10 TV Shows That Made You Love Killers

Game of Thrones put its viewers in an often uncomfortable kind of empathy with people who do very bad things. From Bronn to the Hound to Jamie Lannister, we are made to feel intense attachment to characters who routinely murder folks. But few of these violent men have racked up the body count of Arya Stark.

From the death of her father, Arya got pushed down a dark path. Some fans cheered her on the whole way, but her actions are just too cruel to ignore, pushing her past the realm of your average film/tv “badass”, characterizing her as almost inhuman at her most extreme.

And yet, Arya is one of the most beloved characters on Game of Thrones for a few reasons. For one, we get to see her evolve over the course of the show. We see her gradually develop and understand why she takes every blood-soaked step towards becoming a pure killer. She never crosses that line though.

Her arc in the last season of the show was a highlight of an otherwise shaky season, allowing her to face death and, ultimately, bring herself back from the brink of being lost to bloodlust. It was good to see this character, who you can’t help but care for after all the time we’ve spent by her side, find her way back to humanity, even if that path left a lot of corpses in its wake.