10 Funniest Game of Thrones Insults, Ranked

Game of Thrones is known for many things, from dragons to some of the best female leads put on television to the horrible ending that left most fans enraged. Many fans look back with mixed emotions whenever they discuss their favorite and least favorite parts of the massively successful HBO series. One of the best elements, though, is how witty characters constantly engage in insults, petty banter, and games of mental chess.




Even during the worst episodes, one character likely stole the show by delivering a devastating verbal blow of some kind to the person next to them. The best Game of Thrones characters were as funny or petty as they were brilliant or strong. In eight seasons, there are hundreds of wicked insults to choose from, but the best of the best still live on years after the show’s questionable conclusion.


10 Littlefinger Kills His Wife After Dishing Out An Emotionally-Charged Insult

Season 4, Episode 7 – “Mockingbird”

Low angle shot of Littlefinger from HBO's Game of Thrones

“Oh, my sweet wife. My sweet, sweet wife. I have only loved one woman, only one, my entire life. Your sister.”


Petyr Baelish, more commonly known as “Littlefinger,” is one of Game of Thrones’ cleverest characters. From the very beginning, Petyr was engaged in a wicked battle for the throne, but he didn’t often resort to active fighting. Instead, he allowed his intellect and cunning to do most of the work. Petyr was a master manipulator who could control the people around him.

He wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty, though. He pulled a knife on more than one person throughout his time on the show, and he also murdered his wife, Lysa Arryn. Before he pushed her through the Moon Door, sending her plummeting to her death, he made sure to deliver a heartbreaking blow by telling her he never loved her because he was in love with her sister.

9 Lady Olenna Tells Cersei She’s a Horrible Person With No Remorse

Season 6, Episode 7 – “The Broken Man”

Olenna Tyrell (Diana Rigg) looking calm with her hand against her chin


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“I wonder if you’re the worst person I’ve ever met. At a certain age, it’s hard to recall. But the truly vile do stand out through the years.”

Lady Olenna Tyrell is the matriarch of House Tyrell, and she becomes an important figure when Joffrey’s marriage prospects shift to Margaery Tyrell. Lady Olenna immediately dislikes the Lannisters, which isn’t hard to imagine given the Lannisters’ reputation. Joffrey alone is an absolute monster who abuses everyone around him, but Lady Olenna’s disdain for Cersei, Joffrey’s mother, runs deep.


In “The Broken Man”, Lady Olenna tries to recall a single person she’s met in her incredibly long life that is worse than Cersei. She comes up with no other names, and she isn’t shy when it comes to telling Cersei exactly what she thinks of her. Being told you’re the worst person someone has ever met is a harsh pill to swallow, but probably not the worst thing Cersei endures.

8 The Hound Insults Beric, His God, & Threatens to Kill Him

Season 8, Episode 2 – “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms”

The Hound vs Beric in Game of Thrones.

“Thoros isn’t here anymore, so I hope you’re not about to give a sermon. Because if you are, the Lord of Light’s gonna wonder why he brought you back 19 times just to watch you die when I chuck you over this f***ing wall.”


Lord Beric Dondarrion is an interesting character because he has literally died multiple times and been brought back to life by Thoros, a red priest of the Lord of Light. In Season One, Beric was sent to hunt down and kill Ser Gregor (aka the Mountain), but he died on the quest, only to be brought back to life. After his first death, he had several run-ins with both Arya Stark and Sandor Clegane (aka the Hound).

In Season Eight, Beric and the Hound find themselves taking up arms together. Despite being on the same side, the Hound doesn’t appreciate Beric’s attempts at preaching the ways of the Lord of Light to him or Arya. Before Beric can get a word in edgewise, the Hound dishes out a hilarious insult that rubs Beric’s many deaths and failures in his face while also threatening to deal him one final death.


7 Cersei Destroys Tywin’s Legacy in One Quick Verbal Stab

Season 4, Episode 10 – “The Children”

Cersei tells Tywin the truth about her and Jaime

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“How can someone so consumed by the idea of his family not have any conception of what his actual family has been doing. Everything is true about Jaime and me. Your legacy is a lie.”

It’s no secret that Cersei and Jaime were locked in an incestuous relationship for most of their lives. All three of Cersei’s children were the result of her relationship with Jaime, not with her husband, King Robert Baratheon. While this plot point is made clear to audiences right away, most of the world doesn’t know this truth, not even Cersei and Jaime’s father, Tywin Lannister.


Cersei is a cold and calculated character, so she dishes out plenty of insults throughout the series. That said, one of her harshest insults was just her telling her father the truth about his grandchildren. She insults him by telling him how blind to his own family he is, and she makes sure he knows that everything he thinks about his legacy is built on falsehood.

6 Sansa Bravely Calls Joffrey a Coward Despite His Cruelty

Season 2, Episode 9 – “Blackwater”

“I’m sorry, Your Grace. You’re right, I’m stupid. Of course, you’ll be in the vanguard. They say my brother Robb always goes where the fighting is thickest. And he is only a pretender.”


Few characters have been through more hardship than Sansa Stark. Her life seems to be perfect when she’s promised to the future King of the Seven Kingdoms, Joffrey Baratheon, but she has no idea just how horrible Joffrey will be for her. In Season One, Joffrey has Sansa’s father executed, but she remains trapped in the Red Keep as his promised future wife.

