“Game of Thrones” covers a huge world with plenty of characters, and over six seasons, lots of important people have come and gone. When they’ve gone, they’ve mostly been killed in all manner of awful ways. Here’s every character who used to be important on the show but you might have forgotten after they met their tragic ends. (Warning: Of course there are spoilers!)
Jon Arryn
The Lord of the Veil and the King Robert Baratheon’s Hand, Arryn’s death kicked off most of the events in “Game of Thrones.” He died off-screen before the events of the show, poisoned his wife, Lysa Arryn, as part of Littlefinger’s plot. Lysa sent a letter to Catelyn Stark blaming the Lannisters, which ignited the flames of a feud that would devastate both houses.
Mycah
The butcher’s boy was a friend of Arya’s and was practicing swordfighting with her on the Kingsroad when Joffrey Lannister and Sansa Stark happened by. Joffrey sadistically threatened the boy, and was attacked by Arya’s direwolf Nymeria in response. Afterward, Joffrey told his parents Mycah, Arya and Nymeria attacked him. Mycah fled in fear, but the Hound eventually found and killed him.
Lady
It’s Nymeria, Arya’s direwolf, that attacks Joffrey when he threatens Mycah with his sword. But Arya chases her direwolf away by throwing rocks at her, knowing she’ll be punished when Joffrey tells his parents what happened. Queen Cersei doesn’t much care which wolf gets killed, so Ned Stark is forced to stab Lady.
Robert Baratheon
After successfully waging a rebellion against “Mad King” Aerys Targaryen, Robert held the Iron Throne for nearly two decades. But he mostly used his reign to indulge himself in wine and women, leaving the ruling of the Seven Kingdoms to his advisers. He was killed after being gored by a boar while hunting, partially because Cersei encouraged his squire, Lancel Lannister, to give Robert too much wine.
Syrio Forel
Arya’s “dancing master,” Syrio was a fencing instructor and the former First Sword of Braavos. He started Arya on the path of learning how to fight with a sword. Syrio died defending Arya when the Lannisters moved against House Stark, killed by Kingsguard Ser Meryn Trant and several Lannister guards.
Septa Mordane
The Starks’ septa tutored the girls, Sansa and Arya, at Winterfell. She went with the girls when they traveled with their father to King’s Landing. When the Lannisters moved against the Starks, Septa Mordane told Sansa to escape to her room, before Mordane was confronted by Lannister guards and executed. Her head was placed on a spike on the wall of the Red Keep beside Ned Stark’s.
Ser Rodrick Cassel
The Master-at-Arms at Winterfell, Ser Rodrick trained all the Stark kids to fight and generally commanded their forces. When Theon Greyjoy took Winterfell with the Ironborn, he executed Ser Rodrick for failing to show him enough respect.
Jory Cassel
Rodrick’s son was captain of Ned Stark’s House Guard when he went to King’s Landing to be Robert’s new Hand in season 1. After Catelyn found Tyrion on the Kingsroad and took him prisoner, Jaime Lannister responded by attacking Ned, Jory and a handful of men on the street. Jory was killed and Ned was wounded in the fighting.
Maester Luwin
The maester of Winterfell was a longtime friend of Ned Stark and his family, as well as a trusted adviser. He stayed behind at Winterfell to advise Robb while Ned was in King’s Landing, and Bran when Robb went to war. When the Ironborn abandoned Winterfell, Damger, Theon’s lieutenant, stabbed Luwin with a spear. He died in the Winterfell godswood shortly after.
Khal Drogo
Danaerys Targaryen is given to Dothraki leader Khal Drogo in exchange for an army he promises to her brother, Viserys. After attacking a village and taking all its inhabitants as slaves, Drogo receives a minor cut during single combat with another warrior. Danaerys asks a healer woman from the village, taken as a slave, to treat Drogo’s wound, but the woman instead poisons him.
Mirri Maz Duur
The magic woman who tells Dany she’ll cure Khal Drogo, but actually kills him and Dany’s baby with black magic, doesn’t get out alive. Dany sentences her to death by tying her to Drogo’s funeral pyre, burning her alive.
