Tyrion Lannister has one of the best stories in Game of Thronesbut it could have been very different based on George RR Martin’s original ideas. Tyrion is one of the characters who survived from the beginning to the end of Game of Thrones. Few have typified the show’s title better, as Tyrion’s journey has taken him from King’s Landing to Meereen and all the way back, serving as Hand of the King/Queen to no less than three different monarchs and being a true lover of the game.
That, at least, was true all along in Martin’s vision for the character. As early as 1993, he described it as “playing the game of thrones”, and continued until Game of Thrones’ final, where Tyrion was the one who came up with the idea of Bran Stark becoming the new king. There’s a good reason he’s become a fan favorite: he’s one of the funniest and smartest characters, and he has several of the Game of Thrones‘best quotes. But that might not have been the case if plans hadn’t changed.
Tyrion’s Backstory in GRRM’s Original Plan Explained
What happened and why Martin changed his plans
Tyrion is a complicated character in Game of Thronesbut it was even more similar to Martin’s original story structure that he had planned for the A Song of Ice and Fire books. In 1993, he imagined the saga as a trilogy:
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The first book, A Game of Throneswould focus on the Starks against the Lannisters.
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The second, A dance with dragonsit would be Daenerys Targaryen’s invasion of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros.
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The third, The winds of winterit would be the fight against the White Walkers.
Most of the story of Tyrion’s plan comes from the first book, which was the most developed at that time. Tyrion was a key player for the Lannisters who, as in Game of Thrones season 1, were at war with the Starks. Joffrey became king, Ned was killed, but Tyrion was an influential part of the process, including the fight against Robb Stark, as Martin wrote:
“Robb will win many splendid victories and maim Joffrey Baratheon on the battlefield, but in the end he will not be able to face Jaime and Tyrion Lannister and their allies. Robb Stark will die in battle and Tyrion Lannister will besiege and burn Winterfell.”
While him burning down Winterfell is a huge departure from the Tyrion fans know and love, he has returned to the side of good. Eventually, he would kill his nephew, Joffrey, because of the king’s brutality. He was also noted to have become close to Sansa and Arya Stark while “becoming increasingly disenchanted” with the Lannisters. This in itself would cause its own problems, including the most surprising love triangle in the saga:
“Tyrion Lannister will continue to travel, plot, and play the game of thrones, finally alienating his nephew Joffrey. disgusted by the brutality of the boy king. 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 switch sides, making common cause with the surviving Starks to overthrow his brother, and falling madly in love with Arya Stark while he’s at it. Their passion is, unfortunately, unrequited, but no less intense for that, and it will lead to a deadly rivalry between Tyrion and Jon Snow.”
Yes, Tyrion and Jon Snow would be rivals… for Arya’s affections. It’s a wild twist that obviously didn’t appear in the books or the TV show, and that’s almost certainly a good thing, even if Martin hasn’t completely left the incest behind. However, the author is not someone who plans too far in advance, preferring to see where the story takes him as he writes. The saga itself has grown from three novels to five (with two more planned) and with that its original ideas have developed, changed or been left behind.
How Game Of Thrones Kept Parts Of Tyrion’s Original Story
The finished version contains some elements
Tyrion’s A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones It doesn’t contain him destroying the Stark family home or falling in love with Arya, but otherwise much of the plot loosely aligns with the character. In fact, some things were apparently kept and tweaked, or at least were ideas that Martin later revisited:
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Tyrion being disenchanted with his own family is a key part of his character, especially his relationships with Tywin, Cersei, and Joffrey.
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Tyrion is friends with several Starks, and although he doesn’t fall in love with Arya, he does marry Sansa.
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Tyrion didn’t kill Joffrey, but he was blamed for the king’s murder.
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Tyrion fled into exile across the narrow sea rather than be killed as punished for Joffrey’s death.
The fact that the outline has a slightly darker version of Tyrion also fits in with the books, if not Game of Thrones. In the novels, Tyrion is increasingly becoming a character consumed by his own hatred and desire for revenge against his family, and his point-of-view chapters, while fascinating, are not always enjoyable. The show sanitized him a bit, probably because he was such a popular character, and they didn’t want to turn the audience against him, but the roots of that darker Tyrion can be seen in Martin’s plans.