‘Game of Thrones': Here’s Why It Matters That the Lannisters Are Stealing Everybody’s Food
The Lannisters steal food from the Reach, Sansa stockpiles it in Westeros and Daenerys goes after King’s Landing’s supplies in ”Game of Thrones“ Season 7
(Note: This post contains spoilers for “Game of Thrones” Season 7 through the Aug. 6 episode.)
In Episode 3 of “Game of Thrones” Season 7, the Lannisters executed a masterful strategic move. While Queen Daenerys’ Unsullied attacked Casterly Rock, the Lannister family home, Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) took his army and attacked Highgarden, the fortress controlled by the Tyrell family.
Highgarden was captured, Tyrell matriarch Lady Olenna (Diana Rigg) was killed, and the Lannisters won a whole lot in the process — not just the defeat of one of their enemies and a key ally to Daenerys (Emilia Clarke), but the capturing of some important resources. The Tyrells were the wealthiest family in Westeros, and the Lannisters planned to use the gold they took from Highgarden to pay off debts to the Iron Bank of Braavos, which then agreed to give them more money for their war effort.
But the capture of Highgarden earned the Lannisters another strategic resource: food. At the start of Episode 4, “Spoils of War,” Jaime discusses taking all the grain and other foods from the farmers of the Reach, where Highgarden is located.
It’s probably a pretty awful thing to do with winter having arrived, since losing that food will likely kill the farmers, but Jaime’s got good reason to steal from them. Ever since Season 2 when the Tyrells switched sides and backed the Lannisters, they’ve been providing the Iron Throne with money, troops, and probably most importantly, food.
That’s because during the War of the Five Kings, King’s Landing was suffering from a serious food shortage, with Robb Stark (Richard Madden) and his forces cutting off supplies to the city. And that’s not even getting into the change of seasons. Before the war kicked off in earnest, in Season 2, Littlefinger (Aidan Gillen) noted that King’s Landing only had food enough to feed everyone if the winter lasted five years — and now, all the food is gone.
The food shortage resulted in some riots and even attacks on King Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) and other members of his court. When the Tyrells joined with the Lannisters by way of marriage, with Joffrey betrothed to Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer), part of the deal was providing the capital of Westeros with food.
So Jaime stealing food from the Reach is essential. The fields around King’s Landing have long been burned and destroyed, so the city isn’t especially self-sufficient. Winter has arrived, even if it’s a little slow in arriving in the south. And King’s Landing will almost definitely come under full siege before long, which will mean the city won’t be able to receive outside supplies.
In fact, the Lannisters aren’t the only ones thinking about storing up food to get through the coming war. Sansa Stark is making some of the same moves, requesting food from across the North to be stored at Winterfell.
Instead of stealing it through warfare, though, she’s asking the lord of the North to send portions of their grain stockpiles of their own accord. That’s because when the Night King shows up, Winterfell will be the strongest, most defensible position, and Sansa expects almost everyone in the North to hole up there. When everyone’s fleeing the White Walkers and run to Winterfell, they’ll have a hard time bringing food along with them, she reasons.
Daenerys knows the importance of all those supplies as well. She mentions that with the Lannisters stealing all the food from the Reach and destroying the Tyrells, she’ll be hard-pressed to feed her armies at Dragonstone.
When Daenerys attacks the Lannisters with Drogon and her Dothraki horde, attacking the Lannister troops is almost a secondary concern. During most of the battle, she and Drogon don’t blast all the Lannister footmen, but instead attack all the wagons filled with grain. Dany is purposely trying to destroy the Lannisters’ ability to wait out a siege, the winter, or both.
She’s only partially successful, though. As noted in Jaime’s discussion with Randyll Tarly (James Faulkner), some of the wagons full of grain have already made it into the city, and when Daenerys attacks, she’s destroying the stragglers that haven’t caught up yet. But it’s still a big strategic win. So much of “Game of Thrones” Season 7 has concerned the numbers of troops and weapons everyone has that they’ll need to survive the war with the Night King, but Episode 4 illustrates that food will also be a major concern.
