. Well, at least not anymore.

As Daenerys Targaryen's brand new Hand of the Queen, Tyrion Lannister is second only to the Mother of Dragons herself in the most powerful force Game of Thrones has ever seen. After years of him struggling against the odds and delivering results in spite of his so-called allies, the Imp has finally found a ruler who respects his skills and trusts him and his wisdom implicitly. Dany will soon reap the rewards of having someone as smart and crafty as Tyrion by her side...and Tyrion will finally be able to do his thing without anyone standing in his way.

You have to hand it to Cersei – she certainly has a flair for the dramatic. In a single green explosion, she decimated a significant portion of the King's Landing supporting cast and removed every single obstacle threatening her position. She wasn't counting on her son, King Tommen, committing suicide in the aftermath of the massacre, but that doesn't change the fact that she finally got she has been chasing all of these years: ultimate power. It only took the lives of hundreds of people, but the most ruthless and vicious human being in the Seven Kingdoms now sits upon the Iron Throne and anyone who would have dared to oppose her lies dead in a grave. Cersei's knack for brash decisions may make this a disastrous rule (especially with Dany on the way), but as of this moment, she sits on the Iron Throne as the undisputed Queen of Westeros. After all, there is no one breathing who is willing to dispute it.

Silly humans. Did you forget that there's still an army of zombies led by an ice warlock lurking beyond the Wall? All the Night King needs is a way through the Wall and its ancient magics and everyone is doomed. Doooomed. These guys killed Hodor, for crying out loud! Hodor! Sweet, lovable Hodor! That's the kind of sick and twisted army we're dealing with here. The Night King doesn't care about Iron Thrones or castles or titles or petty human distractions. Could the men and women of Westeros actually put grievances aside for long enough to defeat this menace? It certainly doesn't seem like it.

Let's just break this down. Daenerys Targaryen has an army of Unsullied and an even larger army of Dothraki. She has Tryion by her side to guide her through politics, Varys to play the diplomat, and Grey Worm to command her armies. She has a new partner in Yara Greyjoy, who has brought years of experience (and some of the best ships in Westeros) to the Targaryen cause. New allies, in the form of House Martell and House Tyrell, await her in Westeros. She is loved and respected by the men and women under her command. She listens to good advice. She knows to utilize mercy and violence when necessary. She is immune to fire. Oh, and she has three gigantic dragons, who are perfect for melting White Walkers and wights alike. And she's finally sailing across the Narrow Sea. There is no other choice for number one.