There's a small host of characters who are dead on Game of Thrones but (as far as we know) alive in the books, including quasi-prophet Jojen Reed, Jon Snow's pals Grenn and Pyp, Dany's onetime suitor Xaro Xhoan Daxos, and Mance Rayder, king of the Wildlings. The death that may have the biggest impact on the story going forward, though, is that of Barristan Selmy, Dany's trusted advisor and a point-of-view character who still has story waiting for him in Martin's as-yet-unreleased sixth Song of Ice and Fire novel, The Winds of Winter. Given the fact that Barristan lives in the books, even actor Ian McElhinney was surprised to find that he got axed in the show: "I'm disappointed," he told EW. "But I think you have to accept—as I have accepted—that the demands of TV are different than the demand of book writing. With TV there's a pressure to create a number of high points. One of the big things about this series—it's true in the books and even more true in the series—is the surprise element, the shocks. They've got to keep that up because people expect that."