11. What If Doran Martell's Gout Hadn't Flared Up?
HBOGout isn't a particularly nasty disease, but it's enough to prevent travelling to a wedding several hundred miles away, as was the case with Doran Martell. The Lannisters were expecting the first son of Dorne, but Doran sent his brother Oberyn in his stead, who then met an unfortunate demise by the grizzled hands of Ser Gregor Clegane. But what if Doran Martell's gout hadn't flared up? Had his joints not have been so swollen, Doran would have attended the wedding, then leaving Tyrion Lannister without a champion to fight The Mountain. Past that initial detail, the consequences are not so clear. Maybe Tyrion would have died a gruesome death himself, perhaps Varys and Jaime would have sprung him earlier to prevent this impending doom, leading to him to confront his father on a night when he wasn't sleeping with Shae, therefore sparing Tywin from the sharp end of a crossbow bolt.