HONOURABLE MENTION:
THE MAD KING
"He said the same thing he'd been saying for hours - burn them all." A chilling quote from Jaime in response to King Robert asking him what the last words of Aerys II Targaryen were while telling wartime stories. With the reveal that Bran negatively impacted Willis' (a.k.a. Hodor's) youth by warging into him during his stay in the past, what else could Bran be capable of with this sort of power? The Three-Eyed Raven seemed terrified at the notion of seeing young Ned Stark hear his son's call to him just outside the Tower of Joy, does he too have the power to do what Bran did to Willis? Most importantly though, was the Three-Eyed Raven the one to make Aerys go mad? Or will Bran become wrongly consumed by these powers and use it as a way to punish Jaime for pushing him out the window? It all sounds very convoluted, but anything is possible.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#5:
HOWLAND REED
Father to the fallen Jojen and the still-standing Meera, Howland Reed may be the only person left alive who can verify Jon Snow's parentage to the world. The only question is: where is he? Judging from his appearance in Bran's Tower of Joy flashback, Howland Reed is roughly Ned Stark's age when it comes to present day Westeros, so he's still fairly young, presumably he'll be looking to kick some undead ass too (especially after finding out what the Others did to his son). Another question is: did Jojen know of Jon Snow's true parentage through his flashbacks; if not, could he have urged his dad to aid Bran after his death (which he knew was coming), or could the Three-Eyed Raven have made Jojen promise to keep Jon's parentage a secret because he knew that it would lead to him becoming broken by mistrust, leading to an eventual downfall where Arya or Sansa end up being the much-prophesied Valonqar (instead of Jamie or Tyrion killing Mad Queen Cersei, as expected, what if it's Arya or Sansa forced to kill Mad King Jon; wouldn't it be bittersweet to see Arya kill Jon with the sword that he gave to her all the way back during the first season)?
--------------------------------------------------
#4:
QUAITHE OF THE SHADOW
A neat character from the books has basically been cut-down to cameo-role style proportions with the television series. Arguably the most mysterious character in the Song of Ice and Fire series, her cryptic riddles are confusing and, at the same token, undeniably helpful in aiming to decipher forthcoming events. Though she shares a helluva lot of passages with Daenerys in the book series, her only scenes in the television show thus far involve Ser Jorah. Throughout both the books and the show, it seems that Quaithe is intent on helping Dany and co. in some of the most convoluted ways imaginable. While her play on words may annoy some, she's still an interesting character who could potentially play a big role in the future. Could she possibly come across Ser Jorah again while he's on the hunt for a cure? Maybe, just maybe. After all, as she so elegantly puts it: "to go forward, you must go back".
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#3:
SYRIO FOREL
Speaking of going back, let's talk season one. Firstly, however, let's talk about that bloody coward Meryn Trant. Most well-known for beating younger girls, Trant is a disgusting, unsavory creature, but could he be a coward as well? Re-watching the episode "The Old Gods and the New" reveals that Nasty Trant actually leads the charge in bringing Joffrey to safety whilst fending off a violent mob, but, in the books, it plays out a little differently. Basically Tyrion witnesses the Trantosaurus fleeing away from Sansa, whom he was charged to protect, with his tail between his legs. Hmm... well, he sure sounds like a coward (in the books at least, though this character trait is not as well fleshed-out during the TV show). But is he a liar? Undoubtedly (in the books). Unfortunately, during the television series, his character never gets caught in a lie. Now what does all of this have to do with Syrio Forel? Everything. Forel's potential death is neither mentioned nor seen within the books or television series. Also, isn't it a bit odd that, during the first season episode titled "The Pointy End", as soon as Arya runs for safety, a steel sword is heard hitting the ground? Wasn't "The First Sword of Braavos" merely using a wooden practice sword to fend off Trant and about a half-dozen other Lannister guardsmen before him? A lot of fans speculate that Jaqen H'ghar is truly Syrio Forel, which isn't too far off since Syrio is "killed" during episode 8 and Jaqen makes his presence felt during the finale of season one (currently an uncasted role at that point, as the stand-in wore a hood, which totally concealed his face, in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#2:
GENDRY
Immediately after our first glimpse at Jaqen, Arya (or "Arry") is introduced to the bastard son of King Robert Baratheon, good ol' Gendry, an extremely likable blacksmith who shares great chemistry with the youngest Stark daughter. Like Meryn Trant, show version of Gendry is an amalgamation of two very similar book characters (Edric Storm and Gendry). Last time we saw our buddy ol' pal Gendry, he was rowing his way off to... somewhere, thanks to the kindhearted Ser Davos Seaworth, who saved the poor lad from a certain death by fire at the hands of the ruthless duo of Stannis and Melisandre. Though he doesn't seem to be a super-essential character to the overall plot line, his nearly-identical resemblance to both Robert and Renly Baratheon is fascinating. This notion could craft a compelling collision between him and Brienne of Tarth, similar to how it's shown in the books, where she gets momentarily dazed by an oncoming attacker, then sees Gendry in the wilderness and believes it to be Renly. This could be a nice way to bring back Gendry, while giving Brienne even more of a reason to keep fighting the good fight alongside Podrick Payne.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#1:
SER ILYN PAYNE
Speaking of Payne: "Ser Ilyn made the perfect drinking companion. He never interrupted, never disagreed, never complained or asked for favors or told long, pointless stories. All he did was drink and listen." Another quote from Jaime to close out this list, and here's a character that should have been training Jaime way back in season four, but they gave that role to Bronn; a character I used to really, really like (especially in the first-two seasons), until the showrunners kept shoving him down our throats because people apparently cannot get enough Bronn in their lives. If you don't recognize the name of today's subject, let me spell it out for you: he was the one who chopped-off Ned Stark's head (and was on Arya's kill-list too for a little bit, until he wasn't). Unfortunately, the wonderful actor who portrays Ser Ilyn, Wilko Johnson, was diagnosed with terminal cancer of the pancreas back in early 2013 (right around production-time for season three). Thankfully, in 2014, Johnson underwent a tumor-removal operation that ended up being successful. Thank the Gods, as this man is an incredible actor (and a great musician to boot) who would express more with a simple look than most actors could do with a thousand words.
Imagine seeing Ser Ilyn Payne actually acting as a "real human-being and a real hero" through training Jaime. This would have rung so wonderfully-well for the show because you have these two characters that we initially hate from the get-go, but to see them interact as friends, in spite of the fact that Ser Ilyn can't talk (due to his missing tongue), is kind of poetic. They're both men we (as an audience) view as outright evil upon face-value, only they're not all evil, it is one's duty to execute people, and another's to sacrifice his honor to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Oh, and the cherry on-top? He was replaced AGAIN by Bronn in the storyline at Riverrun during season six. Get over Bronn already! His tale should have ended when he refused to fight for Tyrion; I don't know about you, but I HATED his character after that (and seeing his smug expressions laced throughout those cringe-worthy Dornish sequences from season five definitely didn't help much either). If Ser Ilyn Payne doesn't get a proper sendoff by this series' end, then you'll be looking to at least one very unhappy camper. Wilko Johnson's the man, and it's about damn time that we brought him back into the fold.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's to you, Yawn (or Bronn)!