The decision to leave out Lady Stoneheart was one of the first big changes from the books, but it worked out for the best with Arya’s storyline.
There have been rumors for years that Lady Stoneheart — a very popular character from the A Song of Fire and Ice series and one of the first major changes from book to TV — would shock audiences with an appearance in the last season.
Who is Lady Stoneheart? She’s the resurrected zombie version of murdered Catelyn Stark who will stop at nothing to take down her family’s enemies, innocent or not. The HBO series said goodbye to the beloved Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley) in the brutal season 3 Red Wedding episode
But in the books, after her body is disrespectfully tossed into the river, Catelyn Stark is dragged out by the family direwolf, Nymeria — who Arya Stark is likely wharging into at the time– before the wolf is spooked by an approaching group of men, the Brotherhood Without Banners. Once the “kiss of life” is given to Catelyn by Beric Dondarrion (who was last seen with Jon Snow fighting white walkers North of the Wall), she re-awakens as the zombified Lady Stoneheart, bereft of any of the softness she displayed before.
What we get in her place is a grotesque, merciless replacement, with unhealed wounds including the gash in her neck that make her speech unintelligible, deep scratches on her face where she clawed at before death and ruined skin from decaying in the river for days.
Stoneheart embarks on a revenge quest to take down any Lannister, Frey or Bolton that she and the Brothers can get their hands on, hanging several along the way. Most surprising in the novel story arc is the the time when she crosses paths with Brienne of Tarth, the point the novels have come up to. Most shockingly, Lady Stoneheart hangs Podrick, and is about to hang Brienne for defending Jaime Lannister, who Brienne correctly asserts has changed for the better. Right at Brienne’s hanging, she shouts out one word, unknown to the reader, and that’s where we’re left in the books.
Martin has expressed his disappointment with series creators David Benioff and Dan Weiss’s decision to cut out such a fascinating character in the novels.
“At some points, when David and Dan and I had discussions about what way we should go in, I would always favor sticking with the books, while they would favor making changes,” Martin said a few seasons back, according to The Telegraph. “I think one of the biggest ones would probably be when they made the decision not to bring Catelyn Stark back as Lady Stoneheart. That was probably the first major diversion of the show from the books and, you know, I argued against that, and David and Dan made that decision.”
Michelle Fairley, who played Catelyn Stark, also closed the rumor mill down on any surprise cameo from a zombified version of mother Stark.
“Yeah, the character’s dead. She’s dead,” she told EW, via Telegraph. “You respect the writers’ decision. I knew the arc, and that was it. They can’t stick to the books 100 percent. It’s impossible — they only have 10 hours per season. They have got to keep it dramatic and exciting, and extraneous stuff along the way gets lost in order to maintain the quality of a brilliant show.”
As far as the television series is concerned, transferring much of Stoneheart’s story arc to Arya has been an improvement on the Stark revenge narrative. She’s done nicely taking out some of our least favorite villains, in the guise of a Faceless Man, one of the best elements of the HBO telling. The way she dispatched the despicable Walder Frey, by feeding a pie made from the body parts of his two equally crappy sons, was a brilliantly satisfying way to do the storyline justice. When Arya slashed Littlefinger’s throat — like her mother had been cut down — it was another way to serve justice to a man responsible for so much horror in her life, most especially the beheading of the noble Ned Stark back in season 1.
Stoneheart’s storyline would have been too much for the HBO show to take on. Arya has done just fine with the revenge arc. However, Martin has promised that we will see more Stoneheart in the next novel, The Winds of Winter.
That is, once he finishes it. Whenever that is.
The final (and glorious) season of Game of Thrones premieres on HBO on April 14. Get ready!
