If you’re anything like the Sigstr team, for the last 40 hours you’ve been mourning the end of the best television show in history, Game of Thrones. This season has received mixed reviews, but whatever your feelings are towards the storyline, you have to admit that these past eight seasons have been a wild and exciting ride. We at Sigstr have been fans since the beginning. In fact, we kicked off our most popular blog series dedicated to fictional email signatures three years ago with a post about our favorite GOT characters! In seems only fitting that we close out this story by theorizing what those email signatures would look all these years later.
It goes without saying, but SPOILERS AHEAD.
Tormund
Thank goodness for Tormund and his comedic relief. In a season that can best be described as bleak, it was a breath of fresh air to watch Tormund tell stories of giants, guzzle milk, and make countless passes at Brienne. It makes the heart happy to imagine him living his best life in the north with Jon and Ghost. Maybe he’ll find another Big Woman to make his heart whole.
Theon
Talk about a character arc. Fans went from being annoyed by Theon, to hating Theon, to feeling sorry for Theon, and finally, to rooting for Theon. His heartfelt moments with Sansa and Bran this season brought many to tears. He may not have been the most popular character on GOT, but in the end, he was “a good man”.
Jorah
Jorah defied death on many occasions over the years, but his time finally ran up. For that reason, it wasn’t much of a surprise that he didn’t make it through the Battle of Winterfell. Out of all the deaths this season, his was one of the best. His singular purpose was to love and protect Daenerys and that’s exactly what he did until his last breath.
The Hound
The Hound showed us a little more of his softer side this season. His crude remarks were perfectly offset by the tender moments he shared with Sansa and Arya. The fact that he died taking out his brother was bittersweet. His journey started and ended with fire.
Lord Varys
Hot Take: Varys was the most underrated character on Game of Thrones. He was the only person whose intentions were pure when it came to who ended up on the Iron Throne. He may have been manipulative and ruthless, but everything he did, he did for the common good. Rest in Peace, Varys. You deserved better.
Arya
This season, Arya brought a new level of badassery. Cheers were heard around the world when she defeated the Night King. Did any other character do anything of importance? We didn’t notice. Thank you to Arya Stark, and Arya Stark only.
Jon Snow
As soon as you saw Jon Snow’s reaction to the destruction in King’s Landing, you knew it was about to go down. It’s hard to believe that the honorable Jon Snow had it in him to kill Daenerys, but he was always the person to do the right thing, no matter what. His journey ending in the north wasn’t what we were expecting, but we can all rest a little easier knowing that Ghost finally got the pets he deserved.
Daenerys Targaryen
Every time a Targaryen is born, the gods flip a coin. Unfortunately for us (and for King’s Landing), Dany’s coin fell on the wrong side. Even though she always said she would take back what was hers with fire and blood, nobody thought she meant that literally. She turned mad in the end, but can you really blame her? She lost her greatest advisors, nobody is Westeros believed in her, and the man she loved turned out to be her nephew. Those are a few tough breaks.
Looking for a scathing review of her final storyline? We’re too positive for that at Sigstr. Please refer to Reddit.
Sansa Stark
If looks could kill, Sansa’s death toll would outnumber any other character’s. It was a great joy watching Sansa grow into a political powerhouse over the course of the last few seasons. If people (aka Jon Snow) had listened to her a bit more, some major bloodshed could have been avoided. All hail the Queen of the North!
Cersei Lannister
Cersei Lannister was the villain to end all villains. She was evil in every definition of the word, while at the same time insanely clever and complicated. We may have been expecting a more gruesome death for the beloved Cersei, but her end was poetic.
Jaimie Lannister
Oh, Jaimie. In the words of Tyra Banks, we were all rooting for you! His brief stint with Brienne gave us false hope that he had chosen to leave Cersei behind for good. We should have known that a happy ending wasn’t in the cards. Jaimie said way back in Season 5 that he wanted to die in the arms of the woman he loved. Wish granted.
