14 DAY TRIAL // Season 4 of HBO’s hit series “Game of Thrones” wrapped up on Sunday with the episode “The Children,” which, though deemed by many one of the best season finales so far, has managed to anger fans because of the blatant omission of a very important character, Lady Stoneheart.
What’s worse, there were strong indications / teasers that she would appear, so fans waited until the last moment, still hoping for a glimpse, at the very least. When they didn’t get it, they took to Twitter to lash out against the writers, the producers, the director, HBO, fate in general, life.
*If you haven’t seen season 4 finale of “Game of Thrones,” “The Children,” it’s not advisable to continue reading because the article includes major spoilers.*
If you’re new to the “Game of Thrones” universe, in the sense of not having read the books on which it’s based, the “Song of Ice and Fire” series of novels by George R. R. Martin, then the name of Lady Stoneheart probably means nothing to you, because she’s never even been mentioned on the show.
However, all those who read the books know who she is and what an important part she’ll play in future events. She is basically Lady Catelyn Stark, who, after she was killed at the Red Wedding by having her throat slashed, was thrown in the river. That wouldn’t be the last time we’d see her.
Three days later, her body was recovered by Lord Beric Dondarrion and she was brought back from the dead. However, because she’s been in the water for this long, her appearance is scary: she has skin like curdled milk and she can’t speak unless she places her hand on the gash in her neck.
Regardless of this, Lady Stoneheart is strong and she’s determined. She wants revenge for the death of her family (the Starks), and she’s going after the Lannisters no matter the cost.
Lady Stoneheart first appears in the books in the epilogue to “A Storm of Swords,” so, naturally, fans expected at least a cameo from her on the season 4 finale. It never came and, as you may imagine, disappointed fans took to Twitter to vent their frustrations.
Vulture has a fine choice of some of their tweets but, instead of quoting them here, we’d like to point out a few things: most of them agree that an appearance from Lady Stoneheart would have been the best cliffhanger any TV show could have ever asked for, so HBO writers / producers were “dumb” to turn that amazing chance down.
Though seemingly “perfect” to the initiated, this season finale would have really been perfect if it also included this major character, they also say.
Last but not least, producers are getting a lot of heat for teasing the fans about Lady Stoneheart only to have their expectations frustrated when the episode aired. That’s never a cool thing to do, HBO, and chances are fans won’t forget about it too easily.
Did you catch Sunday’s finale “The Children”? What did you think of it?