Contrary to popular belief, Game of Thrones is not the most faithful book adaptation, even in the early seasons. The HBO series trimmed some extraneous storylines and, along the way, some colorful characters that would have looked great on the small screen were cut as well. Because of the frustrating wait for the next book and the unsatisfying ending to the TV show, fans often debate which characters would have made the show better if they had been left in, and which were worth skipping entirely. It’s hard to say, especially since George R.R. Martin has still not finished his A Song of Ice and Fire books series.
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Game of Thrones was a great TV show in the beginning – even if it did start cutting material from Martin’s books early on. The show focused all of its energy on “The War of the Five Kings,” which was the driving action of the first three books. However, the show hardly adapted anything faithful from the fourth or fifth books in the series (A Feast for Crows and A Dance With Dragons), and what it did use from the source material was heavily abbreviated. All of these cuts along the way made it hard for the showrunners to find a satisfying ending, and that would have been true even if Martin had stayed ahead of them, as his book ending would likely have been very different.
Martin often promises fans that he is still focused mainly on his books, and has reported great progress on The Winds of Winter in recent years. There’s still no release date for that novel, and there’s at least one more to come after it to finish the series. For now, here are the top seven characters that the Game of Thrones TV series should’ve included from the books.
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Strong Belwas
Part muscle, part comedic relief — it’s hard to imagine why the showrunners didn’t want to put Strong Belwas on television. Belwas was born and raised as a slave in Meereen, trained from a young age as a “pit fighter” to battle for crowds’ entertainment in the city’s colosseum-like “fighting pits.” We see a bit of the pits in Game of Thrones Season 5, but the show didn’t really explore the pro wrestling-esque sub-culture that much.
Belwas joins Daenerys Targaryen’s company in the second book, A Clash of Kings, long before she reaches Meereen, becoming one of the first members of her Kingsguard, and remaining by her side for the rest of the story. He refers to himself in the third person at all times, is huge in stature and girth and covered in scars, claiming he allowed each of his enemies in the pit to cut him once so he’d have a scar to remember them by.
On the show, you may recall that Meereen sent out a single champion to challenge Dany on behalf of the whole city, and in response Daario fought as Dany’s champion. In the book, this role was actually taken by Strong Belwas, to much more comedic effect.
Marwyn the Mage
If any character could have changed the plot of Game of Thrones, it’s Archmaester Marwyn the Mage. We first hear about this character in the first book but don’t actually meet him until the fourth book, A Feast for Crows. The Citadel has a strict hierarchy including acolytes and maesters, with a single archmaester presiding over each of its main fields of study. Marwyn is the archmaester of “the higher mysteries” — in other words, magic.
When we first meet Marwyn, it’s through Samwell Tarly’s point of view. Sam has been sent to the Citadel by Jon Snow to become a maester and gather resources for the war against the Others. However, Marwyn takes Sam into his confidence, telling him that he already knows much of what has transpired at The Wall because he can “see” all over the world through this magic glass candle. He also knows about Dany and her dragons, and he is preparing to set sail to go and join her. Last time we saw Marwyn, he was on his way to share his knowledge of the magical arts with Dany.
Marwyn is the subject of many fan theories, and a lot of them probably carry weight. It seems quite likely that Martin has been weaving this mysterious, powerful character into the narrative for a reason, and just waiting for the best time to deploy him. His connections to various other characters might have turned the tide of the show in later seasons.
Lady Stoneheart
If you’ve looked into the differences between Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire before, you’ve probably heard about Lady Stoneheart. In the book, Catelyn Stark’s body washed down-river after the “Red Wedding” and was recovered by the noble “Brotherhood Without Banners.” The undying Lord Beric Dondarrion performs the rite of “the last kiss,” which transfers his life force into her. Catelyn is resurrected from the dead, but because she was gone for three days, she is greatly changed when she returns.
Lady Stoneheart cannot speak without holding her own throat, since Catelyn’s throat was slashed when she was killed. Stoneheart leads the Brotherhood Without Banners on a campaign of vengeance against the Freys — and anyone else she holds responsible for the tragedies in her life. She doesn’t get much time on the page, but so far we have seen her execute some Freys, and hear about much more.
There’s no telling where Stoneheart’s story is going, but we can say with certainty that her inclusion would have changed the course of Jaime Lannister and Brienne of Tarth’s arcs quite a bit in Season 5. In the books, Jaime and Brienne are taken captive by Stoneheart; it’s still not clear what she wants from them – a cliffhanger that has lasted over a decade now. Martin himself often cited Stoneheart as the change to the show he regretted most, so clearly he has big plans for this vengeful spirit.
Satin
On a lighter note, many fans wish that Jon Snow’s stalwart friend Satin had made it onto television. In the books, Satin is a new recruit to the Night’s Watch who arrived during the “great ranging” beyond The Wall. Jon meets Satin among the skeleton crew left at Castle Black when he escapes from the Wildlings and returns to warn about their imminent attack. With few strong men on hand, Satin helps the injured Jon move around the castle, taking positions to fire arrows at the enemy and aiding in the defense.
