Game of Thrones gave us a pretty incredible interpretation of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. Across the eight seasons, we got a number of regions, a boatload of lore, and a large ensemble of heroes and villains from George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire – but one particularly entity was overlooked.
Lady Stoneheart would’ve been a terrifying addition to Game of Thrones. One of the best Game of Thrones characters in the books, she’s an undead version of Catelyn Stark who hunts down those who took part in the Red Wedding. That already sounds like it’d make Game of Thrones one of the best horror series ever, right?
In A Storm of Swords, after the Red Wedding where Lord Frey organized a massacre on House Stark, Catelyn’s body is found by one of Arya’s direwolves. The Brotherhood Without Banners takes in her corpse, and they discuss bringing her back, but it turns out she’s been too long gone.
Well, almost. Beric Dondarrion literally breathes life into her using the last kiss of R’hllor. She gets Beric’s lifeforce, who passes, and Catelyn comes back, but not as the same Stark matriarch we know in the Game of Thrones cast.
This time, she’s murderous and hellbent on putting anyone with allegiance to the Lannisters or the Freys, since the Red Wedding not only killed her, but her son, Robb, too. She does this through leading the Brotherhood, hiding her now heavily scarred and discolored body. She barely appears in A Feast of Crows, and as we know, isn’t anywhere to be seen in the drama series.
We don’t know why Lady Stoneheart was overlooked, but one answer that makes sense is that DB Weiss and David Benioff, the showrunners, wanted to err mor towards political intrigue than fantastical elements. You can see that throughout Game of Thrones, where Daenerys making her way toward the Iron Throne takes precedence over exploring more deeply into the underlying lore.
A missed opportunity – perhaps we’ll see a version of Lady Stoneheart in the House of the Dragon cast. Her general concept could easily be one of the best House of the Dragon characters, but that’s probably wishful thinking on our part. Regardless, keep our guide to the House of the Dragon season 2 release date handy. We have a list of the best fantasy series too, if you want more magical viewing.