Small Council: What mentioned but as-yet-unseen character would you like to see explored?

A couple weeks ago, we asked where in Westeros in Essos that we haven’t been yet would you like to visit, in either the show or the books? Now, we’re turning to characters. There are plenty of characters in this universe that are mentioned but never actually seen. Which one do you most want to see explored, on either the screen or the page?

DAN: The as-yet unseen character I’d most like to meet is Bennero, a High Priest of R’hllor who presides over the Red Temple in the Free City of Volantis. Okay, technically Tyrion and Jorah overheard Bennero preaching when they were in Volantis on their way to Meereen in A Dance with Dragons, but I want some face-time with the guy. As far as we know, he’s the highest ranking member in the Lord of Light’s army, and I’m curious to hear what he could reveal about the religion.

Because basically, we still know next to nothing about it. We know that Melisandre worships the Lord of Light and that’s she’s gifted with strange powers, and that the religion is hugely popular in Essos, especially among the slave class. Benerro preaches to the slaves, telling them that Daenerys is Azor Ahai reborn and that they should support her. This unnerves the ruling class in Volantis, who have tried to have the High Priest killed. Considering how important the Lord of Light worshippers are becoming, especially in Daenerys’ plotline, I feel like Benerro is a huge player who up until now has stayed just offsides. The time may be coming for him to make his mark.

It’s also worth noting that we’re not sure how high up the Lord of Light’s hierarchy goes. Benerro is the High Priest of the Red Temple in Volantis, which is the most populous of the Free Cities, but is there a High Septon-type figure further up the chain with authority over all the Red Priests in the world? Considering what Red Priests like Melisandre can do, such a figure would be enormously powerful (three words: shadow baby army). I don’t know the answer to that question, but I bet Benerro does.

Somehow I doubt Benerro will appear on the show—the Red Priestess seen preaching to the Volantene slaves in Season 5 seemed to be filling his role, and Season 6 plots involving the followers of R’hllor appear to have been tweaked a bit from the books. Still, I’ve still got a lot of questions about the Lord of Light, and someone’s gotta answer them.

KATIE: Although meeting either of them is pretty out of the question unless it’s via flashback, the relationship between Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen piques my interest a little more every time it’s mentioned. We hear about Rhaegar from two ends of the feud—Robert Baratheon thought he was no good, and Ser Barristan had nothing but praise for him. While I’m more inclined to take Papa Bear’s word for it (rest his soul), Game of Thrones doesn’t play with the black-and-white notions of purely good versus purely bad, so I wonder what kind of man, exactly, Rhaegar was.

Did he kidnap Lyanna Stark, or sweep her off her feet so hard that she willingly went with him (although either way, I’m sure his wife wasn’t too jazzed about it, as Oberyn said in Season 4)? I wasn’t wholly convinced when Ser Barristan vouched for his character—after all, just because Rhaegar was beloved by the people doesn’t mean he couldn’t have been a kidnapper and a rapist—but then, I don’t imagine he would have incited a war just so he could torture a woman. He’s not Ramsay Bolton (who I’m 87% sure would do such a thing), and perhaps more to the point, it’s often pointed out that Rhaegar wasn’t much like his father the Mad King, either.

Not to mention, if I were Lyanna, I wouldn’t have wanted to marry Robert, either, and I like to think she had some agency in the whole mess. She’s been likened to headstrong Arya before, and whether Robert’s enduring love was genuine or exaggerated by his grief, he was a pretty unsavory character. Personally I picture his younger self to be just as boorish as he was when we met him in Season 1, meanwhile Rhaegar is often spoken of like a sort of romantic ideal (handsome, the bit about how he’d pose as a minstrel, the whole nine). So given the choice between an unfulfilling marriage to a lout or an adventure with a handsome prince, I’d bet my money that Lyanna ran as fast as she could.

That’s one story I’d really like to get the skinny on, and I’d totally devour a prequel—whether in book or show format—that delivered the details of Westeros’ Helen of Troy.

LEXI: Brandon is a Stark family name that has reached mythical proportions. Just bearing that name implies that you’re famous. Ned’s oldest brother followed in the footsteps of such legendary Starks as Brandon the Builder and Brandon of the Bloody Blade. Even his namesake Bran is one of the last Greenseers and possibly the key to saving Westeros from the hands of the White Walkers.

Brandon Stark was tall, handsome, an excellent swordsman, and the future Lord of Winterfell. Sounds like a charmed life, right? However, he was also wild, arrogant, and hot tempered, an affliction otherwise known as the wolf’s blood. In one of Ned’s conversations with Arya he tells her, “You have a wildness in you – the wolf’s blood. Lyanna had a touch of it, and my brother Brandon more than a touch.” More than a touch, huh? Arya and Rickon have both clearly inherited this gene from their uncle. Cue the unfortunate mental picture of her murdering Meryn Trant in the brothel.

Even though Brandon died long ago, his actions continue to reverberate in the current Game of Thrones storylines. Before being executed by the Mad King, Brandon managed to peeve off more than a few people, particularly Petyr Baelish (Littlefinger).

