The Ultimate Ranking of Game of Thrones Moms

When it comes to examples of atrocious parenting, Melisandre, otherwise known as the Red Priestess, has proven to be the world's worst. She's also easily the most manipulative woman on the show — and that's saying a lot. Not only does this lady convince Stannis to murder her own daughter all in the name of "sacrifice," but she also gives birth to an evil spirit called The Shadow whose first order of business is to absolutely murk Renley Baratheon. The worst part of this whole situation? We haven't seen the shadow since. Melisandre literally gave birth to something JUST so it could kill someone! Talk about negligent. Last place for you, Melisandre.

It goes without saying that Stannis's wife, Selyse, has had a very tough time from day one. I mean, think about it. She had three stillborn sons and her only living daughter has a mild disfigurement. As if it couldn't get any worse, her husband is cheating on her with a sultry priestess who practices black magic, aka Melisandre. So it's easy to understand how the pressure of being in a royal family and losing three kids pushed her over the edge and why she keeps all of her dead children's bodies in jars in her bedroom. You really can't help but feel bad for her most of the time.

While any viewer with a conscience spent all of seasons four and five hating her guts for banishing her daughter, Shireen, to a dank basement due to the way she looks, the tides definitely change once she's killed. It's safe to say no mother could even fathom sacrificing their own child via giant fire pyre — and though Selyse agreed to it in the first place, your stomach stills churns when you see her begging for her choice to be reversed. By the end, she's so upset over losing Shireen she offs herself, which lands her in second to last because it's better to be late to the good-mom party than never showing up at all.

Where to begin with Cersei. She's been a total menace since the very first episode. It's true she's a power-hungry chick who decided to fornicate with her twin brother (cringe), but let's get one thing straight: she's got her kids' backs.

Take Joffrey, for example, her homicidal maniac son who sat on the Iron Throne for WAY too long. Despite the fact that he's without question off his effing rocker, she stands by him when he orders babies to be killed, acts like a complete and utter weenie when Arya beats him in a sword fight, and was generally an all-around ass when he was the king. Frankly, it's really saying something if she can keep up with him, not to mention actually mourn his death. Pretty sure she was the only person who did; that's true mom loyalty.

Her other two kids, Myrcella and Tommen, are easier to deal with and you can see how much she loves them. Remember when she had a coronary in season two when Tyrion told her he was sending Myrcella away to Dorne to get married? It was pretty serious. She also helped guide Tommen during his brief time as king and was obviously beside herself when he committed suicide, which left her with no children.

It really doesn't help her that she gives zero hoots about anyone else's kids. She was pretty much OK with Jaime when he pushed Bran out a window to his death because he walked in on the pair boinking. She's also not about helping the poor kids in King's Landing and ripped on Margaery for doing it. Welcome to the number seven slot, Cersei.

Look, breastfeeding is an incredible natural wonder that is rewarding for both parties physically and an indescribable way to bond with your kid, but if one person in the universe takes it too far it's Lysa Arryn, the helicopter mom extraordinaire.

Though it's totally understandable that Lysa wants to protect her only son, being coddled in the GOT world usually doesn't get you very far. And there's absolutely no question this lady is a few cards short of a deck, if you catch my drift. In the first season it's crystal clear how dependent her son Robin is on her. She's literally shown, in the midst of a serious convo about war, breastfeeding Robin who looks to be about 10 years old.

And what's more, Lysa is completely delusional when it comes to her son's capabilities, which can be dangerous. While she thinks he's strong, brave, and independent, in reality his character wouldn't last a nanosecond on his own outside the castle walls. And to make matters worse, Littlefinger gave Lysa the old heave ho down the skyhole, so now Robin really has to tough it out alone. Lysa's serious need of a reality check puts her in sixth place.

Let's be totally honest: Ellaria Sand had her panties in a bunch since day one. Being a bastard never sits well with anyone in GOT and the trend continued when she had four bastard kids of her own with that handsome devil Oberyn Martell. But once her lover Oberyn is murdered, Ellaria's true colors really come through.

