Game of Thrones may now be over but we are still obsessed.
The dramatic fantasy series came to an end on HBO earlier this year, but many are still pouring over the content of the series and the books in which it is based, A Song of Ice and Fire by George R R Martin.
However, the series could have gone down very differently if it had kept to original book outline that Martin sent to his publishers way back in 1993.
According to the outline (via Insider), we would have seen a forbidden romance develop between heroic Jon Snow (played by Kit Harington in the series) and his sister Arya Stark (played by Maisie Williams in the show) in Game of Thrones.
The outline reads: “Jon Snow, the bastard, will remain in the far north. He will mature into a ranger of great daring, and ultimately will succeed his uncle as the commander of the Night’s Watch. When Winterfell burns, Catelyn Stark will be forced to flee north with her son Bran and her daughter Arya.
“Wounded by Lannister riders, they will seek refuge at the Wall, but the men of the Night’s Watch give up their families when they take the black, and Jon and Benjen will not be able to help, to Jon’s anguish. It will lead to a bitter estrangement between Jon and Bran.
“Arya will be more forgiving … until she realizes, with terror, that she has fallen in love with Jon, who is not only her half-brother but a man of the Night’s Watch, sworn to celibacy. Their passion will continue to torment Jon and Arya throughout the trilogy, until the secret of Jon’s true parentage is finally revealed in the last book.”
(Image: HBO)
We can probably assume that Jon’s parents would have still been Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, making Arya his cousin and not his half-sister, but it’s still very strange to think about.
But Jon wouldn’t have been the only one lusting after Arya, as the outline also revealed that Tyrion Lannister (played by Peter Dinklage in the series) would have fallen for her too.
The outline continues: “Tyrion Lannister will continue to travel, to plot, and to play the game of thrones, finally removing his nephew Joffrey in disgust at the boy king’s brutality. Jaime Lannister will follow Joffrey on the throne of the Seven Kingdoms, by the simple expedient of killing everyone ahead of him in the line of succession and blaming his brother Tyrion for the murders.
“Exiled, Tyrion will change sides, making common cause with the surviving Starks to bring his brother down, and falling helplessly in love with Arya Stark while he’s at it. His passion is, alas, unreciprocated, but no less intense for that, and it will lead to a deadly rivalry between Tyrion and Jon Snow.”
(Image: HBO)
So while it would have been clear that Jon and Arya would have been the star-crossed lovers, Tyrion would definitely have had an axe to grind.
We have to wonder if a Jon and Daenerys romance would have also played into this complicated web, and how much the role of Sansa Stark changed over the course of Martin’s planning.
Would you have approved of this romance in Game of Thrones? Let us know in the comments below.
