8 Game of Thrones characters who overstayed their welcome

5. High Sparrow

The High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce) is introduced in the fifth season of Game of Thrones. He sticks around for two seasons until his death at the end of season 6. The High Sparrow rises to power by offering the commoners of the Seven Kingdoms, and more specifically of King’s Landing, an alternative to listening to the ruling class who waged the War of the Five Kings. With the Lannisters hurting for cash and fatherless after Tywin’s (Charles Dance) murder, Cersei (Lena Headey) allies herself with the High Sparrow but is lulled into a trap which creates a conflict between the Crown and the Faith over seasons 5 and 6.

The High Sparrow is truly one of the worst characters in Game of Thrones. It’s not just that the High Sparrow storylines are boring for the most part, but they also go directly against what we’ve come to expect from the Lannisters up to this point in time. Why would the Lannisters allow the High Sparrow, the Faith Militant, and the church to rise to such heights of power, directly threatening everything the Lannisters worked so hard to build? The High Sparrow’s relentless deference to the Seven is annoying and repetitive.

Sure, the High Sparrow was a scheming, vindictive manipulator in his own right. He didn’t have the foresight, in my opinion, to do the damage that he did, but that’s how it all played out.

In “The Winds of Winter,” one of the most epic episodes of the series, the High Sparrow suffered Cersei’s revenge when she blew up the Great Sept of Baelor with wildfire all while the High Sparrow, his followers, and their prisoners were inside.