Suffering and tragedy are inherent elements of . Take away the political intrigue and fantasy, and the HBO series becomes a profoundly melancholic tale, which is also one of the reasons it remains unforgettable. Viewers grow fond of characters only to witness their sudden deaths; there are so and sad moments. Nevertheless, the characters’ pain and tribulations are pivotal in shaping their individual stories and the overarching storyline.
Each character faces their own trials and tribulations, making it rather challenging to choose who suffered most. Everyone probably has their own list of characters who faced the toughest hardships.
While numerous characters endured series of sufferings throughout their own personal journeys, we can all agree that some suffered more than others. From Sansa to Theon Greyjoy, here are the characters with the most harrowing journeys on .
Bran was initially an adventurous child before becoming the detached Bran, whose destiny surpasses that of any. He was the very first Stark to have a taste of the Lannisters' wickedness, and the very act of being thrown down from a tower window completely changed his life. While he may not have faced human conflicts like Sansa or battled the wildlings like Jon Snow, he had a unique form of torment that no other character could ever grasp.
It commenced with losing his home and his family, leading him to embark on a quest beyond the wall to find the Three-Eyed Raven. Bran’s suffering was magnified by his ability to see everything while being unable to change anything, a fate far more agonizing than any other.
Daenerys is best described as the “Tragic Queen,” even though some . She’s far more than a Mad Targaryen, however. She is the mother of dragons, a formidable leader who emerged from challenging circumstances to become a just ruler, until Cersei and King’s Landing pushed her to her breaking point. Her life was marred by misfortune from a tender age, including being exiled from home and enduring series of abuse at her brother’s hands.
Yet, her journey didn’t get any smoother. Daenerys suffered the loss of her unborn child to a witch’s curse, lost her beloved husband, and embarked on a harrowing journey with the hope of claiming the Iron Throne. But did she? The treatment of her character by the writers and producers left much to be desired in the final season. She is a tragic queen, seemingly sacrificed for what was believed to be the perfect ending.
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Cersei, a ruthless and power-hungry character in
While her tribulations may not have touched viewers as deeply as that of Daerneys and Sansa, she bore an immense burden of pain. Her past wasn’t explored on-screen, but she endured a great deal in a loveless marriage with the drunk and uncouth Robert Baratheon, who pined for someone else.
Shireen Bratheon maybe a minor character on , but her story remains one of the most poignant and heart-wrenching in the series. An innocent soul, she was sacrificed by her own father for his political ambitions. Her sad life began with the affliction of Greyscale, a condition that isolated her, leading even her own parents to believe she was cursed.
Despite these adversities, Shireen is depicted as a kind, innocent, and intelligent girl, and her friendship with Ser Davos was one of the most heartwarming in the series. Nevertheless, Shireen was truly cursed with unkind parents who chose their ambition over her, a tragic fate that underscores the brutality and cruelty of the world in which is set. This innocent child deserved a far kinder fate than being burned at the stake.
Comparisons between the sufferings of the Stark sisters are inevitable.
Arya, at the age of nine, was thrust into the open world, homeless and hungry, after a forceful separation from her family. To avoid detection, capture, and death that faced girls her age at that time, she had to adopt a boy’s disguise. Her journey was laden with violence and deaths, including her apprenticeship with the Faceless Man.
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Sansa Stark’s suffering was so intense that viewers questioned if it was too much. Among all the characters, she undeniably endured some of the harshest trials. While the Stark children were scattered after their father’s death, it was delicate , who remained in the lion’s den, forced to endure various forms of humiliation, abuse, and betrayal. Her journey led her from being a spoiled girl to a complex and resilient character, marked by heart-wrenching experiences of witnessing her father’s beheading, losing her direwolf, and enduring physical and psychological abuse.
Her hardship didn’t stop there; she managed to escape King's Landing, but fell into to the clutches of Ramsay Bolton, a villain more monstrous than Joffrey. Sansa’s transformation from a naïve girl to an independent and resolute woman, ultimately becoming the Queen of the north, is an inspiring evolution and a fitting conclusion to her story on .
The list of characters who suffered the most would be incomplete without mentioning Theon Greyjoy. He undeniably ranks among those who experienced profound transformation throughout the series, primarily marked by his immense suffering at the hands of Ramsey for years.
Initially, it might have seemed he deserved it for sacking Winterfell, but the agonizing trauma he endured while atoning for his sins was beyond measure. He neither belonged to the Starks nor was he accepted in his own home as a real Greyjoy. Even in the unforgiving world of Westeros, Theon’s fate was one no one deserved. At least, in the end, he found the hero’s redemption he long sought.
Jon Snow, just like Daenrys Targaryen, embodies the essence of a tragic hero. His unwavering sense of honor and duty sometimes leads him to morally right yet strategically wrong decisions. In the tradition of traditional or Shakespearean heroes, he rises from the bastard of Winterfell to the Lord Commander and even earns the title of King in the North.
But despite all he faced — from bearing the stigma of a being a bastard, serving in the harsh and dangerous climate of the Night’s Watch, and surviving being killed by his own men to losing the two women he loved and struggling with the implication of his identity — he still met an end far worse than death.
The Stark family’s collective suffering was so much that Catelyn Stark thought she was to blame for it because she couldn’t love a motherless child. She may have made a lot of irrational decisions that somehow influenced her family’s fortune and also treated Jon badly, But, of course, she is not be blamed for the overall outcome.
Like Cersei, Catelyn willing to go to great lengths to protect her children, even if it meant making bad decisions, such as arresting Tyrion and releasing Jaime. Her choices were fueled by her love and concern for her family’s safety. Much like numerous characters in the show, she suffered a great deal, from losing her husband to losing her son and facing series of personal and political betrayals.
Hodor wasn’t always slow of wits; he was at one point a young stablehand at Winterfell known as Wylis. Season 6 of revealed that his unwavering loyalty to Bran was the very reason his mind became damaged. In Episode 5, Bran’s ability to into the past inadvertently influences young Wylis’ mind, transforming him to Hodor. This very episode was one of the most emotionally charged and significant moments in the series, presenting a deeper understanding to a misunderstood character and making his story even more heartbreaking.
His association with Bran ultimately led to his demise as he died protecting his master from White walker. Hoddor’s story is indeed one of the saddest and most unforgettable moments in the series. Given that Bran unwittingly causes his death, it about him being a villain after all.
