Small Council: What dead character from Game of Thrones do you miss the most?

Did you know that a lot of characters die on Game of Thrones? It’s true. This week, the Small Council discusses which of the fallen characters we miss the most. Is there one who went before their time? Would the show have been better off if a certain character had remained alive? The Small Council is in session.

DAN: A couple of weeks ago, I came across that clip from Season 3 where Jon Snow is showing Ygritte around the lands south of the Wall—you know, the one where she mistakes a windmill for a castle—and something odd happened. I realized that I really missed seeing Ygritte mix it up with the other characters. I missed her calling Jon out on his mopiness. I missed how she was extremely competent at hunting and fighting without making a big show of it. I missed how Rose Leslie brought an ease out of Kit Harington that hadn’t been there before. Ygritte is far from being the most most important character on the show, but dammit, I really missed what she brought to it!

It’s odd that I felt that way, since I wasn’t particularly moved by Ygritte’s death when I first watched Season 4—I knew it was coming, and actually think the show would have done better to push it up a couple of episodes. Discovering that I’m wistful about a character’s passing years after they’ve passed is abnormal, and I think it speaks to how quickly and violently the show moves. A lot of people die on Game of Thrones, so maybe I didn’t fully absorb Ygritte’s death on the first go-round. Maybe I needed time.

Or maybe I’m not alone. I remember that, right after “Hardhome” aired, a lot of people spoke fondly of Karsi, a hard-bitten wildling mother who was confident, competent, and pragmatic. (Loboda: “My ancestors would spit on me if I broke bread with a crow.” Karsi: “So would mine, but fuck ’em, they’re dead.”) She wasn’t onscreen for more than half of an episode, but fans were upset when she died at the hands of a horde of wights. I think a lot of people saw a bit of Ygritte in Karsi, and it was a shame to lose it all over again.

So maybe I don’t miss Ygritte because of a slow relief grief valve built in to the show’s structure. Maybe I just miss her because she’s awesome.

LEXI: I’m a Stark loyalist so there’s no love lost when it comes to the Lannisters. But I do miss Tywin and Charles Dance’s exceptional portrayal of him. Tywin was never a king but was widely regarded as the most powerful man in Westeros, a title that isn’t given lightly. Whether strategizing at a war council or verbally sparring with his own family, Tywin commanded a certain attention during every scene he was in. Once he arrived in King’s Landing, he managed to keep the city from falling into chaos and was also somewhat able to keep Joffrey under control, a feat in itself.

I can’t help but imagine how Tywin would dispatch the High Sparrow and his followers. Of course, if Tywin was still around, they wouldn’t have risen to power in the first place, but it’s something entertaining to think about. The show itself would definitely be better if Tywin was still there. But like many other show deaths, his allowed for the progression of other characters’ stories. So I don’t necessarily think Tywin died before his time. I just miss seeing him and his sneer.

KATIE: Five seasons after the fact and I’m still hoping that Syrio Forel finds a way to water-dance his way back onscreen. Miltos Yerolemou brought spectacular energy and bite to his short-lived role, and I want little more than to hear him say “Not today” again.

While his death—or perhaps his mere disappearance—was necessary in furthering Arya’s arc, I maintain my stubborn camp in the “Syrio Forel lives” fort. Now that Arya has found her way to Braavos, I see no reason why he couldn’t pop back up and help her get back on track…unless he actually is dead but, again, I’ve pitched my tent and I’m not budging.

It seems to me that Arya has lost her way, because as triumphant as her slaughter of Meryn Trant was, it was equally disturbing to see her so emotionally detached while slicing and dicing the guy’s life away. She’s still a lost girl who needs her family, and with Syrio’s guidance, I believe that she could get back to being the swordsman and overall person she was becoming prior to both his and Ned’s deaths.

Yes, axing Syrio was all well and good at the time, but depending on where Arya’s story is taking her next, I think the show would benefit from dropping Syrio back into the thick of things. 

RICHARD: I’m going to have to be careful here and separate the offed characters I liked the most as opposed to the offed characters I miss the most. At first blush I’d say I miss Ned and also Ygritte because I liked the characters so much. But when I think about it who I miss because I really enjoyed them when they appeared on screen, the focus shifts. Lord Tywin Lannister was a blast because Charles Dance was so elegantly dark and could command a room by simply walking into it.

