7 Ways Game Of Thrones' Unaired Pilot Episode Was Completely Different
2. Cersei Takes The Feather
When HBO released the Crypts of Winterfell teaser earlier this year, one of the big talking points was the re-appearance of the feather, which Robert laid on Lyanna Stark's statue way back in the very first episode. The feather is a signifier of his doomed love for her and, as such, can also be taken to represent Lyanna and Rhaegar's doomed romance too, and the result of that, Jon Snow. It also featured in Season 5, when Sansa and Littlefinger go into the Crypts, where again the topic of conversation was Lyanna and Rhaegar.
In the aired version of the first episode, we only see Ned and Robert in the Crypts. But in the original script, Cersei goes there too. And not only that, but she actually removes the feather from Lyanna's statue. The scene goes:
INT. Winterfell - Crypt - NightA long shot of Cersei in profile, wearing heavy fur over her elegant dress. She stares into one of the burial vaults. The shadows about her dance in the candlelight. Cersei: "A word with the Stark girl." The Handmaiden nods and Cersei steps forward. Cersei: "Oh... She reaches into her sleeve and pulls out the brilliantly coloured bird's feather Robert had placed on Lyanna's stone hand. Cersei hands the feather to her Handmaiden."Burn this."
There are only a few hints of the pained relationship between Robert and Cersei, which mostly comes to the fore in their brilliant scene in The Wolf and the Lion (one that didn't happen in the books, no less). It's worth saving it for that payoff, but this would've been a fascinating early insight into her place in Robert and Lyanna's relationship. There's also some symbolism in there - Cersei calls Sansa 'little dove', and becomes rather fond of burning things later on - which is interesting to think about looking back.
However, it also would've meant that Sansa wouldn't have found the feather in Season 5, nor would it then have significance to Jon. The way the feather links them and loops back round to Season 1 makes it a great motif, and it's a good character moment for Sansa too, all of which outweighs Cersei having it burned in the pilot.