The penultimate episode of Game of Thrones has left many fans uncomfortable with the depiction of two leading female characters.
As the HBO series geared up for its final ever outing (the trailer for which you can see here), Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) took the matter of the Iron Throne into her own hands – and seemingly swapped personalities with Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) in the process.
Losing Ser Jorah, Missandei and Rhaegal - as well as her claim to the throne – has left viewers fearful that the writers were planning on undoing the character’s empowering seven seasons, and it turns out for good reason: after Lannister forces surrendered to the Dragon Queen, she took Missandei’s final word literally and burnt king’s Landing to the ground.
The scenes were witnessed in terror by Tyrion, Arya and Jon Snow, but also by Cersei from the Red Keep. The villainous character watched on in tears as thousands of innocent civilians were murdered by Daenerys.
While Cersei’s tears were no doubt because her time as ruler of the Seven Kingdoms was up – and not due to the loss of life - the episode did dedicate a remarkable chunk of time making viewers feel bad for her.
Viewers pointed out that, up until now, Cersei has been the most merciless character on the series and to humanise her in a bid to bring Daenerys down is a problematic move – especially when Dany was doing a good job of vilifying herself.
Headey has revealed she felt "mixed" about her character's death scene in a brand new interview following the broadcast of the episode.
You can find a ranking of every character – from worst best – here and the same for every episode below.
The show will be available on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV in the UK.
