Much as I admire Tolkien, I once again always felt like Gandalf should have stayed dead. That was such an incredible sequence in Fellowship of the Ring when he faces the Balrog on the Khazad-dรปm and he falls into the gulf, and his last words are, "Fly, you fools." What power that had, how that grabbed me. And then he comes back as Gandalf the White, and if anything he's sort of improved. I never liked Gandalf the White as much as Gandalf the Grey, and I never liked him coming back. I think it would have been an even stronger story if Tolkien had left him dead.
George R. R. MartinIn Kingโs Landing, there are two sorts of people. The players and the piecesโฆ Every manโs a piece to start with, and every maid as well. Even some who think they are players." Petyr Baelish
George R. R. Martin