Game of Thrones Power Rankings: Daenerys Throws A Hail Mary

For a second week in a row it felt like Game of Thrones was on the cusp of some big power shifts. Things are coming to a head in King’s Landing, while in the North it feels like the battle lines have been drawn. Now how soon before we get a big showdown?

Across the Narrow Sea things are looking up big time for Daenerys, though her story this season still feels like it’s on shaky ground. First of all though, let’s all allow ourselves a collective squee for that moment at the start of the episode:

 

Now, here’s your Game of Thrones Power Rankings.

1. Team Targaryen

You’re captured by a warrior race who are deciding whether to keep you prisoner for the rest of your life or sell you to your enemies. What do you do? If you’re Daenerys you burn the flip out of all of them. That’s right, the Mother of Dragons basically massacred the entire Dothraki leadership and had an entire Khalasar bending the knee to her by the time the credits rolled. It’s a little frustrating every time Daenerys is portrayed as white saviour to the “savages”, but if she can keep the Dothraki under control she basically has all the armies outside Westeros under heel. Right now she’s the boss.

 

2. Team Lannister

Never underestimate a Lannister. Cersei might be confined to the Red Keep with a ruined reputation, but she and Jamie still have the guile to nudge an army in the direction of King’s Landing. By playing on the insecurities of Olenna Tyrell and Kevan Lannister the twins have managed to salvage their alliance with the Tyrells and get someone else’s army to deal with the High Sparrow. This is why the Lannisters are still around and so many others are dead.

 

3. Team Bolton

There’s a fan theory going round that Ramsay might soon be victim of a trap set up by the other houses of the North. Last week the Umbers, previously the most loyal of the Stark’s vassals, refused to bend the knee to the new Lord Bolton – instead offering up Rickon instead. Whether this is a trick or not remains to be seen, but Ramsay didn’t waste any time throwing his weight around this week. Poor Osha earned a knife to the neck, while Jon Snow received a crude but pretty unambiguous ultimatum from the maniacal Bolton.

 

4. Team Sparrow

Not much to report here. The High Sparrow still basically controls King’s Landing and he’s still playing his little games with his prisoners. This week he revealed his history to Margaery, giving us some intriguing details about his past and his true motivations. As Margaery rightly realised though, it was all a ploy to try and break Loras. Right now he’s feeling comfortable, and as we all know that’s when Game of Thrones is likely to be least forgiving.

 

5. Team Littlefinger

You’re going to disagree with us on this one. After all, we only got one scene from Littlefinger this week – but look what this guy can do with two minutes of screen time. After his plan last season to marry Sansa to the Boltons backfired badly, Petyr Baelish managed to re-secure his position in the Vale (remember the Vale – where that creepy kid likes to drop people through a hole and send them tumbling to their doom?) and set himself up for new potential alliances. Westeros’s ultimate opportunist, it looks like Littlefinger already has his sights set on a new plan for world domination and a new ally: the Starks

 

The Rest

Team Stark

We know, it was a feel good moment for the Starks this week. Sansa and Jon reuniting for the first time since the pilot episode was a pretty incredible scene. This episode also saw the pair agree on a plan to take back Winterfell and the North for the Starks. But right now it’s just a plan. How much of the North will welcome them? How many men can they rally to their side? We’ll find out in the coming weeks, but for now they’ve slipped out of the top five.

Team Tyrell

For now the Tyrells are ready to continue with their Lannister alliance, even if it is more and more blatantly a marriage of convenience. Meanwhile, they actually do have an army. Who knew?

Team Greyjoy

These guys aren’t ever going to make a play for the Iron Throne, are they? This week we got an intriguing scene in which Theon reunited with Yara – then decided to back her for leadership of House Greyjoy. Not much else to report.