'Game of Thrones' Almost Featured Love Triangle Between Arya Stark, Jon Snow, and Tyrion Lannister

If you think of Game of Thrones and the first word that comes to mind is “incest,” we definitely don’t consider you a total weirdo. With an insectuous relationship between central characters Jaime and Cersei Lannister, not to mention the huge Season 7 reveal that lovers Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen are actually related, the world of Westeros has proven to be a bit twisted over the years. And apparently, author George RR Martin’s original ideas included another questionable romance.

The first book in Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, which inspired the HBO show, was published back in 1996, and his pitch from 1993 proves a whole lot of revising was done between the three years. One majorly strange part of it included Jon Snow and Arya Stark falling in love. While the reveal of Jon’s true parentage last season proves the two aren’t actually half-siblings, but rather cousins, it still doesn’t excuse the fact that they were raised as brother and sister.

According to Business Insider, an excerpt from Martin’s old outline is as follows:

“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.”

Though Martin knew Jon’s true parentage all along, it still would’ve made no sense for him and Arya to be together, especially not for us after we’ve seen seven seasons of the show. For one, their age difference is pretty big, plus it’s hard imagining Arya interested in anything other than being a master assassin. But as bad as this relationship sounds, Martin’s original pitch actually went further with it.

Tyrion Lannister was then supposed to fall in love with Arya as well, creating a very unlikely love triangle between the three. "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," Martin's outline reads. "His passion is, alas, unreciprocated, but no less intense for that, and it will lead to a deadly rivalry between Tyrion and Jon Snow."

The only thing we can say about that is that we’re glad none of it ever happened. But in any case, we’ll see Arya, Jon, and Tyrion on TV for one last time when Game of Thrones returns on April 14. As for Martin’s series, it unfortunately doesn’t appear there’s a release date for the next book, The Winds of Winter, in sight.

This article also appears on Mental Floss.