Five ASOIAF characters that should have made it into Game of Thrones

Val the Wildling Princess

Okay, Val isn't an actual princess, but nearly everyone refers to her as one anyway. Val is the sister of Dalla, the wife of Mance Rayder, the King Beyond the Wall. She is treated like royalty after being captured when Stannis defeats the wildlings in the Battle Beneath the Wall. Stunningly beautiful, flirtatious, but with that I-might-stab-you kind of vibe, when she is introduced in A Storm of Swords, Val became one of fans' main contenders for Jon Snow’s love interest after the death of Ygritte.

In both the novels and TV series, Stannis offers to make Jon Snow the Lord of Winterfell. What’s missing from the HBO adaptation is that in the novels Stannis also insists that Jon marry the super-hot wildling if he wants to be given his father’s castle. Ever the honorable hero, Jon refuses to break his Night’s Watch vows, even though he does really want to be Lord of Winterfell. I think I was in the majority of fans extremely frustrated by this decision. Come on dude, stop being a hero, just accept the castle and the cool beautiful wife!

Despite Jon Snow turning down the offer, he grows to really respect Val and has a working relationship with her, as they both try to save as many wildlings as possible. Jon even risks his neck by freeing her from captivity so that she can find Tormund in the haunted forest.

As the novels have not yet caught up to Jon Snow’s resurrection, we have no idea of what lies in store for Val in the rest of A Song of Ice and Fire. As many have speculated online, dying in the mutiny at Castle Black frees Jon Snow from all his vows, including the ones that say he will ‘take no wife… and father no children,’ so the people shipping this relationship still can hold out hope. Am I the only one that thinks Jon riding out beyond the Wall at the end of Game of Thrones would have been more powerful if there was more than one remaining wildling character with a name?

Side note: if they ever do make a Jon Snow show, this character could still technically exist…