The top 15 best performances on Game of Thrones
Image: Game of Thrones/HBO
6. Michelle Fairley as Catelyn Stark
When you know the Red Wedding is coming, Catelyn’s character arc is tragic to watch. She’s one of the few characters who really isn’t that ambitious. Catelyn lives in a world where everyone around her is scheming and fighting while all she wants is peace and safety for her family. She does everything she can to keep them safe, but it’s simply not enough
Fairley brings a worldly melancholy to the character that makes her relatable. It’s hard to choose just one moment that showcases everything she brings to the table. There’s her passionate appeal to her sister for help and attendant realization that Lysa has gone off the deep end, the beautiful relationship she has with Ned, her reactions to learning of Bran and Rickon’s “death,” and her irrational hatred of Jon Snow. They’re all perfectly played by Fairley, who shapes Catelyn into a strong woman trying to do the right thing in a world that continuously attacks her.
My favorite moments come in her scenes with her son Robb, once the War of the Five Kings has begun. In the books, we get to live inside of Catelyn’s head as she struggles to see the little boy she raised as a powerful leader of men hungry for revenge and battle. We’re not in Catelyn’s head for the show, but Fairley conveys these feelings so well it feels like we are, a remarkable feat for any actor.
Catelyn watches Robb make mistake after mistake and eventually must reckon with betraying his trust. Yet she knows that despite his anger, her son needs her now more than ever, and she tries everything in her power to secure him allies and give him sound advice.
Had Robb listened to Catelyn and married the Frey daughter, perhaps the family would have been saved. Yet on the other hand, one could make the argument that the Stark’s cause was doomed the moment Catelyn released Jamie Lannister. His freedom lead to the killing of their other Lannister prisoners, the beheading of Rickard Karstark, and the desertion of many of Robb’s forces. In trying to protect her family, Catelyn leaves them more vulnerable than ever. Fairley brings this realization into her final moments at the Red Wedding. Her desperate plea to Walder Frey to spare his son’s life is absolutely breathtaking, and her final scream haunts my memories to this day. That guttural wail says more than any monologue could.
Now, if they had brought her back as Lady Stoneheart, there’s no doubt in my mind that she’d be in the top five…