[Book Spoilers] An Unexpected Death

[Erekose]

Doreah

[TMWNN]

The one and only candidate for an early death is Hoster Tully. Everything fits: He dies in A Storm of Swords, we've heard on the show that he is ill, and since the siege of Riverrun's been lifted we're going to see the Riverlands lords before "King of the North!" I bet one of them tells Catelyn "My lady, I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Lord Tully is dead." Having Hoster die early avoids the need to cast an actor with dialogue, and makes no change whatsoever to the story except for Lysa's abortion/"Tansy", which can be easily worked around.

[Werthead]

When this was first leaked I think many of us thought it would be Lord Karstark that got killed, but that went out the window when he wasn't cast.

Vincent McCabe has been cast as Rickard Karstark.

However, he has been cast as a 'featured extra', meaning he has no lines of dialogue. He's probably just one of the guys sitting in Robb's tent. He may be named (like Galbart Glover in Episode 8) but he may not. In the latter case, they can then recast him later on (as he's never been identified in the first place).

[Dragonfish]

The one and only candidate for an early death is Hoster Tully. Everything fits: He dies in A Storm of Swords, we've heard on the show that he is ill, and since the siege of Riverrun's been lifted we're going to see the Riverlands lords before "King of the North!" I bet one of them tells Catelyn "My lady, I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Lord Tully is dead." Having Hoster die early avoids the need to cast an actor with dialogue, and makes no change whatsoever to the story except for Lysa's abortion/"Tansy", which can be easily worked around.

Riverrun is not going to be shown this season, so I doubt we'll be seeing it liberated. I think they're saving that for next season.

But yes, Hoster is certainly one of the main candidates for the early death, though I don't think he's the only one. The main thing that keeps me from thinking that it's Hoster is the fact the George tried to correct the producers' "error". To me, that indicates that the character is so minor that George initially assumed the producers had simply made a mistake and got a bit mixed up. It doesn't sound like something he'd say if it was someone as important as Hoster.

In any event, this thread is about to become obsolete tonight, so what say we all make final predictions for who the early death will be? My vote is for one of Robb's captives from Book 3 who is killed by Karstark.

[Dragonfish]

Well, shit...

So who was the early death? That singer who lost his tongue looked a bit like Marillion, I guess. Was that the same actor? I suppose it could have been him, only he didn't die! But I guess if he is Marillion, and he lost his tongue, then he is effectively out of the series.

[Zoren]

Well, shit...

So who was the early death? That singer who lost his tongue looked a bit like Marillion, I guess. Was that the same actor? I suppose it could have been him, only he didn't die! But I guess if he is Marillion, and he lost his tongue, then he is effectively out of the series.

He didn't die in ASOS either !!!

I'm guessing it was Mogo and GRRM just kind of misremembered killing him in ASOS.

[Ferrum Aeternum]

Well, shit...

So who was the early death? That singer who lost his tongue looked a bit like Marillion, I guess. Was that the same actor? I suppose it could have been him, only he didn't die! But I guess if he is Marillion, and he lost his tongue, then he is effectively out of the series.

Pretty sure the singer was Marillion, which I thought odd, but he didn't die in ASOS. I'm stumped.

[Dragonfish]

George said in an interview that the character died in book 3 or 4, meaning he himself was not sure which book he died in.

[EddieLarkin]

It was Marillion. Emun Elliot was credited at the end.

[Wishiwascool]

so not only did he "die" early but he also died in a completely different place? i thought he was mutilated in the eyrie not kings landing. if that was the surprise death then it seems like it wasn't even worth mentioning

[Maginor]

I don't understand why they bothered to introduce him in episode 4 now.

[Ferrum Aeternum]

A seemingly odd choice by D&D, but I have to say I'm quite relieved as it only changes one small angle in the books (that being LF pinning Lysa's murder on Marillion). I was worried we would see a major plot point somehow affected directly or indirectly by a minor character's death, but this shouldn't be a big deal going forward.

