12 Most Annoying Game Of Thrones Characters, Ranked

Over its eight-season run, HBO's "Game of Thrones" introduced viewers to an impressive array of heroes and villains, scoundrels and septas, knights and wights. And while many of them were compelling, entertaining and/or aspirational... some of them were downright annoying.  

We've gone through the fantasy series' characters and singled out the characters that grated, ticked us off, and/or made us wish they'd meet a grisly end. But who among the weasels of Westeros and idiots obsessed with the Iron Throne earned a place on the list? Well, what are you waiting for, a raven? Get scrolling! 

There's no question that Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) went through some harrowing experiences during her time on "Game of Thrones," but there were plenty of occasions where the oldest Stark daughter had the chance to side with her family... yet didn't. In the first season, Sansa's focus was on becoming a princess, no matter how that affected the Starks. Unfortunately, that dream quickly turned into a nightmare, and Sansa became a hostage. Sansa sharpened a bit under the unsettling eye of Littlefinger (Aidan Gillen) near the series' end, but her understanding of the power at play came all too late. 

Sean Bean's Ned Stark?! Annoying?! Nearly inconceivable! He was the hero who did everything he could to blow the whistle on Joffrey Baratheon's (Jack Gleeson) true heritage in Season 1 of "Game of Thrones." He's one of the best characters on the show! But that's precisely why he was so annoying: He failed at almost all of the above because he was too darn honest about what he discovered. 

It's clear that Ned was a sacrificial lamb to establish just what kind of story George R.R. Martin was aiming to tell — a tale where heroes die and villains not only succeed but thrive until the very end. Many of those wrongdoers likely would've seen a swifter dose of justice had Ned played them at their own game.

It's not like he was a rookie, either. Seasoned by war and carrying secrets of his own, Ned should've been smarter when he went to King's Landing at the end of Season 1. Instead, he showed his whole hand to Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), and it cost him his head and ripped his family apart as a result. Cersei was right — in the game of thrones, you either win or you die, and Ned was on a losing streak the second he left Winterfell. Let's just be grateful his kids were a little sharper than he was.

Bran the Broken? More like Bran the Boring, am I right? Firstly, we need to make it clear that there was nothing wrong with Isaac Hempstead Wright's performance as the Three-Eyed Raven-in-the-making. Since his first trip out the window in the "Game of Thrones" debut episode, it was clear that Bran was meant for big things, and he certainly managed to reach some of those monumental moments. Learning how Hodor (Kristian Nairn) got his name, giving warging the occasional go, and learning about Jon Snow's real mother were pivotal — and frankly, cool — moments that blew audiences' minds. It's the rest of the stuff that quickly made Bran one of the most unlikeable guys in Westeros.

The ability to see from across time is a nifty little trick that made Bran a great candidate to rule the Seven Kingdoms. But he revealed what he saw through iffy explanations that demanded a lot more clarity. Being a cryptic, all-seeing individual is helpful, but only when everyone around you knows what the heck you're talking about! Bran would've been a better maester than a king, instead of stealing Jon's well-deserved spot and giving us a monarch we never wanted.

Making her debut in Season 5, The Waif (Faye Marsay) didn't do much more than exist as a hurdle for Arya (Maisie Williams) to overcome. A basic-level bully at the House of Black and White, The Waif spent most of her screen time scowling at Arya, when she could've done so much more.

Aside from being a paint-by-numbers nemesis for the younger Stark daughter, The Waif brought very little to test Arya. More importantly, though, she often showed everything the Faceless Men opposed. She was jealous of her rival's growing success and displayed visual levels of anger to Jaqen H'gharr's (Tom Wlaschiha) newest recruit. And for a dedicated underling belonging to an order that showed no emotion, The Waif regularly let her feelings get the better of her... right until she was dispatched by Arya in a predictable and pretty lackluster exit for the character.

