【Dear Utol (2025): Fake Orgasm Episode 44】

The Dear Utol (2025): Fake Orgasm Episode 44Game of Thrones power rankings determines which character is most likely to sit on the Iron Throne at the end of the series next year: not the power behind it, but actually rulingas King or Queen of Westeros. Our judgment is based on information officially available at the end of each episode.

You can read the rankings for last week's episode, "Eastwatch,"here.  

That earthquake you felt in "Beyond the Wall," Season 7's penultimate episode, was the power balance shifting on the continent of Westeros -- in the Night King's favor.

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Dragons have always been Game of Thrones' stand-in for weapons of mass destruction -- and in that sense, the White Walkers just became the fantasy world's second nuclear power. And unlike Daenerys, the Night King will not have the slightest compunction about dropping the bomb.

SEE ALSO: 'Game of Thrones' fans still have a single, burning question about that scene in 'Beyond the Wall'

Let's take a look at how that shift has affected the race for the Iron Throne. Here are this week's 10 most likely occupants:

10. Euron Greyjoy (-2)

In Westeros, Euron is still stuck off the coast of Casterly Rock, heading for a potential showdown with Grey Worm, becoming steadily less important to the story as the story continues to ignore him.

Here in the real world, Euron actor Pilou Asbaek has confirmed his character's attendance at the forthcoming show-and-tell with Wights that Jon Snow hopes to use to persuade Cersei to end the war.

Which means Euron gets one more chance to extract a promise of marriage from Cersei, which means there's just enough hope that the Iron Islander can stay in the running for the Iron Throne. But at this stage in the narrative, it would reallybe a stretch to put the mad pirate king we only met last season in charge at the end.

9. Arya Stark (new entry)

When she killed Walder Frey and declared her intent to kill Cersei, we raised the possibility that Arya could literally sit on the throne by taking the Queen's face. Now that she has explicitly threatened to do the same to Sansa -- skin her face and rule in her stead -- we know it's possible.

However insane that might be, it is one way the show could end. And it would give the girl who is no one a reason to be carrying around that big bag o' faces.

8. Petyr Baelish (+1)

Okay, so Littlefinger has got quite a bit of enmity going between the Stark sisters. That one tense scene was enough to raise him one rung on this particular chaos ladder.

But Arya didn't follow through on her threat to Sansa, and handed Sansa the knife instead. This was the Valyrian dagger that Littlefinger gave to Bran who gave it to Arya. And now Arya has given it to Sansa, who may well now use it to teach Littlefinger a lesson about sisterhood.

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The idea of clever Lord Baelish being killed by his own blade seems too deliciously ironic for the story to resist.

7. Sansa Stark (-1)

Sansa may have somewhat kept her cool with Arya, but it's still a poor showing for her first real crisis as Lady of the North. If Littlefinger can effectively manipulate you into sending one of your top loyal lieutenants away -- as Sansa sent Brienne to King's Landing -- you're probably not the kind of game player who can win the Iron Throne just yet.

6. Jaime Lannister (+1)

Absent this week, Jaime is merely rising because a couple of other players fell. We still have very little evidence that he's likely to take charge of events rather than react to them. So how is he ever going to take the throne from his sister? Still, Jaime has the best claim of any Lannister to sit on that thing, and that may yet count for something.

5. Cersei Lannister (unchanged)

Also absent this week, Queen Cersei is the least affected by the looming disaster north of the Wall. At next week's meeting in the Dragonpit to discuss the White Walkers, she may yet drop some treachery upon enemies who arrived under the flag of truce. But we know that doing so would simply hasten her own end at the hands of the threat from the North. Call it a wash for now.

4. Daenerys Targaryen (unchanged)

The dragon queen's arc this season has been all about highs and lows; wins and losses; the benefits of power (you get a shot at "breaking the wheel" of the bad old days) and the ways in which it corrupts (you see potential treachery everywhere).

"Beyond the Wall" was only different in the sense that Dany's losses were greater -- RIP Viserion -- but so were her victories. She won Jon Snow's fealty, in theory, and she acquired a wight that may persuade Queen Cersei to join forces against the Night King. She's also now oh-so-painfully aware of what the real threat to her is.

This is a vital lesson that may yet turn the war. But given that Dany just effectively handed a nuke to that selfsame real threat, such lessons don't move her up the power rankings just yet.

3. Jon Snow (-2)

After the events of "Beyond the Wall," there's an argument for taking Jon out of the power rankings altogether. Didn't he charge into danger like an idiot once again? Didn't he just effectively resign his position as King in the North, bending a metaphorical knee to Dany from his sickbed?

Ah yes, but she also became far more likely to rule with him as a consort and potential successor. If the name of next week's episode is any indication, the two just became very likely to hook up. Plus Jon just became guy most likely to bring more dragons into the world -- and there is that small matter of him actually being the legitimate Targaryen heir.

SEE ALSO: All hail King Jon Targaryen, first of his name: Why you should support Jon Snow for the Iron Throne

2. The Night King (+2)

The leader of the White Walkers just acquired one of the three most powerful weapons in Westeros. We don't yet know exactly how an Ice Dragon will work, but we know it isn't good. It may even be powerful enough to cancel out Westeros' one defense against Wights, the Wall.

That said, we also now understand the Night King has a fatal flaw to rival that of the Death Star. Kill his leadership, himself included, and the undead they personally raised die with them. Stop him and you stop the entire invasion.

Then again, no one has come close to stopping him yet -- not even Dany, who could have burned the Night King with three dragons while she had the chance. Now one of those dragons is defending him, no one may ever get that chance again.

1. No One (+1)

Up until now, we've defined this outcome in relation to the potential death and destruction that may rain down on King's Landing in the form of fire and ice. If the Throne room and the city are ruined and buried under snow, as in Dany's season 2 vision, then it doesn't matter whose corpse sits on the Iron Throne.

But another possible "no one" outcome, a surprisingly happy one, was suggested in "Beyond the Wall." Tyrion tentatively suggested that Daenerys' successor could be chosen the same way the Iron Islanders and the Night's Watch chose their leaders -- that is, by election.

Dany may not be into the idea just yet, but Jon Snow -- himself chosen by election and acclamation -- could easily go for it. What if one or the other or both of them were to act as the last King or Queen of Westeros, remaining childless, refusing to name successors, focusing on ushering in a fledgling republic to succeed them?

In that case, the show may fast-forward to the end of their reign (the "Promise of Spring" that George R.R. Martin plans to use as the title for his final book) to show us an Iron Throne that is unloved, unnecessary, and maybe even demoted to the crypt along with all those dragon skulls.

It would be the best redecoration decision Westeros ever made.

Topics Game Of Thrones