8 Game of Thrones characters who overstayed their welcome

7. Melisandre

Melisandre (Carice van Houten), also known as the Red Woman, is one of the most interesting characters from Game Thrones. Despite being a key cog in the machine for seven seasons, there’s so much we don’t know about her or her true intentions. She’s a servant of R’hollor, the Lord of Light, and mentions it every chance she gets.

It’s staggering to me that Melisandre survived as long in the Seven Kingdoms as she does. We’re introduced to the Red Priestess of season 2, and her character plays an absolutely massive role in a number of key storylines, including the War of the Five Kings, Jon’s resurrection, the battle at Winterfell against the Night King and his army of wights, and more.

In “The Long Night,” Melisandre makes it all the way through the final battle at Winterfell. After Arya (Maisie Williams) kills the Night King, Melisandre removes and amulet around her neck and age and time finally take the Red Priestess. Of course, Melisandre had to stick around until season 6, minimum, to save Jon after he was betrayed by Olly and the Night’s Watch.

Given how big of a threat Melisandre was to many important characters, you would have thought someone would take her out much earlier, right? And man, she has to be so tired. We never find out how old Melisandre is, but she’s so old, easily one of the oldest characters in the series. After destroying the Night King, her watch finally ends.