Some storylines did not make it from the novels into the series of Game of Thrones. This includes the return of a character who is actually dead.
Warning: The following article contains spoilers from the novels of A Song of Ice and Fire and the series Game of Thrones.
The Red Wedding, which is based on a real historical event, is both a shocking moment in the book A Storm of Swords and in the third season of Game of Thrones that ultimately shows that no one is safe from death – not even the so-called heroes of the story.
The fate of one character was significantly altered in the series, as Catelyn Stark returns despite being dead – and that is arguably worse than death.
A Zombie Driven by Hate
What happens to Catelyn Stark in the novels? Just like in the series, Catelyn Stark dies during the perfidious betrayal at the Red Wedding. She watches her son die and is ultimately killed by Raymund Frey. Afterwards, she is thrown into the river Green Fork
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Here, her story in the series comes to an end, but in the novels, it continues. A few days after her death, she is pulled from the river by Nymeria, Arya’s wolf. While the wolf disappears, she is found by Lord Beric Dondarrion. He is the leader of the Brotherhood without Banners and, also in the series played by Richard Dormer, known for rising from the dead.
With the power of the Lord of Light (R’hllor), he resurrects her, but he dies in the process. However, she does not simply return as the woman she was before. She can rather be described as Zombie-Catelyn. Her skin has turned gray, and her injuries remain. Speaking is difficult for her due to the injuries.
Catelyn Stark becomes Lady Stoneheart, an undead being whose sole purpose is to kill those responsible for the Red Wedding and its planners, the Lannisters. Therefore, after Beric’s death, she becomes the leader of the Brotherhood.
Her first appearance as Lady Stoneheart is in the fourth book of the series. There, she encounters Brienne of Tarth, to whom Catelyn accuses betrayal for carrying the sword of Jamie, the Oathkeeper. It comes to the point where Catelyn wants to kill her and her companions.
This is not an insignificant part of the story of Westeros, but the creators of the series had reasons for omitting Catelyn’s resurrection.
No Desire for Another Resurrection
Why was Lady Stoneheart not included in the series? In the book Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon, David Benioff and D. B. Weiss write about the creation and production of the series adaptation. Both were showrunners for the series. In the book (via Entertainment Weekly), they also discuss why Lady Stoneheart is missing.
On the one hand, they didn’t want to spoil what is yet to come in the upcoming novels. However, they do not go into specifics. On the other hand, according to the book, they had already planned in season 3 that they wanted a dramatic death and a resurrection in seasons 5 and 6: We knew that Jon Snow’s resurrection was coming. […] Too many resurrections dilute the impact of character deaths. We wanted to save something for later.
The third reason is the Red Wedding itself. The event is so striking that they did not want to diminish the effect by bringing Catelyn back. Additionally, they did not want to subject her actress, Michelle Fairley, to a nearly mute role, who due to her injuries finds it very difficult to speak.
Considering that Catelyn’s story in the novels has still not been continued, the decision is understandable. After all, it would have introduced another character to be developed over multiple seasons who is linked to many important characters.
What do you think about Lady Stoneheart? Would you have liked to see her in the series? Feel free to let us know in the comments. The deaths in Game of Thrones often come suddenly and without warning, but there were already hints in season 1: A detail in Game of Thrones reveals 4 of the saddest deaths as early as episode 1
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