Noah Syndergaard's 'Game of Thrones' cameo ends in fiery death

A helmet obscured Syndergaard's flowing blonde locks but his face was recognisable

It can be hard to compare the relative strengths of competing mythologies, but on this week’s episode of HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” it appeared that a Norse god could hold his own against a horde of Dothraki warriors, but was no match for a full-grown dragon.

Fans of the New York Mets could be forgiven if they blinked and missed it, but in the raucous battle between the armies of Danaerys Targaryen and Cersei Lannister, the Lannister army got a brief assist from Noah Syndergaard, the Mets pitcher affectionately known by fans as Thor. Syndergaard used his towering height and strong right arm to toss a long spear over a row of shields, hitting a horse square in the chest and stopping one of Dothraki riders in his tracks.

A helmet obscured Syndergaard’s flowing blonde locks — a trait that would make him fit in well with the Lannister family — but his face was recognizable if you knew to look for it. And when you consider the fact that Syndergaard is one of the hardest throwers in the major leagues, it was no surprise that he excelled at his role.

Syndergaard’s scenes were filmed in Spain, and he told Sports Illustrated in April that he brought his parents with him for his day on set since they had actually been the ones who convinced him to start watching the show.

“I think it’s the greatest TV show of all time, so just to be able to say I was in Game of Thrones is an unbelievable feeling,” Syndergaard said at the time.

Earlier this season, the pop star Ed Sheeran also made a cameo as a soldier in the Lannister army. Unlike Syndergaard, who fought bravely in battle, Sheeran just sang a song, chatted around a campfire, and then got so much criticism online for the cheesy appearance that many believed his brief deletion of his Twitter account was a result of the enormous backlash, though he has said the two were not related.

Syndergaard, who has not pitched in the majors since April 30 because of an injury widely attributed to the lingering affects his off-season workout regimen, has yet to start throwing off a mound in his rehabilitation program. Unfortunately for the small-screen version of Syndergaard, there will be no rehab program, as by the end of the episode he, along with most of the Lannister army, had been burned to a crisp by the fire of the Targaryen dragon, with many of the soldiers simply turning to ash before crumbling to the ground.

Syndergaard managed to defend his side in the fight, while also poking fun at his history on the baseball field.

While a dragon cannot be too discerning with who it lights on fire in a battle, keeping Syndergaard alive could have been useful. Drogon, the dragon in question, took a spear to the shoulder toward the end of the fight, and Syndergaard who has had his share of arm injuries in the past, could have offered a referral to a surgeon in exchange for his life.

©2017 The New York Times News Service