Ser Brienne of Tarth
Brienne getting knighted might just be the best thing that happened this season. The moment was made that much more poignant by everything that happened after. She helped defeat the army of the dead, fell into the arms of Jaimie, lost Jaimie to Cersei, and took her place on the Great Council.
Tyrion
Tyrion’s intelligence seemed to slip these past two seasons. Trusting Cersei? Betraying Lord Varys? Blindly following Daenerys? He started to let his emotions get the best of him. Up until Daenerys torched Kings Landing to the ground, he believed she was Westeros’s savior. Thankfully he came to his senses in the end. He will go down as one of the most beloved characters in television history. Period.
Gendry
Gendry’s biggest mistake this season was asking Arya be his lady. Did he learn nothing from her repeated claims that she would never be any such thing? Other than that slip up, Gendry was always kind, honorable, and fair. Perhaps now that the post-war dust has settled, he can put his rowing skills to use once more and follow Arya to the edge of Westeros.
Bran
It seems a major miss that nobody asked for Bran’s advice this season until the very end. Doesn’t it seem like a good idea to gain a few tips from the guy who sees oh, I don’t know, EVERYTHING? I guess in a show about dragons, incestual relationships, and red witches, that’s not the most unbelievable thing that’s ever happened, but it’s close. His rise to the iron throne may not have been what everyone was hoping for, but alas, Game of Thrones loves to surprise.
The end of Game of Thrones is the end of an era. Let’s just hope that the rumors about a few different spinoff series are true. In the meantime, request a demo of Sigstr to see what your team can accomplish with your own email signature campaigns!
Note: this post has been recently updated after the conclusion of season eight. Scroll below to find the original email signatures we created before season seven .
Hodor
We had to honor Hodor, the most genuine and sincerely sweet character we have yet to meet in all the seasons of GoT. This season brought a devastating end to this gentle giant. The revelation that Hodor’s nomicker, and token phrase, originated from Bran’s travel through time and the desperate plea to “Hold the Door” made for the most devastating and painful death. Hodor’s Sigstr signature, we believe, is exactly as he would have made it.
Ramsay Bolton
In a very stark contrasting character review from the former, we hated Ramsay Bolton. Who didn’t? The horribly deranged and sadistic Bolton is a death that we have long been not only imagining but wishing for. Never before have we been so enraged by a character, all kudos to the extraordinary acting of Iwan Rheon (can we put in a bid for his Emmy Award now?) Ramsay made the list because we cannot possibly be happier that he’s dead and gone. Ramsay’s overwhelming obsession with his hounds, and the cataclysmic hunting trips they embark on, makes his death all the more epic. As Leslie Jones says in this hysterical video, “we are rewarded here in Game of Thrones.” Sansa deservingly deals the final blow. It’s the season of girl power, and the Sansa-smirk-walk-away at the end of “The Battle of The Bastards” had me leaping off my couch to give her a hard-earned round of applause. Ramsay has boring fonts in his email signature design because that’s all he deserves.
Daenerys Targaryen
This has been a tumultuous season for our favorite, and longest title-bearing, power queen. Khaleesi has formed a special bond with Drogon, the eldest and largest of her three, winged offspring. She had a very frightening bout with the Masters of Meereen and their vigilantes, the Dothraki and her own freed people. In spite of this all, Khaleesi has formed a crucial bond in this season. While she has had extraordinary success as a conqueror, her ruling skills are lackluster. In comes Tyrion Lannister, the wickedly smart and calculative man that has brought control to chaos. At the end of the season, Tyrion is appointed as Daenerys’ right hand. With his wisdom of all things Westeros, we expect some pretty big things for the Queen of Meereen in season 7. Khaleesi reigns supreme and ends this season looking like a total bada– leading a fleet of a thousand ships, with three nearly fully grown dragons, in towe.
