Game Of Thrones’ Characters Ordered From Smallest To Tallest

Note: This ranking uses the publicly listed heights of the actors who played the characters, not fictional in-universe measurements. Westeros never issued an official royal height chart, probably because half the Small Council would have lied on it.

Game of Thrones gave viewers dragons, betrayals, questionable wedding planning, and enough family drama to make Thanksgiving look peaceful. But one of the funniest things to notice on a rewatch is how much height affects the way characters appear on screen. Tyrion Lannister can dominate a council chamber without towering over anyone. Brienne of Tarth can make an entire room look underprepared. The Mountain looks less like a man and more like a castle that learned to walk.

So let’s order major Game of Thrones characters from smallest to tallest using the actors’ approximate listed heights. Some numbers vary slightly depending on the public profile, footwear, posture, and whether the character is wearing armor heavy enough to qualify as real estate. Still, the ranking gives us a fun look at how casting, camera work, costume design, and screen presence helped shape the world of Westeros.

Game Of Thrones Characters By Height: Quick Ranking Table

The Shortest Characters Still Owned The Room

The smallest performer on this list is Peter Dinklage, whose Tyrion Lannister is one of the most important characters in the entire series. His height is central to how Westeros treats him, but the show never lets that be the only thing that defines him. Tyrion survives through intelligence, timing, language, and the ability to insult someone so elegantly they almost thank him for it.

That is what makes the height ranking interesting. Tyrion is physically the shortest, yet he repeatedly becomes one of the most powerful people in the room. He serves as Hand of the King, Hand of the Queen, political strategist, survivor, negotiator, and professional wine critic. In a world obsessed with bloodlines, swords, and brute force, Tyrion proves that height is not the same thing as stature.

Maisie Williams as Arya Stark comes next. Arya begins the series as a small noble girl who refuses to become a decorative court object. Her size actually helps define her early arc: people underestimate her, overlook her, and fail to recognize the danger in front of them. By the end, that mistake becomes extremely bad for everyone on her list.

Emilia Clarke’s Daenerys Targaryen is also on the shorter side of the ranking, but the character’s visual power comes from contrast. She is not physically massive, yet she commands armies, dragons, and entire cities. Her screen presence is built through costume, posture, lighting, and the very practical advantage of having fire-breathing children.

The Middle Of The Ranking: Where Politics Gets Dangerous

The middle heights are packed with schemers, survivors, and fan favorites. Cersei Lannister, Margaery Tyrell, Ygritte, Joffrey Baratheon, Missandei, Ellaria Sand, Jon Snow, Ramsay Bolton, Samwell Tarly, Theon Greyjoy, Littlefinger, Varys, and Sansa Stark all sit in this broad range from about 5’6″ to 5’9″. This is where the ranking becomes less about physical dominance and more about how performance shapes perception.

Lena Headey’s Cersei does not need to tower over anyone. She can make a silent stare feel like a royal decree, a legal threat, and a hangover all at once. Natalie Dormer’s Margaery uses softness as strategy, making her one of the few people who can smile in King’s Landing without seeming harmless. Rose Leslie’s Ygritte, meanwhile, feels larger than her listed height because she moves through the story with confidence, humor, and absolute refusal to be impressed by Jon Snow’s brooding.

Speaking of Jon Snow, Kit Harington’s listed height surprises some fans because Jon often feels taller on screen. That is partly because of costume design, camera angles, sword posture, and the fact that he spends much of the series surrounded by people calling him important. A black cloak also adds at least three inches of emotional burden.

Sansa Stark is another fascinating case. Sophie Turner grew up during the show, and Sansa’s physical transformation mirrors her emotional one. Early Sansa is young, sheltered, and trapped in other people’s stories. Later Sansa carries herself like someone who has survived kings, queens, monsters, and family reunions in the North. Her height becomes part of that presence, especially when she stands in Winterfell looking like she could freeze a political enemy with one eyebrow.

The Tall Characters: Armor, Authority, And Absolute Unit Energy

Once the list crosses six feet, the energy changes. Bronn, Davos, Jaime, Tywin, Brienne, Drogo, the Hound, the Mountain, and Hodor all use size in different ways. Some are elegant. Some are terrifying. Some look like they could pick up a horse and apologize to the horse afterward.

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau’s Jaime Lannister stands around 6’2″, which fits the character’s golden-warrior image in the early seasons. Jaime is introduced as the polished, dangerous knight everyone recognizes. His height helps sell that image, but his story becomes more interesting when the series strips away his certainty, reputation, and sword-hand advantage.

Charles Dance as Tywin Lannister and Gwendoline Christie as Brienne of Tarth are both around 6’3″, yet their height communicates very different things. Tywin’s height reinforces authority. He does not enter rooms; rooms prepare themselves for his disappointment. Brienne’s height, on the other hand, makes her visibly out of place in a society that expects women to be small, ornamental, and quiet. Her power comes from refusing to shrink.

Jason Momoa’s Khal Drogo is one of the most physically imposing early characters at about 6’4″. The casting works because Drogo is meant to seem mythic from Daenerys’s point of view: warrior, conqueror, husband, threat, and protector all tangled together. Momoa’s size, movement, and stillness make Drogo feel less like a court politician and more like a storm with excellent eyeliner.

