The Worst Decisions Made by Every Major Game of Thrones Character

The characters of Game of Thrones often had to make hard decisions, and sometimes, these choices were great, but frequently, major decisions were made without thinking them through. A great example of this is Robb Stark’s decision to marry Talisa, as his decision to break a previous oath for love ultimately laid the groundwork for the Lannisters to unite the Boltons and Freys to overthrow the Starks in the North.

Robb Stark, as well as the rest of Game of Thrones‘ main characters, all made poor decisions at various points in their narrative, many of which completely changed the course of the series’ narrative. While many of these failures were innocent mistakes, any slip-up can prove deadly in Westeros and beyond, making blatantly bad choices a near-death sentence for those playing the titular Game of Thrones.

12. Sansa Stark’s Desperation Leads Her to Choose Bad Allies

For the first few seasons of Game of Thrones, Sansa Stark was a young, naive girl who made many mistakes early on in her journey. However, her worst mistake was confiding in Cersei Lannister that Ned would send her and Arya back North.

By telling the Queen, Sansa Stark accelerates Cersei’s plan to kill Robert and get rid of Ned in the process. Although the girl’s motives were innocent because she wanted to prevent being sent home, she unintentionally triggered the events that led to Ned’s arrest and eventual death.

11. Stannis Baratheon Makes a Heartbreaking Sacrifice That Precedes Doom

Many would probably say that Stannis Baratheon’s worst decision was listening to Melisandre since the Red Priestess seemed to make all major decisions for him. While there is truth to that, it was the sacrifice of his daughter Shireen that truly marked his downfall.

Aside from the morality issue with the immolation of Shireen, it accomplished nothing other than the extinction of his line. Shireen was his only daughter, and Stannis had no more heirs after her death. His wife committed suicide, and half of his camp abandoned him after witnessing this heartbreaking sacrifice. Additionally, Melisandre realized that he might not be “The Prince That Was Promised” and abandoned her champion immediately.

10. Jon Snow’s Honor Keeps Him From Taking Control of the North

Jon Snow is an honorable man who always wants to do the right thing, but sometimes, the seemingly right thing can turn out to be utterly wrong. When Stannis Baratheon offered to legitimize Jon Snow and name him the lawful son of Ned Stark, Jon should have accepted.

Yes, technically, he would have broken an oath, but he voluntarily went to the Night’s Watch, assuming he was a bastard with no future elsewhere. Additionally, if this had happened, Jon would have never been killed by his Night’s Watch brothers, would have likely saved Sansa from Ramsay much sooner, and would have been the heir to Winterfell as the oldest living male.

9. Robert Baratheon Erred in His Choice of Hand

Robert Baratheon was a terrible king but not a terrible human being. He loved Ned like a brother, and most could relate to his decision to make him his Hand, but in the end, Ned was a terrible choice. While it is important to have a Hand the King can trust, it’s even more important to have a Hand that is capable of maneuvering a snake pit like the court of the Red Keep.

Robert should have named Stannis his Hand. Stannis was serious enough for the job but also served on Robert’s council for a while and knew everyone in King’s Landing. Stannis would have prevented people like Littlefinger from manipulating everyone, and if he had found out the truth about Cersei’s children, he wouldn’t have hesitated to tell his brother, subsequently leading to Cersei’s death as a traitor.

8. Tywin Lannister Makes the Mistake of Gambling With an Equal

Tywin Lannister was an extremely smart and cunning leader with a ruthlessness to match. Tywin orchestrated many clever maneuvers to elevate his House, such as siding with Robert Baratheon to overthrow the Mad King, eliminating Robb Stark at the Red Wedding, and forcing Olenna to accept his proposal to marry Cersei to Loras.

But even a strategic mastermind will occasionally misjudge a situation, and in Tywin’s case, that mistake was the imprisonment of his son Tyrion. Tywin didn’t love his youngest son, but he knew Tyrion was smarter than his other two children. Giving Cersei the leverage to manipulate Tyrion’s trial led to Tywin’s downfall. Additionally, taking Shae to bed added further fuel to Tyrion’s rage.

7. Arya Gives Jaqen H’ghar the Wrong Names

Like Sansa, Arya was still quite young when she made her worst mistake in Game of Thrones, but given the circumstances, she should have known better. When Arya is in Harrenhal as Tywin’s cupbearer, she has three deaths granted by the mysterious Jaqen H’ghar.

However, instead of naming Tywin as her first name on her death wish list, she wastes her fortune on the Tickler and the man who caught her with Tywin’s letter. Naming Tywin would have given her brother Robb all the help he needed to succeed and weakened the Lannister influence significantly much earlier in the storyline.

