HBO's Game of Thrones is a landmark show that deserves all the accolades it's gotten. It's not an exaggeration to say that it quite literally reshaped the television landscape; for years afterward, we've watched as streaming services and television networks competed to take the crown following the end of the series' run in 2019.
While the show itself deserves its flowers, a huge part of what made Thrones as good as it was is that it had excellent source material. George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels have a sprawling story with tons of memorable characters, all vying for their own personal interests or just trying to survive in the gritty fantasy realms of Westeros and Essos. The show largely brought those characters to life with incredible fidelity. But for every Arya Stark or Tyrion Lannister, who made the leap to the screen flawlessly, there were characters from Martin's books that the show didn't honor nearly as well.
And in a few cases, it did book characters so dirty that fans are still shaking their head about it years later. We've already touched on a few characters the show dropped the ball on; let's run through a few more, and remember their storylines that will live on in the books.
1. Doran Martell
Look, we could really just point to Dorne and include most every character there, outside of Oberyn Martell. Generally speaking, Dorne is just one of those plotlines that the show simply did not have the time or drive to explore properly. But if I'm going to pick one character in particular who was done the dirtiest, it's Prince Doran Martell, the patriarch of House Martell played by Star Trek: Deep Space Nine veteran Alexander Siddig.
In the books, Doran is a quiet schemer who's been painfully biding his time in order to bring about the downfall of House Lannister, whose men were responsible for the death of Doran and Oberyn's sister Elia Martell during Robert's Rebellion. Doran's daughter Arianne chafes at his seeming lack of conviction, only to find out that Doran has been playing the long game the whole time, sending his son Quentyn off to Meereen to ally with Daenerys Targaryen and preparing for the wars to come. By the end of A Dance with Dragons, we still haven't seen how Doran's story plays out, but he's an interesting character who has left a mark on the saga.
In the show, Doran has a few good scenes in season 5 before he's promptly murdered by Oberyn's consort Ellaria Sand in the season 6 premiere. We never get to see if Doran would have eventually revealed his hand, or even if he had anything to reveal. Instead, the show treats him as an effectual ruler who needs to get out of the way so that the more vengeful members of his house can take control. Doran's death didn't just do the character dirty, but also signaled that Thrones was committed to jettisoning as much of the Dornish storyline as it could.
2. Areo Hotah
Okay, I know I said I was going to let Doran Martell stand in for all of Dorne, but come on, it's Dorne. I need to shout out at least one other character who got short shrift there: Areo Hotah, Doran's bodyguard played by DeObia Oparei. He dies in the same scene as Doran during the season 6 premiere, when he's stabbed in the back by Tyene Sand. (And stabbed straight through his armor, no less...)
Sometimes in A Song of Ice and Fire, Martin chooses unlikely characters to serve as our viewpoints. This was the case with Areo Hotah, who observes the scheming of House Martell from his quiet post as Doran's sworn bodyguard. Areo is an interesting character who is drawn into the thick of things because he is unfailingly loyal to Doran's family, which means he often ends up at odds with the Prince's rebellious daughter Arianne and her cousins the Sandsnakes. How he navigates those situations adds depth to them.
Including Areo Hotah expands the world of Game of Thrones. He's from the Free City of Norvos in Essos, and became a member of a warrior priesthood at a young age. He later swore service to Lady Mellario, and went with her to Dorne when she married Doran Martell.
We never find out any backstory about Areo Hotah in the series before he's unceremoniously killed off. Like Doran, it feels like a huge missed opportunity with a character who gets an ample amount of development in the books. But I guess at least the show didn't cut him altogether, like Doran's daughter Arianne.
3. Ser Barristan Selmy
Moving away from Dorne, let's stop next in Meereen, where the legendary knight Ser Barristan Selmy met his ignominious end. In the early seasons of Thrones, Barristan largely follows his book plot: he loyally serves King Robert Baratheon before being dismissed by Robert's impetuous son Joffrey. After that, Barristan heads across the Narrow Sea and enters into the service of Daenerys Targaryen. He has a secret identity in the books as Arstan Whitebeard, but since the show couldn't really hide the identity of McElhinney, it did away with that. I don't fault it for that choice.
What I do fault it for is killing off Barristan just a few episodes into season 5, when he's a person in Dany's close-knit group of survivors killed by the Sons of the Harpy. Barriston dies valiantly fighting a swarm of assassins, and his efforts do allow Grey Worm to survive. But his story still ends much sooner than it does in the books.
