Spoiler Alert: This post contains spoilers through Season 8.
When Game of Thrones first aired in 2011, its female characters mostly stood on the sidelines — denied opportunities to follow their passions, awaiting strategically-arranged marriages. But now the final season is upon us and the tables have turned. Over the last seven seasons fans have watched the women of Westeros evolve into powerful leaders and warriors. And now, in its eighth season and final season, its the women who are in charge with one sitting on the iron throne and another her greatest threat.
These women changed the game. Who would have thought a TV show about politics, dragons, and an army of the undead would turn out to be all about women’s empowerment?
In case you needed a recap — we put together a list of Game of Thrones women who have literally and figuratively slayed:
1. Daenerys Targaryen
If we listed all of Daenerys’s many titles, it would take you the same amount of time to read this list as it would to actually watch an episode of Game of Thrones. Mostly importantly, Dany is the “Breaker of Chains.” She’s all about human rights and totally against slavery — and we love her for it.
She’s also a symbol of women’s empowerment on the show. In the first season, her brother forces her into marrying Khal Drogo to secure his army’s support. But Daenerys turned out to be stronger than anyone could have predicted. While all the character’s have been waiting for the “Prince That Was Promised,” the “Mother of Dragons” knows better than to sit around waiting to be saved.
Best Quote: "You are small men. None of you are fit to lead the Dothraki. But I am. So I will."
2. Sansa Stark
Both Daenerys and Sansa endured rape and child marriage, but Sansa has endured a worse fate than most other characters on the show — and that says a lot. She was promised to Joffrey Baratheon, then traded into a marriage with Tyrion Lannister, and then tricked into marrying Ramsay Bolton, arguably the only person worse than Joffrey.
Seven seasons later, Sansa is done being played. Never one to bite her tongue, she survived child marriage, sexual assault, and years in King’s Landing surrounded by enemies, and has now reclaimed her place as Lady of Winterfell.
Best Quote: "I am Sansa Stark of Winterfell. This is my home. And you can't frighten me."
3. Brienne of Tarth
Brienne of Tarth turns heads everywhere she goes, not just because of her exceptional height, but female fighters are few and far between in Westeros. Brienne is powerful and fiercely loyal, preferring to be a knight rather than a “lady” who waits to be rescued. With her sword, the “oathkeeper,” she protects the weak and shows the men who deride her with sexist comments who’s really in charge on the battlefield.
In Season 8, Sir Jamie Lannister breaks with tradition to finally give Brienne the honor she deserves. With the battle against the Army of the Dead impending, Jamie knights Brienne, making her the presumed first female knight in all the seven kingdoms.
As she heads out to fight the Army of the Dead, one thing is clear: With every swing of her sword, Brienne of Tarth destroys limiting gender stereotypes.
Best Quote: “All my life men like you have sneered at me. And all my life I've been knocking men like you into the dust.”
4. Arya Stark
Like Brienne, Arya combats gender stereotypes and does her own thing. The youngest daughter of Eddard (Ned) Stark stood out from the start as an independent young girl, swapping fancy dresses and sewing for swords and sparring, even though girls are not supposed to fight.
“I knew it wasn’t wrong,” she said of her father allowing her to practice with a bow and arrow, “the rules were wrong.”
In recent seasons, Arya has focused on training to be a warrior and distancing herself from all that is expected of a “lady.” But she never forgets that hers is a society constantly trying to keep women down. At the beginning of last season, Arya finally got her revenge on Walder Frey (who murdered her mother and brother). She poisons his entire clan, but spares the women, knowing that the Frey women have been victimized all their lives, subjected to physical abuse, sexual assault, and child marriage — even if they were there when the head of their house killed her family.
Best Quote: Arya has a lot of great quotes, but the best by far actually comes from actress Maisie Williams who portrays Arya.
“We should stop calling feminists ‘feminists’ and just start calling people who aren’t feminist ‘sexist’ — and then everyone else is just a human. You are either a normal person or a sexist,” she told Entertainment Weekly.
5. Yara Greyjoy
Yara, like Arya and Brienne, is another formidable female fighter. She’s also the shows first openly gay female character. Gender roles are somewhat less rigid on the Iron Islands where strength and bravery are valued above all, allowing Yara to earn her place as a great ship captain.
Unlike everywhere else in Westeros, the people of the Iron Islands elect their leaders, though they have typically chosen male Greyjoy heirs, meaning Theon was next in line. But when Theon refused to be elected, the Iron Islanders chose Yara to lead them. Unfortunately, she never ascended to the Salt Throne because her uncle returned and seized control, at which point she made off with half his fleet and joined forces with Daenerys, forming an unstoppable female force.
Best Quote: “We'd like you to help us murder an uncle or two, who don't think a woman's fit to rule.”
6. Lyanna Mormont
The little Lady of Bear Island is not to be underestimated. Though she can’t be much older than 11, Lyanna Mormont is a strong and capable leader, and surprisingly well accepted as head of her house despite being both a child and a girl.
At the end of Season 6, she systematically called out the leaders of other houses — all of them men, all of them decades older than her — for failing to support House Stark, to which they had pledged their allegiance. Both loyal and brave, she leads by example. As Lord Manderly says, “Lady Mormont speaks harshly and truly.” And she won’t be written off.
Best Quote: “I don’t plan on knitting by the fire while men fight for me. I might be small...and I might be a girl, but I am every bit as much a Northerner as you. And I don’t need your permission to defend the North.”
7. Cersei Lannister
Like her late son Joffrey, Cersei is probably the most hated person in the seven Kingdoms right now. But that doesn’t mean she isn’t also a badass feminist. Cersei is insatiably power hungry, but part of this drive, no doubt, comes from having been overlooked her entire life.
She’s incredibly intelligent — though she unfortunately uses her intelligence to come up with elaborate revenge and murder plots — but was mostly seen by her father as an expendable resource. His greatest use for her was finding appropriate marriages for her to help alleviate the Lannister’s massive debt. But Cersei has proven that she’s more than a pretty face and potential wife over the course of the show; she’s a great, albeit devious, political and military mind.
Best Quote: “I am a lioness. I will not cringe for them.”
8. Lady Olenna
Also known as the “tart-tongued” Queen of Thorns, Lady Olenna was never shy about voicing her opinions. One of the fiercest female characters in Westeros, she slayed with her style, sharp wit, and sassiness, even up to her final moments.
The matriarchal head of her house, Lady Olenna was quietly always two steps ahead of everyone else, planning to keep her family safe. She was confident in herself, even when other characters underestimated her for being older and a woman. And she even let Daenerys in on her secret, telling her, “I’ve known a great number of clever men. I’ve outlived them all. You know why? I ignored all of them.”
Best Quote: Basically every line she’s ever had.
This post was updated on April 22, 2019, to reflect new plot developments.