Game of Thrones has grown in popularity since the show’s debut in 2011, and it’s only growing more. What’s the big deal about this show? Well, George R.R. Martin, writer of the fantasy book series (A Song of Ice and Fire) that the show is based off of has created a world so full of dynamic characters and superb plot twists. Not only that, he writes in the most realistic fashion, allowing main characters to die in the most random, heartbreaking, unexpected ways. The genius behind it is, these characters don’t always die in a way that lives up to their personality development of level on the character hierarchy. It’s shocking in a sense, and in another sense, it’s angering to audiences.

Martin, however, is not one to cater to his audience, and is incredibly unapologetic about the ways in which his characters kick the bucket.

Additionally, the show’s characters make up some of the most hated characters in television and literary history. With so many things to hate about Game of Thrones, why do people love it so much? Well, a little bit of voyeurism goes a long way in that we like to watch the crazies, and hope for their demise, but there is more to it. The world of Game of Thrones is so full and rich that we feel that we know the characters, we understand the ways of the fantasy world, and we almost feel like we’re a part of the horrible things that happen. We love to hate the unfair world that was created. We love to despise characters that hurt the characters we love. We love to loathe the way the world breaks our hearts over and over again. What do we love to hate so much? Here are the top 15 things about Game of Thrones that everyone loves to hate.

15. They’re All Dead!

Your favorite character is dead, being tortured, or in the worst possible place he or she could be in. If your favorite character is alive, well…you know that might not last long in this world. It started with Ned Stark. Anyone who read the books or even just watched the show knew that Ned Stark was going to exile Cersei Baratheon… it’s the way it should have been, right? Wrong. Littlefinger saw to that. After that, Rob Stark was going to win the war, even though he lost some allies. Nope. The Freys turned on him and what was left of his army were slaughtered at The Red Wedding. Oh, you like Oberyn Martell? Shucks… he’s gonna have the most brutal death in Game of Thrones history. They’re all dead, and we hate it, yet we keep giving Game of Thrones more chances to redeem itself, because we love it.

14. Gratuitous Violence

Let’s tune in to see a man get his skull crushed by giant bare hands. Let’s check out the place where the Lannister army is torturing people for information. Let’s have a few battles to the death… Speaking of battles, why not make a battle so intense that the dead pile up and start crushing and suffocating those still fighting? Hey, it was a savage time, and there are some savage people, a great show has to be realistic, right? Well… it’s not very appealing to a lot of viewers, but it is something those who hate violence suffer through to get to that amazing storyline.

13. Ugh, Make the Story Go Faster! Wait… Don’t!

In the first few seasons of Game of Thrones, the story moved pretty slowly, as the timelines for travel throughout the fantasy world of Westeros were accurate. It took armies months to travel to different places. Of course, in recent seasons, people are basically teleporting from one place or the other. Arya leaves Braavos, suddenly she’s at The Twins. Sansa writes a letter to Littlefinger, and he arrives with amassed forces in no later than 48 hours. Diehard fans see that it is clearly based on moving the plot faster, and helping the narrative arch reach peaks at the perfect time, but the suspension of disbelief is a little unnerving.

12. Ramsay Bolton

The dude’s a psycho. First we hated Theon for being a spoiled little brat who used his title to get whatever he wanted. We couldn’t wait for Theon to get his comeuppance after sacking Winterfell, and forcing the Stark boys into exile. However, when we meet Ramsay Snow, the bastard of Roose Bolton (we’ll get to him), it doesn’t take us long to realize that he is taking this just a bit too far. We hate Ramsay for his love of torture. We see him as a threat to what is left of our hope for justice on the show, and we love to watch his creative insanity just to see what he is going to do next.

11. Joffrey Baratheon

We loved watching Joffrey die. We loved imagining his death. We hated everything about him, and were happy to see him go, especially after his reaction to The Red Wedding, and his plans to torture Sansa even more than he already had. We first meet him as a bratty prince who always gets his way, and seems to take joy from that fact. We soon learn that he is a sadist who does everything in his power to ensure that those around him are as miserable as humanly possible. It becomes incredibly easy to hate Joffrey, yet we loved watching him just so we could hate him more.

10. Brandon Stark

He’s the reason Hodor was Hodor…but he’s also the reason Hodor is dead. We don’t know if he is Azhor Ahai, and we don’t know what the heck he is doing. He’s annoying, because he moves slowly, and in the most recent episode, he is detached. As he becomes more and more the Three-Eyed Raven, we see that he is becoming more and more sociopathic. What is going to happen is going to happen, so I’m just gonna let it happen, and not tell anyone that it is happening. Sure Sansa, you were beautiful at your wedding to the psychopathic Ramsay Bolton. Not in good taste, Bran. Not in good taste at all.

