7 Ways Game Of Thrones' Unaired Pilot Episode Was Completely Different

5. The Tension Between Ned & Jaime

Ned and Jaime have a clear dislike for each other - with goes back to the days of Robert's Rebellion - and that rears its head at the feast, when Jaime intercepts Ned to ask him about being offered the position of Hand of the King. In both versions of the pilot, Jaime mentions having a tournament in Ned's name, to which Lord Stark replies: "I don't fight in tournaments because when I fight a man for real, I don't want him to know what I can do."

In the aired pilot, Jaime simply responds "Well said." In the original script, though, he goes much further in needling Ned:

Jaime: "Though of course, we all know the court hasn’t been kind to Stark men. Your father and brother. Yes, I was a witness to that tragedy."Ned: "I know you were."Jaime: "I suppose it's some consolation that justice finally came to their killer."Ned: "Was it justice you were thinking of when you shoved your sword in the Mad King's back?" Jaime: "It was his kidneys I was thinking of. His liver and spleen."

Ned eventually leaves, with Tyrion revealing to his brother that he'd been privy to the conversation, adding: "If it came down to it, big brother, I’d bet on you - but I wouldn’t bet much."

It's another scene that isn't exactly crucial - it doesn't achieve too much more than the abridged version - but it does lay the groundwork for the story of what happened to Ned's father and brother, and more so than that the eventual clash we'd get between Ned and Jaime in the fifth episode. Still, one of the supposed problems with the original was the sheer amount of exposition, so cutting this does make sense in that context.