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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: Which 'Game of Thrones' Star Has Never Read The Books? [Watch (HLS stream): Which 'Game of Thrones' Star Has Never Read The Books?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7HHwG0M6.m3u8) (0:56)  _Published 2014-03-27. Peter Dinklage plays fan favorite Tyrion Lannister on the HBO show, but he confessed to David Letterman he's never read the book series the show is based on, and that makes him a little scared._ by [James Hibberd / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## James Hibberd / Entertainment Weekly Jun 1, 2015 4:03 AM UTC  George R.R. Martin attends HBO's Game of Thrones Season 5 premiere at San Francisco Opera House on March 23, 2015 George R.R. Martin attends HBO's Game of Thrones Season 5 premiere at San Francisco Opera House on March 23, 2015Steve Jennings—WireImage by [James Hibberd / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## James Hibberd / Entertainment Weekly Jun 1, 2015 4:03 AM UTC George R.R Martin points this out first: “My books have a cast of _thousands_, so for practical reasons they’ve had to cut or combine many characters,” he said. In other words, the bestselling _Game of Thrones_ author and TV writer understands and agrees that the HBO series must leave out many of his A Song of Ice and Fire saga characters. _Thrones_ has the most sprawling cast on television and some viewers already struggle to differentiate their Aryas, Ashas and Oshas. So leaving out some characters, and combining others, is necessary. Still, it’s only natural that there’s a few characters Martin would have liked to have seen on the show that did not make it in. “Strong Belwas, who was part of Dany’s entourage,” Martin said. “I understand why he was cut, but I kind of miss him.” In the books, the massive eunuch warrior is a former pit fighter who joins Dany in Qarth. Belwas’ story elements have essentially been combined with the character of Daario, who is arguably more essential to Dany’s journey. ### See Photos from Game of Thrones Season 5  Maisie Williams as Arya Stark. Macall B. Polay—HBO  Michael McElhatton as Roose Bolton, Iwan Rheon as Ramsay Bolton and Elizabeth Webster as Walda Frey. Helen Sloan—HBO  Conleth Hill as Varys and Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister. Helen Sloan—HBO  Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen. Helen Sloan—HBO  Nathalie Emmanuel as Missandei and Jacob Anderson as Grey Worm. Helen Sloan—HBO  Indira Varma as Ellaria Sand and Deobia Opaeri as Areo Hotah. Macall B. Polay—HBO  Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark and Aidan Gillen as Littlefinger. Helen Sloan—HBO  Kit Harington as Jon Snow, Stephen Dillane as Stannis Baratheon and Liam Cunningham as Davos Seaworth. Helen Sloan—HBO  Natalie Dormer as Margaery Tyrell and Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister. Helen Sloan—HBO  Alexander Siddig as Doran Martell. Macall B. Polay—HBO  Carice van Houten as Melisandre Helen Sloan—HBO  Kit Harington as Jon Snow. Helen Sloan—HBO  Daniel Portman as Podrick Payne and Gwendoline Christie as Brienne of Tarth. Helen Sloan—HBO  Dean-Charles Chapman as Tommen Baratheon and Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister. Macall B. Polay—HBO  Kristofer Hivju as Tormund Giantsbane. Helen Sloan—HBO  Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister. Helen Sloan—HBO  Jonathan Pryce as the High Sparrow. Macall B. Polay—HBO  Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister and Ian Beattie as Meryn Trant. Macall B. Polay—HBO  Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister and Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister. Helen Sloan—HBO  Kit Harington as Jon Snow and Ciaran Hinds as Mance Rayder. Helen Sloan—HBO  Rosabell Laurenti Sellers as Tyene Sand. Macall B. Polay—HBO  Jessica Henwick as Nymeria Sand. Helen Sloan—HBO  Keisha Castle-Hughes. as Obara Sand. Helen Sloan—HBO  Nell Tiger Free as Myrcella Baratheon and Toby Sebastian as Trystane Martell Macall B. Polay—HBO  Nell Tiger Free as Myrcella Baratheon. Macall B. Polay—HBO Another character missed by Martin is Sansa’s young friend Jeyne Poole, who accompanies the Stark family to King’s Landing and later marries Ramsay Bolton. “She’s a minor character in the first book, then vanishes and then—boom—there she is in the fifth book in a major way,” Martin says. The Ramsay marriage storyline has now been given to Sansa, a move that’s caused some controversy among the show’s book-reading fans. “And in the Tyrell family, Loras is not the eldest son in the books,” Martin points out. “There are two older brothers, Willas and Garlan. I didn’t just put them in for hoots and giggles, they have roles to play in the last two books, and they don’t exist in the show. I’ve said from the start I wish we had more hours, but showrunners \[David Benioff and Dan Weiss\] work 24/7, 12 months a year.” And then, of course, there is the character whose absence has received the most attention online — Lady Stoneheart. \[**Book spoiler**\]. Lady Stoneheart is the resurrected vengeful spirit of Catelyn Stark. While the _Thrones_ showrunners have remained silent on this topic, director Alex Graves [once dismissed the idea](http://www.ew.com/article/2014/06/16/game-of-thrones-why-no-lady-stoneheart). While fans of the character loved the twist of LS’s introduction and feel she represents some sweet revenge for the Starks, others believe she would undermine the show’s sense of stakes—dead typically means dead for the show’s central characters—and note LS doesn’t impact much of the action in the books (not yet, at least). “Lady Stoneheart _does_ have a role in the books,” Martin said. “Whether it’s sufficient or interesting enough… I think it is, or I wouldn’t have put her in. One of the things I wanted to show with her is that the death she suffered changes you.” Continues Martin: “I’ve talked about Gandalf \[in _The Lord of the Rings_\], and how the impact of his death was enormous. When I was a 12-year-old kid reading _The Fellowship of the Ring_ and ‘Fly, you fools!’ and he goes into the chasm … it was ‘Holy shit! \[J.R.R. Tolkien\] killed the wizard! That’s the guy who knew everything. How are they going to destroy the ring without him?’ And now the ‘kids’ have to grow up because their ‘daddy’ is dead. If Gandalf could die, anybody could die. And then just a few chapters later Boromir goes down. Those two deaths created in me the ‘anyone could die’ thing. At that point I was expecting \[Tolkien\] to pick off the whole Fellowship one by one. And then we also think in _The Two Towers_ that Frodo is dead, since Shelob stung him and wrapped him up. I really bought it because he set me up with those other deaths. But then, of course, he brings Gandalf back. He’s a little strange at first, but then he’s basically the same old Gandalf. I liked the impact we got from him being gone.” Martin’s explanation initially sounds like an argument against including Lady Stoneheart, but Martin then noted: “Lady Stoneheart is _not_ Cateyln. I’ve tried to set it up beforehand with Beric Dondarrion and his repeated \[resurrections\]. There’s a brief appearance by Beric in Book One and he rides into the city and he’s this flamboyant Southern knight. That’s not that man we meet later on.” [_This article originally appeared on EW.com_](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/05/31/game-thrones-lady-stoneheart) George R.R. Martin: 5 Characters He Wishes Were on Game of Thrones ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3902873/game-of-thrones-characters-george-rr-martin-stark-lannister/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3902873/game-of-thrones-characters-george-rr-martin-stark-lannister/"},"headline":"George R.R. 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