Game of Thrones writer reveals original plans for Jorah Mormont in major diversion from final series
SER Jorah Mormont’s unwavering loyalty to Daenerys Targaryen won over the hearts of countless Game of Thrones viewers.
The chivalrous knight bent over backwards to prove his loyalty to the Mother of Dragons after his role in filing intelligence reports on her was exposed and he was promptly banished.
At the Battle of Winterfell he made the ultimate sacrifice by laying down his life to protect Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) from the dreaded White Walkers.
However, screenwriter Dave Hill, who penned the season 8 premiere and contributed to the HBO fantasy drama from series 5 onwards, revealed that Jorah (Iain Glen) was originally destined for a very different fate.
Writers had originally wanted Jorah to be present at The Wall when the likes of Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Tormund (Kristofer Hivju) venture north in the show's final moments.
“For a long time we wanted Ser Jorah to be there at The Wall in the end,” Hill admitted to Entertainment Weekly.
“The three coming out of the tunnel would be Jon and Jorah and Tormund.”
That certainly would have been an epic trio, but ultimately the plan proved to be unfeasible.
“The amount of logic we’d have to bend to get Jorah up to The Wall and get him to leave Dany’s side right before [the events in the finale]… there’s no way to do that blithely,” he confessed.
However, Glen claimed that everything worked out for the best.
He stressed that Jorah dying in Winterfell meant that he was able to cling onto his idealised view of Daenerys until the very end.
Fans will remember how Daenerys ended up descending into bloodlust during her attack on King’s Landing, ignoring the city’s call for surrender and burning it to the ground.
Jon Snow was so appalled by what he saw that he ended up murdering Daenerys for the good of the Seven Kingdoms.
No doubt Jorah would’ve been equally devastated to see the scenes of carnage Daenerys orchestrated..
“There’s a sweetness in that because Jorah will never know what she did,” Glen conceded.
“It’s a blessing for him that he never found out what happened to her.
“And from a pragmatic story point of view, his death served a greater purpose. Where could we have taken Jorah from there?”
The comments come after Kristofer Hivju, who played Tormund on the HBO fantasy drama, spoke out about what came next for Jon Snow after the finale episode.
Elsewhere, author George RR Martin claimed Daenerys was never immune to fire in a dragon eggs twist.