The characters in Game of Thrones live in a terrifying world. With no modern conveniences or comforts, they live short, violent lives in a world where villains like Cersei Lannister and Qyburn occupy high positions of power and war is endemic. Beyond the human terrors, there are dragons and Stone Men in the East, and White Walkers in the North.
Despite the horrifying nature of their lives, some characters in Game of Thrones go beyond mere bravery in standing up to their enemies and monsters and into sheer fearlessness, showing no hesitation regardless of what seemingly unbeatable foe they may be faced with.
10 Melisandre Spends Her Whole Life Preparing For The White Walkers
Introduced in Season 2, the sorceress priestess of the Lord of Light, Melisandre, is one of the few characters outside the Night’s Watch to believe in the threat of the White Walkers from the start, proclaiming them to be servants of the ‘Great Other’ her god is in eternal combat with.
Despite her frequent proclamation that “the night is dark and full of terrors,” Melisandre seems immune to those terrors herself, spending her life calmly searching for the one who can beat them back. The only time in the series she shows fear is when Davos threatens her with execution for burning Shireen Baratheon.10 SecThe Worst Naruto Villains Ranked By Power Level
9 Yara Greyjoy Laughs In The Face Of Danger
The Ironborn have a strange culture that glorifies raiding and considers death by drowning or in combat to be the finest way to die. Fear is one of the many things considered shameful and undignified to them, and they’re expected not to show it.
Living in the extremely patriarchal and sexist culture of the Iron Islands, Yara has to embody their values even more than normal to earn respect, and she more than manages. Even when plotting rebellion against her uncle, who has already defeated her once, Yara is unafraid. The only time in the series she shows fear is when she sees how thoroughly Ramsay Bolton has broken Theon.
8 Bronn Of The Blackwater Has One Reasonable Exception
Serving a number of masters who use him for his combat expertise, Bronn initially shows his fearlessness when aiding Catelyn Stark in escorting Tyrion to the Eyrie, showing no hesitation in the face of the Mountain Clan raiders who unnerve most of his companions.
Throughout the series, Bronn doesn’t flinch when faced with a fully armored knight, Stannis Baratheon’s enormous army on the Blackwater, or even a possible fight with the Hound, one of the most feared warriors in the world. The only thing that does make him show fear is when he refuses to continue to fight alongside the Lannisters against Daenerys’s dragons.
7 Varys Marches Calmly To His Own Execution
Throughout Game of Thrones, Varys is a constant figure playing his own game against nearly every other figure in the series. While ostensibly assisting the Lannisters for much of the War of the Five Kings, he spends his entire time a secret traitor, slowly preparing the Seven Kingdoms for Targaryen rule.
Despite committing treason every day against a king known for his viciousness, Varys is collected and seemingly wholly in control in his dealings with the other figures in King’s Landing who would love to see him removed. Even when sentenced to execution by dragonfire by the Queen he serves, Varys shows little fear, only hoping that he is wrong about her. The only thing that ever makes him show fear is magic, which he associates with a traumatic childhood mutilation.
6 Jorah Mormont Never Breaks When He Fights For Daenerys
Few fans would accuse Jorah Mormont of being an entirely collected man when it comes to his emotions. On occasion, he is prone to irritation and unnecessary anger. He even betrays Daenerys Targaryen whilst falling in love with her.
Nonetheless, when it comes to battle, especially when fighting for Daenerys, Mormont is fearless. One of the best showings is at the end of Season 1 when he, an aging knight, faced off against one of the deadliest warriors in the world’s deadliest Khalasar without hesitation.
5 Euron Greyjoy’s One Show Of Fear Is A Lie
Another instance of a Greyjoy exemplifying the virtues of the Iron Islands, Euron Greyjoy goes into most fights cackling and whooping, enjoying the chance to shed blood and strike terror into his enemies.
Euron goes where most men will not, commanding the Iron Fleet against dragons on more than one occasion, and even succeeding in slaying one. The one time Euron shows fear, when he appears to back out of an alliance against the White Walkers based on the inability of Wights to swim, is actually a smokescreen for a betrayal, organized with Cersei.
4 Stannis Baratheon Fights Against Hopeless Odds
Of the three Baratheon brothers, Stannis is compared to iron, as opposed to Robert’s steel and Renly’s copper, meaning that he is inflexible and liable to break rather than bend, but unyielding and strong. He begins the War of the Five Kings in a poor position, with the fewest men and lords supporting his claim, but he fights anyway.
No matter how unlikely the odds seem, Stannis continues to battle, never once showing fear, even when he struggles with doubt. At the end of Season 5, Stannis faces off against a vastly superior Bolton army outside of Winterfell and finally is executed by Brienne of Tarth, all the while nothing more than resolute determination and resignation, respectively.
3 Daenerys Targaryen Learns To Overcome Her Fear
In the earliest seasons of Game of Thrones, Daenerys has some of the worst luck. Throughout her early appearances, she shows plenty of fear, particularly at being forcibly married to the warlord Khal Drogo.
A large part of her character development involves hardening herself against fear, however, and becoming a more dangerous person. By later seasons, Daenerys is unflinching in the face of threats of a serious assault by every Dothraki Khal, and plunges into the fight against the Undead, even when knocked off of her dragon.
2 Oberyn Martell Almost Never Loses His Cool
Although only in the show for a short time, Oberyn Martell had more than his fair share of chances to prove his bravery and mettle. Going to King’s Landing as a guest of the Lannisters while openly discussing his hatred for them and their regime, Oberyn walks into a nest of enemies with a grin on his face and a joke on his lips.
After a few scuffles with Lannister guardsmen and verbal sparring matches – including one with threats of his being implicated in regicide – Oberyn finally shows just how fearless he is by going up against the Mountain, the most feared knight in Westeros. Calmly saying he is going to kill him, Oberyn plays with the warrior through their duel, up until it goes terribly wrong for him due to his fearless overconfidence.
1 Grey Worm Is Trained To Not Feel Fear
The Unsullied are some of the finest soldiers in all of the world of Game of Thrones, noted for their unfailing discipline and for never retreating unordered during a battle. This is due to their training from a young age – a brutal regime including castration, that leaves them with few instincts other than to obey their orders.
Grey Worm, the leader of Daenerys’s Unsullied, does begin to think more independently once allowed to by Daenerys, but nonetheless retains the lack of fear all Unsullied possess. Even when forced to retreat in the face of the Army of the Dead, Grey Worm is only devastated at losing so many men, rather than afraid of the Wights.
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