There is a picture online that shows Gendry from Game of Thrones in a rowboat that is named the S.S. Abandoned Plotlines, which had the Brotherhood Without Banners, the Blackfish, Rickon Stark & Osha, Balon & Yara Greyjoy, and Bran Stark & Hodor photoshopped onto the boat. The picture was created by a Game of Thrones fan who was frustrated by all of the characters and storylines that had seemingly been forgotten.
It turned out that the writers of Game of Thrones had not forgotten those storylines and every one of the characters would return to the show in some form or another.
The producers of Game of Thrones never knew how many seasons would be greenlit by HBO, so it was impossible for them to create a long-term plan. There are still quite a few storylines from the show that were created, only to be abandoned along the way.
The final season of Game of Thrones is almost here, so the producers have one last shot of resolving these storylines before the credits roll during the final episode of the show.
We are here today to discover which Game of Thrones storylines still belong on the S.S. Abandoned Plotlines – from the residents to Qarth, to the armies that went missing.
Here are Twenty Game Of Thrones Storylines That Were Completely Abandoned!
The Characters In Qarth
Daenerys Targaryen's storyline in the second season of Game of Thrones involved her journey to the strange city of Qarth, where she became involved in the plots of the mysterious ruling factions within the city. Daenerys is responsible for slaying the leader of the Warlocks of Qarth before fleeing the city.
The Warlocks try to get revenge at the start of the third season of Game of Thrones with a half-hearted life-taking attempt, but this is quickly thwarted by Ser Barristan Selmy and they haven't been seen since.
The Qarth storyline introduced the masked sorceress known as Quaithe, who is a recurring character in the books but hasn't been seen since in the show.
The Love Of Heartsbane
House Tarly is one of the few noble families in Westeros to carry a Valyrian steel sword, which is known as Heartsbane. Randyll Tarly is more proud of the sword than he is his eldest son, Sam Tarly, to the point where he claimed that Sam would never wield the sword.
Sam stole Heartsbane from his family home and left with Gilly in a carriage to continue his journey to the Citadel.
It seems that Randyll Tarly quickly forgot his pride in the sword and disdain for his son, as he could easily have dispatched some men to go after Sam in order to retrieve Heartsbane, yet he seemingly forgets about it and is content to go to war on the side of the Lannisters without bringing the ancestral Tarly blade with him.
The Riverlands
The Riverlands suffered more than any other part of Westeros during the War of the Five Kings, with the Lannister and Stark forces ravaging the region during their conflict. The Sparrow movement was born in response to the atrocities that occurred in the Riverlands and the indifference of the nobility to the plight of their people.
House Frey was able to secure control of the Riverlands when they finally claimed Riverrun, which meant that they could bring peace to the region as its new ruler.
Arya Stark proceeded to slay every prominent member of House Frey, leaving no one in charge to bring the Riverlands back under control. Robb Stark took control over the Riverlands during his campaign, yet Jon Snow has shown no desire to do the same, which means that the region has seemingly been forgotten and may still be in a lawless state.
Essos
Daenerys Targaryen spent most of her time in Game of Thrones in exile on the continent of Essos, where she went from being given away to Khal Drogo as little more than a pawn, to becoming one of the most feared and powerful rulers in the realm.
It seems that all of the time that Daenerys spent taking cities in Essos was wasted, as there has been no mention of the entire eastern portion of her empire since she arrived in Westeros. The tumultuous state of affairs she left behind seems to have vanished.
Daenerys left Daario Naharis in charge and she could call on him for additional supplies and troops, yet this was never even considered as an option during her campaign in Westeros.
Shadow Babies
One of the most alarming moments in Game of Thrones happened in "Garden of Bones" when Melisandre gave birth to a shadow monster in front of Davos Seaworth. The next episode shows the shadow monster eliminating Renly Baratheon, which was instrumental in furthering Stannis' goals.
The ability to summon an unstoppable life-taker seems like it would be pretty useful, but Melisandre only ever does it once, despite having access to king's blood at various points in the series through her encounters with Gendry and Jon Snow.
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Melisandre uses this power a second time in order to help Stannis take Storm's End, but it is never used again after that point.
Robin Arryn
Robin Arryn is the ruler of the Vale, or at least he was, as he seemingly lost the of his bannermen overnight.
Littlefinger convinces Robin to send the armies of the Vale to the North in order to help Sansa reclaim her birthright. The armies of the Vale are instrumental in defeating the Boltons and they could easily have taken the North in the name of House Arryn if they wanted to, but the assembled nobles of the Vale decided that Jon Snow should be their new king and they pledged fealty to him without mentioning their current ruler.
An entire season of Game of Thrones has ed without any mention of what Robin's reaction was to the Vale becoming part of the Kingdom of the North, nor whether he s Jon Snow stealing away the of his bannermen and his armies.
The Armies Of Dorne
Dorne is still one of the major players in the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, as it is one of two kingdoms (along with the Vale) that has yet to field its army, which means that Prince Doran Martell has the power to seize control of the realm, so long as he chooses his time to strike carefully.
The armies of Dorne are similarly untouched in Game of Thrones and Yara Greyjoy was dispatched with her fleet to pick them up so that they could be used as part of Daenerys Targaryen's plan to take King's Landing.
Yara and her fleet were intercepted by Euron Greyjoy, so they were unable to complete their mission. What are the armies of Dorne doing right now? Are they still waiting to be picked up? Daenerys is in dire need of fighting men for the war to come, yet the untouched army of one of the Seven Kingdoms was seemingly forgotten after Yara was captured.
Cersei's Original Child
One of the defining moments in Cersei Lannister's life was an encounter with a witch, named Maggy the Frog, who made several accurate prophecies about her future. Maggy claimed that Cersei would have three children, who would wear golden crowns and golden shrouds.
Maggy's prophecy concerning Cersei's children is the same as from the novels, but the show threw a wrench into the works by establishing that Cersei had a fourth child.
Cersei tells Catelyn Stark that she had a child with Robert Baratheon who ed away shortly after birth. Robert and Cersei later talk about their child, confirming that she wasn't lying about the story. If Cersei had given birth to four children, then it invalidates Maggy's prophecy, yet Cersei never mentions this when the story of Maggy becomes part of the show.
Dany's Bloodriders
When Khal Drogo ed away, his bloodriders ed Daenerys and became her sworn protectors, or at least they did before they vanished.
Daenerys sent three of her bloodriders out into the Red Waste in search of a safe haven. Of the three bloodriders, one is slain by a rival Khal, one discovers Qarth, and the third is never heard from again.
The Dothraki who protect Daenerys fade out from the story and are replaced by the Unsullied. Daenerys gains a new Dothraki horde later on in the season, but her old khalasar seemingly vanished from the story during her time in Meereen. It's likely that they were written out as Daenerys already had several protectors who were around her most of the time and had actual roles in the story.
Tysha
The writers of Game of Thrones don't always have confidence in the memory span of the audience, which is why the recap sections at the start of most episodes will often spoil surprise returns of old characters, as the audience needs to be reminded of who they are.
The story of Tyrion's wedding to a lowborn girl named Tysha was originally supposed to be linked to his elimination of Tywin, but the writers decided to downplay her significance in favor of Tyrion's relationship with Shae, which became the catalyst for the attack. Tysha's role in the story was pretty much forgotten, as Shae was more present in the mind of the audience, due to her being a character on the show and not someone who was only mentioned in the past tense.