8 Missing Characters From A Song Of Ice And Fire That Should Have Appeared In Game Of Thrones

Another flabbergasting cut from the final character list of Game of Thrones, is that of Daenerys' behemoth protector Strong Belwas.

A titanic eunuch and former slave from the fighting pits of Mereen, Strong Belwas becomes an integral part of Dany's Queensguard from A Clash of Kings onwards. Boasting to have never been defeated in combat, he allows each of his opponents to cut him once before turning them into mincemeat; according to Belwas, one can tell how many men he has killed by simply counting his scars.

It is hard to fathom why Benioff and Weiss did not choose to include Strong Belwas. Dany's character circle is diverse and engaging but it is not as extensive as that of the characters in Westeros. It therefore begs the question as to why they would not choose to flesh out the cast even further with the addition of such an entertaining character.

Maybe Belwas was just too much for the showrunners, and the general public for that matter, to handle. HBO's version of events depicts Daario Naharis dispatching the Meerenese champion and mirroring the deceased's actions of a few moments earlier; urinating at the city's nobles in a show of defiance.

In Martin's books, Strong Belwas is chosen to take on the champion, letting him cut him in his trademark fashion. Belwas swiftly disposes of the warrior and decapitates his horse before defecating in the direction of the Mereneese aristocracy and wiping himself clean with the dead man's cloak.

Yikes.