‘Game Of Thrones’ Season 6 Spoilers: Which Characters Still Have A Claim To The Iron Throne?

“Game of Thrones” has been feeling a lot less like a game and a lot more like a massacre of warring maniacs in recent seasons. Although people fall in and out of favor and control, at the end of the day, it’s all a mad rush to sit at the ultimate seat of power, the Iron Throne.

Although we’ve come a long way from the days when five people were declaring themselves king of the land, there’s still a lot of power to be had in the world of Westeros, and multiple people eyeing the throne for themselves. To help give people some perspective on who still belongs on the Iron Throne in King’s Landing ahead of the series’ Season 6 return, below are the current contenders to sit in the greatest seat of power.

Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke)

The Targaryen dynasty conquered the world of the first men and convinced all the major lords in the realm to bend the knee. Sadly, they were only able to do so because they had dragons that would have fried anyone who opposed them. However, when Dany was a newborn, her family’s dragons were gone and Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy) led a rebellion that dethroned the Targaryen name. However, the blood of the true rulers of Westeros lies within the queen of dragons. That’s why she’s spent every moment since Season 1 making her way back home, save for a few major distractions here and there.

Unfortunately, she’s currently in her most perilous situation yet as one of her three dragons flew her very far from the city of Meereen, where she was ruling and gathering resources for her march to King’s Landing. The last time fans saw her, she was surrounded by the Dothraki army, a faction she once commanded. However, it seems that her former title as Khaleesi won’t carry the same weight it once did.

Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane)

Admittedly, Stannis is more than likely dead. He was last seen at the tip of Brienne’s (Gwendoline Christie) sword after being severely wounded in a failed attempt to take back Winterfell from the Bolton family. However, because fans never saw a killing blow, some wonder if Brienne chose to keep the last remaining Baratheon son alive for an unknown reason. Stannis’ oldest brother, Robert, took the Iron Throne and drove the Targaryen’s out of the land. While Dany has claim to the Iron Throne by blood, the members of the Seven Kingdoms all opted to bend the knee to him. When he died, the natural order of the land stated that the crown went to Stannis since Robert had no legitimate children of his own.

Sadly, if Stannis is dead, there are no more Baratheons to take the throne as he killed his younger brother Renly (Gethin Anthony) when he tried to usurp the rightful order of the land and take the throne instead of Stannis. As a result, thanks to Stannis’ failure to capture the seat of power in question, there’s no legitimate rule of the land.

Tommen Baratheon (Dean-Charles Chapman)

Tommen is supposedly the son of Robert Baratheon and Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), thus making him the rightful heir to the throne after Robert and Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) died. However, it’s become common knowledge that the only children Cersei had was from her incestious relationship with her brother Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). However, since DNA testing isn’t really a thing in Westeros, no one can prove that the blonde-headed Tommen isn’t the spawn of Robert, and thus not a true Baratheon.

Believe it or not, the kingdom might be in better hands without any legitimate king on the throne as Tommen’s age precludes him from exercising any real power. In Season 5 we learned that he was too ineffectual to even free his mother and his queen from jail. At the end of the day, he’s just a mouthpiece for the Lannister family, which at this point really only consists of Jaime and Cersei, which doesn’t bode well for the civilians in the kingdom.

As of the end of Season 5, that’s where the politics of Westeros have our potential rulers. With one probably dead, another captured and the third barely able to exercise his control, only time will tell what’s in store for people of the Seven Kingdoms when Season 6 kicks off Sunday at 9 p.m. EDT on HBO.

Who do you want to see on the iron throne when it’s all said and done? Comment below or tweet your thoughts on the matter to @TylerMcCarthy.