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The Game of Thrones story we almost had: early letters to GRRM's editor show his plan for a trilogy ending in Jon vs Bran vs Daenerys

show me your skeleton

show me your skeleton

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JaseC64 said:
This is a very stupid question but on the books or even this draft or whatever, Tyrion isn't short? I guess I'm used to the show and I thought he was like that in the books as well? I hope I'm not saying something offensive here.
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there's no mention of his stature in the outline but it does say he's provided the first 13 chapters so perhaps it does there. granted i imagine those chapters are dramatically different considering the pace of narrative in the original plan. it also might not have been a huge thing for the sake of the outline.
i love this though, it's so fascinating to see what could have been.


edit: love how the big secret about jon's lineage is just to allow a love triangle, nothing more.
 
Kain

Kain

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But Jaime was Joffrey's father in this version? Damn he was brutal
 
SolVanderlyn

SolVanderlyn

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I guess the "dragon with three heads" referenced in the books is meant to be Jon, Dany, and Bran.

I'm sure the endgame still involves these three. I think we got the outline of Dany and Jon's relationship in the show, but Bran's story feels like it's got a lot of holes to fill. I wonder if it will still involve hating Jon or not, or what role Lady Stoneheart will play if any.
 
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Lunar Wolf

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SolVanderlyn said:
I guess the "dragon with three heads" referenced in the books is meant to be Jon, Dany, and Bran.
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Yeah, I think it means them too. Sansa, Arya and Tyrion are main characters as well but Bran, Jon and Dany felt in a different class than them because they have messianic connotations attached to their character. All 3 are chosen ones consecrated by magic.
 
RestEerie

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If Bran was planned to be king at the end, then why does his story seems so detached from the rest of westeros?
 
Modest Mauser

Modest Mauser

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I thought it was known basically forever that The War of the Five Kings was meant to be Book 1. Ned's death was supposed to be the catalyst that starts off the events of the first novel, not the climax. But the story ended up like a Mandelbrot set infinitely growing and spiraling outward until we ended up with the multiple thousands of pages of Feast and Dance where we're juggling dozens of pointless characters whose plot lines go nowhere.
 
Coyote Starrk

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Not all of his early ideas were good.


He originally had planned for Arya to fall in love with her brother Cersei style lol
 
BDS

BDS

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This has been floating around the internet for a few years, the plot outline and character development in this trilogy (lmfao) outline are so different that we can't really extrapolate anything about the real books from them.
 
exodus

exodus

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"If I know exactly where a book is going, I lose all interest in writing it."

Well, I guess that means we're not getting A Dream of Spring.
 
Landford

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These earlier drafts show even more how Martin almost lifted everything from Memory Sorrow Thorn. Even Arya is straight up a copy of Miriamelle. I am glad he changed a lot of stuff so it isn't that blatant.
 
Kirblar

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SolVanderlyn said:
I guess the "dragon with three heads" referenced in the books is meant to be Jon, Dany, and Bran.

I'm sure the endgame still involves these three. I think we got the outline of Dany and Jon's relationship in the show, but Bran's story feels like it's got a lot of holes to fill. I wonder if it will still involve hating Jon or not, or what role Lady Stoneheart will play if any.
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I'm not sure it's Bran, but it does seem likely that in the books the third dragon probably goes down at the battle of Winterfell itself, not beforehand, and has a rider. (Meera's my dark horse candidate.)
 
Man Called Aerodynamics

Man Called Aerodynamics

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Fascinating.

Jon Snow pining after Arya, blech. Lol.

Also, it's just doubly surprising how the show barely ever tried to make Bran an interesting or sympathetic character, given he was always intended to be super significant to the overall story.
 
Pau

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Somewhere, someone's fan fiction has been validated.
 
Landford

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The Gunslinger said:
When you really think about it, Bran and Jon take a bit from Simon and Prince Elias respectively
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Its even worse when you take into account the "lore" and world building. There are "Iron Men" who came to the continent with longboats and iron forged weapons, there are "first men" who warred against the children of the forest (The SithI) and then made peace, the Sithi use magic, white wood to make weapons and are deathly allergic to iron.

Plus stuff like "Hand of the King", a pyromancer advisor to the king, a noble girl disguising as a boy and using the name "Marya", Simon having a giant wolf and being called "Simon Snow", a princess that is a leader of a refugee kingdom, the best swordsman of the realm losing a hand....

Oh, there also the minor stuff, like otherworldly ice elves coming south and bringing winter and raising a undead army....

Oh shit I forgot the throne being made from the bones of the "last dragon" being defeated by the former king lol
 
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Lunar Wolf

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Sub Boss said:
Everybody falls in love with Arya
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I mean Bran has a crush on Meera Reed (who was originally supposed to be Arya) and Bran even says that Meera reminds him of Arya.

Jon makes mention of the fact that Ygritte reminds him of Arya too and they have sex.

What I gather is that Arya's brothers are going to fall in love with her when she's grown up.

No wonder she wants to stay away from Jon and Bran.
 
demondance

demondance

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Landford said:
These earlier drafts show even more how Martin almost lifted everything from Memory Sorrow Thorn. Even Arya is straight up a copy of Miriamelle. I am glad he changed a lot of stuff so it isn't that blatant.
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It's like his outline was lifting from Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, and then once he started writing he pivoted to The Accursed Kings.
 
Sub Boss

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The Gunslinger said:
I mean Bran has a crush on Meera Reed (who was originally supposed to be Arya) and Bran even says that Meera reminds him of Arya.

Jon makes mention of the fact that Ygritte reminds him of Arya too and they have sex.

What I gather is that Arya's brothers are going to fall in love with her when she's grown up.

No wonder she wants to stay away from Jon and Bran.
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I wasn't aware of this 🤢 lucky Arya she never returned to Winterfell before she became a professional killer
 
TheGhost

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Man Called Aerodynamics said:
Fascinating.

Jon Snow pining after Arya, blech. Lol.

Also, it's just doubly surprising how the show barely ever tried to make Bran an interesting or sympathetic character, given he was always intended to be super significant to the overall story.
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That's because outside of dragons D&D didn't really chase the fantasy aspects too much

(Direwolves, lady stone heart, the endless possibilities they can handle Bran and his powers)
 
Pai Pai Master

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RestEerie said:
If Bran was planned to be king at the end, then why does his story seems so detached from the rest of westeros?
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Bran has a major presence in the pilot, but in the long run he was only important there to reveal the Jaime & Cersei relationship. Overall, they cared more about the sexy & controversial stuff than like, the actual story. Bran has a solid arc & presence across the books, and he is barely a character in the show despite becoming the King of Westeros in the end.
 
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AnansiThePersona

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Sounds more like "An Aria of Ice and Fire". That's kind of hilarious that Tyrion and Jon fight over her. Like it's some kind of anime.
 

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I'm sure most beloved stories have similarly strange initial outlines. When you start fleshing out stories and characters a lot of things will change and grow as you flow with more and more ideas. I don't think there's anything to scoff at here, he ended up making all the right changes in the end.
 
Mirage

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JaseC64 said:
This is a very stupid question but on the books or even this draft or whatever, Tyrion isn't short? I guess I'm used to the show and I thought he was like that in the books as well? I hope I'm not saying something offensive here.
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Book Tyrion is actually supposed to be shorter than in the show.
 
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