Winter has officially come (and gone) on Game of Thrones.
The HBO fantasy epic wrapped up its final season with a shocking death, a few more plot twists, and some heart-wrenching goodbyes to fan favorite characters. The end of George R.R. Martin’s beloved series may not have pleased everyone, but it certainly delivered memorable moments on par with previous seasons — moments that have come to define the show and cement its greatness in the annals of television history. We’ll remember the story of Ice and Fire through these moments and the episodes that chronicled them.
Regardless of placement in the unfolding story of the seven kingdoms, this list stands as our definitive ranking of where the best episodes stack up. It also serves up 15 standalone greats that are capable of giving fans a taste of Thrones goodness whenever they need a quick hit. Here are our choices for the best Game of Thrones episodes.
Warning: There are spoilers ahead, and you won’t agree with all our picks (yet we’re pretty sure there are more than a few no-doubters). Let us know where we erred in the comments section.
15. “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” (Season 8, Episode 2)
The Story: The inhabitants of Winterfell await the impending battle against the Night King and his undead army.
Why It’s On This List: The second episode of Game of Thrones’ final season is a highlight in an otherwise disappointing run. With reunions out of the way and our main characters clued into the threat posed by the Night King, the show explored some pairing we’d been waiting to see for years. Sansa and Daenerys sitting down for a heart-to-heart, Arya and Gendry acting on their attraction to each other, Jaime answering for his crime against Bran? This episode gave us some emotional moments between fan favorites, but the most memorable came when Brienne of Tarth was knighted shortly before the battle of Winterfell began. Good luck watching without becoming a blubbering mess.
14. “Winter is Coming” (Season 1, Episode 1)
The Story: The series first episode introduces us to the Stark family, who guard the Northern territory of Westeros. The Starks are paid a visit by the King and his family after the death of Jon Arryn, the former Hand of the King, while across the Narrow Sea, exiled prince Viserys Targaryen and his sister Daenerys plot to overthrow the current king.
Why It’s On This List: Not only were we introduced to the main players of the game — the Starks, the Baratheons, the Lannisters, and the Targaryens — we were teased with the history of the Seven Kingdoms and the coming conflict between families through symbolism and imagery steeped in Martin’s text. Benioff and Weiss managed to satisfy book fans and newbies alike with a faithful adaptation that introduced exciting new elements to a beloved story.
13. “Home” (Season 6, Episode 2)
The Story: The Wildlings, led by Tormund Giantsbane, storm Castle Black and overthrow Alliser Throne and his band of mutineers before Davos pleads with Melisandre to resurrect Jon Snow. Meanwhile, Bran and the Three-Eyed Raven delve into memories of the past, particularly of Ned Stark’s youth and his relationship with his sister, Lyanna.
Why It’s On This List: “Home” does a decent job of delaying Jon Snow’s fate until the very end while also sprinkling in some Stark history through Bran’s visions that will become even more important as the season goes on. It also gave fans a much-needed win. <GoT die-hards are used to saying goodbye to beloved characters on the show, but “Home” proved the writers weren’t total sadists who just gleefully mock our pain each week.
12. “The Laws of Gods And Men” (Season 4, Episode 6)
The Story: Following the death of King Joffrey, Cersei and Tywin put Tyrion on trial, accusing him of poisoning his nephew and committing regicide.
Why It’s On This List: Plenty of important plot points were revealed during this episode — Stannis’ bid to the Iron Bank, Daenerys’ inability to control her growing dragons, Yara’s attempted rescue of Theon at Winterfell — but none felt as show-altering as Tyrion’s trial. Part of that is because it pitted a family against itself, culminating in decades’ worth of tension being spewed in front of all of King’s Landing, but mostly, this episode stands out thanks to Peter Dinklage and his magnificent, angst-filled monologue that felt seasons in the making. Tyrion is a fan-favorite on the show, and Dinklage has put in the work to make him so. This episode felt like a kind of reward for the actor’s labor, and we got to gleefully watch as Tyrion eviscerated his family members for the prejudice, greediness, and idiocy before ultimately stripping them of their power and deciding to let the gods determine his fate. Dinklage deserves every Emmy he’s ever won, solely because of that performance.
