The WiC Scale: Winners and Losers in the First Half of Game of Thrones, Season 5

Welcome to the WiC Scale, where we weigh the actions of our characters and determine who is up, who is down, and who is out. We’ll do this every week going forward, but as this is our first WiC Scale and we’re already halfway through Season 5, it seemed a good idea to take a look back and see how all our main characters have been doing thus far.

Let’s start with those riding high.

Up

• Cersei and the High Sparrow: Top of the list. A week or two ago it looked like Margaery was the Queen to beat in King’s Landing, but Cersei neatly turned the tables on her, not only causing her to lose her cool in front of her foolish child husband, but arresting her brother, carting off her father, and generally flinging herself to the top of the heap. I’m sure Cersei think Tywin would have done the same, but the truth is that Tywin would never have given so much power to a group as unpredictable as the Sparrows.
• Margaery: Despite being Bested by Cersei this week, the Queen is still up. She is still, after all, the Queen. Her husband still adores her and he’s about to be broken-hearted that she’s gone. Meanwhile, she has the true game of thrones MVP on speed dial, and she’s making a call…
• The Boltons: The Boltons are riding high, a fact we are reminded of every time those credits roll at the top of the show and their sigil appears on the clockwork Winterfell. Not only that, but they’ve secured the only living Stark known to be alive in Westeros as their prize, and although some believe Sansa will turn the tables on her new wardens, the fact of the matter is that in a patriarchy, women usually lose.
• Stannis: Moving up to the Wall really seems to have lit a fire under Stannis. He spent the better part of the last two seasons puttering around Dragonstone, but now he’s planning an attack on Winterfell and reconnecting with his daughter. He even got the biggest belly laugh of the show during “Kill the Boy.” “Fewer.” Yes Stannis, “fewer.” Heck, maybe Jon Snow should take some pointers….
• Jon Snow: I debated whether Jon was “up” or “Middling.” On the plus side, he’s Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch. On the minus side, half the Night’s Watch didn’t vote for him. On the plus side, he’s recognized that the enemy of the enemy would make a strong ally in the coming war against the White Walkers. On the minus side, everyone who didn’t hate him for being elected might hate him for reaching out to the wildlings. But he did get propositioned by Melisandre and chopped Janos Slynt’s head off, so all in all, he’s Up, but not as high as you might think.
• Lancel: the last of our positive characters, Lancel at first glance seemed to be on the down side of this list. His father hates him, he’s shaved his head and joined an order of nutters, and his old flame won’t even acknowledge their history. But last we saw him, he got a serious branding on the forehead (that’s going to be awkward at the next job interview) and seem to have a new purpose in life. Watch out world: here comes Lancel Lannister. He’s insane.

Middling

• Dany: A mother of dragons who keeps her babies locked away…at least the ones she could capture. Not much of a dragon queen. Until this week, Dany was on the downside, enduring loss after loss. But in “Kill the Boy,” she seemed to get her mojo back and found a way to use her dragons, even if she can’t actually, you know, let them out, or fly. That is, until she made the bizarre choice to propose marriage to a man she was going to burn alive not 24 hours earlier.
• Jaime and Bronn: Another pair who have been lucky so far. But as Bronn points out, they won’t be lucky for long. Jaime’s got ther most famous face in Westeros, and they’ve already been sold down the river. They might have survived their first fight in Dorne, but as Bronn says the only things to do there are “fighting and fookin.” Sadly for him, there doesn’t seem to be much of the latter on the menu. Bronn is definiately at risk to hit the Down list soon, if not the out one.
• Arya: Things certainly haven’t gone the way Arya expected in Braavos. To be fair, I’m not sure what she expected. Heck, I don’t think she knew what she expected. But she probably wasn’t expecting her coin to buy her an internship at The House of Black and White, LLC, a death and assisted suicide wholesaler. Still, she seems to be doing pretty well in the new position, and from the looks of next week’s trailer a promotion might be coming. No word on salary and benefits.
• The Dornish: I’m covering them as a collective, because so far they mostly have been presented as a herd. They came in riding on Oberyn’s reputation and a huge publicity campaign. Unfortunately, they reception has not been particularly warm. The Sand Snakes’ debut in a cheap Walmart tent didn’t help matters, and neither did Doran’s inability to swagger. We can hope they’ll improve next week (which looks to be all Dorne all the time) but right now, they’re mainly resting on past performance, which never indicates future earnings.
• Littlefinger and Sansa: Lots of people refuse to believe that littlefinger doesn’t know Ramsay’s reputation. Pish tosh. Who pays attention to the predilections of a bastard of a minor lord? The fact of the matter is that no one gossiped twice about Ramsay Snow. Therefore, Ramsay Bolton is an unknown entity, which means Littlefigner has no idea of the danger in which he left Sansa. She got a big clue this week, but is she fast enough to put the pieces together?
• Brienne: Our final entry in the Middle Department. Brienne, as a solider looking for a master, is the ultimate in Westerosi Middle management. Let’s hope when Sansa lights that candle Brienne responds fast and doesn’t get distracted by killing Stannis when she’s needed elsewhere.

Down

• Tommen: The new King had it all a couple of weeks ago, but following Cersei’s intervention he’s lost it all: the respect of his wife, the love of the people, and all the on-demand sex a 14-year-old boy could want. Poor Tommen.
• Varys: Where’s Varys? The show just abandoned him and his traveling box in Volantis after Jorah kidnapped Tyrion! Maybe he’ll find Gendry and the two can commiserate over being dropped from the scripts.
• Tyrion: You know things are bad when you all can say for a character is that at least he wasn’t drowned by stone men. Seriously, get the man a flask of wine and a new box to travel in. Long walks aren’t a good idea, especially when dwarf murder pays Lannister gold.
• Jorah: Everyone traveling to Meereen is down today, but none more so than Jorah, who’s got an exciting new terminal disease to deal with. When you’re that far down, you’re just waiting to land on the out list.

Out

• Mance: We come to praise Mance, not to bury him. Actually, wait we can’t bury him, as he was toasted.
• Janos: And high time too.  To his credit, he was almost given mercy when he begged for it.
• Barristan: The cruelest cut this season, Barristan the Bold is Dead. Long Live Barristan the Bold (in The Books).

• Published on 05/13/2015 at 5:00 PM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 1:04 PM CDT