Arya Stark
Arya earned this spot only after her rousing performance in which she confronts Jaqen H’ghar, the horribly annoying long locked man from the House of Black and White. When Jaqen tries to imply she has finally become No One, she claps back with “a girl is Arya Stark of Winterfell, and I’m going home.” YES. FINALLY. Arya has had certainly the worst and most roundabout journey back to Winterfell. She has proven herself time and time again that she has become a masterful swordsman and a fearless fighter. Her long overdue revenge of the Red Wedding solidified her spot in our top 5. Arya makes fighting like a girl cool, which is why it was almost too easy to craft her email signature.
Jon Snow
We could not make this list and not include arguably the biggest comeback kid in GoT history (rivaled only by the Hound and possibly his blue-headed half-dead brother, the Mountain). Jon had a heck of a season. He started off dead, murdered by his own men. By this point, nearly all of his family has been murdered. His first love is killed in front of his eyes. He nearly dies at least a dozen times at The Battle of The Bastards. He has believed himself to be an unloved bastard son to a murdered king. Through all this, Jon has come back swinging. He literally came back to life. He served as Lord Commander. He gained the unwavering affection and loyalty of the wildlings (most notably the giant and the guy with the red beard). Most importantly: Little Lady Lyanna Mormont gives a rousing speech in front of a full room of lords and leaders in which she declares Jon as the rightful and deserving King of the North. Jon Snow got the email signature design fit for a king – he earned it.
Cersei Lannister
We all join together in this wishy-washy state of loving or loathing the newly appointed HBIC (if you don’t understand the acronym, here’s some help from Urban Dictionary). She is both simultaneously the worst and best character in the series. Aside from being a total weirdo and being in love with her brother, Cersei has been consistently in a state of complete and utter lack of giving any cares in the world which makes her a freaking awesome leader of the new girl power movement happening in the series.
The only three things that kept her human and frankly, humane, were her children. The woman once said “the more people you love, the weaker you are.” Foreshadowing? Now that they’re all gone, we expect some pretty seriously powerful, badass acts of revenge by part of Queen Cersei.
She’s already off to a killer (pun intended) started with the nun that led the march in her Shame walk and the Sparrow and Margaery Tyrell, who burned along with about 100 other visitors of the Great Sept of Baelor deemed “collateral damage” by the Queen.
As you may have heard, we recently launched our Dynamic Campaigns feature that sends content based on your end-recipient (think internal communications versus externally facing sales emails). Cersei’s external signature is no-nonsense, just like her. No frills, no cool fonts, no quotes. All business. Cersei keeps her cards close to her chest, and doesn’t want anyone to think she has even an ounce of weakness.
Cersei’s internal signature reflects what only those closest to her know – underneath all of that toughness and hatred is a girly human that just loves wearing the color blue and braiding her beautiful blonde hair. It also shares a message she only wants those who work with her to know and needs the utmost surety the message remains internal (which is why she used Sigstr’s Dynamic Campaigns – shameless plug)
EXTERNAL
INTERNAL
Sansa Stark
Sansa has been dealt the worst deck of cards. The worst. Unfortunately, Sansa hasn’t been known for fighting that deck of cards or showing any toughness or grit. Lest we not forget when this girl thought she was in love with Joffrey and even said “he was the only thing she ever wanted in her life.”
We didn’t see a glimpse into any hint of fire in Sansa until she finally bucked-up and fed Ramsay to his hounds. That hauntingly perfect speech followed by the Sansa-smirk-walk-away at the end of “The Battle of The Bastards” was the stuff of legends. Girl, finally. We have been waiting for this moment since Season 1 Episode 9 when your almost husband had your dad executed. Sansa is finally in a safer, much happier Winterfell.
Sansa’s up for a comeback, hence why we dubbed her “the Comeback Queen”. While Lady Lyanna Mormont (who we idolize, by the way) packed all of her support behind Jon Snow as the King in the North, we can’t help but think Sansa’s up to something. She already pulled the sneakiest move ever when she enlisted the help of Littlefinger (yuck) to ride in and save Jon Snow and his wildling army. Flashback to season one when Sansa quips that a “trueborn will always have the stronger claim.” Hmm. Sansa’s email signature is a nod to this thought and what we can only assume to be her character development in the upcoming season.
