There are many things Game of Thrones did to keep viewers clutching their seats. The habit of killing fan favourites was one. The habit of bringing a few of them back was another. Watching this show felt a bit like signing up for emotional whiplash and pretending it was entertainment. As someone who grew up with fantasy worlds as comfort spaces, the series kept testing my trust. It also made me weirdly fascinated with the mechanics of resurrection in Westeros. Who gets a second chance. Who does not. Who probably should not have.
Below is a clear look at every character who returned from the dead, why they came back, and what their revival meant for the story.
Jon Snow
Jon’s death felt like the moment the fandom collectively shut their laptops and paced around their living rooms. His return felt inevitable but still managed to land with weight. Brought back by Melisandre, Jon becomes a quieter, more deliberate version of himself. He is a man who has seen both sides of existence and now moves with the energy of someone who refuses to waste the little time he has been given.
His revival also keeps the Northern plot from falling apart. I still think the look on Davos’ face when Jon gasps back into life is one of the most human reactions in the show.
Beric Dondarrion
Beric is the closest thing Westeros has to a walking apology for poor health insurance. Revived again and again by Thoros of Myr, he turns into a living reminder that resurrection is not free. Each life takes something away. His body thins, his voice drops into gravel, and he starts talking like he already has one foot in the afterlife.
Beric’s final sacrifice for Arya fits the strange spiritual arc he carried. He is a man shaped by purpose more than desire. One of the show’s more underrated figures.
The Mountain, Gregor Clegane
Gregor is technically revived, although the word feels too polite for what Qyburn does to him. This is resurrection filtered through a science project no ethical board would ever approve. The Mountain comes back as a monstrous, silent juggernaut. No personality. No agency. Just violence wrapped in armour.
His return shifts Cersei’s storyline into darker territory. You see the scale of her paranoia and ambition in the creature that stands behind her.
Khal Drogo
Drogo’s partial resurrection is one of the saddest attempts at cheating death in the entire show. Mirri Maz Duur’s blood magic gives Daenerys a body but not a person. What returns is a hollow version of the man she loved. The moment Dany smothers him is quiet and brutal. It is the kind of scene that sticks with you for reasons you cannot fully articulate. It teaches her that some forms of magic are worse than grief.
Catelyn Stark (In the Books, Not the Show)
The show never included Lady Stoneheart, but for readers she is a core part of the resurrection landscape. Catelyn returns as a mute, vengeful figure who carries the trauma of the Red Wedding in every decision. Her revival is colder than Beric’s and far more chilling. Where the show softened the edges of the Brotherhood Without Banners, the books sharpened them into a knife.
Even though she never appeared on screen, her presence in the canon shapes how fans interpret resurrection within the larger world.
The Wights
Wights are the mass produced version of resurrection. No personality. No consciousness. Just reanimated bodies used as weapons. They serve as the contrast point that makes other resurrections feel more precious. When Jon returns, he comes back as a person. When a Northern villager returns as a wight, they come back as a warning.
The show uses wights to build tension toward the Long Night. They are also a neat reminder that not every return from death is a miracle. Some are simply nightmares.
The White Walkers Themselves
While not resurrection in the traditional sense, the creation of White Walkers is tied to the magic of life and death in the far North. The Night King’s origin scene is unsettling because it reframes the entire war. This is not just a dark army. It is a product of ancient desperation.
Their existence complicates the show’s theme of revival. Every other return carries a hint of hope or at least a personal story. The White Walkers return as something lost. Something frozen. Something stripped of humanity.
