GoT Power Rankings // “Blood of My Blood”
After last week’s complete bummerfest of an episode, “Blood of My Blood” actually offered a fair amount of optimism for our characters. This may be the first GoT episode in history that featured zero killings—in an episode that features the word “blood” in the title, no less. This week’s rankings…
1. High Sparrow
You know you had a great week when even the Queen of Thorns admits you bested her. The High Sparrow managed to slither his way into the most powerful minds in all of Westeros, successfully brainwashing King Tommen and Queen Margaery in one fell swoop. Essentially the royal puppet master, the Sparrow’s influence immediately reared its head via Tommen kicking his Uncle Jamie out of the King’s Guard and sending him out of town. Can’t imagine the Lannisters and Tyrells will take this lying down, but for now, the High Sparrow has indeed won.
2. Daenerys
A mother and child reunion Paul Simon would appreciate, Dany finds her favorite dragon offspring (don’t tell the other two) Drogon. Their connection is so strong that Khaleesi’s dragon sense kicks in as soon as she’s within range of Drogon, leading to her to wander off on her own to find him. It’s a fitting name, as Dany echoes — almost word for word — the late Khal Drogo’s speech about riding across the sea to take over the Seven Kingdoms. This, combined with the fact that she’s SITTING ON A DRAGON, is more than enough to convince the Dothraki to fully buy into their new leader. Now to just find thousands of ships equipped with horse stables…
3. Sam and Gilly
These two, man. They’re adorkable-ness is enough to make Zooey Deschanel seem like a bully—Gilly even recognizes Sam’s nervous talking mannerism. Sam finally reached the tipping point with his racist, hate-mongering father, deciding to directly disobey his orders and loot the family’s ancient Valarian sword. Sam will have to directly confront his daddy issues later on, but thieving his father’s most prized possession (which happens to be the world’s deadliest sword) is a great start.
4. Arya Stark
A Girl finally makes up her mind. Arya took the advice of every self-help book this week and decided to just be herself. Charmed further by her target Lady Crane, Arya literally takes a good look at herself and decides the life of a face-swapping assassin just isn’t for her. Seems like a pretty badass life, but to each their own. Understanding full well the consequences of her actions, Arya digs up Needle, her sword, and prepares to make a break from the House of Black and White. She should proceed with caution, however, as the Waif was given the go-ahead to eliminate Arya and seems to harbor some real ill will for her.
5. Benjen Stark
Be honest: you probably totally forgot about this guy. No shame in that, as he last appeared all the way back in Season 1. Uncle Benji makes his triumphant return at just the right time, wielding a burning mace to fight back the White Walkers chasing down Bran and Meera. Benjen really builds up mystique by waiting to reveal his identity, but once he does so he wastes no time reassuring Bran of his mission: to save the race of men. No pressure there.
Dead Last: Jamie and Cersei
Their plan spectacularly backfired in public, their son has been indoctrinated by a religious zealot, and Jamie has been banished to help the always-charming Walder Frey defeat Blackfish and re-take Riverrun. Essentially stripped of all power and influence, it was a truly bleak week for the Lannister children. Not to be deterred, they use these gloomy events to rekindle their incestual romance, taking solace that they have each other, as well as the Franken-Mountain. Recharging via inbreeding and mutant bodybuilders: The Lannister Way.
(Dis)honorable mentions
Jaqen H’ghar. Tough to imagine how anyone could slice off faces any more casually.
Sam’s Sister. Hasn’t seen her banished brother for years and the first thing she says to him is a complaint about her life. Such a millenial.
Walder Frey. Even he refers to it as The Red Wedding? Pretty meta.
Bianca. Gonna be a real awkward cast party for her now that everyone knows she wanted her co-star murdered.
Tyrion. No doubt he spent this whole episode—in which he was given zero face time—getting drunk in brothels.
