The top 15 best performances on Game of Thrones

7. Iwan Rheon as Ramsay Bolton

This guy is just downright terrifying. His performance as a murderous psychopath will go down in history as one of the greats alongside Anthony Perkins’ Norman Bates, Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal Lecter, Heath Ledger’s Joker, and Christian Bale’s Patrick Bateman. Rheon is just perfect in this role. Every single time he’s onscreen I have goosebumps. You never know what he’s going to do next and he somehow finds ways to keep surprising you with cruelty. And we wouldn’t be so afraid of him if it weren’t for the subtleties Rheon brings to his performance.

Ramsay knows everything he’s doing is evil, and he does it with a song in his heart. I love the scene where he demonstrates to his father how he has turned Theon into Reek, mocking Theon even when he has a blade to his throat, perversely proud of breaking this young man down to pieces. Rheon brings an unshakable sense of confidence to every encounter Ramsay has, yet in scenes with Ramsay’s father Roose he reverts to a little boy, with a little boy’s anger.

In this world, monsters like Ramsay can thrive. Everything he does is within his rights to do. He is the perfect embodiment of a house whose sigil is a flayed human being, someone intent on defeating his enemies not just for power, but because it brings him genuine joy.

My favorite Ramsay scene is when he kills his father and takes his place as Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North. We get to see just how hungry he is for power, becoming one of the most dangerous men in Westeros. Rheon even gives him a bit of regret in this moment, but not so much that he’ll think twice. Iwan Rheon made Ramsay Bolton into the show’s scariest villain.