6. Tyrion Lannister Makes a Critical Error in Strategy

For the first half of the show, Tyrion Lannister is just as brilliant as his father, Tywin. He masterfully weeded out the snakes from the Small Council and outmaneuvered his sister, Cersei, at almost every turn. However, once Tyrion became Hand to Daenerys Targaryen, he seemed to have lost most of his brain cells, presumably from drinking too much wine on his way to Mereen because afterward, he made mistake after mistake.

Tyrion’s worst mistake was sending Jon and his crew beyond the Wall to capture a Wight. Tyrion knew Cersei as well as anyone and would have known that Cersei wouldn’t care about the White Walkers. Additionally, this brought Daenerys north of the Wall, she lost her first dragon, and they wasted so much time marching two entire armies south just to treat with Cersei. Instead, they should have gone south to lay siege to King’s Landing.

5. Cersei Lannister’s Pride Hinders Common Sense

Cersei Lannister

The TV show version of Cersei Lannister was much smarter than her book counterpart, but she was still not nearly as smart as she believed herself to be. While Cersei possessed the necessary ruthlessness to take power whenever there was a chance to elevate her status, she often misjudged situations due to her pride, and the Tyrell situation was a prime example of that.

Cersei couldn’t bear the thought that the Tyrells could gain too much influence, especially after she witnessed Margaery’s manipulations on her son Joffrey, whom she clearly couldn’t control. But instead of taking a page out of her father’s book, she decided to get rid of the Tyrells altogether. By elevating the Faith Militant, Cersei didn’t just doom her House, which needed financial support, but also paved the way for her own arrest.

4. Robb Stark Becomes the Kinslayer That Lost the North

Robb Stark was forced to engage in war strategies and leadership without proper preparation. When Cersei and Joffrey arrested his father and demanded his appearance in court to swear fealty to Joffrey, Robb decided to follow suit, but in the company of 20,000 Northmen on his side. Eventually, this turned into a war against the Lannisters. While Robb made some ground with clever battle strategies and even captured Tywin’s heir, Jaime, his inexperience would eventually become his downfall. While his marriage to Talisa drove the final nail into his coffin, the execution of Rickard Karstark initiated the deep fall of House Stark.

The Karstarks are not only related to the Starks; they have one of the largest armies in the north. By beheading Rickard, Robb repelled his men, who left camp after their Lord’s death, effectively weakening Robb’s army. Robb’s bad decisions under pressure further divided his camp, creating an opening for those ambitious enough to act against him.

3. Catelyn Stark Allows the Heat of the Moment to Cloud Her Logic

Catelyn Stark received much criticism from the fans for her move to free Jaime and send him to King’s Landing in exchange for Sansa, but Catelyn’s biggest mistake was actually the arrest of Tyrion. Catelyn acted on an impulse that laid the ground for the attack on Ned in King’s Landing, and it fueled the fire between the Starks and the Lannisters.

Even if Tyrion was guilty of hiring an assassin to attempt to kill her son, Bran, it made no sense to act without her husband’s knowledge. Tyrion’s arrest pushed Jaime to attack Ned and his Northmen, and it motivated Tywin to move his forces against Robb.

2. Daenerys Targaryen’s Botched Strategy Ruins Her Chance at a Dynasty

Daenerys Targaryen

Many might believe that Daenerys Targaryen’s worst decision was to burn down King’s Landing, and while that was absolutely horrific, there was another way that could have saved her a lot of grief and prevented many of the events that transpired. Daenerys should never have gone north first. If she had stayed in Dragonstone and planned the siege of King’s Landing instead, she would have succeeded without succumbing to mad rage.

Instead of wasting time capturing a Wight, she could have marched her armies to the capital, surrounded the city, and used her three dragons to intimidate Cersei’s armies to lay down their swords. She wouldn’t have dealt with a battle-worn army, lost Missandei and Jorah, and could have gone north immediately afterward to help Jon with the southern army added to her forces.

1. Ned Stark Seals His Fate By Refusing to Play the Game

Ned Stark values truth and honor more than anything else and does whatever it takes to follow this moral code. Once in King’s Landing, he stumbles into one pitfall after the other. Ned made many mistakes in the capital, and revealing to Cersei that he knew her sons were not Robert’s children was one of the worst mistakes, leading to an accelerated death of the king and Joffrey’s quick ascension to the throne. But perhaps his worst mistake was not listening to Renly (or even Littlefinger) when they both urged him to act and seize Joffrey.

At this point in Game of Thrones, Robert had named him protector of the realm until Joffrey would come of age, and while Joffrey is actually not Robert’s son, it would have given Ned the much-needed time to maneuver. Even if he wanted Stannis to become King, he would have had the time to orchestrate this move properly. Instead, Renly left, and Littlefinger took his allegiance to a more pliable ally: the Lannisters.