Game of Thrones Seasons Ranked from Worst (Season 8) to Best

Game of Thrones used to have a special place in our hearts. More or less, it still does, so here are all the seasons ranked from worst to best:

8. Season 8.

Do I need to talk about it? We would be here forever. Character arcs butchered, madness and stupidity, and some cups and water bottles.

7. Season 7

While still somewhat true to Game of Thrones’ legacy, this season showed how the showrunners decided to pay attention to big action scenes and CGI but close to none to plot and characterisation. The scheming that fans loved so much is almost non-existent, the characters strategic decisions don’t make any sense and some things, like Gendry running back from beyond the wall are absolutely nonsensical and contradict the rules the series has set for itself. One thing that fans all around the world loved about Game of Thrones is that it always made sense within its own world. Travelling took time and if someone made a wrong choice, it had consequences. This season also sets up the disaster that was season 8, because they made their villain way too powerful and they failed to unify their heroes to battle the common enemy.

6. Season 5

Although giving us iconic and action-packed episodes like “Hardhome” and “The Dance of Dragons” season 5 had some of the most pointless plots and some of the worst written lines of the entire show. Not to mention the amount of characters they left out, who would have played an inevitable role later of the series. This was the first season, where fans started to worry about the direction the show was taking. The storyline of Jaime and Bronn going to Dorne was entirely pointless and took the screen time from actual plots and characters that were excluded: such as Arianne Martell and her storyline or the Greyjoys. The showrunners argued that for a TV show it is better to keep already known characters in the spotlight, however that contradicts the full disappearance of Bran Stark’s character, who never even appeared during season 5.

5. Season 2

A Clash of Kings (book 2 of A song of ice and fire) has many great scenes. None of which actually made it to the show. The TV series seems to have missed the points of events and some characterizations as well. The fantasy elements this book had were also eliminated from the show, which probably made it more digestible to the general audience, but also disappointed the fans of the actual series. The scene where Daenerys goes through The House of The Undying Ones is arguably one of the most beautiful, colourful and intriguing scenes of the entire book series, while in the show it was just a tower and the few visions of Daenerys’ that were included were not accurate or as beautiful as they were in the book. On the other hand, the interaction between Arya and Tywin were a creative and interesting addition, that excited many fans and remains one of the best additions the show’s creators have come up with, as well as the character of Talisa, who also first appears this season. These two things fail to overshadow the loss of Arya’s arc and her serving Roose Bolton in the books – a character so much more fascinating than his show counterpart. That being said, season 2 still gave us iconic episodes, such as "Blackwater".

 4. Season 6

Although not having any source material to work with, season 6 did a pretty good job remaining true to the original storylines and characterizations of the characters. The iconic episode “Battle of the Bastards” and the conclusion of Hodor’s character arc in “The Door”, as well as Daenerys’ strategy to escape the khals and lead the Dothraki and Cersei’s scheme to become Queen of Westeros overshadow the errors this season had. Ramin Djawadi, who composed the music of Game of Thrones gave us some of his most iconic masterpieces this season, such as: Light of the Seven, Blood of My Blood and The Winds of Winter.

3. Season 4

Book 3 of A song of ice and fire (A storm of swords; seasons 3 and 4 of the show) is arguably the best of the series. It is action packed, but the scheming and backstabbing that made people love this series so much still plays a huge role. Almost all the episodes have an iconic scene that shocked us all at the time and could give us goosebumps even now. This season has the Purple Wedding, the episodes “The mountain and the viper” and “Watchers on the wall” and the iconic death of Tywin Lannister. This season could easily have been number 1, had it not had the biggest flaw ever: it set up the disaster that later seasons became, by forgetting (or neglecting) to include major plot points and character arcs.

2. Season 3

Just like season 4, this season was also based on A storm of swords. It had the iconic episodes such as “The bear and the maiden fair” and “The rains of Castamere”. The Red Wedding remains one of the most iconic TV scenes of all time. A video of the scene of Daenerys taking over the Unsullied and freeing the slaves of Astapor, resurfaces on Twitter every few months and has millions of views.

1. Season 1

This is a rather easy one to explain: the first season of Game of Thrones pretty much copies the book (A Game of Thrones) word for word. The show’s creators made only small changes that actually make sense. This season is number 1, because it has the show’s – and Television’s - most iconic scenes like Ned’s beheading or the birth of Daenerys’ dragons. They remain iconic, precisely because they are exactly the way they are supposed to be.