But, in the end, almost reluctantly, I’d have to say I probably miss Joffrey Baratheon the most. Why? I mean, the kid was an arrogant, whining, dangerous psychopath. And he killed Ned Stark! But I had fun hating him. Jack Gleason did a fantastic job with the character, especially as he grew into him in Seasons 3 and 4, and every show needs a great villain. And I loved it when Tyrion smacked Joffrey and when Tywin would craftily bully him out of the way.

Has the show suffered because Joffrey drank the poisoned wine? I’d say not. Kings don’t last in Game of Thrones, and Joffrey really had it coming. His death makes the whole situation at King’s Landing more precarious, with the even more inexperienced and vulnerable Tommen in the big chair, and that is always good for the drama.

I guess I hate that I miss Joffrey so much. And I love that I do.

ANI: Which dead character do I miss the most from Game of Thrones? Good lord, that’s a lot of people to choose from. One might go with the obvious and say Ned Stark, but for real? Ned was an idiot. He was in way over his head in King’s Landing. There’s a reason the Stupid Ned Stark meme was born halfway through the first season, a bitterly funny set of images if there ever was one, especially since those who seemed to promote it the most were the ones who had no idea what was coming. (Spoiler: It wasn’t Winter.) In the same vein, Robb Stark was also a fool and deserved death, even if the way he went was just utterly horrific. That it took out Cat was just bonus money, since without her interior monologue, her actions seemed a lot more selfish and less easy to understand.

Things might have been different if Joer Mormont have lived, but his death was necessary to push Jon Snow into power so he could learn the hard way that leadership requires convincing those who are following you to come with. As for missing Jon Snow, how can I do that if he won’t go away?

No, you know who I miss? Ros. I know, it seems odd. After all, she was a character created from whole cloth, based off of a girl who Theon was sort of in love with but not really at the very beginning of the series. But that’s why I miss her. Unlike every other death in the series—from Ygritte to Joffrey to Syrio to Tywin—her’s was not preordained, and did not serve a larger purpose to move the story forward. Even characters whose deaths were pushed forward in the timeline—Shireen, Stannis, Barristan Selmy—died for a reason. Barristan died to create a space on Dany’s council where Tyrion will fit just nicely, for example. But Ros? Her death carried nothing forward. Her presence was always a surprise, and you never knew what odd Mary Sue-type feat of derring do she’d pull off next. I would love for her to have lived, providing an extra set of eyes on the Lannister’s fall, or slipping in to whatever Littlefinger plan was cooking up this time, all with a side of sexposition.

RAZOR: She was only on-screen for roughly 20 minutes, but boy did she have an impact: Karsi the wildling from Season 4, Episode 8, “Hardhome.” Birgitte Hjort Sørensen—who, by the way, killed it in Pitch Perfect 2—perfectly encapsulated what I imagine George R.R. Martin had in mind when he created the spearwives of the wildlings. Strong and fiercely independent women who could more than hold their own in a fight, spearwives were often better than the male warriors that fought beside them…and Karsi embodied the spearwife perfectly.

I cared more for Karsi during her brief stint on Game of Thrones than I have for most of the major characters that are still alive and well. My only frustration with her character doesn’t lie with her, but with the writers who designed her death. Karsi sliced and diced her way through hundreds of wights as she fought alongside Jon Snow, but as soon as the creep children showed up, she folded like a house of cards and gave up the ghost.

Perhaps that’s the beauty of Karsi. She lived as she died: loving her children, and unable to raise her weapons against another mother’s children, despite them being dead.

CAMERON: For once, I’m a bit of a traditionalist: Catelyn Stark. I didn’t realize until she was gone just how much I appreciated her matriarchal wisdom and patience, especially as it contrasts with two other significant mother figures on the show—the ruthless Cersei Lannister and the inexperienced Daenerys Targaryen. She was a perfect counterbalance, and her death locked in the eventual destabilization of the other two. This is further proof that the Red Wedding was simultaneously one of the most brutal and most necessary events in the story.

Via http://winteriscoming.net/2016/01/29/small-council-what-dead-character-from-game-of-thrones-do-you-miss-the-most/