If you felt the incest in Game of Thrones went a little overboard, wait until you hear George R.R. Martin’s original plan for two fan-favorite characters. According to his twisted plan, Arya Stark and Jon Snow were supposed to be romantically linked in the series. Adding to this equation, Tyrion Lannister also falls for Arya, creating a rivalry between Tyrion and Jon.
This information comes from Martin’s 1993 pitch to publisher Harper Collins, outlining his novel, A Song of Ice and Fire. The original pitch also included elements like Sansa bearing the child of Joffrey, Daenerys killing Khal Drogo, and most importantly, the mother of dragons surviving the series.
George R.R. Martin Included The Most Unlikely Love Triangle In Game of Thrones
UK book retailer Waterstones revealed George R.R. Martin‘s 1993 original outline for A Song of Ice and Fire, ahead of the release of Game of Thrones Season 5. The deleted tweet from Waterstones included Martin’s three-page outline, which was widely shared among the fanbase on social platforms.
HBO’s epic fantasy may have deviated from a few storylines that Martin had written in his books. They even imagined a complete season, which the author has yet to complete. However, Martin could’ve ruined one beautiful sibling relationship, that the TV show managed to capture in its entirety.
Fans of the show know that Kit Harington‘s Jon Snow and Maisie Williams’ Arya Stark share an amazing bond. Martin had initially written a romantic relationship between the siblings, which could’ve been disturbing for a number of reasons. The characters turned out to be cousins after the big reveal in Season 8 and they had a considerable age difference between them.
The narrative reads that both Jon and Arya are tormented by their love due to Jon’s vow of celibacy to the Night’s Watch. Martin’s outline read (via r/asoiaf):
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.
Fans are just happy that Martin pivoted the plot about the relationship. He instead wrote about two siblings who bonded over their one similarity of being the outcasts in the Stark family. Interestingly, Martin’s original outline had more than just the incestuous relationship between Jon and Arya.
George R.R. Martin Also Made Tyrion Lannister Fall For Arya Stark
Tyrion Lannister would’ve removed Jeoffrey from the equation to bring his brother Jaime to the throne in this version of George R.R. Martin’s story. He is exiled after Jaime betrays him after ascending the throne and Tyrion sides with the Starks to bring him down. In this process, he develops a one-sided romantic passion for Arya.
It is also suggested that this romance would lead to a deadly rivalry between Tyrion and Jon Snow. Martin’s outline read:
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.
According to this pitch, Martin planned for these five characters to be alive at the end of the show. Martin wanted Daenerys, Arya, Jon, Bran, and Tyrion to survive the series. Four out of five of these characters survived Game of Thrones, but Martin’s books still have these five characters alive. Fans await the arrival of The Winds of Winter and they want a better story from it than what they saw in the final season.
Game of Thrones is now available to stream on Max.