When Littlefinger challenged Brandon to a duel for Catelyn Tully’s hand, Brandon easily overpowered and humiliated him. He also left Littlefinger with some tokens of his esteem in the form of significant scars. With Brandon being several years older and stronger than Littlefinger, it seems a Joffrey-like level of cruelty to participate in such an unfair fight. Did Brandon’s cruelness incite Littlefinger into a vendetta that contributed to the downfall of the Starks and Tullys?

“The little hero always beats the big villain in all the stories. But you know what I learned losing that duel. That I’ll never win that way. That’s their game, their rules. I’m not going to fight them I’m going to F$#* them,” Littlefinger asserted.

Whether the “F them” is aimed at the Starks, Tullys, all highborns, or choice D (all of the above) is somewhat unclear. But there’s no question Littlefinger manipulated love-sick Lysa Tully into killing her husband Jon Arryn, the Hand of the King. He also convinced her to tell her sister Cat that the Lannisters were to blame for Jon’s death, thus triggering many of the events that came after.

Someone else not so amused by Brandon’s antics? His spurned former paramour Barbrey Dustin. In A Dance with Dragons, while in the crypts of Winterfell, she tells Theon Greyjoy that Brandon “took what he wanted.” Reading into the implied meaning of that statement, is it possible he has illegitimate children scampering around Westeros? Besides Barbrey Dustin and Littlefinger, who else may be nursing a grudge against the Starks due to long-dead Brandon’s actions? If the rumors are true about Bran’s Season 6 flashbacks, maybe we’ll get some more insight into this notorious Stark and his wild child ways.

RAZOR: Great choices, Katie and Lexi, and while I would love to see both Lyanna and Brandon Stark, my curiosity lies across the Narrow Sea, with the leader of the Windblown sellsword company: the Tattered Prince. For me, there is just too much left unsaid or undescribed about Tatters, and I simply cannot help but be drawn to the character. Yes, we’ve seen Rags in A Dance with Dragons, but he’s yet to make an appearance on the small screen, so I’m going ahead.

For those who’ve not read the books, the Tattered Prince is the one and only leader of the Windblown. He is said to be in his sixties, though still a more than capable warrior. His men call him Rags or Tatters, because he has never revealed his true name to his men. In A Dance with Dragons, the Tattered Prince leads the Windblown to march on Meereen under contract from the Wise Masters of Yunkai to depose Daenerys Targaryen and rid the city of her army. Hedging his bets, Tatters sends a group of the Windblown to Meereen to pledge loyalty to Dany, so that no matter the outcome of the war, the Windblown would come out on the winning side.

The Tattered Prince by artist Diego Gisbert Llorens © Fantasy Flight Games

What I find so interesting about the Tattered Prince is his rarely hinted-at past. Without spoiling the book for those who wish to read it, Tatters and the group of Windblown who pledge loyalty to Daenerys make a deal with a Dornish Prince in order to secure one of Dany’s dragons. As part of the deal, Tatters wants the city of Pentos. When he was but 23 years of age,  the magisters of the city of Pentos chose him to be their new Prince, after having beheaded his predecessor. Instead of accepting the magisters’ offer, Tatters fled and never returned to his home…which is why he wants it as part of the bargain.

We don’t yet know if the Tattered Prince will get Pentos, because Dance ended before that story could be finished, but I have a feeling we’ll be seeing more of this enigmatic character in The Winds of Winter, and I would not discount seeing him in Game of Thrones. In fact, I have a running theory that actor Ian McShane, who’s joining the cast this year, will portray the Tattered Prince, and that his role is being kept secret because to reveal it would give away a major plot for the season. Many people have speculated that McShane would play Septon Meribald or a member of the band of outlaws that we saw casting calls for, but we’ve heard nothing in the way of confirmation. Ian McShane is the perfect age, and has the looks and hair length necessary to play Tatters.

ANI: Willas! I know the show cruelly cut him, but along with my desire to go to Highgarden and see the magnificent castle, the character I would love to meet is the finance that got away from Sansa: Willas Tyrell.

Willas, as book readers know, is described by Margaery as kind and sweet. He’s also a cripple, but that only seems to make Margaery and Olenna more defensive of him and his wonderful personality. He’s very different from Loras, who Sansa has a crush on. Willas doesn’t care for sword play.

In the books, the Tyrells plan to marry Sansa to Willias. By cutting him from the show and replacing him with Loras, the producers make the Tyrells just as manipulative and mean as the Lannisters, who marry Sansa off to Tyrion in both versions of the story. In fact, at least Tyrion is a decent person who would actually like sleeping with Sansa and giving her children. By suggesting she get engaged to Loras, Olenna and Margaery are condemning Sansa to a life of misery, married to a man who has zero sexual interest in her, just to keep their pawn out of others hands. In the books, suggesting marrying her to Willas not only seems a play to keep their pawn, but perhaps the only safe harbour Sansa could have hoped for.

Martin has promised that we will head to Highgarden and meet Willas in the final books. He’s even suggested that Willas has an important role to play in the future of the series, and that he’s sorry the show cut the character. But if I had my druthers, if the show ever went to Highgarden, I’d hope to meet him.

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• Published on 10/23/2015 at 4:30 PM CDT
• Last updated on 10/23/2015 at 4:53 PM CDT