Then come the Cleganes and Hodor. Rory McCann’s Sandor “The Hound” Clegane is enormous, but his performance gives the character a wounded, bitter humanity. Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson’s Mountain is nearly 6’9″, which makes subtlety somewhat unnecessary. When your nickname is “The Mountain,” nobody expects you to win arguments with interpretive dance.

Kristian Nairn’s Hodor is even taller, and Conan Stevens, who played Gregor Clegane in Season 1, is listed at about seven feet. That means the tallest performer associated with a major Game of Thrones character depends on whether you count every version of the Mountain. Either way, Westeros clearly has a strong “duck through doorways” demographic.

Why Height Matters In Game Of Thrones

Height in Game of Thrones is not just trivia. It affects how characters are framed, feared, underestimated, and remembered. The show constantly plays with the difference between physical power and political power. Robert Baratheon is broad and kingly, but politically exhausted. Varys is not physically intimidating, yet he knows more than almost anyone. Arya is small, but deadly. Brienne is huge, but emotionally vulnerable. The Mountain is massive, but often treated more like a weapon than a person.

This is one reason the cast works so well. The show uses bodies as storytelling tools without making height the whole story. A tall character can be noble, monstrous, comic, tragic, or gentle. A shorter character can be commanding, dangerous, underestimated, or brilliant. The result is a world that feels physically varied, which helps Westeros look lived-in instead of assembled from identical fantasy action figures.

Biggest Height Surprises In The Cast

Daenerys Is Shorter Than Many Fans Expect

Because Daenerys becomes such a monumental figure, it can be surprising to remember that Emilia Clarke is only about 5’2″. The show turns her into a giant through symbolism: dragons, armies, titles, pale hair, and the kind of entrance music that makes everyone suddenly reconsider their life choices.

Jon Snow Is Not Actually Towering

Jon Snow feels tall because the character is central, serious, and usually dressed like he is carrying the emotional weight of a damp castle. Kit Harington’s listed height is around 5’8″, proving once again that brooding adds vertical drama.

Brienne And Tywin Share A Similar Height

Brienne and Tywin are both around 6’3″, but the show frames them very differently. Tywin’s height is aristocratic command. Brienne’s height is moral courage made visible. One uses power to control; the other uses strength to protect.

Hodor May Be Taller Than The Mountain

If comparing Kristian Nairn’s Hodor to Hafþór Björnsson’s later Mountain, Hodor has the edge. If counting Conan Stevens from Season 1, the Mountain takes the crown. Either way, both characters would make standard medieval furniture file a complaint.

Experience Section: Watching Game Of Thrones With A Height Chart Changes Everything

Once you start watching Game of Thrones with the characters’ heights in mind, the series becomes a slightly different show. Suddenly, small blocking choices feel deliberate. Tyrion standing at a table becomes more than a practical adjustment; it becomes a visual reminder that he must constantly claim space in rooms designed to dismiss him. Arya slipping through crowds feels natural because the world keeps looking over her, which is exactly why she becomes so dangerous. Daenerys standing in front of armies feels almost theatrical because the production knows how to make a shorter actor look mythic without pretending she is physically huge.

One fun rewatch experience is comparing characters who look powerful for completely different reasons. Tywin Lannister does not need armor, shouting, or swordplay to seem tall. Charles Dance can sit in a chair and somehow make everyone else look like they forgot to do their homework. Brienne is the opposite: her height is visible, unavoidable, and constantly commented on by the world around her. Yet her real strength is not just physical size; it is endurance. She keeps choosing honor in a universe where honor usually gets people killed before dessert.

Another interesting experience is noticing how costumes exaggerate height. Jon Snow’s cloak, Jaime’s armor, Cersei’s structured gowns, and Sansa’s later northern silhouettes all change how tall the characters feel. The wardrobe team understood that clothing can build authority. A crown helps, but so does a shoulder line sharp enough to cut through a family betrayal.

The tallest characters also create memorable reactions because they change the scale of scenes. When the Hound enters a room, the room becomes smaller. When the Mountain appears, the scene suddenly has a health-and-safety problem. Hodor, however, uses height differently. Kristian Nairn’s size makes Hodor visually striking, but his gentleness turns that size into something protective rather than threatening. That contrast is why Hodor remains one of the most beloved characters in the show.

For fans, ranking the characters by height is more than a curiosity. It is a reminder that casting is storytelling. Every actor brings a physical presence that the camera can emphasize, disguise, or transform. Some characters dominate through size, others through wit, stillness, charm, violence, or sheer nerve. That is why Game of Thrones remains so rewatchable: even a simple question like “Who is tallest?” opens the door to conversations about power, identity, perception, and why nobody in Westeros seems emotionally prepared for a normal family dinner.

Conclusion

Ordering Game of Thrones characters from smallest to tallest reveals one of the show’s best tricks: physical height matters, but it never tells the whole story. Tyrion is the shortest and one of the smartest. Arya is small and terrifying. Daenerys is petite but world-shaking. Brienne and Tywin share towering height while representing opposite moral universes. Hodor, the Mountain, and the Hound give the show its giant-scale fantasy presence, but each character uses size differently.

In Westeros, power is not measured only in inches. It is measured in alliances, secrets, dragons, swords, timing, courage, and occasionally whether you remembered not to attend a wedding with suspicious musicians. Height makes the world visually richer, but personality, performance, and story are what make these characters unforgettable.