…Bella Ramsay, aka Lyanna Mormont, the lady of Bear Island, and crowd-pleaser extraordinaire.
As you can see, Ramsay won by a wide margin, beating out veterans like Ellie Kendrick (Meera Reed) and Hannah Murray (Gilly). Why the decisive win? Here’s commenter bianca cavani on the subject:
"All had a wonderful performance, but Bella, in addition to performance, stole our hearts."
Lyanna Mormont did worm her way into the hearts of Game of Thrones fans everywhere with impressive speed. The number of memes that sprung up in her wake were proof enough of that.
There were a whole series of memes like that last one, with Lyanna Mormont scaring off everything from Cersei to Drogon. She inspires passion, this girl.
Why did little Lyanna Mormont strike such a chord? Maybe it’s the fact that Ramsay is so young (11 at the moment), and we can’t help being impressed that she’s acting at this level. Maybe it’s that, after years of watchers our favorite characters mired in the muck, it was refreshing to see someone with such a clarity of vision. Lyanna Mormont knows who she is, knows what she’s good at, and has the confidence to act on her convictions. If fate is kind, she’ll stick around until the end of the show before going on to play a superhero in something.
Ramsay came out on top, but she wasn’t the only actress who received accolades. Essie Davis (Lady Crane) and Ellie Kendrick (Meera Reed) each had respectable showings. Commenter Greywater talked about what made Meera’s few scenes so moving this year, focusing in particular on the immediate aftermath of Hodor’s death in “The Door”:
"After Hodor died (RIP), the emotion of trying to drag Bran to safety was everything. We saw her be a bad ass and kill a WW, she shared with Hodor his last happy thoughts, and never gave up trying to save Bran. Even though the NK was hot on her trail, along with the wights. She is the 3ER’s protector. I think everyone was moved by her performance, especially as she was struggling with everything she had to push through the snow to try to save Bran. Not herself, but Bran. Without her, there is no him."
With Hodor gone, Meera is more important to Bran that ever. Hopefully, this means an expanded role for Kendrick going forward, and more chances for her to shine.
Next, we’ll look at the best supporting actors as we continue to discuss the highlights of Game of Thrones Season 6, week by week.