11 "Game Of Thrones" Characters Whose Endings Were Deeply Unsatisfying, And 10 Whose Were Actually Alright

It's been a year since the show ended, maybe we can finally talk about this without getting upset?

If you watched Game of Thrones, there's a good chance you had strong feelings about the way it ended. All of the characters met their destinies and there's no denying that some of them deserved different endings.

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But it's important to stay positive, and I think we can finally admit that the show actually gave some of our faves endings that made sense. Plus, a few of them lucked out and ended up a bit better than they deserved.

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Bronn managed to avoid fighting the Night King and became Master of Coin, and I think that makes him the luckiest man in Westeros.

So here are a few characters whose endings needed a rewrite, and a few who are just fine the way they are.

1. Daenerys could have had the greatest villain arc of all time, but instead was made to look like a woman who was too emotional for power.

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OF COURSE I'm gonna start here. Listen, Dany was never my pick for the Iron Throne. I found her entitled and didn't like that she solved all her problems by setting them on fire (or threatening to set them on fire). I spent years hoping that she would be the show's final and most complex villain, but by the end of Season 7 I had accepted that she was gonna be the hero. When she went full Dark Dany in less than five episodes, it was deeply unsatisfying.

2. But Sansa Stark had a terrific arc that ended exactly where it should have.

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We saw Sansa go through hell over the course of the show, and for better or worse it turned her into the calculating, effective leader we saw in Seasons 6, 7, and 8. She made choices we didn't always agree with, but her ending was as bittersweet as they come: she became Queen in the North, but her family was separated again, leaving her all alone in Winterfell at the end.

3. Varys had a lot left to offer and executing him was premature.

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He was right the whole time! Attempting to poison Daenerys was a dumb decision that got him killed, but he gave wise counsel and always had the country's interests at heart.

4. But Littlefinger's death at the end of Season 7 did not come a moment too soon.

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I'll admit that the tension between Arya and Sansa was a little manufactured, but the fact that it led to Petyr Baelish's demise more than makes up for it. Sure he was super smart, but if I had to see him give Sansa one more lusty look I would have lost it. To see him disgraced and executed by Arya almost made up for years of watching him be awful.

5. Cersei Lannister's fate was not satisfying in the slightest and she deserved a better death.

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You mean to tell me that the first and only ruling Queen of the Seven Kingdoms —a woman who outmaneuvered and outlasted Tywin, the High Sparrow, Olenna Tyrell, and the Night King — got killed by a bunch of rocks?! The Cersei we know and love to hate would 100% have had an escape plan if her city was under attack.

6. But Tyrion Lannister got waaay better than he deserved when Bran named him Hand of the King.

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Tyrion's legendary intelligence came into question in the later seasons because he made some really dumb decisions as Daenerys's adviser. Not only that, he also failed to see what Daenerys had become until it was too late. Tyrion will always be a great character, but he really lucked out with that promotion.

7. Missandei deserved more agency and a death that wasn't in service of Daenerys's arc.

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Missandei was on the show since Season 3 and had a grand total of ONE storyline: her relationship with Grey Worm. Everything else she did was in support of Daenerys, including dying. This woman survived slavery and became an experienced political adviser, but her death was basically just an excuse for Daenerys to become more violent. Come on now.

8. But at least Grey Worm got to sail away from Westeros on his terms.

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Grey Worm's character also mostly revolved around Daenerys, but he occasionally expressed desires of his own. He was the one to suggest to Missandei that they leave Westeros, and even though they couldn't go together it's nice to think of him living peacefully in Naath.

9. The Night King was built up as a practically unbeatable villain and should not have gone out like a wimp.

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We spent years fearing the moment that the Night King would attack Westeros...years! I have absolutely no problem with Arya being the one to do the deed in the end (her dagger switcharoo was awesome), but it seemed too easy to kill someone who singlehandedly knocked a dragon out of the sky.

10. But Bran Stark got the promotion of lifetime when he became the freaking King of Westeros.

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The Three-Eyed Raven was supposed to be instrumental in defeating the Night King and his army but when the battle finally came, he kinda just...sat under a tree? Tyrion can talk about ~stories~ all he wants, but Bran's ended up being the story of a mediocre white dude failing upward. Good for him, I suppose.

11. Rhaegal and Viserion were deeply underappreciated and treated like they were disposable.

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How many of you actually know which dragon was Rhaegal and which one was Viserion? I'm honestly not even sure Daenerys knew the difference. The two non-Drogon dragons didn't get a lot of love, and their deaths didn't serve much purpose beyond shock value. Remember when Daenerys locked them in a cave for something Drogon did? SMH.

12. But at least Drogon got to burn down the Iron Throne and get the heck out of Westeros.

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He was clearly Dany's favorite and that certainly had some perks (like not getting locked in a cave for months). It's super sad that he ended up all alone without his mother and brothers, but he managed not to get skewered in the neck and that is a win. Plus, he clearly understood symbolism enough to know that the big pointy chair had to go.

13. Margaery Tyrell should have been the Queen of Westeros and her death was unfair.

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Margaery was cunning without being cruel and knew that you needed to understand politics to be a good ruler. She could have been the best ruler Westeros ever had, but instead we had to watch her get caught in a wildfire explosion.

14. But thankfully Arya wasn't consumed by her thirst for vengeance.

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I was starting to get a little concerned for Arya. Her desire to get revenge on everyone who ever hurt her led her to do some really unsettling things (not that the Freys and Meryn Trant didn't deserve what they got). I was happy when she gave up her dream of killing Cersei and got out of the Red Keep before it fell on her head.

15. Tommen Baratheon was a really compelling character who was gone too soon.

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His only crime was being Cersei's son! Granted, that's a huge occupational hazard, but he was a good kid who could've made a good king with the right guidance.

16. But Oberyn Martell got what he was asking for during his fight with The Mountain.

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I'M SORRY. Would I have loved Oberyn to live? Of course. Was his death excessively cruel? Duh. But my dude had his opponent on the ropes and instead of finishing the job, he just had to start talking smack. Tragic, but it was his own damn fault.

17. Jaime Lannister deserved better than dying under a pile of rocks with his evil twin.

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Jaime came a really long way as a character, so it was disappointing to see him and Cersei get the same ending. Maybe he'd never be able to build a stable relationship with Brienne, but his attempts to do the right thing in the later seasons deserved more validation.

18. But Brienne of Tarth got to live her best life.

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It was heartbreaking to watch Jaime leave Brienne crying in the snow and wearing a housecoat (UGH MEN), but let's be real. Jaime had too much baggage to commit to her and Brienne was always meant to go places. Seeing her fulfill her life's ambition to join the Kingsguard was a highlight of Season 8.

19. Shireen's death was too upsetting and didn't need to happen.

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I don't need to argue this one, do I? There were other ways of showing that Stannis was irredeemable, and just imagine a world in which Shireen had been free of her terrible parents and adopted by Davos. Imagine!

20. But Ned Stark's death, while also very upsetting, was kinda his own fault.

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I love Ned, and I will always wish that he hadn't gone south with Robert Baratheon. But once he did go south, he acted just about as stupidly as humanly possible. He had a lot on the line (a wife, six kids, and a whole damn kingdom), and should've been more careful with Cersei and Petyr. RIP Ned, you were literally too good for this world.

21. And finally, Jon Snow deserved a bigger role in the final season, even if his ending didn't totally suck.

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Oh, Jon. Why did he come back from the dead? How did he feel about his real parents? We'll never know. But we do know that he didn't want to be king, and apparently that's all we needed. The silver lining? That he got to spend his exile in the snow with Tormund and Ghost.