The original pitch for George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones novel has leaked online, and it contains some pretty insane differences from what the series would eventually become.
The images of the 22-year-old book pitch were leaked on to Winter is Coming, a Game of Thones fansite. The leak has since been confirmed to be authentic by HarperCollins, according to The Guardian.
The pitch starts out pretty much in line with what we know of A Song of Ice and Fire: Martin describes the struggle between the Lannisters and the Starks, the quest for the Iron Throne, the Dothraki and Daenerys overseas, and the White Walkers looming in the north. He identifies the White Walkers as the true threat of the series, implying a huge final battle with them which has clearly been where the series is headed.
Then things start getting crazy different. Originally, Arya was to be involved in a love triangle between Jon Snow and Tyrion Lannister. Tyrion falls helplessly in love with Arya, a love which is unreciprocated and which will “lead to a deadly rivalry between Tyrion and Jon Snow."
If this strikes you as pretty creepy, it totally is, with Jon being Arya’s half brother and Tyrion being in his mid 20s compared to nine-year-old Arya. And yet that still probably wouldn’t have been the weirdest thing to happen in this series.
Some other interesting differences: in this original version, Jaime Lannister becomes king by killing everyone ahead of him in the line of succession. Drogo is also a villain in Dany’s story, whereas in the final version they end up falling in love. The letter also hints at the idea that Jon isn’t really Ned’s son, but without giving us any details about his true mother. Damn you, Martin.
Finally, the letter also lists five key players who he intends to make it to the end of the series. Those characters are Tyrion Lannister, Daenerys Targaryen, Arya Stark, Bran Stark and Jon Snow. That pretty much lines up with where we are now, though implying that Bran will have a far greater importance than he currently does in the series.
There’s also a final paragraph blacked out due to spoilers, so presumably some of Martin’s future plans were seeded here. Now it’s time to endlessly speculate over what could be written there until The Winds of Winter is released (if it ever is.)
Image courtesy of Roger Wong/INFphoto.com