“Game of Thrones” was pretty cool for the first few seasons until it turned into a hot pile of garbage where the special effects and gratuitous violence took priority over, you know, actual writing and intriguing plots that had made the show worth watching at the beginning. By contrast, the low-budget “Xena: Warrior Princess” had to rely on the prowess of its acting along with its charming — if not silly — plotlines in order to gain a following. As a result, when you compare the two shows there is no question Xena rules. Here are 10 reasons why it was a far better show than GOT.

1. Intros that spelled everything out for you

Sure, the start of the big-budget GOT featured beautiful, CGI-generated kingdoms being pieced together in all their glory, but their intros did nothing to explain what was going to happen and why you should bother giving up an hour of your life to watch the show. By contrast, the voice narration at the beginning of each episode of Xena laid out all of the dangers that faced the fearless She-Warrior and her crew. It always left us at the edge of our seats, that’s for sure!

2. Two characters to focus on

There were two main protagonists in Xena — the titular character and her trusty sidekick Gabriella. That’s it. Characters like Ares and Joxer would show up from time to time throughout the run of the show, but you never had to take notes or refresh your memory every time somebody appeared in a scene. On the other hand, you needed a 10-volume directory just to keep track of all the characters in GOT, most of whom had zero bearing on the show’s plot anyway.

3. When it came to history, Xena used poetic license to the max

With GOT you’re stuck in the same boring, gritty medieval setting. Meh. But when it came to Xena, you could never be certain where they’d find themselves. In one episode, you’d see Xena and Gabriella mingle with Julias Caesar and then in the next episode the duo would somehow find themselves a couple of thousand of years further into the past fighting off Trojan warriors. Who cares that they bounced around from historical period to historical period? It’s not like Wikipedia existed back to verify the accuracy of any of this.

4. Frisbee > Valyrian steel

The obnoxiously hyped Valyrian steel used to make swords just doesn’t do it for us. Give us one of those razor-sharp Xena frisbee thingies, please! Not only does it defy logic and/or physics while taking out enemies, it returns to you like a boomerang!

5. The Battle Cry!!!

When characters in GOT engage in battle, they might talk some smack beforehand or whatever, but you know things are about to get real in Xena because of that yell the Warrior Princess gives before kicking serious ass.

6. No King Joffrey

The explanation for this one is simple. When you watched an episode of Xena, you never had this lingering fear that some bratty king with a scrunched-up face would make an appearance and ruin everything. Instead, you had Caesar, a former lover and now enemy (frenemy?) of Xena’s that we can all agree upon!

7. Subtle Sexuality

Because GOT aired on HBO, they could pretty much get away with anything…and they often did. The whole 9 yards! But Xena never even explicitly made it known that the main character and Gabriella were lovers due to 1990s network politics and the like. In 2019 — almost two decades after the series ended — Lucy Lawless did confirm in an interview that the two characters were indeed a couple and that it wasn’t a big deal.

8. Borias was Khal Drogo before Khal Drogo

Long before Daenerys Targaryen married Khal Drago, Xena and Borias gave romance a shot. She even ended up giving birth to two sons with him. Borias, it should be said, was a much campier character, and we all know that camp is good. He also spoke English much better than his GOT counterpart.

9. Brienne can’t hold a candle to Xena

Xena did backflips; Brienna couldn’t. Brienna wore a scarf over her armor; Xena knew that scarves were for sissies. And let’s not get into this whole thing of Brienna squinting off in the distance like she’s struggling to make out the number of an approaching bus.

10. Not even the cameraman was safe from Xena

Xena was willing to punch anybody in the face, even the camera crew.