Hoster Tully

"Every time he would leave for the capital or fight in a campaign I'd see him off. "Wait for me, little Cat", he'd say. "Wait for me and I'll come back to you"."

- Catelyn Stark

Lord Hoster Tully is a character in Game of Thrones. The role was cut from the second season and for the third season the character is stated to have passed away. Prior to his death, Hoster Tully was the Lord of Riverrun, the Lord Paramount of the Riverlands and the head of House Tully, one of the Great Houses of Westeros. He was the father of Edmure, Catelyn and Lysa and the brother of Brynden. He ruled over the Riverlands from the castle of Riverrun.

Background
Hoster was the head of House Tully and the Lord Paramount of the Riverlands. The Riverlands are one of the constituent regions of the Seven Kingdoms and House Tully is one of the Great Houses of the realm. House Tully rules the region from their seat at Riverrun and Hoster also holds the title Lord of Riverrun.

Hoster married Lady Minisa of House Whent. They have three children, two daughters Catelyn and Lysa and a son, Edmure. Only three of the six children she bore survived. She died shortly after bearing the last which died with her. Hoster brokered a marriage alliance with the Lords Paramount of the North House Stark, betrothing his eldest daughter Catelyn to their heir Brandon Stark.

The Mad King Aerys II Targaryen had Brandon executed triggering a rebellion against him. Hoster joined House Stark, House Baratheon and House Arryn in opposing the Mad King. Catelyn married Brandon's brother Eddard Stark and Hoster arranged for Lysa to marry Lord Jon Arryn to solidify the alliance. They won the war and installed Robert Baratheon as the King on the Iron Throne. In recent years Hoster had become old and frail, losing a great deal of weight as he had been quite portly, and his son Edmure has ruled in his place.

During the War of the Five Kings, Lord Hoster passed away, passing his titles to Edmure, the new head of House Tully. Brynden Tully tells Catelyn that Hoster and Brynden managed to make peace before his death. Hoster told Brynden to stop calling himself "The Blackfish" as it is an old joke and it wasn't very funny to begin with.

In the books
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Hoster is an old, spent man close to the end of his life. In his prime he was a canny politician and effective military commander, and was a vital supporter of Robert Baratheon's uprising against the Targaryen dynasty. He was married to Lady Minisa Whent, of the great castle of Harrenhal, who passed away some years before the events of the series begin.

In Game of Thrones, Catelyn visits her father after Robb Stark breaks the siege in the Battle of the Camps. At that point, Hoster is still lucid. In the next books, his health deteriorates rapidly. Most of the time he loses contact with reality, does not recognize his children, and mumbles incoherently.