Competing with King Joffrey for the most fan ire heaped on a character, Olly (Brenock O'Connor) was the short-lived, back-stabbing little scamp who became a Night's Watch recruit. Initially taking the black after Wildlings left his village in ruin, Olly was taken under the wing of Jon Snow; he eventually became Snow's squire. Olly's point of view on his new Lord Commander took a drastic turn when the new leader of the Night's Watch backed a truce with the enemy. It was enough for Olly to join those who were against Jon and be among the last mutineers to stab him to death and suffer the consequences when he was brought back to life shortly after. 

Given how he was someone who had a better reason than most to turn on Jon, having a bit more time for Olly to voice his concerns (instead of being a teary-eyed twerp with a sword) would've perhaps made him a character we could relate to — or, at least, be a bit less annoyed by. Doing so might've made us a little less glad to see the back of him when he met the rope along with the rest of the band of backstabbers. 

Sisters can be catty, but none more so than Lysa Arryn (Kate Dickie), the deluded and mildly deranged sibling of Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley). Stuck-up and slightly psychotic, the Tully girl who was besotted with Petyr Baelish was the Miss Havisham of Westeros. Cooped up in the Eyrie, she kept her distance from the blood-soaked goings on between House Stark and House Lannister, even though her actions sparked the familial fallout to begin with. As a result, she was a nuisance as much as her son was.

Lysa's return in Season 4 brought with it a bland and predictable motive that turned her into another character who needed to be scratched off the list, and her trip through the moon door couldn't come quickly enough.

"My friends at the court will not allow this!" Yeah, sure. Pipe down, Slynt. We all remember him, right? Former Commander of the City's Watch in King's Landing and a top-level a-hole brought to life by Dominic Carter? Janos Slynt was as arrogant and corrupt as the rest of the horrible bunch that kissed the Lannister family ring. A rat in a gold cloak, his unlikeability was built on his unwavering belief that he actually had connections and a name worth carrying around the capital ... until it wasn't.

Name-dropping wherever he could and crossing the wrong Hand of the King, it was thanks to Tyrion that Slynt found himself dragged off to the Night's Watch, where, you'd hope, like a lot of people, he'd perhaps rethink a few things and do some good in the North. Instead, he somehow managed to get himself a seat at the table next to the then-Lord Commander Allister Thorne (Owen Teale), until Jon replaced him. Believing he still held sway, he disobeyed a direct order from Jon, which cost him his head.

Ultimately, Slynt was another worm that desperately needed to be removed. His time on the show might've gone on longer than was necessary, but his eventual sniveling pleas up until his execution were a testament to just how pitifully unbearable he was.

When audiences were first introduced to Robin Arryn (Lino Facioli), he was another alarming piece of evidence of how backward some parts of the Seven Kingdoms were. Still being breastfed by his mother and trapped in the Eyrie-shaped bubble she kept him in, he was another shining example of how messed up some kids with big titles were. That, however, is the extent of what the little lord delivered on the show, besides constantly asking to make people fly and pestering his mother for another (shiver) drink.

After Tyrion and Bronn (Jerome Flynn) walked out of the Vale in one piece, it would be a few seasons before we'd return to House Arryn and its future lord. It was a good thing that was the case, as even years later, in Season 4, he was even more of a dope than when we last saw him. Puppeteered by Littlefinger, who had become even more powerful, Robin was out of his depth in comparison to the younger generations from other houses that were forced to join the war of the Seven Kingdoms, or the supernatural threat that was at risk of wiping them all out.

There are plenty on this list who need a swift backhand, which is why this cast-off from House Greyjoy is so high on the list. Debuting with all the presence of a school bully's lackey, Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen) was all bark and no bite, and became a character in whom the show invested far too much time. From his treachery against House Stark to his transformation into Ramsay Bolton's (Iwan Rheon) lapdog, Theon, aka Reek, became a punching bag; no matter how many hits he took, his story never got any more interesting. Theon, instead, became ancillary to other stories with more fascinating characters, making any time he appeared a struggle. Ramsay, Yara Greyjoy (Gemma Whelan), and Sansa Stark had better plot lines than the one that Theon was dragged through, right up until his noble last stand against the Night King — which hit with little impact at all.

