Editor’s note: The Sweet 16 polls have closed. Vote in the Elite Eight here!
After two rounds of trickery and deceit, The Ringer’s Ultimate Traitor Bracket is starting to feel especially treacherous.
For the most part, the competition has been narrowed down to the chalkiest of traitors (good job, selection committee). Fredo Corleone. Judas. Benedict Arnold. You know the type. For a group of conspirators who excel at sneaking through the shadows, there is increasingly nowhere to hide. Blood must spill between these backstabbers. But then, among this elite faction of iconic traitors, there remains one everyman—one 12-seed. And his name is Tom Wambsgans.
Just as I pondered after the finale of Succession, I’m left wondering, How has Tom pulled this off? He had to go through Lando Calrissian and Kevin Durant—the latter of whom he defeated by only 51 votes after a last-minute rally from KD—to make it this far, which alone should put him in MVP contention for this tournament. The next-lowest seed to reach this stage is a no. 5. No matter what goes down today, Tom can hold his head high—he’s truly given it his all. But now the Waystar Royco CEO faces his sternest test yet: American turncoat Benedict Arnold. If he can take down the one guy in this bracket who committed treason in the truest sense of the word, then watch out.
Elsewhere, we’ve got a few fascinating matchups brewing. Scar vs. Fredo? Chef’s kiss. Dennis Nedry vs. Cypher? A showdown of classic ’90s cinema. Walder Frey against Saruman? Winner gets the title of greatest fantasy franchise. Anakin Skywalker vs. Macbeth? I can’t pinpoint why, but I feel like Freud would have really wanted to write about this.
Finally, pour one out for the athletes of the tournament. The sports contingent went down in one fell swoop with the Round 2 eliminations of Luís Figo, Roger Clemens, LeBron James, Brett Favre, Durant, Lane Kiffin, Nico Harrison, and Jon Rahm. An entire genre of traitors ruthlessly dispatched all at once. Now it’s down to the Hollywood stars, historical villains, and two sinners from the Bible.
It’s all shaping up to be a truly riveting Elite Eight. Let’s see how it unfolds.
As a reminder, you can vote here on the website and on Instagram until 6 p.m. ET. —Aric Jenkins
More From Traitors Week
The Backstabbers Region
(1) Brutus vs. (5) Littlefinger, Game of Thrones
Brutus
What do you say when someone betrays you? “Et tu, Brute?” right? Well, meet Brute. Stabbed Julius Caesar, his friend and mentor, to death in the Roman Senate. Was probably trying to save Roman democracy from the rise of a tyrant; may have slightly miscalculated, as his actions led directly to the fall of the republic and the rise of the Roman Empire. Good job, good effort. Literally messed up so hard at work that a thousand years later, Dante put him at the center of the ninth circle of hell. —Brian Phillips
Littlefinger
For many on this list, their reputation as a traitor came as a result of a single act of betrayal. And then there’s Lord Petyr Baelish, whose traitorous acts are too many to list in so few words. Littlefinger is a deceitful man who lies, manipulates, and backstabs his way to becoming one of the most influential figures in all of Westeros. Betrayal is merely a tool for him in his attempted ascent to power, and though Littlefinger is ultimately bested in the game of thrones, few played it better than the cunning master manipulator. —Daniel Chin
(3) Scar, The Lion King vs. (2) Fredo Corleone, The Godfather Part II
Scar
When it comes to betrayal, fratricide is a classic. So classic that The Lion King is loosely based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet. But Hamlet didn’t have adolescent Simba’s sad little Disney eyes, nor Jonathan Taylor Thomas’s trembling little voice when Scar—a trusted male authority figure!—told Simba that his father’s death was his fault. That if it weren’t for him, Mufasa would still be alive. That he should run away and never return. Lying to his nephew for personal gain. How could you, Scar? How could you? A traitor of the highest degree. —Jodi Walker
Fredo Corleone
He thought he was smart, that he knew things. Blabbing about your escapades in Cuba after you just told your kingpin little brother that you’ve never been there before isn’t exactly the prudent move. The faux smooch Michael gives him is the moment that’s seared into our minds with this backstabbing, but the image I can’t look away from is Fredo, in that Havana bar, heedlessly giving up the whole act. He ain’t the brightest bulb. —Lex Pryor
The Sellouts Region
(1) Judas, the New Testament vs. (5) Ernesto de la Cruz, Coco
Judas
If Jesus Christ Superstar is to be believed, Judas was the most anguished traitor of all time. He slimed out Jesus for an infuriatingly paltry sum, and in an annoyingly cutesy way. The butterfly effect of his betrayal is immeasurable: For one, I blame him for every bitchy tweet from JD Vance. His name is synonymous with betrayal, and by this measure, he’s peerless. —Justin Charity
Ernesto de la Cruz
As with any good character, there’s an inherent truth at Ernesto’s core when his villainy is ultimately revealed, which is that all musicians would absolutely kill their close friends in exchange for a few gigs and some good press. This is kind of what some people think happened to Avril Lavigne. —Nora Princiotti