During her time with Joffrey, Sansa finds ways to stick up for herself and take jabs at Joffrey. One particular scene happens when Joffrey shows Sansa his new sword, Heart Eater. She asks him if he’ll take his place in the vanguard and then reminds him of her brother’s bravery on the battlefield. While the comment seems harmless enough, she gets away with calling Joffrey a coward right to his face.

5 The Viper Dishes Out the Verbal Lashing of a Lifetime to the Lannisters

Season 4, Episode 2 – “The Lion and the Rose”

Oberyn Martell (Pedro Pascal) speaking to Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones


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“People everywhere have their differences. In some places, the high-born frown upon those of low birth. In other places, the r*pe and murder of young women is considered distasteful.”

Oberyn Martell, more commonly known as “the Viper,” is a fan-favorite character who many fans felt didn’t get a long enough run on the show. One of Oberyn’s biggest motivations revolves around bringing the Mountain to justice after he sexually assaulted and murdered Oberyn’s sister. Sadly, Oberyn fails to get justice, because he dies at the Mountain’s hands, but before he goes, he makes his stance very clear to the people in power.


When speaking with Cersei and her father, Tywin, he condemns them for allowing a person like the Mountain to continue parading around as a champion when he’s guilty of some of the worst crimes a person can enact on another person. Oberyn insinuates that the Lannisters are just as bad as the person who killed his sister, and he’s not entirely wrong to say that.

4 Cersei Tells Tyrion His Entire Life is a Cruel Joke

Season 2, Episode 2 – “The Night Lands”

Cersei calls Tyrion's existence a joke

“You’ve always been funny. But none of your jokes will ever match the first one, will they? You remember, back when you ripped my mother open on your way out of her, and she bled to death. Mother gone, for the sake of you. There’s no bigger joke in the world than that.”


Tyrion might be one of the funniest and cleverest characters on the show, but he takes his fair share of verbal lashings. Tyrion, unfortunately, has the added negative of being hated by most of his family. The only Lannister who shows Tyrion any kindness is Jaime. Cersei, however, has never been shy about sharing her disdain for her younger brother openly.

One of the worst things Cersei ever said to him was also one of the harshest insults ever heard on Game of Thrones. Not only does she blame Tyrion for her mother’s death, but she calls his life a joke, with his birth being the biggest one of them all. That’s harsh to say to anyone, even someone you hate.

3 Tyrion Tells Cersei How Much He Hated Joffrey

Season 4, Episode 6 – “The Laws of Gods and Men”

Oberyn Martell, Tywin Lannister, and Mace Tyrell overseeing Tyrion's trial in Game of Thrones


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“I did not kill Joffrey but I wish that I had. Watching your vicious bastard die gave me more relief than a thousand lying whores!”

After Joffrey’s murder, Tyrion ends up taking the fall for it. Tyrion was never quiet about his disdain for Joffrey or how much he believed Joffrey didn’t belong on the throne, so many eyes immediately turned to him. His innocence truly didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.


During his trial, he defends himself by insisting that he didn’t kill Joffrey, but he does make sure he tells Cersei exactly how he feels about her horrible son. It’s a satisfying scene because Joffrey was such an unlikable character. Fans cheered when he died. Tyrion was saying exactly what everyone else was thinking. It might not have helped his case, but the insult cut deep and made fans applaud.

2 Tywin Disses His Own Son in the Coldest Possible Manner

Season 3, Episode 1 – “Valar Dohaeris”

“You are an ill-made, spiteful little creature. Full of envy, lust, and low cunning. Men’s laws give you the right to bear my name and display my colors, since I cannot prove that you are not mine. And to teach me humility, the gods have condemned me to watch you waddle about wearing that proud lion that was my father’s sigil and his father before him.”


As mentioned, Tyrion is often the butt of cruel jokes and insults, especially at the hands of his family. Tywin dealt him a particularly harsh blow when he says the only reason Tyrion bears his name is that he can’t prove he’s not Tyrion’s father. This is a hard scene to watch because Tyrion is such a beloved character. That said, it is one of the rawest insults spoken in the series.

It doesn’t come as a surprise when Tyrion eventually cracks and kills his father. Tyrion executing his father whilst on a chamber pot is also a highlight of the series, but Tywin’s insults (like the one above), fuel the fires of why it’s such a satisfying execution.

1 Lady Olenna Confesses to Murdering Joffrey

Season 7, Episode 3 – “The Queen’s Justice”

“I’d hate to die like your son. Clawing at my neck, foam, and bile spilling from my mouth, eyes blood-red, skin purple. Must have been horrible for you. As a Kingsguard, as a father. It was horrible enough for me. A shocking scene — not at all what I intended. You see, I had never seen the poison work before. Tell Cersei. I want her to know it was me.”


It’s hard to argue that any insult in Game of Thrones goes harder than Lady Olenna’s confession. She knows she doesn’t have much longer to live when Jaime’s forces invade Highgarden. Jaime gives her the option to drink poison and die peacefully, but Olenna has something to get off her chest before she dies.

Not only does she reveal that she knows about Jaime’s taboo relationship with his sister, but she also reminds him of how horrible Joffrey’s death was. She confesses to slipping Joffrey the poison herself. She isn’t sorry. She knows she did the Seven Kingdoms a favor, but she’s petty enough to make sure Cersei knows she robbed her of her son’s life.


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