Worse Gets Worst – Game of Thrones’ Original Plan Was To Pair Jon Snow With Arya Stark
Game of Thrones was revered by every pop-culture enthusiast in the world as one of the greatest TV Shows of all time. The last season of the show ruined it all, no thanks to the fact that the final season looked utterly rushed and gave an abrupt ending to some of our most fan-favourite characters. One such character – Jon Snow, got the bitter end of the stick when he was paired with Daenerys Targaryen, Mother of Dragons and Breaker of Chains, of House Targaryen. Despite being shipped way before the last season’s first episode premiered, the revelation that Jon Snow was actually the biological nephew of Daenerys Targaryen made many of us cringe every time both of them ended up in a room together. Jon Snow got a lot of flak for that. But the show’s creators’ original plans for Snow were even worse. Presenting – Worse gets worst – Game of Thrones’ Original Plan was to pair Jon Snow with Arya Stark!!
The entire seventh season of the show revealed there was some glaring sexual friction between the two. Daenerys wanted Snow and Snow equally was intrigued enough to bed her. The tension between them was thick enough to be cut with a knife. Although it did welcome a lot of backlash, the Jon Snow-Daenerys Targaryen joining forces (literally and metaphorically) was a long time coming. Both Jon and Dany had bitter ends to their journey. Jon Snow saw the love of her life turn into a tyrant, with aims of subjugating the entire world and making everyone bend the knee to her. Dany was killed by Jon Snow so that she does not turn into the very thing she started the fight to stop in the first place. Jon ended up traveling into the lands beyond the wall as the new Wildling King. Neither Jon nor Dany deserved such a short end of the stick.
Such is fate.
But what if Jon Snow’s fate had something even more sinister in play? What if Jon was secretly about to be shipped with not Dany but another (more immediate) relative? What if we told you that the original plan was not for Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen but Jon Snow and Arya Stark!!!
George R.R Martin’s original draft for A Song of Ice and Fire hinted at just that. Jon Snow and Arya Stark were supposed to develop such a strong bond with each other that it went way beyond the purviews of traditional sibling relationships. None of them would actually admit their secret love for each other. What George R.R Martin wanted was the eventual reveal of Jon Snow’s true heritage as a Targaryen and him not being the child of Ned Stark would pave the way for a forbidden romance between Arya Stark and Jon Snow. Technically it would not have counted as incest anymore.
What is even worse is that this vision might still see the light of day. George R.R Martin has revealed that he is about to write two more installments to the legendary series. The revelation about the true plans of George R.R Martin are debilitating and petrifying at the same time.
The element of family would surely come into play. Jon Snow and Arya Stark were raised together as half siblings. Provided they still have feelings for each other, they would consider it taboo to take it any forward given social norms. Jon Snow’s parentage would be the necessary monkey wrench. But will the audience be able to accept this fact? All their lives, Jon Snow and Arya Stark have been seen as siblings. Will the fans accept them suddenly changing course and becoming lovers? Also there is the actual age difference between Maisie Williams (who plays Arya Stark in the show) and Kit Harrington (who plays Jon Snow) – 10 years. In the books, it is just 5 years. The scene of Kit Harrington and Maisie Williams getting down and dirty in the live action adaptation would have been unwittingly uncomfortable for many.
So it looks like this idea of George R.R Martin’s is only good for the books. The audiences will never accept it. The readers might.