Scroll down to see how every “Game of Thrones” character stacks up to the others with our gallery of all 49 main characters ranked.
All 49 'Game of Thrones' Main Characters, Ranked Worst to Best (Photos)
"Game of Thrones" has a lot of characters, and too many to rank. So we're just going to focus on the 49 characters who are or were the most important, in our humble opinion. If you don't like our list, Littlefinger will poison your wedding cake. (Many spoilers, obviously.)
49. Viserys Targaryan
A total jackass, Viserys had maybe the best death in the whole series: having molten gold dumped on his head.
48. Rickon
Who? (I feel bad for this joke after season 6, but I'm going to leave it)
47. Robb Stark
The Red Wedding was a coming of age for viewers of the show. Rewatching those early seasons knowing that's gonna happen exposes Robb for the lame dude he really is.
46. Stannis
Basically a stodgy, moralistic Southern Baptist minister. I'm from Alabama, so I was pulling for him.
45. Bran Stark
Needs to work on his pouty face and grow out his hair if he wants to be the new Jon Snow.
44. Roose Bolton
He's like the Count Dooku of this show, acting like he's working for himself though he's really just a pawn who probably will get his head cut off by young Darth Vader.
43. Daario
Was a hot blond dude, but now (after a casting change) is just a regularly attractive brown-haired dude who was banished from Dany's bed because who cares about love anyway?
42. Ned Stark
The Mark Twain of the show, giving his kids a bunch of advice that wasn't actually useful before he got murdered. Wait, how did Mark Twain die? This analogy may not track all the way but whatever.
41. Joffrey
Oh man. Remember that time the cake was too dry and it made his eyes bug out and his face turn purple and he spit foamy red drool everywhere? Hilarious.
40. Shae
Did what she needed to survive, until it turned out doing what she needed to do to survive (hooking up with Tywin Lannister) got her killed.
39. Tommen
Not the most decisive king, either before or after he had sex. But he's better than Joffrey, I guess.
38. Khal Drogo
Got fridged for the sake of Daenerys' character arc. Beautiful.
37. Gendry
Melisandre put a leech on his penis one time. It feels like that's all I should put here.
36. Theon
I'm still pulling for his post-castration power play. Or for him to just get killed already.
35. Jorah Mormont
Really sad because he still can't afford to buy Khaleesi's love.
34. King Robert
Probably the most chill and carefree character on the show, drunk most of the time, yelling a lot even though he really didn't have any problems. Well, until that time he drank too much and got killed by a boar.
33. Ramsey Bolton
Is Ramsey the most demented dude on this show? Well, he's definitely the funniest demented dude, which isn't actually funny at all when you think about it.
32. Catelyn Stark
Loses to the Lannisters both in the Game of Thrones and the Game of Angsty Overprotective Moms.
31. Talisa Stark
Every joke that comes to mind is far too reprehensible even for a "Game of Thrones" list, so I'm not going to put one here.
30. Sam
A huge nerd who predictably finds love in a house of somebody else's daughter-wives.
29. Lord Commander Mormont
Died because Sam found love in a house of somebody else's daughter-wives.
28. Ygritte
A marksman with a bow, loved Jon Snow, killed by a child. She was basically an audience surrogate.
27. Gilly
Doesn't know anything except for all the stuff Sam doesn't know how to do. Which is most things.
26. The High Sparrow
He tried pulling a huge awesome gambit, but ultimately he was not prepared for the Game as well as he thought, judging by how hard Cersei outplayed him.
25. Red Viper
His irascible lust distracted him from delivering the killing blow against the Mountain. He would be much, much higher on this list were it not for that glaring oversight.
24. The Hound
Killed the butcher's boy, then spent several seasons saying lots of mean things before being left to die on a rock. If his redemption arc goes well he might get a bump.