Yoren
The Man of the Night’s Watch who heads to King’s Landing to raid its dungeons for recruits is also the man who saves Arya’s life, finding her and getting her out of the city after Ned Stark is executed. Lannister soldiers intercept Yoren and his group as they head north in season 2, and he dies defending Arya and Gendry.
Lommy
When Arya and Gendry are captured by the Lannisters, Lommy is injured, and then killed by the soldier Polliver with Arya’s sword Needle. Arya will get her revenge, though.
The Tickler
The torturer at Harrenhal under the Lannister rule there is a particularly terrible dude. Arya has him eliminated when she calls in the first of her favors from Jaqen H’ghar.
Irri
Danaerys’ handmaiden is killed in Qarth when Xaro Xhoan Daxos raids her apartments and steals her dragons. Dany has to go to the House of the Undying to retrieve them.
Matthos Seaworth
Davos’ son is a devoted believer in the Lord of Light and commanding a ship in Stannis Baratheon’s fleet during the Battle of Blackwater Bay. When Tyrion ignites his wildfire trap, Matthos dies in the resulting explosion.
Qhorin Halfhand
The renowned ranger of the Night’s Watch, Qhorin goes north of the Wall with the rest of the Night’s Watch and leads a small team to intercept some wildling scouts, bringing Jon Snow along with him. Jon finds Ygrette, but then gets captured, as does Qhorin. As they’re marching, Qhorin commanded Jon to kill him in single combat so the wildlings will trust him.
Pyat Pree
The blue-lipped warlock in Qarth worked with Xaro to steal Dany’s dragons, but she was able to turn them against him when she found them in the House of the Undying.
Xaro Xhoan Daxos
The Qarth merchant at first seems like he’s an ally of Dany’s, helping get her into the city, but he uses her presence as a chance to kill the Council of 13 and take power in the city along with Pyat Pree. Dany gets her dragons back, though, and locks Xaro in his own unbreakable vault.
Doreah
One of Dany’s primary handmaidens turns out to be a traitor — she was the one who helped Xaro steal the dragons with insider information. It also got several of Dany’s people killed. Doreah gets locked in the vault with Xaro.
Lysa Arryn
Catelyn Stark’s sister fell in love with Littlefinger and helped him execute his conspiracy that kicked off everything in the show. She poisoned her husband Jon Arryn and send the message to Catelyn blaming the Lannisters, basically starting the war. After Lysa freaked out at Sansa, thinking she was going to steal Littlefinger away, Littlefinger shoved Lysa out the Moon Door and called it a suicide.
Rickard Karstark
One of Robb Stark’s key bannermen, his son is killed when Jaime Lannister escapes from Stark imprisonment. In response, Karstark murders two of Robb’s Lannister prisoners, Willem and Martyn, who are both young boys and squires. Robb answers the murder by sentencing Karstark and the men responsible to death, cutting off Rickard’s head himself. That loses him the Karstark men, which cuts his army considerably and forces Robb to ask for more help from Walder Frey.
Ros
Ros hangs around in “Game of Thrones” for quite a while. She starts as Theon’s favorite, but heads to King’s Landing, where she climbs the ranks of Littlefinger’s brothel to become his second in command. She also works with Varys to gather intelligence. But when Littlefinger found out about her other employer, he made sure she would fall victim to King Joffrey’s psychopathic predilections.
Kraznys mo Nakloz
Remember the rude slaver who sold Dany the army of Unsullied in exchange for Drogon? Dany got him back for his constant disrespect by ordering Drogon to cook him alive when she freed all the slaves. He definitely deserved it.
Ser Dontos
A knight participating in Joffrey’s name day tournament, Dontos was drunk enough that he almost got himself executed by the irritated king. Sansa intervened on his behalf, convincing Joffrey to make Dontos his court jester. In return, seemingly, Dontos helps smuggle Sansa out of King’s Landing — but turns out to be working for Littlefinger, who has Dontos shot with a crossbow to tie off that loose end.
Orell
The wildling warg traveled with Tormund Giantsbane and Jon Snow over the Wall. He never trusted Jon and tried to get him killed a few times, but eventually, Jon killed him. Orell managed to warg into a hawk and attack Jon as his body died, so maybe he’s still alive.
