Audiences can point to a myriad of reasons why HBO’s Game of Thrones became such a worldwide phenomenon. The hit fantasy series has intricate political drama, enthralling fantasy elements, and a slew of characters that you can’t help but root for (as you desperately hope that they survive to the next season). But for all its dragons, magic, and politicking, Game of Thrones would be nothing if not for its roster of utterly detestable antagonists. We watch the show avidly hoping for our heroes to rise and for these villains to fall.

Through its eight seasons, no other villainous character has attained the same level of notoriety and infamy compared to the utterly rage-inducing pest of a boy-king: Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson). And although he was surely infuriating and awful, calling Joffrey the worst character in the show would be ignoring some of the other truly evil figures in Westeros. Ultimately, Game of Thrones features such a wide variety of awful characters that there are plenty of other vile people that deserve the hate as much, and if not more, then Joffrey.

Joffrey Is Bad, but He Isn’t the Worst of the Bunch

Though it would be too much to say that Joffrey is the worst-of-the-worst, we also can’t ignore some of his most egregious crimes. Joffrey exhibits some of the most detestable traits of a character to the maximum degree. He’s petulant and spoiled; an arrogant prince-turned-king whose fickle nature and lack of empathy is constantly exhibited through his cruel words and crueler actions. Joffrey is constantly abusive to his subjects and, as Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, that means he has ultimate power. His most infamous act was the unjust execution of Ned Stark (Sean Bean), the most unexpected death in the show’s first season that catapulted Game of Thrones to uncharted territory. After that, he continued his sadistic tendencies with his abuse of Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) and countless other characters until he finally received his comeuppance in one of the most satisfyingly brutal death scenes in the entire series.

Ramsay Bolton Is a Kinslayer, Obsessed With Torture, and Flayed Men Alive

With how utterly despicable Joffrey was, the idea that another character could be even worse than him seems impossible. But, then you get to the bastard son of House Bolton. Arguably the most evil character in the entire series, Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon) displayed such visceral levels of cruelty that he almost felt like a more unhinged version of Joffrey, with the love for visceral violence amped up to another degree. After Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen) betrays the Starks and sacks Winterfell, the ruling seat of the North is claimed by Roose Bolton’s (Michael McElhatton) bastard son, Ramsay. And even though audiences might have felt happy to see Theon lose after his betrayal of Robb Stark (Richard Madden), that happiness is short-lived because this was not a victory for the Starks.

Not only did Ramsay sack Winterfell and take it for his own family, he exemplified the archaic cruelty of his house by flaying the Ironborn alive, rather than executing them mercifully or keeping them prisoner. Then, in one of the most difficult to watch interactions in the entire series, Ramsay lulls an imprisoned Theon into a false sense of security before utterly destroying his psyche with mental, emotional, and physical abuse that culminates in Theon’s castration. This is then further punctuated by the new name he gives Theon: Reek. The cruelty to the Starks and their allies would only continue, however, as Ramsay would later force Sansa into marriage before repeatedly raping her in front of Theon, adding further humiliation to the already disgusting act. Before the Battle of the Bastards, Ramsay murders Rickon Stark (Art Parkinson), the youngest of the Stark family, with an arrow to the chest after freeing him in front of his siblings.

Ramsay’s cruelty was not reserved for the Starks alone. When his father has a true-born son with his wife, threatening Ramsay’s claim to succession, Ramsay kills Roose in order to cement his status as the successor. He then goes on to feed Walda Bolton and her newborn son to his pack of starving attack dogs. Bolstered by an exceptional performance by Iwan Rheon, it’s hard to top just how cruel Ramsay could be compared to some of the other characters. It only makes his death that much more satisfying when he is defeated by Jon Snow (Kit Harington) before Sansa feeds him to his own dogs.

The Mountain Is Violence Incarnate Without Any Machinations

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Gregor Clegane (Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson) is known in Westeros as “The Mountain That Rides.” The Mountain is one of the most heinous characters in the entire series, but his brand of villainy is notably different from the sadistic power plays of Ramsay and Joffrey. Rather than having sinister machinations driving his actions, the Mountain is violence incarnate — more a force of nature than simply a cruel man. As a child, he forced his younger brother Sandor’s (Rory McCann) face into a fire, permanently scarring his brother for playing with his toys. Before the series began, he already had a notorious history of torturing victims, raping women, and killing children.

The most visceral example of which took place during the Lannister army’s sacking of King’s Landing in the waning days of Robert’s Rebellion. During the Lannister assault on the capital city, the Mountain raped Elia Martell, the late prince Rhaegar’s wife, before murdering her and her two children in a gruesome manner. Though Elia’s brother Oberyn (Pedro Pascal) would later get a chance to avenge their deaths, The Mountain brutally murdered Oberyn by crushing his skull between his hands, stealing retribution from Dorne.

King Aerys Was Ruled by Madness, and It Led Him To Do Horrific Things

The last Targaryen to sit the Iron Throne, King Aerys (David Rintoul) was responsible for such exhaustive amounts of death and cruelty that he would forever be referred to as the “Mad King”. Aerys was a pyromaniac who was ruled by his whims and left destruction in his wake. When Lord Rickard Stark sought to rescue his daughter Lyanna (Aisling Franciosi) from Rhaegar Targaryen (Wilf Scolding), the Mad King responded viciously. When Rickard demanded a trial by combat, Aerys chose fire as his champion and set the Lord of Winterfell on fire as his son, Brandon Stark, was forced into a strangulation device that killed him as he tried to rescue his father. But his obsession with fiery deaths did not end there, as the Mad King would also threaten to set the entirety of King’s Landing ablaze in wildfire when the city was being sacked, forcing his own Kingsguard, Jaimie Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), to kill him in order to save the city.

The Root of Evil Can Often Be Traced Back to Tywin Lannister

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A dishonorable mention on the list of worst characters must also include the recurring Hand of the King and Lord of Casterly Rock: Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance). Though not as outwardly violent or cruel as the other characters, Tywin possessed a Machiavellian perspective in his pursuit of power that makes him guilty of some of the worst crimes of the series. Gregor Clegane is referred to as “Tywin’s mad dog” for a reason — even if the Lannister lord never ordered the Mountain to commit such atrocities, he nonetheless enabled the cruel beast of a man to continue with his sadistic pursuits without punishment. The use of subordinates to separate himself from accountability is a tool Tywin has used on multiple occasions, which includes when he ordered guards to rape his son, Tyrion’s (Peter Dinklage) first wife and his contributions to the infamous Red Wedding.