Incidentally, I never quite bought how meekly Marillion protested to being falsely accused of murdering a high Lady, so this could turn out to be a positive change.

[TheEvilKing]

He was really annoying, that's probably why they decided to get rid of him early.

[MinDonner]

He only got his tongue cut out, he didn't die. So it's either this and everyone got their wires crossed, or it was Mago after all.

[Greywolf2375]

He only got his tongue cut out, he didn't die. So it's either this and everyone got their wires crossed, or it was Mago after all.

I'd go with the wires crossed explanation. Going to be interesting to see how they handle the LF/Lysa murder now - who they have it pinned on or if they just go in a different direction completely.

[TMWNN]

Incidentally, I never quite bought how meekly Marillion protested to being falsely accused of murdering a high Lady, so this could turn out to be a positive change.

Yeah, I never understood why Marillion wouldn't deny the charge of murder either.

Here's a crazy idea: No change at all to that story! Think about it. Marillion can still play music; he just can't sing. Who says he doesn't head back to the Eyrie in time to meet Sansa and Littlefinger? He can still try to molest Sansa, and can be in the throneroom when Lysa goes skydiving. I can't remember if the books establish whether he is literate; if he now lacks a tongue, perhaps he now has a very good reason for not being able to deny the murder charge!

[Asha—Not Yara!]

Yep, the lack of tongue could add an even creepier dimension to Marillion's character when he tries to rape Sansa. I could see a different story for him, where he high tails out of the Eyrie (like any sane person would do because Lysa is crrrazzzy) and goes back to King's Landing.

He gets his tongue removed, and thus can't get any work in King's Landing. Out of desperation he returns to the Eyrie, hoping that he might get some work there since Lysa and Robin liked him so much during his previous stay. Despite his inability to sing, his music playing still soothes Robin, so Lysa keeps him on. The lack tongue makes it easier for Littlefinger to use as a scapegoat, and he very well could be illiterate as we know only the wealthy and privileged noble classes learned to read and write.

Or the writers could easily make up another character for LF to use as a scapegoat (or maybe blame Mord since he's obviously not too bright?). Either way, this change isn't anything that will really have a major impact on the plot from what I can tell anyway.

[Rand]

Yep, the lack of tongue could add an even creepier dimension to Marillion's character when he tries to rape Sansa. I could see a different story for him, where he high tails out of the Eyrie (like any sane person would do because Lysa is crrrazzzy) and goes back to King's Landing.

Or he could be out of the picture entirely, no one tries to rape Sansa, a senior Kettleback isn't there to save her, and all the Kettlebacks get cut out entirely. Really they're just faceless goons in the book that you more hear about than see, one does become a Kingsguard but in the HBO show they've mostly been a faceless group so far. They're not going to confuse the fans by naming the guys under the helmets, and when an important role does actually come along (Arys Oakheart) they can just cast someone new and say he's been there all along.

[Arrogant Bastard]

Or he could be out of the picture entirely, no one tries to rape Sansa, a senior Kettleback isn't there to save her, and all the Kettlebacks get cut out entirely. Really they're just faceless goons in the book that you more hear about than see, one does become a Kingsguard but in the HBO show they've mostly been a faceless group so far. They're not going to confuse the fans by naming the guys under the helmets, and when an important role does actually come along (Arys Oakheart) they can just cast someone new and say he's been there all along.

I think that's far more likely, they don't need Marillon at all in the Eyrie, and in the show it wouldn't make any sense for him to be there since he never arrived with Cat and Tyrion in the first place.They can just replace him with another singer or someone else entirely for what happens at the end of ASOS. Agree that the Kettleblacks will not make the show, no real need for them and would just add confusion.

[Asha—Not Yara!]

I agree they could just drop the character altogether. I just found it interesting to speculate how they could continue to use him if they wanted to.