7 Game of Thrones characters missing from the show
For a TV show, Game of Thrones has a lot of main characters. But it's nothing compared to the book series, which features more than 2,000 people wandering around its pages.
During the process of adaptation, showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss have had to lose a load of significant named folk, some of which we don't actually miss (sorry, Patchface), but some we definitely do.
Here are seven such figures we'd shove into season eight if we could.
1. Jeyne Poole
Jeyne might not be a 'perspective character' in George RR Martin's books, but she's a significant loss from the show for other reasons.
Poole, Sansa's childhood best friend, suffered a fairly terrible fate in the books, when Littlefinger forced her to pretend to be Arya so he could marry her off to Ramsay. Once wed, Jeyne was on the receiving end of Ramsay's cruelty.
On the show, this plotline was significantly changed, with Littlefinger making Sansa marry Ramsay instead. This makes no sense, both in story terms (why would Littlefinger hand over his biggest prize to one of the most insane maniacs on the show?) and in narrative terms (it really messed with Sansa's character progression).
Not only that, but there's several signs Jeyne will get even more significant as the book series progresses, with hardcore fans finding significant evidence that she'll be Jon Snow's love interest when he's resurrected in The Winds of Winter.
While it looks like the show's going in a different direction, giving Dany and Jon the potential romantic storyline instead (one with a super-creepy edge, given those characters are related).
Let's hope Jeyne is crowbarred into the show in season eight somehow (she briefly appeared in season one, so there's a chance), as it'll be a shame for Jon to end his days either Queenless, or married to his aunt.
2. Strong Belwas
Whilst Strong Belwas isn't massive in plot-terms (all of his major moments from the books were given to Daario Naharis without too much fuss) he is a major fan favourite, for good reason – he's hilarious, and cool.
A former pit fighter turned bodyguard, Belwas is sent to protect Daenerys and does a pretty good job of it – he's survived multiple fights / assassination attempts so far, and currently remains by Dany's side.
In terms of what he looks like, basically imagine Varys after a marathon pie-eating contest and you're halfway there. Oh, and he talks (well, boasts mostly) in the third person, which should be annoying but it really isn't.
He's so preposterous, fans wondered how the Game of Thrones showrunners could ever find an actor big / charismatic enough to portray him. Turns out they just didn't bother.
3. Victarion Greyjoy
OK, so now we're getting into the missing perspective characters, and one of the biggest deviations from George RR Martin's story. Victarion is Euron Greyjoy's brother, and is basically his opposite in every respect. Where Euron is charismatic, Victarion is serious. Where Euron is a brilliant tactician, Victarion is – according to Martin – as "dumb as a stump".
Unfortunately for Victarion, his third wife found Euron's qualities to be a bit more attractive and she fell pregnant after a brief affair. We say "brief", because Victarion beat her to death when he found out about it.
It probably goes without saying that Victarion hates Euron, and is currently racing his brother to be the first to marry Dany (in the books, Euron wants the Dragon Queen's hand, not Cersei's). We predict a major confrontation between these two is coming – one we'll sadly never get to see on the show.
4. Jon Connington
Another perspective character, another massive missing plotline.
Jon Connington was a pal to Prince Rhaegar Targaryen (aka Jon's dad – probably) and a former hand to the Mad King, who sent him into exile during Robert's rebellion.
Connington returns to relevance in Martin's fifth novel A Dance with Dragons, when he turns up undercover as "Griff" with a son "Young Griff" (who's potentially Prince Aegon Targaryen; long story, which we'll go into below).
This forms the basis of a rather major twist on the whole 'Who gets to sit on the Iron Throne?' thing. You see, with Aegon still around, Dany has no chance of ruling Westeros, which is a pretty big deal.
But there's another reason we wish Jon was on the show – George has said that one of A Dance with Dragons' perspective characters is gay, and fans have decided that's Jon. While he wouldn't be the first gay character on the show, he would have been one of the most interesting – with his potential love for Rhaegar having significant consequences for the book's end-game.
5. Young Griff
You can't have Old Griff without Young Griff, who could become the biggest character left out of the show, with many fans theorising he's going to be on the Iron Throne when Dany finally makes it to King's Landing in the books.
As to who he is... well, that's complicated. He's currently being presented as Prince Aegon Targaryen in hiding – Aegon is Rhaegar Targaryen's other son with his first wife, which makes him Daenerys's other nephew and Jon Snow's half-brother.
But there are plenty of fans who think that Young Griff / 'Aegon' is an imposter – part of a plot to present a fake Targaryen as a means of wrestling the throne away from the Lannisters.
It's super complicated, and there's every possibility the whole plotline is just a device to let readers know how the power structures work (seems like it might be important to make everyone aware of the fact a nephew has more rights to the Iron Throne than his aunt in the Targaryen family), but still – it does feel like a pretty big thing to leave out of the show.
Especially as there's a very real chance that, if Aegon does take the throne, he's displaying all sorts of signs he'd be as terrible a ruler as the Mad King, meaning that potentially Jon (as a Ned parallel) and Gendry (Robert) would have to team up to take him down; a significant example of the 'history repeating itself' theme the show's been so in love with this year.
6. Arianne Martell
A major fan favourite, Arianne is another perspective character missing from the series, with fairly significant repercussions. Put it this way, if Arianne was on the show, Dorne wouldn't have a reputation for being so lame.
Clever, calculating and kick-ass, Arianne is essentially the female Tyrion, except with far superior fight skills. She's also a feminist icon in Westeros, thanks to her plot to try to put Myrcella Baratheon on the Iron Throne by invoking Dornish law – which allows an older sister to rule ahead of a younger brother.
She's cool, basically – and we have a feeling she's got important things ahead of her, too. According to The Winds of Winter sample chapters, she's headed straight for that whole Old Griff / Young Griff situation, which could get very interesting...
7. Lady Stoneheart
This is the most baffling omission from the TV series, mainly because it would have been mind-blowing for book readers and show watchers alike. In the books, Catelyn Stark is resurrected as a vengeful zombie, on a mission to wipe all the Freys and Boltons off the map as punishment for the Red Wedding.
Having Stoneheart on the show makes sense for a ton of reasons – it continues the Red Wedding plotline (arguably the most famous event of the series), it seeds the whole 'It isn't just Wights who can come back from the dead' thing, and then there's the fact Lady Stoneheart is impossibly cool.
And any problems people are currently having with Arya's current plotline could be down to the fact she seems to have taken on Stoneheart's role on the show – which doesn't really suit her character arc.
This is a character that Ice and Fire fans have cried out for since the Red Wedding; they're so desperate to see her they're imagining she's been turned into a background extra. Let's hope we get a nod to her in season eight.
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