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

Finally we come to Lady Stoneheart; the nightmarish reincarnation of Catelyn Stark.

While Michelle Fairley's character is murdered and subsequently never seen again, events play out a little differently in the books. Remember the flaming sword wielding Beric Dondarrion, mysteriously killed and resurrected multiple times? In Martin's books, Beric gives his life to restore Catelyn's after her corpse is retrieved from the river by Arya's direwolf Nymeria.

Death has a way of changing people.

Gone is the gracious, gentle wife of Ned Stark, replaced by a demonic cadaver hellbent on revenge against all perpetrators of the Red Wedding.

With mottled, decomposing skin as a result of her time in the river, Lady Stoneheart still bears her fatal wound from the Freys; she has to pinch the edges of her slashed throat together to speak, in a voice indistinguishable from a death rattle.

She is also utterly merciless. Coming across Brienne and Podric, her past relationship with Brienne means nothing; she provides the horrified Brienne with an ultimatum, kill Jaime Lannister or the pair will hang.

Lady Stoneheart's macabre backstory and the unyielding nature of her revenge drenched narrative throwing her into conflict with characters that Catelyn Stark once held dear, would have made her an incredible addition.

House Frey's comeuppance is dealt with in a decidedly brief manner by the show considering the emotional weight of the Red Wedding. You can tell yourself you wouldn't have been riveted watching Lady Stoneheart unleash a terrifying campaign of revenge and terror. But you'd be lying to yourself.