Many characters in HBO's epic fantasy series underwent character arcs that transformed them from self-centered villains to questionable heroes, but Theon's felt the most excruciating and ineffective. It took losing his genitals and being tortured within an inch of his life for him to learn that he had been a pretty nasty dude, but his mission of redemption felt less for his own gain and more to stay in the good books of the ones he turned his back on. Theon may have died as a man in "Game of Thrones" Season 8, but there really wasn't anything to the Starks' ward, no matter how much time was wasted on him.

Coming in with immense "Do you know who my father is?" energy, Viserys Targaryen (Harry Lloyd) was another royal pain who, like some others on this list, was totally out of his depth. The self-professed "Dragon," who was living a lie, pressed all the wrong buttons in just the right way, which made his eventual demise so massively rewarding. Selling his sister Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) to the Dothraki as though she were property and having no issue with what the future held for her, Viserys felt like he was cut from the same royal cloth as Joffrey Baratheon, but was much further down the pecking order. It was this deluded mindset that made him such an annoying little pest, and almost eye-roll worthy when he thought he could dare negotiate with Jason Momoa's growling, scowling horse lord, Khal Drogo.

Watching Viserys trying to talk down a tribe of battle-hardened, noble, and war-tested warriors felt almost farcical. These scenes made you wish that he'd just pipe down and let his sister; her devoted and permanently friend-zoned protector, Ser Jorah (Iain Glen); or literally anyone else do the talking instead. Let's just be grateful that Khal Drogo instead found a crown for the kingly contender in one of the show's most jaw-dropping moments.

Petyr Baelish, also known as Littlefinger, wasn't always annoying. When "Game of Thrones" started, he was the chief schemer who played all sides and talked about chaos being a ladder; he was a villain you couldn't help but admire. Watching him and Lord Varys (Conleth Hill) operate a different game from everyone else was great at first. The problem was that, as the show went on, his mustache-twirling became almost as unbearable as his accent.

Aidan Gillen has admitted to changing his accent as the show progressed. The choice, according to an interview with Den of Geek, reflected Littlefinger's growing rise to power. Baelish reached almost Disney-levels of despicable and spoke in extravagant whispers, which, as more interesting characters took over, turned the lord who was hung up on Stark women borderline embarrassing.

Had he not become a caricature, Littlefinger might not have become so annoying. Instead, his swift exit at the hands of Arya Stark couldn't have come a moment sooner. Littlefinger was right: Cthaos really was a ladder. It's just a shame he became more annoying the further up he climbed.

Factoring in everyone that lived and died during our first televised trip into the Seven Kingdoms, none of them enraged audiences as much as the Young Usurper, Joffrey Baratheon, masterfully brought to life through a malicious performance from Jack Gleeson. Making his debut on the show along with the rest of the young stars that would become known around the world, Gleeson's turn as the bastard Baratheon embodied every element that marked not just a true villain, but the perfect example of a weasel in a position of power. Joffrey was petty, cruel, and above all, cowardly; every time he got a reality check was a moment of catharsis, right up until his almost eye-popping exit after consuming a slice of very humble pie.

Setting teeth on edge for 26 episodes, Joffrey was just flat-out loathsome, with no redeeming qualities. "Any man who must say, 'I am the king' is no true king," his grandfather, Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance), once advised. However, that didn't stop Joffrey from regularly referring to himself as such until his eventual demise, which was one of show creator D.B. Weiss' favorite deaths. Later, Iwan Rheon's Ramsay Bolton might've taken over as the show's main bad guy, but Joffrey kept the crown as the most punchable character in all of "Game of Thrones."