The Small Council: Who played the game of thrones best during Season 5?

Game of Thrones is about many things—war, history, nudity, etc.—but at bottom it’s about power: who’s got it, who wants it, and who knows how to use it. This theme wasn’t quite as prominent in Season 5 as it was in years past, but between Daenerys’ struggles with the Meereenese insurgency, Jon’s attempt to win the Night’s Watch over to his pro-wildling stance, and Cersei’s adventures in religious fundamentalism, there was plenty of gamesmanship to go around. This week, the writers will consider who played the game best.

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DAN: From where I’m sitting, there was only one character on Game of Thrones Season 5 who came out the other end of it having achieved pretty much all of his goals: Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish.

Littlefinger didn’t actually have a ton of screen time this year, but he spent every moment of it climbing that ladder he loves so much. And he didn’t start at the bottom, either. When the season began, he was already Warden of the East, the leader of a powerful force of knights and soldiers from the Vale. For most people, that might be enough, but not him.

Instead, Littlefinger started in on a scheme to expand his dominion. He manipulated Sansa, Roose Bolton, and Cersei until the Queen Regent promised to give him the Wardenship of the North, provided that he use his forces to take out the victor of the coming Bolton-Stannis smackdown. Hell, he even kissed Sansa full on the mouth, which was disgusting for the viewing audience but probably something he’d wanted to do for a while. The man’s a snake, but he has a knack for getting what he wants.

True, Littlefinger may have shot himself in the foot by helping Olenna put Cersei behind bars. If the Queen Regent is dead or imprisoned, her promise to make him Warden of the North doesn’t mean much, but this is just another example of Littlefinger going with the flow. Olenna was threatening to expose his role in Joffrey’s death, and if he had to forestall his plans for northern conquest to placate her, so be it. That kind of thinking is what makes Littlefinger so difficult to take down. Even if you throw a wrench into his plan, he’ll just adapt and start working on a new one.

Mind you, I’m really hoping that someone takes Littlefinger down, and soon, but I’m not sure who’s sly enough to pull it off.

KATIE: Loath as I am to agree with a fellow writer (only because I don’t want to be redundant), I have to say Littlefinger. Isn’t the answer to such questions always Littlefinger? I suppose the difference between me and Dan here is that oftentimes, I’m actually rooting for one Petyr Baelish to come out on top.

Now, I’m not the guy’s biggest fan. His betrayal of Ned Stark—while cunning and calculated—was a bit disheartening to me, and his constant macking on Sansa is just so Lolita that it makes me queasy (I’m not sure how old Sansa is supposed to be, but she’s still indisputably too young for him). Such personal objections aside, Littlefinger knows how to play this game, and I have to respect that. He knows what he wants, even if readers/viewers don’t, and he’s going for it. He knows how to play people, and he’s a master at positioning them to suit those needs; both Cersei and Olenna hold more political power than he does, and yet he’s the one manipulating them.

When it’s all said and done, Littlefinger is a superstar. He doesn’t make the best decisions for others — just look where he’s landed Sansa—but his real designs are on himself. I don’t think he’s after the Iron Throne, but he is after the sort of power that will allow him to influence the throne, and he’s achieving his goal. Everyone always says that Littlefinger is up to something, that he’s not to be trusted, but they all trust him enough for him to get his way. If they didn’t, few characters on the show would be where they are now.

Of course, I can’t imagine that he’ll win in the end, because everything has gone too smoothly for him thus far. Littlefinger betrayed the Starks, and I’ll be damned if all hell doesn’t break loose if Sansa eventually learns that he betrayed her father, especially since he’s assisting in her rise to power as well as his own. But even though it’s doubtful that he’ll make it to the series finale, for now Littlefinger has got it going on, and for now that’s all he needs.