9. Shae

The problem with Shae is that we loved her in the beginning. She was Tyrion’s lover, and we all really believed that she loved him. Unfortunately, hell hath no fury like a prostitute being treated like a prostitute because she acts like a prostitute. She betrays Tyrion (a fan favorite amongst the characters), and is the reason he is sentenced to death. Nothing in the world makes us hate characters on Game of Thrones more than when they are the direct reason our favorite characters are put in danger. We loved seeing Shae get her comeuppance, even if it was at the expense of Tyrion’s emotional wellbeing.

8. Petyr Baelish

He’s the reason Ned Stark went to King’s Landing. He conspired to kill Jon Arryn with Lysa Arryn. He betrayed Ned and was the reason he was killed. He sold Sansa to the Bolton’s for an alliance to the north, not caring what that meant to Sansa’s wellbeing. He is a sly mofo! He lives his life on the basis that knowledge is power, and his only goal is to have all of the power (based off of some inadequacies he has from his adolescent years). In the end, we are all imagining the best way for Littlefinger to die, and we love to watch every day, hoping that it is more poetic than some of the deaths he has caused.

7. Sir Alliser Thorne & Olly

Sir Alliser of the Night’s Watch hated Jon Snow from the very beginning. He always seemed to treat Jon the worst during training, and got even more angry when Jon started to make friends. It got so bad, in fact that the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch actually sent him down south for a while, just to get him away from Jon. Olly, on the other hand was the victim of the Thenns and Wildlings attacking Mole’s Town before they got to the Wall. Olly and Alliser betrayed Jon and led us to wonder if Jon Snow was going to come back to life or not. We hated them for this, and we loved hating them when Jon came back to life.

6. Viserys Targaryen

This sniveling little douche was the cause of Daenerys’s pain throughout the first season of Game of Thrones. His self-entitlement was enough to make us think that he was a big d*ck, but even worse was his abuse of power (or his presuming he actually had any power), and how he used that to hurt people he thought was beneath him. We soon saw Khal Drogo as a saviour when he finally did away with Dany’s brother by pouring some molten gold over his head. Hey, the guy really wanted his crown, and even demanded it in a drunken rage. He got what was coming to him, and for that, we are all thankful.

5. Walder Frey

There isn’t a single character in the books that has anything nice to say about Walder Frey. In the same sense, there isn’t a single fan of the show that has anything nice to say about him (unless you can find that one guy who looks up to him for having over 40 children and a 13-year-old wife). Walder Frey betrayed Robb and Catelyn Stark and was the host of The Red Wedding. We love to hate him because he does have a little bit of power in that he holds the best passage from the North to the Riverlands, and he uses that power to marry off his umpteen daughters to any house that will have them. He is, quite literally, an old troll with a bridge, and we all loved watching him go down at the hands of Arya.

4. Roose Bolton

Speaking of The Red Wedding, we have none other than Ramsay Snow’s father, Roose Bolton. He took on the role of Warden of the North after betraying Robb Stark at The Red Wedding. He delivered the famous line “The Lannisters send their regards,” and we all remember him and hate him for that. The Red Wedding was a very traumatic moment for audiences, and it seems that fans are ready to hate anyone that was involved in the massacre of the Stark army. If that’s the case, Roose Bolton should be your public enemy number one. Luckily for us, his psychopathic son took care of him for us.

3. When The F* Is Winter Coming?

No, seriously. We have been hearing this threat for 6 years. We first saw and heard of the white walkers in episode one. We saw the army of the dead in the first season. The Starks have been promising us Winter, and yet we still see sunshine in King’s Landing. BOOO! Now, I know Winter will be here sooner rather than later, and we have a few other wars to fight before we get to the army of the dead. However, it does become taxing on audiences when we get little hints and teases of winter, and still do not actually see what has been promised to us. Now they’re saying that Winter is here, but I only see snow in the north.

2. Can You Finish Writing The Books Already?

For A Song of Ice and Fire readers, the waiting is the hardest part. We love George RR Martin’s books, because they are so well-crafted. They are so well-crafted, because he takes his time writing them. We are mad at him for taking so much time. We are promised publication dates, and when he is asked, he gets snarky and angry with his fans. I get that it’s annoying to hear the same question over and over again, but isn’t that a sign that your audience is dedicated to you and your characters? I, for one, can wait for the books. I mean, the television series is almost over, and to be honest, the books are going to be great for more details (and of course to see how the show strayed from the original plot).

1. Cersei

From the first episode when she coaxed Jaime into pushing Bran out the window to the last episode of season 6 when she killed off all of her enemies, Cersei Baratheon (Lannister) is a witch beyond words. She’s a schemer, and tries so hard to take control, but always does something to jack things up. In the books, she’s much worse, and we actually get a few perspective chapters from her. You might think this would help give her a little likability when the audience can take a look into her mind. Nope. She’s horrible through and through, over and over, and it never stops. We love to hate Cersei, because we love to watch her break our hearts and hurt those characters we love.