Craster
The gross old wildling who marries his daughters and offers his infant sons to the White Walkers lets the Night’s Watch use his home as a camp when they march north. But Craster is also a mean, rude old man, and eventually gets himself killed with several of the Watch mutiny, taking over Craster’s.
Jeor Mormont
Along with Craster, the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch finds himself murdered by his own men after their disastrous trip North.
Karl Tanner
Supposedly a “legendary” killer from Fleabottom in King’s Landing, Tanner turns several of the Night’s Watch into mutineers at Craster’s, killing Lord Commander Mormont and Craster. He turns it into his own personal dictatorship, where the mutineers raped Craster’s wives, until Jon Snow showed up to kill all the traitors. He personally stabbed Tanner through the head.
Rast
The guy who used to bully Samwell Tarly all the time, picked on Ghost, and hated Mormont ran off when the Night’s Watch attacked the mutineers at Craster’s Keep. Fittingly, Ghost caught up with him and finished him off.
Locke
Locke is the Bolton soldier who cut off Jaime Lannister’s hand. Later, he was sent to the Wall to join the Night’s Watch and assassinate Jon Snow to help seal the Boltons’ claim on the North. Hodor broke his neck, though, when Bran warged into him at the battle at Craster’s Keep.
Rattleshirt
Also known as the Lord of Bones, this wildling who wears a skull over his face was part of the crew who captured Qhorin and Jon. Later, at Hardhome, Rattleshirt insults Tormund Giantsbane, and gets beaten to death for his insolence.
Styr
Leader of the wildling clan of cannibals known as the Thens, Styr ravaged quite a few villages on his way to Castle Black. Eventually, Jon crushed his skull with a hammer in battle. But not before Styr personally murdered a ton of people, including Olly’s mom.
Grenn
A ranger, Grenn was Jon Snow’s sort-of-dumb Night’s Watch friend. He was a strong fighter, though, and when a giant was threatening to crash the gates in the tunnel beneath Castle Black, Jon sent Grenn and five other men to hold it. Everyone died in the battle, but Grenn successfully held the gate and saved the castle.
Pyp
Jon Snow’s other friend was Pyp, a smaller, funnier boy. He joined the stewards and mostly didn’t get up to much fighting, but at the Battle of Castle Black, he and Sam manned crossbows to fight off wildlings. Pyp did the shooting while Sam loaded, until Ygritte put an arrow through his throat.
Ygritte
Ygritte was a vicious archer and a member of the wildling raiding party that climbed the Wall to attack Castle Black. She also became Jon Snow’s wildling girlfriend for a time, but couldn’t kill him when they were on opposite sides of the Battle of Castle Black. Unfortunately, before they could reconcile (or at least figure out their relationship), Olly put an arrow in Ygritte’s back.
Janos Slynt
The former commander of the King’s Landing Gold Cloaks was sent to the Wall by Tyrion Lannister, where he was a cowardly but vocal supporter of Ser Alliser Thorne. When he refused Jon’s order as Lord Commander to go to the Shadow Fort, Jon took his head.
Jojen Reed
Jojen shows up with his sister Meera as Bran, Rickon, Osha and Hodor are fleeing Winterfell and heading for Castle Black. With his magic Greenseer sight, Jojen helps to guide Bran to find the Three-Eyed Raven. They get all the way to the Raven’s tree, too, only for a bunch of dead wights to kill Jojen about 50 feet from safety.
Stannis Baratheon
Robert Baratheon’s real heir to the Iron Throne had a tough time of it in trying to push his claim. He got beat badly at the Battle of Blackwater Bay, then showed up just in time to save the Night’s Watch from Mance Rayder’s wildling army. But in trying to take Winterfell back from the Boltons, Stannis finally suffered his final defeat. Brienne of Tarth found him wounded in the woods, and in serving justice as Kingsguard for Renly, the brother Stannis murdered with magic, Brienne executed him.
Mossador
After Danaerys liberated the slaves of Meereen, she brought in a couple of locals to act as advisers to help her govern the city. Mossador represented the free slaves of Meereen, but he incurred Dany’s justice when he murdered a captured Son of the Harpy, who was to receive a fair trial. Mossador thought he was doing the queen a favor, but the murder earned him a death sentence.
