Throughout its eight season run on HBO, Game of Thrones earned a reputation for killing its core cast left and right. Back in season 1, when Eddard Stark (Sean Bean), the character audiences (who hadn't read the books) assumed would serve as the series' lead, found himself quite literally on the chopping block, the series made it abundantly clear that no character, no matter how important, was safe from death. Sure enough, Game of Thrones would continue to kill off its most important characters up until the series finale.
However, not all Game of Thrones characters died for a cause or reason. While Ned's death resulted in the War of the Five Kings, Khal Drogo's (Jason Momoa) demise led to the birth of Daenerys' (Emilia Clarke) dragons, and Ygritte (Rose Leslie) died fighting for her people, several Game of Thrones deaths accomplished very little. These five characters didn't actually need to die in universe.
1. Ser Dontos Hollard
Ser Dontos Hollard (Tony Way) almost died an unnecessary death back in season 2. When he showed up to King Joffrey's (Jack Gleason) name day celebration drunk, the vicious boy king attempted to drown him in wine. However, Sansa (Sophie Turner), then Joffrey's betrothed, stepped in and convinced Joffrey to spare Dontos by turning him into his fool. A grateful Dontos then agreed to help Sansa escape King's Landing, sneaking her out of the city as Joffrey choked to death at his own wedding.
Sansa soon reunites with Littlefinger (Aidan Gillan), an old friend of her mother's, who revealed that he'd been behind the whole scheme, including Dontos' involvement, in order to rescue Sansa. Littlefinger then commands his archers to shoot Dontos, killing him to prevent him from spilling any secrets. However, this was likely out of an abundance of caution on Littlefinger's part, as Dontos seemed genuinely loyal and grateful to Sansa, and would have been unlikely to turn on her.
2. Shireen Baratheon
Shireen Baratheon (Kerry Ingram), the kind and intelligent daughter of Stannis (Stephen Dillane), would do anything for her father. Sadly, Melisandre (Carice van Houten) takes advantage of Shireen's good nature and offers her up as a sacrifice to the Lord of Light to ensure Stannis' victory against the Boltons. Stannis watches his beloved daughter burn, believing that her death will serve his cause.
However, Shireen's sacrifice ultimately made no difference, and the Boltons demolished Stannis' men. A badly injured Stannis then dies at the hands of Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie), finally avenging her beloved Renly (Gethin Anthony). Melisandre's misguided visions in the flames resulted in the death of one of the most innocent characters throughout the entire series, all for nothing.
3. Lancel Lannister
Lancel Lannister (Eugene Simon), once the (other) incestuous lover of his cousin, Queen Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), spent the end of his life as a devotee of the High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce). After turning to religion, Lancel ratted his cousin out to the sparrows, revealing to them her love affairs, as well as her role in the death of her husband, King Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy). This resulted in Cersei's imprisonment and walk of shame.
When Cersei fails to appear at the Great Sept of Baelor for her trial, Lancel goes to find her, but is led astray by a small child. The child then stabs Lancel, and, while wounded, he sees wildfire placed below the Sept, and uses his remaining strength to attempt to stop the ensuing explosion. However, despite his best efforts, Lancel fails to prevent the wildfire from erupting, taking out the Great Sept along with everyone inside, making his presence, and death, meaningless.
4. Lord Varys
Always observant, Varys (Conleth Hill) is among the first to notice the cracks in Daenerys' mental stability. Fearing she'd take after her father, the Mad King, Varys begins to conspire to replace Dany with Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) after learning about his true heritage. However, Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) notices his old friend scheming and turns Varys in to Daenerys, who executes him by dragon fire.
Varys spends his final days attempting to stop Daenerys from going mad. As it turns out, he was right, and during her assault on King's Landing, Daenerys snaps and razes the city on dragonback. Despite his best efforts, Varys could not stop the outcome that he alone predicted, and, in fact, his treason likely furthered Daenerys towards her breaking point.
5. Euron Greyjoy
During Daenerys' assault on King's Landing, Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster Waldau) attempts to sneak into the Red Keep in order to find Cersei. However, his rival, Euron Greyjoy (Pilou Asbæk), cuts him off, and the two duel. Jaime defeats Euron, but suffers some injures in the process. As he lies dying, Euron proudly declares, "I'm the man who killed Jaime Lannister."
Jaime does not, in fact, die by Euron's hand, but instead, is crushed by the crumbling bricks of the Red Keep shortly after reuniting with his sister. Jaime would have been killed by these bricks even without Euron's intervention, rendering their battle pointless. Euron may have even survived the Battle of King's Landing had he not needlessly chased down Jaime.
For more from the world of Westeros, make sure to stream House of the Dragon season 3 on HBO Max.
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