George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice & Fire books are dense, which means not every character made the cut in Game of Thrones. The Game of Thrones ending was famously controversial, especially among book readers who felt betrayed by the numerous plotlines that were dropped leading up to Season 8. Readers constantly disparage the show’s depiction of Dorne and mourn the mishandling of characters like Euron Greyjoy and Varys, but at least they made it on to the series in the first place. Several integral characters were never brought onto the screen, limiting the potential narrative flow for the series.
While George R.R. Martin often receives criticism for struggling to finish The Winds of Winter, when one considers the vast number of characters at play in Westeros, it’s understandable why it would take so long. Oppositely, Game of Thrones included too few characters, and what was left was an ending that lacked the political complexity that makes Martin’s world so compelling. Every character cut from the story contributes to something lacking further down the line, and there’s one character who’s connected to a crucial part of the books.
Patchface Was Cut From ‘Game of Thrones’
The Stannis Baratheon plotline kicks off immediately in Game of Thrones Season 2, just as it does in the second volume of the novels, A Clash of Kings. Audiences are introduced to Stannis himself, Ser Davos Seaworth, and the priestess, Melisandre, who become the core of this narrative. However, A Clash of Kings populates Stannis Baratheon’s court with other figures, including the jester, Patchface. One of the more bizarre characters in physical appearance, Patchface’s face is tattooed with a pattern of checkered green and red, making him a rather terrifying figure at first glance.
In an interview with Game of Thrones writer Bryan Cogman, who penned the script for Season 3’s “Kissed by Fire” back in 2013, the writer shared that he actually did intend to introduce Patchface in this episode. However, given that Shireen and Selyse Baratheon were also brought into the show in that same installment, Cogman felt that Patchface would be one too many Stannis-related characters to drop on TV viewers all at once. It’s unclear if there was ever another plan to reincorporate him.
Patchface certainly remained on the minds of the show’s writers, as Shireen Baratheon can, at one point, be heard singing, and her lyrics come straight from the jester’s jingles in the books. George R.R. Martin establishes Patchface as a rather curious character who walks around Dragonstone spouting off-beat, sometimes incoherent rhymes. Readers have noticed that these lines actually seem to be of grave importance to the narrative, revealing prophecies throughout the story. Let’s look at an example:
“Fool’s blood, king’s blood, blood on the maiden’s thigh, but chains for the guests and chains for the bridegroom, aye aye aye.”
It’s entirely clear, in retrospect, that this line from Patchface predicted the Red Wedding, with “fool’s blood” referring to Aegon Frey (another character left out of the show) “king’s blood” referring to Robb Stark, “blood on the maiden’s thigh” meaning Roslin Frey, and “chains for the guests and chains for the bridegroom” noting that characters like Greatjon Umber and Edmure Tully were taken prisoner after the bloodbath.
Given that Patchface was able to spew out words presciently announcing the most pivotal moment in the books so far, and no characters bothered to listen to him, readers have examined his words in great detail to uncover more clues about The Winds of Winter and beyond. Considering the importance of prophecy in George R.R. Martin’s novels, this seemingly odd court jester rises up the priority list for readers to pay attention to.
Patchface’s Absence Symbolizes 1 of ‘Game of Thrones’s Biggest Problems
Every Game of Thrones fan has their opinion on where the show went wrong, and mine is the almost complete omission of the mystical, prophetic elements. The “Prince that was Promised” prophecy and the “Valonqar” prophecy are some of the most compelling aspects of George R.R. Martin’s novel to theorize about, but beyond just speculation and theory-crafting, they add so much thematic depth to the story. Game of Thrones was constantly timid about being generalized as a fantasy show, and in turn, left out one of the most misunderstood, human components of Martin’s storytelling.
Prophecy in A Song of Ice & Fire isn’t in the story to suggest characters have superpowers and can predict the future; it’s to say that, yes, some mystical presence may exist in the world that occasionally gives certain people vague clairvoyance, but these visions and ideas should never be trusted entirely. Trusting them too much, as Melisandre does, only leads to death and destruction. House of the Dragon actually handles this quite well with its depiction of Helaena Targaryen.
Theories about Patchface range from him being the embodiment of the Drowned God to any number of other things. Whether he is anyone special or just a character dislodged from reality, spouting chaotic, metaphysical echoes, is unimportant; what matters is that his words create mysteries and prompt questions about the unknown. The transition from A Song of Ice & Fire to Game of Thrones involved a drastic tone shift from epic fantasy to fantasy-adjacent historical fiction, and the loss of someone like Patchface is devastating in that sense.