11. “Fire And Blood” (Season 1, Episode 10)
The Story: House Stark is left reeling after the execution of Eddard Stark in King’s Landing. Across the sea, Daenerys mourns her husband and “births” her dragons.
Why It’s On This List: Most people remember the previous episode, “Baelor,” as the highlight of the season after the show, in a daring move, killed off its main protagonist, Ned Stark. But the season’s follow-up, “Fire And Blood,” felt equally monumental. Not only were we introduced to Robb Stark as the defiant force that would move the action forward come season two, but a promise was finally followed through on. That’s right, dragons are real, and we get our first glimpse of them, and the power of Daenerys Targaryen, before the episode closes.
10. “And Now His Watch Is Ended” (Season 3, Episode 4)
The Story: Daenerys completes her deal with the slaver, Kraznys, buying 8,000 Unsullied for the price of one dragon.
Why It’s On This List: Daenerys makes an ill-advised decision, going against the better judgment of her male advisors and coming out on top after revealing how terribly her enemies underestimated her and making them pay for that mistake with their lives. “And Now His Watch Is Ended” took pains to flesh out the kind of leader Daenerys would grow to be — a woman capable, defiant, with her own sense of justice and morality. Watching her command her dragons, wielding awesome power while also offering slaves their freedom and the choice of whom to serve, this was a turning point for the show.
9. “The Lion and the Rose” (Season 4, Episode 2)
The Story: King Joffrey and Margery’s marriage celebration ends in tragedy.
Why It’s On This List: Remember what we said about shocking deaths? Well, sometimes that’s all you need to make an episode truly great. If anything else happened during “The Lion and the Rose,” we wouldn’t know about it. That’s because the main focus of this episode is on King Joffrey, a horrible boy and the easy-to-despise villain of the show’s first few seasons. He spent years torturing Sansa, exploiting his privilege, terrorizing his uncle, and just being an all-around douchebag. There’s no guilt in admitting you enjoyed watching the kid croak, people.
8. “The Winds of Winter” (Season 6, Episode 10)
The Story: Cersei is declared Queen after she murders the High Sparrow, Margery Tyrell, and a host of other nobles using wildfire, a massacre that causes King Tommen to commit suicide. Bran discovers the truth of Jon Snow’s lineage in a vision while across the sea, Daenerys makes Tyrion the new “Hand of the Queen” and sets sail for the Seven Kingdoms.
Why It’s On This List: The end of season six felt like a mad rush to the finish, a race to pull storylines that had been separated for years, together. Sansa and Jon reunite with Jon taking on a new leadership role, one that finally makes him a worthy player in the game of thrones. Cersei ruthlessly dismisses her enemies using wildfire, ensuring her own reign — something the show had been building to for seasons. The Easter egg Martin had planted way back when is put into play when Bran discovers the truth about Jon’s heritage, and Daenerys finally sets sail for Westeros — all events the show had been building up to for years, events that set the wheels into motion for season seven. The hype was real and, judging by “The Winds of Winter,” it was deserved.
7. “The Door” (Season 6, Episode 5)
The Story: North of the Wall, Bran is touched by the Night King in a vision, giving away the location of the Three-Eyed Raven and the Children of the Forest.
Why It’s On This List: No one does shocking twists quite like George R. R. Martin, but we doubt anyone was prepared for the emotional rollercoaster of season six, episode five’s “The Door.” It was a fitting farewell to a character that largely existed in the background of the bigger story, but it was done in a way that furthered the plot and elevated the stakes of the show. Bran’s visions, up until this point, have been used as teasers for the audience, a way for fans to gain more information, have their theories proven or disproven, and aid predictions for future seasons, but “The Door” reminded us that the boy’s supernatural abilities come at a terrible cost.
6. “The Mountain and the Viper” (Season 4, Episode 8)
The Story: Tyrion’s trial by combat commences with Oberyn Martell serving as his champion. Oberyn uses the fight as an opportunity to force Ser Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane to admit to raping and murdering his sister on Tywin’s orders.