Myranda
Ramsay Bolton was a frightening psychopath, but creepier was his relationship with Myranda, who was equally murderous. When Ramsay married Sansa, Myranda lost it a bit, getting even more cruel and scary. When Theon helped Sansa escape, he shoved Myranda off the ramparts of Winterfell.
Myrcella Baratheon
Cersei and Jaime Lannister’s daughter was sent to Dorne by Tyrion Lannister to marry into the Martell family, specifically to shore up alliances in the War of the Five Kings. But after Prince Oberyn Martell’s death fighting the Mountain, Myrcella became a means for his paramore and daughters to start a war with the Lannisters and get revenge. They poisoned Myrcella and she died before she could get back to King’s Landing.
Trystane Martell
The young prince of Dorne was betrothed to Myrcella, but when Sand Snakes, led by Oberyn’s paramour Ellaria Sand, decided to hold Myrcella hostage to get revenge on the Lannisters, they wound up taking over Dorne and betraying Prince Doran. When they killed Doran, they also killed his heir, Trystane.
Doran Martell
The prince of Dorne couldn’t do much on account of his gout, but he still favored peace over war with the Lannisters. That didn’t sit well with the San Snakes, so they assassinated him.
Alliser Thorne
Ser Alliser hated Jon Snow from the moment he came to Castle Black, but the two also had something of a grudging respect. That changed when Jon made peace with the wildlings. Ser Alliser led the mutiny to assassinate Jon, and was hanged for his role.
Olly
Poor Olly’s family was murdered by the wild king raiders who climbed the Wall to attack Castle Black. He became Jon’s steward and was instrumental in the plot to assassinate him when Jon made peace with the wildlings. Olly was hanged as a traitor afterward.
Karsi
A cool but short-lived wildling leader, Karsi is at Hardhome when the White Walkers show up. She’s killed during the battle and turned into an undead wight.
Barristan Selmy
Danaerys’ Queensguard fought the Sons of the Harpy when they ambushed Grey Worm and his men, and Selmy definitely saved Grey Worm. But both were grievously wounded in the battle, and while Grey Worm recovered, Selmy didn’t.
Brynden Tully
Also known as the Blackfish, Brynden was Catelyn’s uncle, her father’s brother. He escaped the Red Wedding by luck, more or less (he excused himself to pee right when things went down), and managed to retake Riverrun from the Freys afterward. The Freys and Lannisters besieged the fortress, and Jaime convinced Edmure Tully to tell his men to surrender. The Blackfish refused, however, and when the Lannisters came in, Brynden fought them until he was killed.
Hizdhar zo Loraq
When Dany liberated Meereen, she creates an uneasy political situation between the rich slave-owning families and their former slaves. Hizdhar represents the former and advises Dany as she governs Meereen — eventually, she even agrees to marry him in order to keep everything solid. Before that wedding can happen, though, Hizdhar got murdered by the Sons of the Harpy.
Meryn Trant
One of the people on Arya Stark’s kill list, she gets her revenge on Trant when he goes to Braavos as Mace Tyrell’s escort. Trant was the guy who beat up on Sansa Stark on Joffrey’s orders. Arya uses the House of Black and White’s face-changing powers to get the drop on Trant, stabbing him repeatedly before slitting his throat.
Areo Hotah
Prince Doran’s guard had a giant awesome axe and was quite a fighter, but when the Sand Snakes took Dorne, they stabbed him in the back.
Osha
The wildling protector of Bran and Rickon gets captured by Ramsay Bolton after surviving all kinds of nonsense in the North. She comes close to nearly assassinating him, or at least it seems, before he kills her.
Lothar Frey
One of the two Frey brothers we saw hanging around throughout the seasons, Lohar and “Black” Walder Frey were the ones who accepted Robb’s terms, luring him to the Red Wedding. Lothar is the one who stabs Talisa Stark in the stomach, killing her and her unborn baby. Arya kills Lothar off-screen and bakes him into a pie for Lord Walder Frey.
“Black” Walder Rivers
Walder Frey’s bastard is a horrible guy. He’s the one who personally slit Catelyn Stark’s throat at the Red Wedding, then bragged about it to the Blackfish during the siege of Riverrun in season 6. He couldn’t escape Stark retribution eventually, though. Also killed by Arya, also pie.