In A Song of Ice and Fire, Barristan is still alive as of the start of The Winds of Winter. And he's not only alive: he's holding down the fort in Meereen after Daenerys flew away on her dragon, Drogon. Barristan doesn't know where she is or if she'll return, but he knows it's his duty to see to the city's defense in her absence. This storyline, where the elder knight overcomes younger warriors who underestimate him in order to secure the city, is a highlight of A Dance with Dragons. I don't know what Martin has planned for Barristan in the final two books of the series, but I do know that even what we've seen so far is much better than Barristan's story in the TV show.
4. Yara Greyjoy
Yara Greyjoy is probably the character on this list who was done the least dirty overall, but since her book counterpart Asha Greyjoy is one of my favorite characters in the entire series, she's on here. Yes, the show changed her name, and yes, I am still salty about it all these years later for no particular reason I can articulate.
The show's Yara is not a bad character, especially in the early seasons where she sticks closely to her book material. But by the time of seasons 5 and 6, the show made Yara much more of a fixture to help further the plot of the men around her. Theon accompanies her to the Kingsmoot to bolster her claim, only to be bested by their uncle Euron. Yara tries and fails to save Theon in season 4, and then in season 7 he abandons her to capture only to rescue her in season 8 as part of a truncated redemption arc. Even at the very end, where Yara is made the ruler of the Iron Islands, her story feels more like an afterthought. We don't even get a single scene to see what her rule means for her homeland.
By contrast, Asha Greyjoy is a ferocious reaver who comes ever more into the forefront during A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons. Theon isn't present for all of Asha's politicking surrounding the Kingsmoot, and while she does have another powerful family member in the mix with her uncle Victarion, she still has to fend for herself in a way she doesn't on the show. This gets amplified even more when Asha flees to the mainland following Euron's crowning. She takes the northern castle of Deepwood Motte from the Glovers and begins laying claim to the surrounding countryside, only to eventually run afoul of none other than Stannis Baratheon.
When we last leave Asha, she is Stannis' prisoner on the eve of his ill-fated battle in the north with the Bolton forces. We don't know what will happen next to Asha, but I have little doubt that if and when The Winds of Winter is ever released, her book storyline will handily eclipse her material in the show.
5. Ser Loras Tyrell
On the TV show, Loras Tyrell was once a shining knight who served Renly Baratheon before he was imprisoned by the Faith Militant and tortured into becoming a Sparrow. He then died a few minutes after finally confessing, when Cersei Lannsiter blew the Great Sept to smithereens with wildfire.
Like in the books, Loras has a secret relationship with Renly Baratheon, and like in the books, he bets on the wrong contenders to the Iron Throne until it eventually lands him in serious trouble. However, there are a few key elements of Loras' character that the show completely omitted. Namely, Loras is deadly competent in the books; he's not just a pleasure-seeking knight, but also one of the most dangerous swordsmen in the realm. He's often compared to Jaime Lannister in his prime, because of how young he is compared to his relative skill. The show didn't do much of anything with that part of his character.
Loras also isn't captured by the Faith Militant and tortured into revealing his romance with Renly in the books. Instead, he serves as a member of King Tommen's Kingsguard. Eventually, Cersei Lannister conspires to get rid of him by sending him to assault the fortress on Dragonstone, hoping to take it in the bloodiest fashion possible while Stannis is off fighting in the North. Instead, Loras tries to go the honorable route of challenging the castellan to a duel; when that fails, he leads an assault on the castle.
By the end of A Dance with Dragons, Loras is said to be in grave condition after suffering burns and wounds in the storming of the keep. However, we don't actually see any of that happen; it's all second-hand information Cersei learns from other people. As a result, we still don't know whether Loras was actually wounded or if he's in hiding, hatching plots to undermine Cersei. Whenever we find out what happened to Loras, it's probably going to be a memorable moment.
The show's Loras is never built up to be a bold knight that could pose that sort of threat in the first place. Instead, the show leaned hard into Loras' relationship with Renly and made him a bit of a fop after it ended. And while the former worked well, the latter meant undermining a lot of what made Loras a memorable book character in the first place.
Are there any other Game of Thrones characters you think warranted a spot on this list? Any you disagree with? Let us know in the comments!
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