Although she's pretty tame when it comes to her own daughters, the same can't be said about Myrcella Baratheon's case. In a totally uncool move, Ellaria poisoned Myrcella (Cersei's only daughter) to get revenge for Oberyn's death, aka Myrcella had literally nothing to do with it. How she actually killed her is also SUPER sneaky: she coated her lips in poison and kissed Myrcella goodbye. Once Myrcella was out of sight, she took an antidote and ended up just fine. Myrcella on the other hand, died painfully on a ship, making Ellaria BEYOND extra.

She also used her daughters to create a pretty fierce fighting girl gang who know their way around giant knives, which is pretty epic. For these reasons Ellaria comes up the fifth spot.

There's no doubt that the Queen of Winterfell was a frontrunner from the beginning when it came down to being voted number one mom. Like Cersei, she's super protective and truly wants the best for all her kids.

After Jaime throttles Bran out the window, who nursed him back to health? His mom, obviously. When Ned gets killed in King's Landing, what's the first thing she does? Tries to make sure her daughters Sansa and Arya are safe. She literally begged Littlefinger to keep them safe. She also helps her oldest kid Robb lead an army against the Lannisters before they all get murdered in cold blood.

The one black spot on her résumé is how she treats Ned's "bastard son" Jon Snow, who's not technically hers. Heck, she wouldn't even let him say goodbye to Bran before he shipped him off to the Wall forever. Bottom line: she treats him like complete garbage, and we're not OK with that, which lands her in fourth place at the end of the day.

Is Daenerys a mom in the traditional sense? Not exactly. In fact, she's basically the equivalent of people who swear having a few dogs is exactly the same as a having a human baby. But for all intents and purposes, she's a mom in this case and definitely takes the role pretty damn seriously. She is called "Mother of Dragons," after all.

Let's start by noting Daenerys was pregnant in season one and lost the baby thanks to a nasty witch who said her son was stillborn and had wings and leathery skin. I'm not buying that for a second. In a lot of ways, the dragons that she hatched and raised from birth have totally become her children. Think about it: she brags about them to anyone who will listen, yields to their dietary restrictions, and commands them to spit fire at her enemies, aka dragon chores. And naturally, when two of them died, she mourned them properly like any mom would.

Overall, Daenerys is a super hands-on mom to her kids, even if they're not of the human variety, which propels her to third place.

If there's one nonnegotiable fact in this show, it's that Olenna Tyrell is the pinnacle of the term boss lady. For starters she's the matriarch of her family and takes absolutely zero sh*t from the Lannisters, securing her place in second.

She's quick as a whip and loyal AF to her grandkids — she literally moved to King's Landing when her granddaughter Margaery got engaged — talk about dedication. And when Joffrey, Margaery's intended, turns out to be nothing less than a sadistic monster who used a crossbow to kill a prostitute just for sh*ts and gigs, she puts a swift end to the nonsense by killing him at his own wedding without anyone ever finding out it was her. If that's not coy, not sure what is.

Oh, and the real kicker? She sets up Margaery up with Joffrey's much nicer brother Tommen right after the fact like the true legend that she is.

Awesome side note: Olenna also turns out to be completely cool with the fact that her grandson Loras is gay, which also warrants brownie points.

This Wildling is a major underdog when it comes to being a mom, but she definitely deserves a first place trophy compared to everyone else. Despite having her son through incest (cue the ews), Gilly's mom instincts kick in from day one. She saved her son, Sam, from the White Walkers right out of the gate and keeps him out of harm's way about 100 times after that.

Gilly also got major points in the momma department when she protected Sam from the massacre that went down at Mole's Town in season four. Fortunately, Ygritte does them a major solid and keeps them from getting killed by telling the pair to keep it down. Another bonus? Even though the Wildlings aren't known for being educated, Gilly makes it a point to try to learn to read after having Sam. Loving that self-improvement, Gilly.

Here's the bottom line: Gilly will do absolutely anything to keep her kid safe. While she's definitely not the sharpest tool in the shed, she also doesn't have a mean bone in her body, which is why she comes in hot at number one. And the best part? She's expecting another kiddo!