Game of Thrones: From Jaen H’ghar to Daario Naharis, the characters denied an ending

Jaqen H’ghar (Tom Wlaschiha) was one riddle the show never quite got around to solving.

First unveiled as a member of the Faceless Men, Arya’s journey to becoming a member of the guild lead her to be appointed as Jaqen’s apprentice in the House of Black and White.

But we never quite knew where Jaqen stood…or who he even really was. In fact, there seemed to be two Jaquen’s; the first Arya met on the road in Westeros as a prisoner, the second as the de facto head of the Faceless Men in Braavos. Not that we ever got to the heart of the enigma as once Arya left Braavos to rejoin her family, Jaqen was left behind too.

As usual, George RR Martin’s source novels of A Song of Ice and Fire still have Jaqen around. He’s currently in the Citadel helping a just-arrived Samwell Tarly (John Bradley) on his quest for knowledge.

2. Quaithe

No doubt a striking character, Quaithe (Laura Pradelska) embodied that age-old fantasy trope; a creepy, beautiful woman with knowledge of our character’s secrets.

An inhabitant of Quarth, the masked mystery woman approached Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen) and offered him some advice about Daenerys and her dragons.

Much like Jaqen, when the show’s narrative for the Dragon Queen shifted away from Qarth, Quaithe was left in the dust, but she has a much more interesting time of it in the books, frequently appearing in visions to Dany. There’s also a reader conspiracy to figure out just who is behind the mask – something we never got to see in the show itself.

3. Daario Naharis

Oh, Daario (Michiel Huisman).

A storied warrior in the swords-for-hire the Second Sons, Daario quickly joins Dany’s cause in Essos (and becomes her lover) but is left behind as her Regent in the Bay of Dragons when her ambitions for the Iron Throne take her across the sea.

Daario is then never mentioned again…despite the fact that he has access to both funds and armies that could have been very useful to Dany’s crusade.

4. Kinvara

A Red Priestess just like Melisandre, Kinvara (Ania Bukstein) made a singular, but very impressive, appearance in the show during its sixth season.

Kinvara is the Head Priestess of Volantis, and appears to pay a visit to her queen, but gets sidetracked with Varys (Conleth Hill).

The woman then goes on to reveal some scintillating details about Varys’ past when he was made an eunuch by a twisted sorcerer looking to speak to the devil.

This would have been a great addition to the tale and another layer to the eunuch’s complicated character motivations…yet she disappeared without a trace.

5. Ilyn Payne

Ilyn Payne (Wilko Johnson) will go down as history in Game of Thrones as the man who executed Ned Stark (Sean Bean) in the penultimate series of season one.

Ilyn was noticeably one of the first people Arya Stark added to her ‘list.’

Sadly, however, the actor was diagnosed with cancer so was written out of the show after series two. Famously, though, he bounced back from his initial diagnosis and is still alive and well today, meaning a return to Thrones was certainly a possibility, just one that never came to fruition.

Not only that, but Arya was denied the opportunity to tick another name off her list…

6. Illyrio Mopatis

Illyrio (Roger Allam) was the benefactor of Dany and her brother, Viserys, in season one – enabling their rescue from Westeros and smuggling into Essos away from the murderous eyes of Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy).

He even kickstarted one of the main narratives of the show – marrying the younger Targaryen off to Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa) in the hopes that he would gift Viserys (Harry Lloyd) his army.

Of course, it didn’t quite work out like that, but still, Illyrio did send Dany off on the path that would lead her (for a good hour or so at least) to the Iron Throne.

Considering his connections to both the Targaryen’s and Varys’ networks of spies in Kings Landing, we find it surprising we never caught up with Illyrio to see what he thought of the fruits of his labor.

Game of Thrones is available to stream via NOW TV.