Tyrion Lannister
Tyrion is another Lannister who is both loved and loathed. Why? His quick wit, sarcasm, undying honesty and affinity for women and wine. Tyrion knows and accepts it. “That is what I do. I drink and I know things.”
He befriends some of the most putrid characters, i.e. Varys the Eunuch. Varys has betrayed nearly every character throughout the show. Let’s review where he left off: He was with Cersei and the little late King Tommen in King’s Landing. Then, Daenerys and Tyrion at the Great Pyramid, before deciding he needed to take off to Dorne. Cersei just brutally murdered Queen Margaery Tyrell and her brother Loras. So, we can only assume her grandmother is out for blood. And guess who Varys meets in Dorne? Grandma Tyrell. We can’t begin to imagine the horror they are cooking up. I digress.
Back to Tyrion. He has been a key player since we first met him. Season 7 is going to be a great season for Tyrion (I think). We ended last season with Tyrion tearfully accepting Daenerys’ request that he become right hand to the Queen, her most trusted advisor. Tyrion has gained the trust of the lady with hundreds of ships, thousands of notoriously dangerous warriors and three gigantic, blood-thirsty dragons. Safe to say he’s on the right side of this, less can be said for his brilliantly evil sister. His new title, paired with his unabashed passion for wine, made his email signature all too easy to create.
Brienne of Tarth
We are just going to come right out and say it: Brienne is a badass. This cannot be denied. She faced the Hound, arguably the greatest and most intimidating warrior in the Seven Kingdoms, and walked away smiling. How?! Brienne is unwavering in her loyalty to whomever she serves.
She may be best known for her size and strength, but I can’t ignore her dedication to honor. She has sworn service to countless fallen leaders throughout the series until she eventually falls into oath to protect Sansa. I’m hoping this is going to be a much longer term of service than those prior for Miss Brienne.
Winterfell is already treating her well. This is where she meets Tormund Giantsbane, the red bearded wildling. Brienne has, for her entire life, dealt with men sneering at her, mocking her size and disposition. When Brienne first rides through the gates at Winterfell though, Tormund can’t stop staring.
Brienne’s absolutely not used to the attention, so I’m anxious to see how this silent and slightly-awkward love story unfolds. You can’t deny there’s some sort of romantic tension between Brienne and Jaime Lannister. Brienne has an obvious crush on the Kingslayer. Now we’re left to figure out if Jaime feels the same. He certainly cares about here. Maybe we’ll see an all-out brawl between Tormund and Jaime for her heart? We can only hope. Brienne’s email signature is a not to her devotion to all-things honorable – and her crush on the best looking dude in the show.
Tormund Giantsbane
Tormund is my absolute favorite addition to the show. We first met Tormund in the third season and he’s been an unpredictable spitfire ever since. We have gone from being extremely wary of him, to being downright scared of him, to adoring him. He’s a wildly effective and dangerous warrior, while also being a total goof and adorably uncomfortable flirter.
At this point, Tormund is a trusted ally and friend to Jon Snow. But let’s rewind a bit to the days we were still wary of him. When Tormund and his wildling warband catch wind the men of the Night’s Watch betrayed Snow and brutally murdered him, they attacked Castle Black. More proof Tormund is now a loyal friend to Jon.
Tormund’s loyalty doesn’t end there. His performance at the Battle of the Bastards was mind-blowingly awesome. He BITES Lord Smalljon’s THROAT OUT. Tormund has somehow found himself as the Right Hand to the King in the North. I don’t think he’s totally realized what he has gotten himself into.
His email signature reflects the unsurety that exists in how he is going to deal with this new development. Remember, in the Great Hall when Jon is proclaimed the King in the North, Tormund is one of the only not to bend his knee and hail the King.
