Stories From The 'Game Of Thrones' Extended Universe That Are WAY Too Intense For Television

When Missandei tells Davos in Season 7 that she's from the southern island of Naath, he mentions the island's butterflies. This makes it seem like Naath is a peaceful tropical paradise. This is horribly, utterly wrong.

According to lore, any non-native who stays on Naath for longer than a few hours succumbs to "butterfly fever." It sounds kind of delightful, like a disease a kitten would get, but it's actually a pathogen carried by Naath butterflies that causes you to sweat blood and shed all of your flesh until you die. It's the only reason Naath remains unconquerable. 

If Game of Thrones were set on Sothoryos – a mysterious continent to the south of Westeros and Essos – the series would be over in one episode. Between the countless diseases, enormous crocodiles, giant piranhas, basilisks twice the size of lions, parasitic worms, velociraptors (!), gargantuan bird/dragon hybrids, and cannibalistic Neanderthal-like natives, everyone would basically only have time to make out once and die. 

Considering the continent is basically like the show 1000 Ways to Die – but with all 1000 things happening at the same time – it's unsurprising most of its inhabitants bounced a long time ago, only leaving behind mysterious ruins. 

Understanding Melisandre's homeland of Asshai-by-the-Shadow shines some light on why she's such a huge bummer. This gloomy Essos city – built entirely of pitch black stone – is devoid of markets, taverns, and joy in general. There are also no children anywhere, which means that everyone is either asexual, infertile, or eating babies as soon as they're produced.

What really makes Asshai a realtor's worst nightmare, however, is the lack of potable water. The population of Asshai – which consists of taciturn sorcerers, necromancers, and other weirdos – has to rely solely on trade in order to acquire fresh drinking water. All of the water in Asshai itself is toxic, and full of hideously deformed fish. 

In the far, far east, past a body of water called Leviathan Sound, there is an archipelago called The Thousand Islands. The women there are green, bald, and have mouths of filed, pointy teeth. If the parallels to the Wicked Witch of the West aren't already strong enough, they're also terrified of water.

The women of The Thousand Islands are incredibly savage. Seemingly frustrated by the fact no one can understand their alien language, they regularly sacrifice friendly, innocent sailors to a hideous, fish-headed god. 

As if the White Walkers weren't horrifying enough, the undead rode on massive ice spiders during the Long Night. According to Sam Tarly's thoughts, they love blood, too. Great:

The horn blew thrice long, three long blasts means Others. The white walkers of the wood, the cold shadows, the monsters of the tales that made him squeak and tremble as a boy, riding their giant ice-spiders, hungry for blood.

The hairy, smelly men of Skagos are mentioned in George R. R. Martin's books, but rarely seen. This is partly because they've never pledged allegiance to the Starks, despite sitting directly to the east of the Wall. They're also not very gregarious, in that they've been known to greet visitors by murdering them and eating them. 

As if that weren't bad enough, they've ruined the idea of unicorns by turning unicorns into terrifying murder tools. Sailors near Skagos have seen islanders riding "great, shaggy, horned beasts, monstrous mounts so sure-footed they have been known to climb the sides of mountains." In Dance of Dragons, Davos is on a quest to retrieve Rickon Stark and Osha from Skagos. Good luck, Ser Onion Knight.