Let’s delve deep into the biggest television series of all time that showcases some of the most powerful female characters on screen. These characters are the perfect example of women living in a misogyny-riddled world, who were made to suffer at the hands of those men in power.
Their journey from the first season to the final one has been significant. From toppling their chauvinist counter parts be it the evil brother to the cruel lover and the lazy husband, they have taken on men in all of Westeros.
Let’s revisit their journey ahead of the final season of Game of Thrones.
1. Daenerys Targaryen
“I’m not going to stop the wheel. I’m going to break the wheel”.Daenerys Targaryen
Daenerys Targaryen – Stormborn, First of her Name, The Unburnt, Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Queen of Mereen, Mother of Dragons and the list goes on, really. Daenerys has made it past 7 seasons and into the 8th on her own accord, with little help; apart from the dragons, of course.
Dany went after what she wanted, no matter what. From years of living in exile after the murders of her father and brother Rhaegar, and with her power-hungry and vicious brother to marrying a savage and inducting herself into an all-together new lifestyle, she never backed down from her dream of taking what rightfully belonged to her family – the Iron Throne and now she’s all set to get it back.
2. Cersei Lannister
“When you play the game of thrones you win or you die. There is no middle ground”.Cersei Lannister
Cersei is no lion, but she can tame one. So stuck to the agenda of owning the throne and keeping it forever, she has literally plotted like she had nothing to lose even when she did. And just like that, everything was taken from her with the exception of the throne. A determined woman, Cersei also rose above her ranks – merely a wife to the king of the seven kingdoms who was into his own kind of merry-making, she didn’t let that bog her down or allow anyone else to belittle her. She took what she believed was hers, by any and all means. She is the quintessential villain, except, she is still loved by audiences even while she is being hated upon.
3. Sansa Stark
“I’m a slow learner, it’s true. But I learn. Thank you for all your many lessons, Lord Baelish. I will never forget them”.Sansa Stark
Sansa Stark has undergone the worst kind of torture of all the women of Westeros. With no one there to protect her in the diabolical land of King’s Landing where no one is loyal to anyone, this 13-year-old saw it all. Manipulated by Cersei and escaping from the clutches of cruel Joffrey to being whisked away by the man of the deadliest ulterior-motives, Littlefinger and landing straight in the claws of evil Ramsay Bolton, she has been raped, abused and tormented. She saw her father die in front of her own eyes, her mother and eldest brother were murdered while her other siblings were going through their own battles, nowhere to be found and known. Yet, she didn’t give up. She went through it all and then some more and she instead of lamenting, she learned from her very torturous captors. Today, she is the lady of Winterfall – she is smart, brave and sensible understanding where she stands and where she has to go.
4. Arya Stark
“Leave one wolf alive and the sheep are never safe. When people ask you what happened here, tell them the North remembers. Tell them winter came for House Frey”.Arya Stark
Arya is yet another extremely strong contender to the throne but the thing we like about her most is that the throne is not even the last of her concerns. Right since the beginning, she had a sense of who she is and what she wanted to do – not a girl who knit but the girl with the bow and the arrow as in the very first scene of the series. She cared less about adhering to any norm of how a lady had to be in medieval Westeros and more about her family.
Everything wrong that happened with Arya’s her family – her father’s beheading, her mother and oldest brother’s cold blooded murder and everything else only pushed her closer to own everything she wanted to be all her life. She fought and trained like a soldier to kill like an assassin, and an assassin she came to be. Like when Hound asks Brienne of Tarth in Season 7, “If you’re here, who is protecting her?” and pat came the response, “The only one that needs protecting is the one that gets in her way.”
Game of Thrones Seasons 1 – 7 air in India on Star World. Game of Thrones Season 8 will premiere on the channel in April.
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