House Lannister
After six seasons, the Lannister siblings are still very much alive and by the end of this season, Cersei and Tyrion in particular, are in prime positions on the game board. A lot of the time Cersei doesn’t do a lot, mostly recovering and brooding in the red keep after last season’s climactic ‘Walk of Shame’. The witch’s prophecy over her life has begun to come true; all of her children are now dead. Despite being quite despicable at times she has suffered a great deal so it was about time she got her own back. The season finale definitely gave her that. Prior to being crowned the new queen of the seven kingdoms, Lena Headey’s character had one of the best scenes of the series, if not the entire show so far. Backed by some stunning tension building piano music (the track is called ‘Light of the Seven’ by Ramin Djawadi), Cersei sips wine and smirks with brilliant venom as she watches her enemies explode in a green fireball. It doesn’t all go to plan with Tommen ending his own life, but at this point, it almost seems as though he was collateral damage. Is it possible that all along what Cersei really wanted was the iron throne itself?
Jaime began the season by returning to Westeros, burdened with the death of Myrcella. He mostly continued his role as Cersei’s loyal sidekick, going off to kill or halt the progress of whatever enemy is threatening their wellbeing. Donning his knight’s armour after a pretty long break, he tries imposing violence on the High Sparrow’s sept and lays to siege to Riverrun held by the Blackfish. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau’s ‘Kingslayer’ has always been a complex character: initially a cold-hearted villain, he has grown more sympathetic as the show has progressed. While there have been serious blips since, his time with Brienne of Tarth in season three brought out some good in him. The two have a reunion this season at Riverrun and we get another glimpse of his sympathetic side. There are times when it seems his character is heading towards full scale redemption. Even in the final scene of the series, he makes eye contact with newly crowned Cersei giving what seems like a disapproving glare – a worried glance into their future.
Peter Dinklage also didn’t have that much to do in season six and it was a largely forgettable one for the pivotal character. Acting as Daenerys’ caretaker in Mereen whilst she tries to rein in the Dothraki, most of his screen time was spent attempting to amuse his companions Grey Worm and Missandei and walking around Mereen in conversation with Varys. His role very much epitomises a lot of this season: waiting around in preparation for bigger things to come and only really getting the pay off in the final episode. His role in the upcoming story is made quite clear as Danaerys ups the ante and makes him the Hand of the Queen. Will he be standing beside his queen on the iron throne come the end of Game of Thrones or could the wise, cunning and likeable dwarf even be sitting on it himself?
Words by Tim Goodfellow