Warning: this article contains major spoilers from George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire books

Cramming five novels’ worth of the dense plot and detailed characterisation of George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire into Game of Thrones was always going to be a task worthy of an archmaester.

And there are many moments TV devotees should be grateful didn’t make it into the show. Take Daenerys fleeing Meereen on Drogon’s back. It’s a huge development on both page and screen, but the book doesn’t stop with the Mother of Dragons riding one of her scaly offspring for the first time. Upon landing, she has violent diarrhoea, which is written about in lengthy and stomach-turning detail.

But for every bowel mishap we can be glad didn’t make the cut, we have characters and plot points that were removed from the show more ruthlessly than Ned Stark’s head from his shoulders. Here are some that would have been brilliant to see.

Lady Stoneheart

Michelle Fairley as a not-yet-dead Catelyn Stark. Photograph: Helen Sloan/HBO

The biggie. While Catelyn Stark had her throat cut at the Red Wedding in the books and on screen, her ultimate fate was not the same. Dumped in a ditch, the Stark matriarch’s body is retrieved by Arya’s direwolf, Nymeria, and later resurrected with a kiss from Beric Dondarrion. Despite her only partially healed wounds, she goes on to command the Brotherhood Without Banners and embarks on a murderous rampage, killing anyone she believes wronged her family.

Why it never happened: There were rumours she was going to make an appearance – Lena Headey even posted an image of a heart shape made of stones in 2014 – but perhaps the vengeful, reanimated corpse of Catelyn Stark would have been a little hard for viewers to swallow. Equally, her “pudding-like” skin the “colour of curdled milk” would have looked terrible without some budget-busting CGI.

Aegon Targaryen

Aegon Targaryen was the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Elia Martell. Along with his elder sister, Rhaenys, he was murdered by The Mountain and Amory Lorch on the orders of Robert Baratheon – part of the king’s plan to ensure that no Targaryen offspring would grow up to challenge the Iron Throne. But in A Dance With Dragons, Tyrion encounters a character called Young Griff, who claims to have been smuggled out of King’s Landing by Varys before he could be killed and raised in safety across the Narrow Sea. Opinion is divided as to whether he is, indeed, the lost Targaryen or an imposter.

Why it didn’t happen: It’s a complicated storyline, and one that may yet prove to be a red herring – the truth will likely be revealed in The Winds of Winter. Jon Snow’s parentage was a saga that consumed the seventh series; we don’t need another is-he-or-isn’t-he-a-Targaryen storyline.

Rattleshirt/Mance Rayder

Kit Harington (Jon Snow) and Mance Rayder (Ciarán Hinds). Photograph: HBO/Everett Collection

Mance Rayder was a former brother of the Night’s Watch turned King Beyond the Wall. After his capture, his refusal to bend the knee (in the books, deserting the Night’s Watch is the crime for which he is punished) results in him being burned alive until a merciful arrow ends his suffering. So far, so similar. But on the page, it doesn’t end there. Unbeknown to almost everyone else, the Red Priestess Melisandre uses a technique called glamoring to make another character, Rattleshirt, resemble Mance, and suffer the fate felt destined for him. The real Mance, travelling under the name Abel, is then sent on a secret mission to rescue the person believed to be Arya Stark (it isn’t her, it’s someone called Jeyne Pool in her place) from the clutches of Ramsay Bolton.

Why it never happened: Pure folly, and it would have required the introduction to the TV series of glamoring and a whole host of other, non-essential characters that feature in Mance’s story.

Quentyn Martell

Here be dragons ... Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) and Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) with their scaly friends. Photograph: HBO

Quentyn Martell is the second son of Prince Doran and Lady Mellario, and features heavily in A Dance With Dragons. In return for the Dornish backing Dany’s bid for the Iron Throne, he offers his hand in marriage to unite their two houses, as per some ancient agreement. Dany’s not too fussed about marrying a stranger, so sends him packing. But he sticks around, convinced he can tame one of her dragons due to his Targaryen ancestry. Rhaegal, of course, has other ideas – this dragon is not for taming – and he burns the Dornish prince alive.

Why it never happened: Quentyn’s death is about the only interesting thing that happens to him. While it would have undoubtedly made for a strong 30-second scene, such suffering hardly seems like a good reason to write in a character. And thanks to Ser Jorah, Dany doesn’t need any more annoying, lovestruck men around her, thank you very much.

Dragonbinder

Dragonbinder is a 6ft-long horn, covered in Valyrian steel and glyphs that glow when the horn is blown. The noise the horn makes is said to be like “the screaming of a thousand souls”, and whoever blows it will almost certainly die, although any dragons that hear it will obey the horn’s master. In A Feast For Crows, Euron Greyjoy arrives at the Kingsmoot (the ceremony where the Ironborn elect a new leader) and claims to have found it among the ruins of Valyria while sailing the Smoking Sea. Euron’s plan, aside from sending brother Victarion to kidnap Dany, is to bind her dragons to his will and conquer Westeros.

Why it never happened: While a horn that can control a fleet of dragons makes perfect sense in a fantasy novel, on a TV show that has shied away from the more preposterous elements of the genre, it could, well, blow.

Ser Barristan Selmy

A noble way to go ... Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson) bids farewell to Barristan Selmy (Ian McElhinney). Photograph: HBO

The former Lord Commander of the Kingsguard does, of course, appear in the TV show, played by Derry Girls’ Granda Joe himself, Ian McElhinney. And on screen, he has a fine old time, but the TV series fails to hammer home just how much of a badass Selmy is. “When Barristan the Bold tells you to run, a wise man laces up his boots,” warns Gerris Drinkwater (don’t ask), just one of many characters with nothing but praise for the greatest sword in the Seven Kingdoms. On the show, Selmy was slain by the Sons of the Harpy while rushing to Grey Worm’s rescue. It was a noble way to go, but Book Barristan is still alive and well, and there’s absolute no way he would have been cut down by some masked punks in a back alley.

Why it didn’t never happened: There are not enough hours of TV for this many characters. A waste of a character, for sure, but we’ll always have his triumphant resignation scene.