Game of Thrones was a show that prided itself on its intelligent storytelling that subverted tropes and expectations. While Game of Thrones is firmly within the fantasy genre, it also delves deeper into the politics of its world than other fantasy stories and relies on Machiavellian characters to push the story forward.
As a consequence of its political storytelling, some Game of Thrones houses are more suited to win the crown than others. The first season was lucid in its moral that the best characters do not necessarily win. This article will rank the most intelligent houses in Game of Thrones.
House Greyjoy
The Greyjoys are not exactly known for their wits in the world of Westeros. Their house words are ‘we do not sow’. This in relation to the fact that the Greyjoys are pirates and raiders. They don’t grow their own crops or farm their own land. Instead, they rely on ships to take the land and property of others.
These words, however, are very incompatible with Westerosi politics and, because of this, life on the Iron Islands is terrible. Additionally, while they temporarily captured Winterfell, they didn’t hold it for long enough to actually do anything with it.
House Frey
The Freys had a decent run on the show, but you can hardly say the Red Wedding was old Walder’s idea. If the Boltons and the Lannisters are the Slytherins of Game of Thrones, the Freys are like Peter Pettigrew. Sure, they’re evil, but they’re also slimy, cowardly, and treacherous.
If Tywin and Roose hadn’t planned the Red Wedding with Walder Frey, the Lord of the Twins would have just had to live with Robb Stark’s decision not to marry his daughter.
House Baratheon
The Baratheons are certainly a mixed bag. Robert was fairly ignorant to have missed the signs that his children were clearly not his, Renly was just arrogant to claim the throne as his own when he knew that Stannis had the better claim. And Stannis, while certainly the cleverest of the brothers, fought against the Boltons without really having a plan.
That being said, Stannis was an astute and intelligent man throughout the series, it’s just a shame that he made one catastrophic error at the end of his story.
House Targaryen
This list, as it is a Game of Thrones list and not a Song of Ice and Fire list, will be focussing on show canon only and because of this, the Targaryens cannot be ranked too high. While they are a powerful house, they’re not shown to be exceptionally clever.
Viserys was incredibly stupid in his interactions with the Dothraki. The Mad King was, well, Mad. And Daenerys, while bright, wasn’t exceptionally intelligent. Furthermore, even if you count Jon Snow, he famously knows nothing…
House Bolton
The Boltons are hit and miss when it comes to intelligence. On the one hand, Roose and Ramsay are both shown to be cunning and bright. Roose helps to plan the Red Wedding with Tywin Lannister, while also managing to handle the northern lords fairly well. Furthermore, Ramsay was shown to be knowledgeable of battle tactics when he defeated Stannis.
On the other hand, Ramsay also decided to meet Jon Snow outside Winterfell rather than playing it safe behind the high walls. Additionally, Roose was naive enough to trust Ramsay and this was his downfall.
House Arryn
House Arryn is another Westerosi family that appears to make as many mistakes as they do successes. While Jon Arryn discovered that Joffrey and Tommen were not King Robert’s heirs, he also did a ‘Ned Stark’ in the sense that this led to his death.
Additionally, Lysa Arryn was blinded by her love for Littlefinger and this ended up costing her a fall through the moon door.
House Stark
While the Starks were certainly naive at the beginning of the story, they had more than learned their lesson come to the series’ end. The Starks were presented as an honorable and noble house. They would do the right thing, regardless of their chance of success.
However, after more and more bitter defeats and losses for House Stark, the wolf pack eventually learned that they must be cunning if they are to survive. So, with the help of Sansa and Arya (and Bran in a sense), the Starks managed to both regain independence for the North and place a Stark (at least in name as Bran is the Three-Eyed Raven now) on the throne.
House Tully
House Tully are Lords of the Riverlands and, before the Red Wedding, the Tully leader was the Lord Paramount of the Trident. Catelyn Stark was born a Tully and showed herself to be very astute at conducting Westerosi politics. Her only downside was her rage.
In her rage, she kidnapped Tyrion Lannister which led to increased tensions between the Lannisters and the Starks. In addition to Catelyn, Brynden ‘Blackfish’ Tully is another legendary member of the family. The Blackfish is very intelligent and a brilliant commander.
House Martell
While House Martell didn’t really get much of a showing in the TV show, they certainly deserved it. In the books, House Martell is crafting a conspiracy that will place a Martell on the Iron Throne. The fans of this theory called it the Dornish Master plan and there are certain hints towards this in the books.
In addition to their master plan, house Martell has some incredibly intelligent characters such as Doran and Oberyn Martell. Doran is, essentially, as cunning as Tywin Lannister, so it was a real shame that the show didn’t delve into his character.
House Tyrell
The Tyrells always seemed like another version of the Lannister family. This comes from the fact that they possess huge amounts of wealth, are clearly scheming, and even have an elderly member of the family who can read Westerosi politics extremely well.
That being said, despite successfully managing to make Margaery a Queen, the Tyrells didn’t foresee any of Cersei’s plans in the sixth season which then led to their demise as a house.
House Lannister
Could any other house have topped this list? The Lannisters are known for their cunning and intelligent political plays in Westeros. They were the driving force behind the Red Wedding, managed to get a Lannister on the throne without war, and also prevented the invasion of King’s Landing by Stannis Baratheon in season 2.
In addition to this, they also have some of the most intelligent characters on the show, such as Tyrion, Tywin, and Cersei. House Lannister is politically astute and has the battle tactics to match. They are easily the most intelligent house in Westeros.