(3) Dennis Nedry, Jurassic Park vs. (2) Cypher, The Matrix
Dennis Nedry
The disgruntled employee is always a suspect, and Nedry is an OG of the form. Sure, you may have daydreamed about putting eggs in your worst boss’s car, but disabling the dinosaur fences? There’s a sympathetic read on Nedry, underpaid, undervalued, and ultimately pressured into one of cinema’s most cataclysmic cases of corporate espionage. Still, you really can’t mess around with those fences, man. —Princiotti
Cypher
Look, life after the Machine War isn’t easy. The sky is scorched, the grub is gross, and dance parties aside, there’s a distinct lack of creature comforts. I understand the desire to forget one’s troubles, and maybe Morpheus bears some blame for freeing Cypher’s mind when he was over the age limit (just like the Jedi do for training a too-old Anakin). But missing the taste of steak and having an unrequited crush on Trinity are no excuses for selling out humanity and murdering Dozer, Apoc, and Switch in cold blood. Goddamn you, Cypher! —Ben Lindbergh
The Turncoats Region
(1) Benedict Arnold vs. (12) Tom Wambsgans, Succession
Benedict Arnold
What more needs to be said? An entire nation turned my guy’s name into a synonym. All Benedict needed to do was stay loyal for another year or so, and he would have gone down as a national hero. There’d be towns and monuments and federal buildings named after him—the man who won Saratoga and convinced the French to join! Instead, he couldn’t handle getting passed over for a promotion a couple of times. Grow up, buddy; it happens to the best of us. —Jenkins
Tom Wambsgans
“You’re marrying a man fathoms beneath you,” Logan Roy told his daughter, Shiv, about her fiancé, Tom Wambsgans, in Season 1 of Succession, “because you don’t want to risk being betrayed.” Well, ah, whoops! Tom spent most of Succession’s four seasons on his knees, literally and figuratively, but when the music ended, he was the one still standing. Did he outsmart his in-laws? Not exactly. Out-grovel them? Yes, sir! The softest man in the room ultimately wielded life’s sharpest tool: shamelessness. And by selling out the Roys, Tom proved himself worthy of the fucked-up family. Maybe Logan would’ve been proud. —Katie Baker
(3) Walder Frey, Game of Thrones vs. (2) Saruman, The Lord of the Rings
Walder Frey
The “Late” Walder Frey might be the biggest scumbag in Game of Thrones, which is saying something. He’s a slob, he collects young wives, and, oh, he traitorously serves the Stark family up to the Lannisters. Alas, after the Red Wedding, Frey gets his comeuppance at the hands of Arya Stark. But not before he helps orchestrate the most shocking betrayal in recent pop culture history. —Alan Siegel
Saruman
No disrespect to Christopher Lee, but I never trusted him. Guy is a separatist. What kind of government informant fixes their mouth to tell a fellow wizard, “Your love of the halflings’ leaf has clearly slowed your mind”? So when Saruman starts letting his eyes dart off camera and gets all ominous and leans back in his dark-hued throne, the final reveal isn’t much of a surprise. But the subsequent throwdown? Sensational. Hall of Fame fracas. Just two geezers, beating the shit out of each other. What more could you ask for? —Pryor
The Defectors Region
(1) Anakin Skywalker, Star Wars vs. (4) Macbeth, Macbeth
Anakin Skywalker
It was said that it was said that Anakin would destroy the Sith, not join them; bring balance to the Force, not leave it in darkness. And sure, he arguably got around to doing some destroying and balancing, eventually. (At least until, somehow, Palpatine returned.) But he sure took a roundabout route. Anakin killed his wife and dueled his brother, and no possible point of view—or allowances for his harsh upbringing—could justify what he did to those younglings. Mace Windu and Palpatine accused each other of being traitors, but the biggest traitor was standing right next to them. —Lindbergh
Macbeth
NBD, just the protagonist of the greatest examination of the psychology of betrayal ever written. Murders the king he’s sworn to protect while the king is a guest in his house. Treasonously seizes the throne. Then has his best friend killed because of some loose talk he heard from witches. Tries to kill his best friend’s young son. Kills a lot of people. It’s bad luck to say “Macbeth” near a stage; his very name is a betrayal of theater itself. Crushing remorse means he can’t even enjoy being king. Never listen to witches. —Phillips
(3) Peter Pettigrew, Harry Potter vs. (2) Cain, the Old Testament
Peter Pettigrew
[Hits blunt.] Whoa, I just realized something: Peter Pettigrew is a rat. Indeed, ol’ Wormtail lived up to his name by snitching on the Potters’ location in Godric's Hollow. Some Secret Keeper he was. Betrayed his best friends not even out of any specific personal gain but just the vague suspicion he’d be safer that way. Sirius Black would never. Book readers know that years later, Scabbers couldn’t even finish the job on Harry, and Voldemort choked him out for the perceived disloyalty. Fitting. —Jenkins
Cain
A pioneer in treachery, obviously. You cannot brutally betray your own brother—or murder anyone, really—without paying homage to the OG. Several millennia of copycats and also-rans have yet to improve on the grim eloquence of: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” —Charity
