Power in Game of Thrones is never simple. It is not only about brute force or dragon fire. It is about who shapes events, who survives impossible odds, and who bends the world around them, even briefly. This list looks at raw strength, political influence, mythic weight, and the ability to change the course of the story. Some of these characters rule for seasons. Others burn bright for a moment and leave a permanent mark.
20. Bronn
Bronn survives because he understands power better than most nobles. He fights well, chooses battles carefully, and always backs the winning side just early enough. He never controls the board, but he consistently walks away richer and alive, which in Westeros counts as a minor miracle.
19. Sandor Clegane
The Hound is raw violence shaped by trauma. He is one of the most lethal fighters in the Seven Kingdoms and one of the few characters honest about what knighthood really means. His power is limited by his refusal to rule or command, but in any single fight, very few want to face him.
18. Grey Worm
Grey Worm represents disciplined power. He commands an elite army trained to fight without fear, pain, or mercy. His authority grows through loyalty and competence rather than ambition, and that makes him reliable, which is rare and dangerous in equal measure.
17. Varys
Varys wields information like a blade. He topples kings without ever drawing steel. His influence stretches across borders, networks, and years. His weakness is belief in a greater good, which eventually places him on the wrong side of dragonfire.
16. Littlefinger
Littlefinger builds power out of chaos. He engineers wars, betrayals, and alliances through manipulation rather than force. At his peak, he controls events far beyond his station. His downfall proves the limits of cleverness when faced with people who finally stop playing his game.
15. Brienne of Tarth
Brienne’s power lies in unmatched martial skill paired with integrity. She defeats elite fighters, survives impossible odds, and inspires loyalty through action rather than words. She never seeks power, yet earns authority wherever she goes.
14. Ramsay Bolton
Ramsay’s power is terror. He rules through cruelty, psychological warfare, and spectacle. His influence is short-lived but devastating, leaving permanent scars on the North. He proves how fear can work fast, and fail even faster.
13. Stannis Baratheon
Stannis commands armies, law, and religious magic through Melisandre. His strength is legitimacy and discipline. His weakness is inflexibility. He has the tools to win everything and the temperament to lose it all.
12. Jorah Mormont
Jorah’s power is loyalty backed by experience. He survives wars, plagues, exile, and greyscale while remaining one of Daenerys’ most capable protectors. He never rules, but he shapes the survival of someone who does.
11. The Mountain
The Mountain is physical dominance taken to extremes. Alive, he is terrifying. Undead, he is nearly unstoppable. He does not think or scheme, but he warps every situation through sheer presence.
10. Melisandre
Melisandre channels divine power that can kill kings, birth assassins, and raise the dead. Her influence fluctuates with belief, but when it works, it rewrites the rules of the world. Faith is her weapon, and also her blind spot.
9. Jaime Lannister
At his peak, Jaime is one of the greatest swordsmen alive. Beyond combat, his defining act ends a tyrant and saves a city. His power fades physically, but grows morally, which makes his story linger long after his blade dulls.
8. Sansa Stark
Sansa’s power is political survival. She learns from monsters and outgrows them. By the end, she controls the North through intelligence, patience, and hard-earned authority. No magic, no dragons, just competence.
7. Tyrion Lannister
Tyrion wins wars with planning, rhetoric, and adaptability. He governs cities, manages empires, and repeatedly saves rulers from themselves. His failures are human, but his influence reshapes the fate of Westeros.
6. Arya Stark
Arya turns power into a scalpel. She trains across continents, masters identity itself, and removes the single greatest threat to the living. She proves that one person, properly trained, can end an apocalypse.
5. Cersei Lannister
Cersei rules through fear, revenge, and ruthless calculation. She destroys her enemies in one of the most effective power plays in the series. Her reign is unstable, but while it lasts, she is lethal.
4. Bran Stark
Bran holds the memory of the world. He sees past, present, and possibility. His power is not force, but knowledge so complete it becomes authority. When he rules, it feels less like politics and more like inevitability.
3. Jon Snow
Jon unites enemies, leads armies, rides dragons, and returns from death without losing his moral compass. His power is trust, which allows him to achieve what stronger rulers cannot.
2. Night King
The Night King is extinction given form. He raises armies effortlessly and turns defeat into strength. He nearly ends civilisation through inevitability alone.
1. Daenerys Targaryen
At her peak, Daenerys commands dragons, armies, and belief. She reshapes continents and terrifies kings into surrender. Her fall does not erase her power. It confirms how absolute it once was.