ANI: Unlike last year, where there were clear cut winners (Olenna, who took out the entire Lannister family with a few drops of well-placed poison), this season has not gone well for anyone who is working hard at playing the game. Some notable failures include Margaery, who tried to emulate her grandmother but seriously overplayed her hand. Cersei thought she was doing well, until the beast she unleashed turned around and bit the hand that mistook itself for feeding it. Jon Snow wasn’t trying to be a player until Sam pushed him into it. His bid to play the game at a more meta-level and save Westeros didn’t go so well. And poor Sansa joined the game only to discover she was still only a pawn.

This was a year for the more minor characters to win at their own mid-level game playing. For instance, Grand Maester Pycelle might not have had a lot of screen time, but his decision to call Kevan after Cersei was arrested was a clear power move, as evidenced by him standing there at Kevan’s side as Cersei walked through the gate in the finale. Roose Bolton continued to cement his hold on Winterfell, if not the North, with a well-brokered marriage for his psycho son. And in the South, Doran successfully kept Dorne out of war (for the moment) while establishing his son as a power broker in King’s Landing.

But for me, the most successful player of the game this season was Sam. Though it didn’t end well, it was Sam’s scheming and research that put Jon Snow in power at the Wall, a move that added to Sam’s experience as someone who plays the game while trying to do good along the way. But when he saw the writing on the Wall, did Sam warn Jon and stay by his side? No. Sam may not have heeded Aemon’s ultimate lesson—the only way to survive the game and die in your bed is not to play—but he did hear Aemon’s advice to go south as soon as possible. As soon as Jon returned, Sam was already scheming to get himself, Gilly, and little Sam as far south as south goes without actually going to Dorne. Oldtown will be a different board with new players, but it will guarantee Sam warmth without furs, the ability to live with Gilly without fear of retribution or rape, and might even prepare him to defend Westeros when Winter finally arrives.

RAZOR: Great choices, one and all. Without a doubt, Littlefinger is probably the guy who plays the game of thrones the hardest, but he’s kind of an obvious pick. Both Cersei and Margaery clumsily tried to make their way across the board, and as Dan put it yesterday, Jaime just sneezed all over the pieces.

To me, the person who played the game of thrones best in Season 5 was Jon Snow. I know what you’re thinking: “How can a dude who got shanked by his bros at the end of the season have won anything, let alone a game of thrones?” Well, please allow me to elaborate before you decide to try and fit me for a tinfoil hat.

This isn’t the first we’ve seen a member of hapless House Stark (of which I am a card-carrying member) try and fail at something, yet still nearly succeed at playing the game of thrones. In Season 1, Ned was obviously in too deep, yet he played his best game, and lost his head for it. In Season 2, both Robb and Lady Catelyn attempted to advance House Stark’s direwolf across the board, and for the most part, their game was on point. However, to my great chagrin, Robb suffered from the Stark curse: he was overly trusting of those supposedly in service to him, and Lady Catelyn ended up being collateral damage when Houses Frey and Bolton teamed up to slaughter the King in the North’s army.

Enter the Bastard of Winterfell. As a member of the Night’s Watch, Jon seemed to be removed from the field of play altogether. For the most part, he served in anonymity, only acting at the behest of others. However, in Season 4, Jon began to hone his skills as a player, by double-crossing the wildlings, executing the deserters of the Night’s Watch at Craster’s Keep, and leading the defense of the Wall before ultimately treating with the King beyond the Wall, Mance Rayder. This all set him up to place his piece on the board in Season 5.

Season 5 of Game of Thrones opened with Jon practicing swordplay in the training yard of Castle Black. But why was he there training the new recruits, when Jon himself was a steward, not a ranger, and definitely not Castle Black’s Master at Arms? This was his first move in Season 5’s game of thrones, as he earned the respect of many of the men of the Night’s Watch through his continued action, a move that clearly and visibly annoyed his main opponents at the Wall, Alliser Thorne and Janos Slynt.

Jon continued to play the game when he tried to persuade Mance Rayder to bend his knee to Stannis. Sadly, he was unable to convince Mance to become a kneeler, and the wildling leader was put to the torch…where Jon intervened by putting him out of his misery. This was a major move by Jon, and it won him the begrudging respect of Tormund and the other wildlings in attendance at Mance’s execution. This move that would have major ramifications toward the end of the season.