23. Jaime Lannister
Can I make a joke about masturbating with your off hand? There's nothing in our style guide about that. Anyway, where's the scene where Jaime learned how to do that?
22. Jaqen H'ghar
Speaks in riddles, has many faces (and many bodies), and set Arya on the path to losing her eyesight even though he would have been burned alive if she hadn't saved him. What a clown.
21. Tywin Lannister
Was killed by his hated dwarf son. Exactly what he deserved, though I secretly hoped he would at some point just be nice to his kids.
20. Ellaria Sand
Committed one of the greatest and most upsetting murders on the whole show.
19. Tormund Giantsbane
Has a great name, murder in his heart and a huge beautiful red beard. Also he was in "Fate of the Furious," the latest movie in my favorite film franchise. What's not to like?
18. Jon Snow
Well, he's dead. King of the dead ones. Definitely not coming back ever. No longer dead. Murdered a particularly irritating character. Could stand to be less nice, though.
17. Euron Greyjoy
We can't help but appreciate the (no pun intended) joy with which Euron enacts his villainy. "I AM THE STORM!" Hahaha.
16. Hodor
Shoulda been named "Meme." (Another joke I feel about bad about after season 6. I moved him way up in compensation.)
15. Margaery Tyrell
Delightfully passive-aggressive toward Cersei all the time. Sure, she was killed horribly by Cersei because she made a classic "Game of Thrones" miscalculation -- and I really should bump her down for that -- but, nah, she was too much fun.
14. Brienne
Tall, kills a lot of men, is single and celibate, takes no crap from anyone and doesn't play the game. A perfect counter to basically everything else on "Game of Thrones."
13. Tyrion Lannister
Thinks with his penis. Which is okay because his penis is so smart.
12. Varys
Slightly smarter than Tyrion because he doesn't have a penis.
11. Melisandre
Lots of people think of Melisandre as the "sexy" main character, but she's actually the "terrifying" main character. Remember that time she burned a child alive? That sucked. Now she suffers for it, finally, but she'll probably be back to do something amazing. Still waiting, though.
10. Missandei
"All men must die. But we are not men." Any questions?
9. Davos Seaworth
Easily the MVP of season 7.
8. Littlefinger
Probably the smartest character on the show, but uses all that brainpower for evil. So he's great, is what I'm saying.
7. Daenerys
Commits most of the best murders on the show, thanks to those dragons and her invulnerability to fire. and they're usually justified. Big bonus points for that.
6. Arya Stark
Never underestimate this faceless woman.
5. Olenna Tyrell
Makes a great joke about useless genitals, and constantly talks smack about everyone. And she got the absolute last word in her death scene. My dream woman.
4. Sansa Stark
A lot of viewers still underestimate here even now in season 7, thinking she's playing right into Littlefinger's hand rather than having her own plan for dealing with his machinations. Ludicrous.
3. Bronn
Enters the show in the most "Game of Thrones" way possible: by stepping out of the background of a scene to kill a guy for Tyrion.
2. Grey Worm
Just the best. Sad because his life sucks. Badass who kills a lot of his problems. Communicates a lot without saying much. Grey Worm seems like the kind of tragic "Game of Thrones" character who is going to have a brief moment of triumph before getting slaughtered. I hope that triumph is really good.
1. Cersei
Yeah, she's a terrible person, but she's the product of a terrible father and terrible environment. Through season 7, though, she's been better than everyone else at playing the game, even though every move she's made has had some kind of awful unintentional consequence for people she cares about. We'll see if she can maintain this spot as the endgame approaches, however.
1 of 50
We judge all the characters who matter (or mattered)
"Game of Thrones" has a lot of characters, and too many to rank. So we're just going to focus on the 49 characters who are or were the most important, in our humble opinion. If you don't like our list, Littlefinger will poison your wedding cake. (Many spoilers, obviously.)