Like many Night’s Watchmen, Satin is sent to The Wall as punishment for an unnamed crime. He comes from Oldtown, where he admits he worked as a prostitute in a brothel. This earns him a lot of scorn from the gruff men of the Night’s Watch, but Jon sees through that to the capable pragmatist beneath. Once Jon becomes Lord Commander, he names Satin his personal steward.
Admittedly, many fans wish Satin had made it onto TV simply because they “ship” Jon and Satin together, which is valid, but probably not where Martin’s story is going – considering the impending Daenerys romance that may or may not be canon.
Victarion Greyjoy
You may have heard about how the GoT botched its depiction of Theon’s uncle Euron Greyjoy, but it completely ignored his other uncle, Victarion Greyjoy. Victarion is a brutish, unintelligent man, yet by spending several chapters in his head, you somehow come to begrudgingly empathize with him. In the books, Victarion was a key naval commander of the Iron Fleet, begrudgingly serving under his brother, Euron.
On the show, Yara Greyjoy brought the Iron Fleet to Dany and carried her back to Westeros, but in the books it’s Victarion who is approaching Meereen with a fleet of ships. The situation is very different here — Victarion has been tasked with carrying Euron’s marriage proposal to Dany, but he actually intends to try and marry Dany himself. He also has a magical dragon horn on board, which is supposedly meant for binding dragons to new riders. However, everyone who has blown the Valyrian horn has died, apparently charred by its fiery magic.
On his way to Slaver’s Bay, Victarion picked up a Red Priest from a shipwreck, giving him access to magical visions. At the time, Victarion had a festering wound on one hand, and Moqorro was able to use some kind of magic to fix it — in a way. After the priest’s ritual, Victarion’s hand is burnt and blackened, yet he feels it is stronger than it has ever been. The magical elements in the books are just beginning to heat up, so it’s a shame they were left out of the show.
Arianne Martell
I don’t feel strongly about Arianne Martell in particular, but she’s the centerpiece of the entire Dornish plot that was cut from Game of Thrones. All of the Dornish drama in the later seasons of the show was essentially created by the television writers, and some fans didn’t mind, as they saw the Dornish chapters in A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons as distractions to the main story. It’s becoming increasingly clear, however, that Arianne and her friends have a part to play in the wars to come.
Arianne is young and beautiful, and poised to inherit Dorne from her father. She is also brash and impulsive, and attempts to make a claim for Myrcella Baratheon to become queen of Westeros, on the basis that in Dorne, women have the same right to rule as men. This plot is foiled, and in the process, Myrcella’s face is slashed and she loses an ear. After that, Arianne learns that her father was already plotting an even bigger coup — a betrothal between her and an exiled Targaryen prince to claim the Iron Throne together, with Dornish support.
With Arianne, we would have gotten a more faithful adaptation of this whole plan, and the characters in it. Oberyn Martell’s daughters are technically in Game of Thrones, but they are reduced to crude jokes for the most part. Arianne would’ve opened up more doors of House Dayne’s secret past, and its mysterious sword, Dawn.
Jon Connington
Many fans speculate that Arianne and the Dornish plot were left out of the show because they were intertwined with the plots of Aegon VI Targaryen and his mentor (and Hand of the “King”) Jon Connington, who were also cut from the show.
In the most recent book, Jon Connington and Prince Aegon are living in disguise as Tyroshi travelers. Lord Varys claims that Aegon is the son of Rhaegar Targaryen, who was believed to have been killed in the sack of King’s Landing when Robert Baratheon took the throne. According to Varys, he swapped the prince with a different blonde-haired baby boy, then secreted him away to Essos for safe keeping. Varys and his cohorts have raised the prince in secret, training him to be a great king.
Connington, meanwhile, was one of Rhaegar’s closest friends and allies, who was actually romantically in love with Rhaegar, which is why he accepted this task of raising his son and leading him to battle. Connington hopes to right things after losing spectacularly against the Baratheons all those years ago. He wants to be more ruthless like Tywin Lannister, but we see his compassionate nature peeking through, hinting that it won’t be easy for him to do anything unjust.
On the show, Jorah Mormont contracted Greyscale while he was traveling through Essos with Tyrion, but in the books it was actually Connington. He is keeping the illness a secret, hoping he can secure the throne for Aegon before he succumbs to it – but unfortunately, it seems extremely unlikely that Aegon really is the son of Rhaegar; the fandom calls him “fAegon,” or “fake Aegon,” and the leading theory is that he is actually a descendant of the rebellious Blackfyre faction of House Targaryen – an era that is connected to the House of the Dragon prequel series.
Hopefully we’ll get to see where all of these characters and stories are going when George R.R. Martin finishes A Song of Ice and Fire with The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring. In the meantime, the previous books in the series are available now in print, digital, and audiobook formats. Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon are streaming now on Max, with a new spinoff called A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms premiering this year, and House of the Dragon Season 3 premiering next year on HBO and Max.
