Bran the Broken, First of His Name, King of the Andals and the First Men, Lord of the Six Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm is king now.
The all-knowing boy that used to be Bran Stark somehow made his way into the position by blankly staring at people for long periods of time instead of talking, blinking, or laughing nervously. When Bran became the Three-Eyed Raven in season seven of Game of Thrones, his whole thing became stares, his abilities never made clear to the audience because probably the writers didn’t know, either.
Over time, Bran got more and more strategic with his stares, using them to make characters like Jaime Lannister and Theon Greyjoy reflect on their mistakes. Really, it became his true power.
As such, here are all of the Bran stares from Game of Thrones, ranked.
15. Arya stare, “The Spoils of War”
This stare is weak. This is the stare Bran stares at Arya when he tells her that he saw her at the Crossroads, and she’s like, “What? You SAW ME?” and Sansa is like, “Bran has … Visions now” and Arya is like, okay that adds up. Unfortunately, Bran Stark is coming through too much in this stare, because deep down he still cares about his sisters.
14. Daenerys stare, “Winterfell”
This “the Night King resurrected your dragon so please stop wasting your time telling my sister she is beautiful because we are all going to die” stare should have been a bit more … devastating.
13. Night King stare, “The Long Night”
The best thing about this soul-crushing stare is that it does not faze the Night King because the Night King probably doesn’t have a soul to be crushed. But the Night King is in for a rude awakening moments after Bran looks at him as if he’s seen him naked, because Arya is about to stab him in the belly and turn him into crushed ice that she’ll use later to chill her glass of Dornish victory wine.
12. Sam stare, “Winterfell”
The Sam stare — which, as you can see, occurs at night — is more startling than it is amusing. It’s scary and I don’t want to look at it anymore.
11. Dolorous Edd stare, “Dragonstone”
This stare isn’t soul crushing or significant other than that it involves Dolorous Edd, the 999th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch and my distressed soulmate who died a virgin for no narrative purpose.
10. Stark stare, “The Iron Throne”
King Bran’s look here really captures what the audience is thinking in this scene. After all these years spent apart, why do the Stark children insist on not communicating their goals with each other? Do they suddenly thrive on unnecessary drama? Is this Real Children of House Stark or is this Game of Thrones? What Bran’s stare here really says is, “We wouldn’t have to hug each other on a dock if we had talked about this earlier.”
9. Sansa stare, “The Queen’s Justice”
This is the “David Benioff and DB Weiss had to find an organic way to bring up Sansa’s rape again” stare. Although I don’t doubt Bran’s intention here was to comfort his sister by acknowledging that he knows what she’s been through, it certainly did not come across that way.
8. Jon stare, “Winterfell”
This friendly Jon stare is the only Bran stare that exudes joy. Bran is thrilled to see Jon, because now that they’re all in the same place, he can finally tell Jon’s best friend Samwell Tarly to tell Jon that he is actually a Targaryen instead of doing it himself. Or maybe Bran’s just thinking about the Lyanna and Rhaegar sex that he definitely watched? We’ll never know what Bran is truly feeling in this moment, or ever.
7. King’s Council stare, “The Iron Throne”
Bran briefly stares at his dysfunctional king’s council before he has Ser Podrick Payne push him away from it, and honestly it looks like he put an entire pack of Warheads in his mouth at the same time and it’s much more sour than he anticipated. Warheads aren’t that bad on their own, but King Bran the Broken has just learned the hard way that all together, they’re pretty harsh on a mouth.
6. Theon stare, “The Long Night”
If I knew someone was about to die more or less needlessly right before my sister pulls off a sneaky stab that saves all human life, I’d also look at them like this.
5. Second Jaime stare, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms”
This is how Bran stares at Jaime right after he says “the things I do for love” in front of everyone at Winterfell. Jaime thinks Bran is about to scream, “Jaime Lannister pushed me out the window and is the reason I’m paralyzed, weird, and why my penis does not work!” But instead, Bran looks at Jaime like this — which, in a way, is much worse.
4. Hug stare, “The Spoils of War”
This stare is the most relatable to me because I hate hugs as well. I never, ever, want a hug. I didn’t even want a hug when Jaime left Brienne. Or when Jaime was crushed by rocks. Hugs are bad, and only Bran understands! Bran does this stare while Arya hugs him, and he’s probably thinking “Ugh, please make her stop this, Sansa! If Arya went to King’s Landing to kill Cersei instead of coming to Winterfell, then this hug (and season eight) wouldn’t have happened.”
3. Littlefinger stare, “The Spoils of War”
Bran looks at Littlefinger like this when LF gives Bran the catspaw dagger that eventually kills the Night King via Arya. I don’t know about you, dear reader, but if somebody looked at me like they know that I kissed their mom and their sister and plotted to arrest their innocent dad, I definitely would not decide that the best thing for me to do in my next scene is conspire to turn their family against each other. This look would simply ensure that I spend the rest of my life in the fetal position.
2. Tyrion stare, “Winterfell”
Game of Thrones didn’t bother to explain Bran’s powers, but it did establish that one of the gifts that comes with being the Three-Eyed Raven is staring into the souls of Lannister men.
1. First Jaime stare, “Winterfell”
Have you ever waited outside for an entire winter night just to come across an enemy so they can feel really horrible for a second? Bran is a revenge-thirsty sloth boy. This stare involved an amount of patience that I will never, ever acquire. I tried to haunt an ex once in college by sitting on a bench in a lobby pretending to read a newspaper so he would see me when he left class, but I got bored after like seven minutes and went home. Bran is amazing. This stare alone qualifies him for the king job.