Why It’s On This List: This battle was small in scale, but the show squeezed every drop of development and plot it could from the fight. Oberyn Martel (Pedro Pascal) was a mysterious character introduced early in the season, one who clearly had his own motivations and reasons to hate the Lannisters. It wasn’t surprising when he offered to fight for Tyrion — it served his own ends — or when he dominated most of the battle with The Mountain. What was shocking was how blinded by vengeance that Oberyn was, and how that resulted in one of the most gruesome deaths in the show’s history.
5. “Blackwater” (Season 2, Episode 10)
The Story: King Stannis’ army invades Blackwater Bay.
Why It’s On This List: “Blackwater” marked one of the first major battles on Game of Thrones. The show needed a larger budget to accommodate all the action, but it still managed to focus on specific characters, showing the terrible cost of war through the eyes of infantrymen, the women left behind, and main players like Tyrion, Davos, and Stannis. Tyrion came into his own this episode, rallying his men and stepping into a leadership position for the first time while Cersei exhibited how ruthlessly pragmatic she could be by planning the murder of her children should the city fall. It took the conventional formulaic method for on-screen battle and kicked it up a notch.
4. “The Rains of Castamere” (Season 3, Episode 9)
The Story: King Robb and his army celebrate the marriage of Edmure Tully and Walder Frey’s daughter.
Why It’s On This List: This episode, alternately titled “The Red Wedding” might be the single most memorable episode of the entire series. Fans and non-fans alike have watched it, it’s been memed, GIFed, joked about on late night talk shows. It marked a turning point in the series, showing the kind of betrayal possible, the lengths men will go to for power, pettiness, and revenge. It killed off main characters we had been with for seasons in the most brutal, gruesome way. It was heartbreaking, beautifully acted, and one of the most outstanding hours of television we’ve seen in a while. In other words, don’t you dare question why it’s on this list.
3. “Hardhome” (Season 5, Episode 8)
The Story: Jon Snow faces off against the Night King.
Why It’s On This List: Jon Snow tries to seek an alliance, building bridges between those north and south of the wall because he knows the threat the Night King poses. We get a taste of that threat with “Hardhome” as a seemingly endless army of wights reign terror down on the men and women who refuse to join forces with the Night’s Watch. The action and special effects are awe-inducing, but nothing on this show has felt more ominous than watching the Night King revive the dead while staring down a defeated, understandably terrified Jon Snow before the screen fades to black. It’s the first time fans realized the “good guys” or at least the living one, might not win this war.
2. “The Dragon and the Wolf” (Season 7, Episode 7)
The Story: Jon Snow and Daenerys head to King’s Landing to seek an alliance with Cersei.
Why It’s On This List: “The Dragon and the Wolf” was the culmination of years of storylines, shocking character deaths, plot twists, and story-shaping reveals. It saw all of our favorite characters sharing the screen for the first time — powerful men and women who, up until now, had been sworn enemies, being forced to make alliances for survival. It surprised us by upending a confrontation that had been building all season between Arya and Sansa, and instead giving fans a needed victory with the death of Littlefinger. And it introduced the main conflict that will drive much of season eight, the threat of the Night King now that he has a dragon of his own. It was, in a word, epic, which is why it ranks so high on this list.
1. “Battle of the Bastards” (Season 6, Episode 9)
The Story: Jon Snow battles Ramsay Bolton for control of Winterfell.
Why It’s On This List: The “Battle of the Bastards” marked the first time the show gifted fans true medieval warfare. The scale of the episode alone is mind-blowing — 25 days to shoot 500 extras with 600 crewmembers and 70 horses. It’s the kind of thing you’d see in a multi-million-dollar blockbuster, not on TV, and yet Weiss and Benioff managed to highlight the internal struggles of the characters involved — Jon’s reluctance to go to war, his grief at Rickon’s death, Davos and Tormund’s loyalty, and Sansa’s own need for revenge — so that the action never overwhelmed the plot. It’s a hard thing to do, so we’re giving credit where credit is due.
