Arya Stark of House Stark, one of the major houses in Westeros in the HBO series Game of Thrones, is an iconic character who showed that a woman can be more than just a “lady.” As one of the smartest characters in the series, she spends most of her journey in the show away from home trying to find a place where she can fit in.

Thanks to an extensive list of bad events, starting with the shocking beheading of her father, Eddard Stark, at the tail-end of Game of Thrones season 1, Arya concocts a Kill List. This list functions as a verbal list — indeed, almost like a prayer and a vow — that she recites each night as she goes to sleep of all those who have wronged her or her family. As the seasons progress, more and more characters rightfully find themselves on her list.

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As reported by Variety, Maisie Williams, who plays Arya, joins the masses in agreeing that the final season of Game of Thrones could have been better. She states that the show started out strong and that even the death of Ned Stark helped shape so much of the series, including her character arc, which takes her from vengeful to heroic. While Arya was only able to kill a small amount of those on her list, almost all of them found their demise in some way. Let’s take a closer look at her list and how each member died.

Arya Stark’s Kill List

  • The Hound Meryn Tyrant Joffrey Baratheon Melisandre Thoros Cersei Lannister Ser Ilyn Payne Polliver The Mountain Rorge Walder Fray Tywin Lannister Beric Dondarrion

The Hound

     HBO

The Hound or Sandor Clegane (Rory McCann) was one of the first Game of Thrones characters to find himself on Arya’s kill list. While he was added to the list for killing Mycah the butcher’s boy in season one, The Hound and Arya end up forming an interesting friendship after he decides he is going to return her to her family to hopefully earn money. Although she eventually does leave him to die from his wounds after a fight with Brienne, the pair end up parting ways as friends during the final season before The Hound kills his brother, and himself, by falling from a window in King’s Landing.

Meryn Trant

Meryn Trant (Ian Beattie) was one of the long-awaited deaths at the hands of Arya in Game of Thrones. In season one, Meryn kills Syrio Forel, Arya’s dancing instructor, which she naturally takes personally. She reunites with Meryn when he visits Braavos. At this point, Arya is able to use her lessons from Jaqen H’hgar and puts on someone else’s face, appearing as a young girl at the brothel Meryn visits. When selected, she is also able to stab him many times, prolonging his death and finally crossing him off her list.

Joffrey Baratheon

Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson) was easily one of the most hated characters in all of Game of Thrones. Additionally, his death is one of the biggest mysteries as it’s not revealed until later in the series just who gets to claim they killed Joffrey. Indeed, it’s Lady Olena Tyrell who reveals to Jaime Lannister, while on the way to her own death, that it was she who poisoned his son’s wine at his wedding. While fans would have been happy to see Arya kill Joffrey thanks to his part in her father’s death, having Lady Olena commit the murder was a great consolation prize.

Melisandre

After becoming quick friends with Gendry Rivers aka Gendry Baratheon, Arya takes his capture by Melisandre or The Red Woman seriously. Melisandre (Carice van Houten) purchases Gendry from the Brotherhood Without Banners as part of a ritual to help put Stannis on the Iron Throne. While her character is one that is both loved and hated, she ends up dying seemingly by suicide after fulfilling her purpose from the Lord of Light in helping Jon Snow and everyone else win the battle of The Long Night.

Thoros

Similarly to Melisandre, Thoros (Paul Kaye) was also put on Arya’s list due to his help in selling Gendry to The Red Woman. The Brotherhood Without Banners member was able to avoid being killed by Arya, but unfortunately does find himself dying early. During season seven of Game of Thrones, Thoros is one of a small group of men who venture beyond The Wall to bring a wight back to Cersei in the hopes of a temporary cease-fire. During a fight with an undead polar bear, he sacrifices himself to save The Hound and later succumbs to the wounds.

Cersei Lannister

Another deserving character on Arya’s kill list is none other than Cersei Lannister, played by Lena Headey. Cersei would have found herself on this list for a number of reasons, but it was specifically her part in the death of Arya’s father that placed the tyrant number one on her list. Even through the final season of Game of Thrones, Arya sought out Cersei’s death. While she is unable to kill her, she was at least on her way to doing so when Danaerys lays wreckage at King’s Landing, burying both Cersei and Jaime in the rubble.

Ser Ilyn Payne

     HBO Max

Ser Ilyn Payne, played by Wilko Johnson, is the sole member of Arya’s list who does not die in Game of Thrones. His character was written off the show after the actor was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The last known mention of the man who beheaded the beloved Ned Stark came halfway through the show in the season four finale when he was mentioned by name by Tywin Lannister.

Polliver

Polliver (Andy Kellegher) was another person on Arya’s list who was killed by her sword, Needle. Arya enacted her revenge by killing him after he killed her friend Lommy and stole the very sword that winds up killing him. Polliver has the unfortunate end by winding up in the same inn as Arya and The Hound. Their reunion is short-lived as Arya wastes no time in seeking her revenge.

The Mountain

The Mountain (Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson), another one of the Clegane brothers, unsurprisingly found himself also on Arya’s list. She added him after witnessing him torturing people for information at Harrenhal. The Lannister-loving brute would help strap rats to people and then use fire to get them to literally claw their way through the person’s chest. While a battle between Arya and The Mountain would have been a sight to see, his death was fitting as his own brother was able to finally put The Mountain’s reign of terror to rest.

Rorge

Rorge (Andy Beckwith) is a small side character who was traveling with Arya’s group to The Wall. He was a criminal whom she actually frees along with Jaqen H’hgar, although his release was done reluctantly by Arya. Later on, when Arya is traveling with The Hound, the pair meet up again with Rorge, which doesn’t end well for the bully as Arya kills him with Needle.

Walder Frey

While many can understand why certain characters have found their way on Arya’s kill list, none deserved it more than Walder Frey. It was this Lord who invited Robb Stark and his bannermen into his home as a guest and ultimately lured them into a slaughter dubbed The Red Wedding. Thankfully, Walder Frey is another member of the list who met his doom at the hands of Arya Stark. Donning the face of a servant girl, she is able to trick Walder into eating his own sons, who were cooked into a meal, before slicing his throat in the same way her mother was killed during The Red Wedding.

Tywin Lannister

Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance) was on a few people’s kill list including Arya Stark’s. Tywin rightfully earned a top spot on her list thanks to his planning and support of House Frey in slaughtering her brother, mother, and the rest of Robb’s army during The Red Wedding. While she is unable to scratch his name off her list as well, Arya would certainly have loved how Tywin met his fate at the hands of his own son while on the privy. With two arrows fired at him from the crossbow, we can pretend one of those arrows could have been from Arya while the other was from Tyrion.

Beric Dondarrion

Beric Dondarrion, played by Richard Dormer in the later seasons of Game of Thrones, was another character to find himself on Arya’s list due to his actions against Gendry. When Melisandre came to the Brotherhood Without Banners looking for Gendry, as the leader, Beric ultimately gave the OK for The Red Woman to take him back to Stannis. A few seasons later, during the battle of The Long Night, Beric was killed (for the final) time after receiving multiple wounds inflicted by the wights. Instead of being killed by Arya, he was killed helping to rescue her. Proving her character arc from revenge-filled to hero, Arya took a minute to mourn his loss.