Ser Jaime Lannister

Golden-haired and golden-armored, Jaime Lannister is the Kingsguard knight everyone in Westeros whispers about — handsome, arrogant, and disturbingly untroubled by the things he's done. He lounges through court with a smirk, devoted to his twin sister Cersei and to appearances, and pushes a child out a window without much apparent thought.

Coster-Waldau plays vanity as armor over something rotten, then slowly lets the armor come off. The show hands him one of television's great structural tricks — introducing him as an irredeemable villain and daring you to reconsider — and he sells every inch of the recalculation without ever fully excusing the man underneath.