9. Jack Gleeson Joffrey Baratheon
Narrowly beating out Iwan Rheon' Ramsay Snow as the most contemptible character on the show, King Joffrey is just an awful human being. The internet isnt exactly shy about expressing their hate for this guy, and even George R. R. Martin has declared himself impressed with just how much loathing Jack Gleeson has managed to drum up for the part. Make no mistake, you dont hate him because hes a bad character or badly performed. You hate him because Gleeson's awesome performance makes you hate him. His Joffrey isnt quite pure pantomime villainy, but its a close-run thing and that makes the role all the harder. It can be very easy to dial it up to 11 when youre faced with such a straightforward character, but Gleeson plays it masterfully well. Despite the presence of the similarly unhinged Ramsay he remains one of the most uproariously evil individuals in Westeros, but he never comes across as unbelievable. Youre appalled by his hints that hell rape Sansa Stark, youre horrified when he wants to present Robbs head to her at his wedding and youre furious when he crossbows Ros to death, but hes never anything less than a believable study of a spoilt brat given all the keys to the kingdom. If anything, Gleeson made his character more compelling this year through his actions with Margaery Tyrell, in which he seemed oddly house-trained for once. Of course, theres absolutely no hope hell be rehabilitated, but giving Kings Landings biggest psycho a civil persona does gave Gleesons performance a coiled-viper quality, and this was incredibly compelling. When he did eventually go crossbow-mental, you felt it all the more.