While he/she may be dead on Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin has revealed that one particular character is alive and well in his book series.

Obvious spoiler warning!

Stannis Baretheon was apparently killed at the end of Game of Thrones season 5 at the hand of the badass character above. This means the character had the same fate in the books, right?

Not so! A Song of Ice and Fire writer George R.R. Martin was posed a question about Stannis’ current situation on his Livejournal on Thursday, to which he offered a solid answer: “In my books? Alive, beyond a doubt,” the author wrote.

Although Stannis Baratheon remains a fan-favorite character in the books, many fans were ready to see him suffer at the end of season 5.

In an effort to take Winterfell from the Boltons, Stannis let Melisandre talk him into sacrificing his daughter Shireen, who burned to secure her father’s victory — but Stannis’ army was still slaughtered, leaving Stannis at the mercy of Brienne, who sought revenge for Renly.

Although the show has diverted from the books on several occasions, we’re not surprised that Stannis survived his encounter. He’s too big of a player in the saga to be killed off so quickly, and even fans who haven’t read the books would probably expect more to come from his story, after it’s been built up for so many years.

We don’t know what lay ahead for Stannis in the TV series, as his storyline has more or less caught up to A Dance With Dragons. However, considering he’s currently caught between a rock (Brienne) and a hard place (the Boltons), we wouldn’t hold out hope for a happy ending.

Earlier this week reports from fans around the set of Game of Thrones season 6 revealed that yet another character may not be dead after all. All this uncertainty is killing us!

There’s been no reports about whether or not Stephen Dillane has been spotted around the set, but needless to say, we’re now very curious to see if he ends up in the next season of the show.

Do you think Stannis will make it into ‘Game of Thrones’ season 6?

Additional reporting by Selina Wilken