The 25 Best Fighters on Game of Thrones, Ranked

24) YGRITTE (Previous Ranking: Unranked)

Category: Free Folk Archer

Archers, like modern snipers, can get a bad rap on lists like this, due to the perceived cowardice built into the act of long-distance fighting. But on the field of battle, excellence is excellence, and the young spearwife Ygritte repeatedly proves her skill with the bow. Her precision and control are on full display in “Mhysa” (S3/Ep10), when, despite her rage at Jon’s betrayal, she’s still able to pincushion him with three non-lethal arrows as he rides away. She tries to tell Tormund that she wanted to kill Jon, but he knows her skill, and says if she had wanted Jon dead, he’d be dead.

Ygritte is deadly at the Battle of Castle Black, killing a number of the Night’s Watch before hesitating when she sees Jon Snow, which is her undoing. She dies as she has lived, with passion, living in the moment. As she once tells Jon, “If we die, we die, but first, we’ll live.” (“The Bear and the Maiden Fair” S3/Ep7)