The actress who plays “Game of Thrones'” Lyanna Mormont is just as awesome IRL

When it comes to the role models we had growing up, we’ve realized that not many of them were in the same age bracket as us. They instead tended to be older individuals we looked up to, mainly because there weren’t many child and preteen celebs who represented the independence and confidence we wanted in our lives. Luckily, that isn’t a problem today with someone like Bella Ramsey (aka Lyanna Mormont) on Game of Thrones.

Though she’s only 12 years old, Bella has proven that young girls have the power to be great leaders – both on screen and in real life. “I thought, ‘This is a character to really get my teeth into,‘” Ramsey told HBO, during her “Making Game of Thrones” interview. “Lyanna is strong about what she believes, and wants to keep her family and island protected; she wants to be treated like an adult. She’s strong, and firm when she needs to be, and wants the best for her house and the North.”

As for Bella herself, she approaches her character in the same manner. She seems to have a huge amount of respect for Lyanna, which is why she works hard to understand her scenes before learning her actual lines. There’s also the fact that Bella enjoys embodying Lyanna’s fierceness.

“It all kind of comes naturally when I become Lyanna because it’s in her nature; it’s just who she is,” stated the actress. “I loved the script for Episode 10 [“The Winds of Winter”] – how she doesn’t care that she is the youngest person in the room, and proceeds to shame the three leaders.”

Despite Lyanna being a constant powerhouse on Game of Thrones, some time passed before Bella realized just how significant her character is in the world of Westeros. “It took me a while to realize it,” she explained. “I actually woke up one morning and the first thing I thought was, ‘Wow, I really am integral to the storyline.’” This was symbolically proven when Jon Snow protected himself from Ramsay’s arrows with a House of Mormont shield.

What’s perhaps even more impressive is that – though she was only allowed to watch a few excerpts from the series (because it’s not exactly PG-13) – Bella has managed to fit perfectly into the Game of Thrones family. She’s also done an amazing job when it comes to understanding Lyanna and her motives. During her interview, she specifically refers to the moment Ser Davos convinced Lyanna to help the Starks:

“I think Lyanna realized she was named after a Stark, and her house should be supporting them,” asserted Bella. “Davos spoke to her as a leader of a house, rather than a child, which she was grateful for. He empathized with her, without babying her, which she respected. I think that influenced her decision.”

To perfectly sum up her respect for Lyanna, Bella had this to say: “Lyanna Mormont is very much her own person.” We couldn’t agree more.