When approached by Stannis to make yet another major move by accepting the title of Jon Stark, Lord of Winterfell, Jon declined, and unintentionally advanced his piece another space forward, as Sam saw the perfect opportunity to push his best friend into the position of Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch. Yet again, Jon found himself in the midst of a potentially huge game-changing decision, and this time he chose to accept the title being thrust upon him. This marked his debut as a major player of the game of thrones.

Later, as Lord Commander, Jon swallowed his pride, and his hatred for the Boltons, when he sent a raven to Winterfell asking for help in the form of weapons, supplies, and men for the Night’s Watch. This showed him to be savvier than someone like Cersei, a veteran of the game, who was willing to arm a fanatical sect of the Faith of the Seven just so she could carry out her personal grudge against the Tyrells, a decision that would eventually doom her.

Jon’s biggest move came during Episode 8, “Hardhome.” This move had been carefully planned by Jon, as evidenced by his meeting with the men of the Night’s Watch, when he asked for help to go save the wildlings before they were forced to join the army of the dead. He also convinced Stannis to lend him ships, ships he would use to save the same wildlings Stannis’ army had slaughtered just north of the Wall, and who had previously refused to join him in his bid to win the Iron Throne. Jon expertly maneuvered his piece past Stannis here, as those ships were a valued asset for anyone planning to take the Iron Throne by force. Also, Jon’s decision to execute Janos Slynt and elevate his enemy Alliser Thorne to First Ranger served to further his control over the board—Jon had moved his piece into the perfect position to win Season 5’s game of thrones.

Then the massacre at Hardhome happened, and Jon began to lose his grasp on power. Hardhome could have and should have solidified Jon’s place in the game, yet because of some poor choices, he ultimately failed.

Despite losing over half the wildlings to the Night’s King, Jon saved as many wildlings as he could. He bravely commanded both the men of the Night’s Watch and the wildlings at Hardhome to charge headlong into the teeth of the enemy’s front lines. He covered a breach in Hardhome’s wall and defeated many wights before doing something that no other human being save Sam had done in a thousand years: kill of a White Walker. Not only did he prove that the mysterious Others could be defeated by Valyrian steel, but he garnered the attention of the Night’s King himself. Again, this is where Jon seriously mismanaged things.

Jon had plenty of time to tell the other men of the Night’s Watch that he’d killed the White Walker. His story could have been corroborated by Edd Tollett and Tormund,  who were in the general vicinity…yet for all we know, Jon’s exploits were never discussed. Once at the Wall, Jon again missed the perfect opportunity to capitalize on the momentum of Hardhome, choosing instead to brood in his cups with Sam. And then there were his final moments. Whether he was distracted by his self-perceived failure at Hardhome, or his Stark blood blinded him to the maneuvering of Alliser Thorne, Jon allowed himself to be cornered without his sword, his friends, or his menacing direwolf Ghost. In the end, a poorly written sign and a lot of heavy foreshadowing from Olly were enough to bring down our favorite bastard.

While Jon started Season 5 somewhere board-adjacent, he slowly and surely strengthened his game. And just when things seemed to be coming up Jon, he allowed his blind trust in his fellow Night’s Watchmen to undue him. Had Jon properly managed his homecoming to the Wall, he would have been hailed as a hero and glasses would have been raised in his honor, instead of daggers in the dark.

Jon Snow may yet again be a major player in the game of thrones, as his resurrection remains a poorly guarded secret…or we are all being duped by HBO and Kit Harington is just in Belfast to hang with his pals in the cast. But, as far as Season 5 goes, Jon played a strong game, and in my opinion the best game, until his Stark blood got in his way, and he was betrayed. And now his watch is ended.

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• Published on 08/07/2015 at 3:00 PM CDT
• Last updated on 08/07/2015 at 3:12 PM CDT