The 25 Best Power Players on Game of Thrones, Ranked

20. Ramsay Bolton

With the possible exception of Joffrey Baratheon, Ramsay Bolton might be the most hated character on Game of Thrones. But you have to give credit where it’s due. Ramsay lacks personal skills, diplomacy and flexibility, and he only rises to true power after killing his own father, but he makes up for it with cold intelligence and a complete lack of morals. He sacks Winterfell for his father, successfully flushing out the Ironborn who have taken it. He uses his prisoner, Theon, as a pawn to retake Moat Cailin. His reputation for cruelty, which he constantly reinforces, keeps everyone afraid of him and doing what he says.

Ramsay’s shining moment is the Battle of the Bastards. He may have ultimately failed, but he had some diabolic strategies that made this one of the best battle sequences in Game of Thrones history. He started with his classic mind games, manipulating Jon Snow into making himself vulnerable by using Rickon Stark as human bait. Once the actual fighting began, Ramsay ruthlessly sacrifices part of his own army in order to box Jon’s men in. Later, he has his men stab at the Stark forces through a wall of shields. Had he had the foresight to put scouts on his battlefield, it’s very possible he would have found a way to counter the Knights of the Vale and win the Battle of the Bastards.

But his confidence got the best of him in the end. Still, Ramsay was highly intelligent, completely merciless and had trained for this special brand of Bolton sadism his entire life. He was a force to be reckoned with.