5 Best Game of Thrones Characters Wasted in the Show, Ranked

Few television shows could kill a terrific character and make the loss feel worthwhile quite like Game of Thrones. Ned Stark, Oberyn Martell, and Tywin Lannister did not overstay their welcome; their exits detonated consequences across Westeros. But other characters got the short end of the stick. For this ranking, ‘wasted’ does not necessarily mean badly acted or poorly conceived. These are five characters who had substantially more political, thematic, or narrative ammunition than HBO’s adaptation ultimately fired, especially when compared with George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. The ranking weighs lost potential, importance to the books, and how badly the show’s version squandered what it had.

5 Rickon Stark Never Gets Off the Bench

Credit: HBO

Art Parkinson’s Rickon Stark survives almost everything that destroys his family, disappears for multiple seasons, returns as Ramsay Bolton’s prisoner, and is promptly killed before the Battle of the Bastards. That is practically his entire payoff. Rickon’s death works as fuel for Jon Snow, but that is precisely the problem. The youngest living legitimate son of Ned Stark becomes a plot device in somebody else’s story. His survival could have complicated Sansa and Jon’s claims in the North, particularly because Bran has no interest in ruling Winterfell.

George R.R. Martin leaves him somewhere considerably more intriguing. In A Dance with Dragons, Wyman Manderly learns that Osha took Rickon to Skagos and secretly sends Davos to retrieve him, tying the youngest Stark directly to Manderly’s plans against the Boltons. The boy who barely mattered on television could therefore become a political ace in the North. The show instead makes him run in a straight line. Poor kid never had a prayer.

4 Doran Martell Plays With a Blunt Hand

Credit:- HBO

Alexander Siddig was inspired casting for Prince Doran Martell, which makes the squandered opportunity sting. HBO presents Doran as a cautious ruler unwilling to pursue revenge against the Lannisters. Ellaria Sand eventually murders him, while his guards simply watch. His death clears the board for the Sand Snakes and effectively puts the already maligned Dorne storyline out of its misery.

Book Doran is a different kettle of fish. His apparent passivity hides years of careful plotting to avenge Elia Martell and restore his family’s power through secret Targaryen alliances and marriage plans involving his children. The tragedy of literary Doran is that excessive patience may ruin an intelligent plan. The show removes the intelligent plan, leaving mostly the patience. Siddig could have given Westeros another cerebral operator in the Littlefinger-Varys mold. Instead, Doran barely gets to enter the game before someone flips the table.

3 Stannis Baratheon Goes Up in Smoke

Stephen Dillane in Game of Thrones / Credits: HBO

Stannis Baratheon begins as one of Game of Thrones’ most fascinating moral headaches. He is humorless, rigid, entitled, occasionally hilarious without meaning to be, and utterly convinced that the Iron Throne is his by law rather than desire. Stephen Dillane makes that severity sing. Then Season 5 puts Stannis through the wringer. His campaign collapses, he allows Shireen to be burned alive, his wife dies, much of his army deserts, the Boltons crush what remains, and Brienne apparently executes him.

The books have not reached that endpoint. Stannis remains alive at the end of the published books, with released The Winds of Winter material showing him actively preparing for the coming battle against the Bolton forces. The adaptation also makes Stannis considerably more dependent on Melisandre, stripping away some of the dry wit and political calculation that define his book counterpart.  His downfall itself is not why he ranks third; tragedy suits Game of Thrones. It is the breakneck demolition of his characterization required to get him there. Stannis deserved to lose like Stannis.

2 Barristan Selmy Deserved a Better Last Stand

Credit:- HBO

Ser Barristan Selmy walking away from Joffrey’s Kingsguard remains ice-cold television. Ian McElhinney sells Barristan the Bold as a living relic of Westerosi history: a legendary knight who served kings he did not necessarily admire because duty mattered to him. Joining Daenerys consequently opens fascinating territory. Here is someone who knew her father firsthand and could help her understand exactly what inheriting Targaryen power might mean.

Then Season 5 kills him in a Meereen alley during an ambush by the Sons of the Harpy. The fight is heroic, but the timing kneecaps his potential. Martin’s Barristan remains alive in the published books. More importantly, after Daenerys disappears, he becomes a POV character, effectively takes control as the Queen’s Hand, and is forced to govern Meereen while preparing the city for war. 

That is the Barristan television viewers never really got: not merely an elderly swordmaster but a veteran forced to make difficult political and military decisions without his queen. Killing legends is Game of Thrones’ bread and butter. Killing one before his richest material begins is another matter.

1 Euron Greyjoy Is the Biggest Robbery

Credit: HBO

No character loses more in translation than Euron Greyjoy. Pilou Asbæk’s HBO Euron is a swaggering pirate driven by Cersei, power, and violence. Book Euron is far darker: an occult, ambitious Crow’s Eye who wins the Kingsmoot, wields the Valyrian horn Dragonbinder, and plots far beyond simply becoming Cersei’s suitor. That difference is crucial because book Euron could have added a human threat that deepened Game of Thrones’ supernatural mythology. The books surround him with dark magic, forbidden knowledge, and blood sacrifice, while the show largely strips away that eerie menace and leaves only the pirate. 

Asbæk had the charisma to go big. The books supplied the ammunition. The show handed him a crossbow and dirty jokes. That makes Euron my clear No. 1: not the worst Game of Thrones character, but perhaps its greatest case of what might have been. Which character do you think Game of Thrones wasted most badly? Drop your pick below, and follow FandomWire for more trips back into Westeros.

Game of Thrones is available to stream on HBO Max.