Macall B. Polay/Courtesy of HBO
"We deserve death," the High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce) says in the new trailer. "We all do."
"All men must die," according to an old High Valyrian proverb, but do they all deserve to die?
That's the theory posited in the latest trailer for Game of Thrones season six, which aired on HBO over the weekend. In one scene, the two most powerful men in King's Landing — the High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce) and King Tommen (Dean-Charles Chapman) — speak with one another, with the Faith Militant's pious mastermind making his beliefs on mortality quite clear: "We are sinful creatures. We deserve death. We all do."
Tell that to the butcher's boy, cut down by Sandor "The Hound" Clegane (Rory McCann) in the second episode of the HBO fantasy show's first season. Tell that to Shireen Baratheon (Kerry Ingram), burned alive as a blood sacrifice that amounted to precisely nothing. Tell that to Lommy Greenhands (Eros Vlahos), or Craster's infant sons, or the thousands of bastard-born children in King's Landing slaughtered in order to cover up a top-level royal conspiracy. These people, and many more, did not deserve death — at least not such a brutal manner of death, at such a brutal time.
Of course, that's not to say there aren't wicked men and women in Westeros and the surrounding lands more than worthy of the High Sparrow's philosophy. Here are some of the monsters on Thrones that deserve death, and will receive it by the end of the show, if there's any justice at all.
1. High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce)
Let's begin with the owner of the quote. Ever since arriving in King's Landing, Pryce's holy man has claimed to represent the impoverished and disenfranchised, but he has little love for the people who live outside of his worldview — like Loras Tyrell (Finn Jones), who he targeted purely for his sexuality. The longer the High Sparrow remains in power, the more dangerous he gets — and the more he must be stopped.
2. Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon)
The man who butchered Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen), raped Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner), and tortured countless others through psychological warfare and old fashioned skin-flaying — and enjoyed it all — cannot survive Thrones, not while so many pure-hearted souls are left to suffer and die.
3. Roose Bolton (Michael McElhatton)
"Jaime Lannister sends his regards." The elder Bolton became public enemy number two after shoving his sword through Robb Stark (Richard Madden) during season three's Red Wedding, effectively killing the entire Northern army with a single strike. Whether it's this season or next, Roose will collect on that karmic debt.
4. Walder Frey (David Bradley)
If Roose is public enemy number two, then the sniveling old man at the heart of the Twins sits at the top of the list. Bradley is currently knee-deep in Strigoi blood on The Strain, but he's virtually guaranteed to return to Thrones at some point, if only to receive just punishment for his role in the Red Wedding.
5. Melisandre (Carice van Houten)
Outside of Davos Seaworth (Liam Cunningham), the Red Priestess of Asshai is the last remaining bastion of the Stannis Baratheon era — and the one who lit the torch that consumed Shireen in flames. She needs to atone for that crime, and one way to do it is to sacrifice her own life… perhaps in service of bringing Jon Snow (Kit Harington) back from the dead.
6. Petyr Baelish (Aidan Gillen)
The Seven Kingdoms are in disarray for a laundry list of reasons, but the main man pushing the "wash" button is Littlefinger, who plunged numerous noble houses into chaos in an attempt to secure power for himself. While it would be satisfying to see his painstaking machinations succeed on some level, it would be so much more satisfying for someone — say, Sansa — to push him out the proverbial moon door, if not the literal one.
7. Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane (Hafthor Julius Bjornsson)
The murder monster currently known as Robert Strong makes his brother Sandor look like a saint. He's ripped people in half for no real reason, exploded heads with his bare hands, and beheaded horses for not riding well enough. Of course, the Mountain's died before… but he must die again, and must die for good.
8. The Sons of the Harpy
The insurgency in Meereen working against Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) must be crushed for a number of reasons, not the least of which is their pro-slavery stance — but an equally big crime is their alleyway ambush against Barristan the Bold (Ian McElhinney), killed well before his time.
9. The Night's King (Richard Brake)
The White Walkers are coming, and the horn-headed Night's King is at the front of the pack. There's no love lost between the ice monsters beyond the Wall and the humans beneath it, and there's equally little doubt that the Walkers will decimate at least a few of our beloved characters. With any luck, the Night's King and his army will be annihilated before they can cause too much damage.
10. The Night's Watch Mutineers
Everyone who riddled Jon Snow with daggers deserves a visit from the Faceless Men — and yes, this includes Olly (Brenock O'Connor), currently the most hated young man in Westeros.
Keep up with all the Game of Thrones coverage at THR.com/GameOfThrones.
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