{"id":503876,"date":"2026-01-09T14:05:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T14:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/503876\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T14:05:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T14:05:10","slug":"the-ringers-ultimate-traitor-bracket-the-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/503876\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ringer\u2019s Ultimate Traitor Bracket: The Final"},"content":{"rendered":"

Judas Iscariot. Anakin Skywalker. Only one can reign eternally in the Traitors Hall of Shame.Judas Iscariot. Anakin Skywalker. Only one can reign eternally in the Traitors Hall of Shame.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou were the chosen one! It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them!\u201d \u2014Obi-Wan Kenobi<\/p>\n

\u201cI have sinned, for I have betrayed innocent blood.\u201d \u2014Judas Iscariot<\/p>\n

After four days, 62 matchups, and hundreds of thousands of votes, we at The Ringer are ready to crown the Ultimate Traitor\u2014with your help.<\/p>\n

After a bit of a startling upset, Anakin Skywalker will face off against Judas Isacariot for the right to be called the greatest (if such a description could apply) traitor of all time.<\/p>\n

Website voters may have noticed that Anakin was trailing Benedict Arnold on Thursday afternoon and was indeed defeated in that poll. The margin of victory was modest\u2014Arnold had 55 percent of the vote\u2014but the story played out differently on Instagram. Darth Vader captured two-thirds of the vote via social and went on to topple America\u2019s foremost turncoat. Somewhere, George Washington is smiling as he plucks the stems off his cherries. He was never able to tell a lie, but Benedict certainly could\u2014just maybe not enough to outduel a Sith Lord in a battle of betrayal.<\/p>\n

Judas, on the other hand, has not once been threatened in this tournament. For five rounds he\u2019s utterly dominated the competition, always overwhelming his opponents by large margins. Look at his track record: Boston Rob (85 percent of the vote), Roger Clemens (82 percent), Ernesto de la Cruz (86 percent), Cypher (75 percent), and Brutus (69 percent). Troncing a fellow 1-seed like this, the guy who gave us \u201cEt tu, Brute?\u201d is simply diabolical. But I suppose we shouldn\u2019t be too surprised. This is a man who has his own Merriam-Webster entry. A name so tainted in darkness you could offend 2.3 billion people in the world by calling them it. Judas is not here to play. His name? Yeah, he wants some respect put on it.<\/p>\n

But is this championship match all but over from the start? I\u2019m not so sure. For one, Anakin would be an objectively funnier winner. Will voters swing to him for the bit? Secondly, Anakin has arguably had to overcome a stronger strength of schedule. Starting with Nico Harrison in the second round\u2014where there was some very impassioned<\/a> campaigning<\/a> on Nico\u2019s<\/a> behalf<\/a>\u2014Vader has had to go through a murderer\u2019s row of traitors. Macbeth? Check. Cain? Easy. Benedict? You know it. What this is telling me is that Anakin\u2019s profound pop-culture impact cannot be underestimated. Not everyone has read the scriptures, but many people have seen Star Wars. Perhaps in some ways, Anakin is more the template of an enduring traitor\u2014a relatable, ascertainable one, at least\u2014than Judas could ever be.<\/p>\n

So there you have it. Two traitors, each with compelling r\u00e9sum\u00e9s to triumph. Where\u2019s a worse place to end up? In hell, or on the dark side? That, dear reader, is up to you.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

You can vote on the final here or on Instagram until 6 p.m. ET. Check the site tomorrow morning to find out who has been crowned as the Ultimate Traitor of all time! \u2014Aric Jenkins<\/a><\/p>\n

The Ultimate Traitor Bracket Final(1) Judas, the New Testament vs. (1) Anakin Skywalker, Star WarsJudas<\/p>\n

If Jesus Christ Superstar<\/a> 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\u2019s peerless. \u2014Justin Charity<\/a><\/p>\n

Anakin Skywalker<\/p>\n

It was said<\/a> 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<\/a>, Palpatine returned.) But he sure took a roundabout route. Anakin killed his wife and dueled his brother<\/a>, and no possible point of view<\/a>\u2014or allowances for his harsh upbringing\u2014could justify what he did to those younglings<\/a>. Mace Windu and Palpatine accused each other<\/a> of being traitors, but the biggest traitor was standing right next to them. \u2014Ben Lindbergh<\/a><\/p>\n

(1) Judas, the New Testament vs. (1) Anakin Skywalker, \u2018Star Wars\u2019<\/p>\n

Anakin Skywalker, \u2018Star Wars\u2019\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Judas Iscariot. Anakin Skywalker. Only one can reign eternally in the Traitors Hall of Shame.Judas Iscariot. Anakin Skywalker.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":503877,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[171,53,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-503876","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-movies","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115865526414350938","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=503876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}