Ranking The 20 Deaths of Game of Thrones Season 5

9. Maester Aemon

Since the arrival of the Targaryens during Aegon’s conquest in 2 BC, the family of dragons has been the one to run the board upon which the game of thrones is played. Anyone who has been in politics can tell you that in families, politics can get into the blood. It becomes an all-consuming sport, one that men and women will play until they’re on their death beds. Throughout hundreds of years of history, almost none walk away from it.

Except one. It’s a rare Targaryen who gets to die in bed, but Maester Aemon was a rare breed. He was a man with a claim to the Iron Throne, and the backing of a powerful faction. He could have easily staked his claim, stepped up to that great ugly Iron Chair, and taken a seat, and no one would have said boo. He might have even ruled wisely and well. But we’ll never know, because rather than fight his brother, Aemon took himself off the board. He voluntarily went to The Wall so as to never be tempted. In doing so, he left his family to their fate, but he also outlived them all by decades. The only way to live is not to play.