15 Dead Game Of Thrones Characters (That Are Still Alive In The Books)

As previously mentioned, the Qarth storyline that was featured in season two of the television series was a largely original creation, though one of the elements that was kept mostly faithful to the source material was Danaerys' relationship with Xaro Xhoan Daxos. A merchant prince, Xaro schools Dany in the art of Qartheen politics after she takes up residence in his mansion. 

He hopes to marry her and she considers the option given the ships at his disposal, though it transpires that he is motivated by a Qartheen wedding custom that would allow him to claim one of her three dragons.

Nevertheless, he gives Dany adequate warning to leave the city following her actions at the House of the Undying, the home of Qarth's warlocks, later reappearing as an envoy of the city after she takes up residence in Meereen, where he reveals that war has been declared on her by his city.

The series sees Xaro team up with one of the warlocks, Pyat Pree to kill the other members of Qarth's ruling elite and take Dany's dragons by force, using Doreah to do so. This results in he and Doreah being locked alive in a vault, presumably to face a slow and painful death.

Given that the structure of Qarth was all but wiped out in the series by Xaro's actions, there was presumably no need to complicate Dany's numerous conflicts within Meereen on screen with an additional declaration of war. This could impact upon proceedings in The Winds of Winter and A Dream Of Spring, however, so it remains to be seen if the show's writers will live to regret killing off the merchant prince so early.