10 Game Of Thrones Characters You Really Wanted To Survive
"When you play the Game of Thrones, you win or you die."
Game of Thrones offered up several guarantees. Every episode contained at least one of the following: there was usually a modicum of gratuitous sex; more than likely some scheming was going to take place; and there was always a strong likelihood of something horrifically violent going down.
But if there was one thing Game of Thrones really became known for, it was its propensity for killing off much loved and highly prominent characters. From the get go the writers established that not even well known actors were spared the dangers of Westeros. It was a huge risk to market a show around the status of an actor like Sean Bean, only to have him disposed of in the first season.
The gamble worked, though. Despite having their favourite characters being brutally and unjustly ripped out of existence, audiences kept coming back for more, seemingly out of some twisted form of viewing sadomasochism.
Some characters we slowly grew to love over the years, while others became fast favourites, but non were guaranteed immunity from the writers chopping block.
10. Hodor
No other death was as tragic as Hodor's: sure, Ned's came as a shock, Robb's felt unjust, and no one enjoyed seeing Maester Luwin killed by the Ironborn, but Hodor's death hit in a completely different way.
You could argue that almost every major death in the show took place because a character took part in the Game of Thrones, and as they say "when you play the Game of Thrones, you win or you die." Hodor's was different. This was a character who blindly obeyed whatever task he was set, for no another reason than out of a humble sense of duty. He became entangled in Bran's deadly journey beyond the Wall through no device of his own. If there was one character who was truly innocent of any scheming or animosity it was Hodor.
So, when he bravely resigned himself to hold the door against the tides of undead - with little understanding about the conflict he'd become embedded in - fans were left stricken with grief. It was all the more tragic when it was revealed that the entire purpose for his existence had been to act as mere doorstop for zombies.