Game Of Thrones: The person who should sit on the Iron Throne
"When you play the Game of Thrones you win or you die."
Cersei Lannister's words to Ned Stark are a pretty much perfect summary of the whole series. For almost a decade we have been watching the Starks, Lannisters, Targaryens and others battle to sit on the Iron Throne.
Oh, before we go on...spoilers. Obviously.
Since we started watching, the throne has had four official regents - Robert Baratheon, Joffrey Baratheon, Tommen Baratheon and Cersei Lannister. Following this week's events, I suspect we can add Daenerys Targaryen to that list.
It's fair to say that most of those rulers have been pretty rubbish. Robert was a wine-swilling warrior who admitted he had not place as king, Joffrey was an entitled, vicious brat, Tommen was a child, Cersei had no care for anyone but herself and her children and Daenerys managed to burn most of King's Landing en route to the throne.
Even the pretenders who have declared themselves king in Game of Thrones have left a lot to be desired. Renly Baratheon was too weak, Stannis Baratheon had too much tunnel vision. All-in-all, for a show called Game Of Thrones, it has not really given us anyone who really deserved to rule.
With one exception.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the only sensible ruler Westeros has produced during the story: Lord Tywin Lannister.
"A lion doesn't concern himself with the opinions of the sheep."
In his first scene, which he spent gutting a dead deer and lecturing his son Jamie on the importance of family and honour.
"The family name lives on, it's all that lives on; not your personal glory, not your honour, but family."
Frankly, I could quote that whole scene back and leave it here. In four minutes of television, Tywin Lannister showed more capacity to rule than all five Kings and Queens and of Westeros and the two pretenders combined.
He could recognise ability, such as when he rescued Arya (not knowing who she was) and stopped his men executing able-bodies prisoners; he could deal with those in power, like when he brought Joffrey to heel and turned the Tyrells into is allies; he understood the true nature of power, explaining to Tyrion that a crown does not give one authority and he could make the important call when needed.
Unfortunately, he also was too focused on his plans and his family and let his unbridled hatred for his youngest son cloud his actions so he got killed while sitting on the toilet.
But you can't have everything.
To apply the Batman principle, Jon Snow is the king Westeros needs, Daenerys is probably the monarch it deserves and Tywin Lannister is as close as the story has had to both.
Long live the king who never was.