Game 0f Thrones is one of the most expensive shows on television. It's not cheap to put dire wolves, dragons, and armies of zombie monsters in front of the screen, yet the producers of Game of Thrones have managed to bring all of those fantasy creatures to life on a relatively strict budget. The producers of Game of Thrones always adhere closely to the documents and plans made during pre-production, as the budget issues are such that things can't be changed when the cameras have already started rolling.

A lot of work goes into creating the concept art and storyboards for Game of Thrones, as so much of the production relies on them. The series is set in a fantasy world where everything needs to be created from scratch, which means that banners, clothes, suits of armor, and even jewelry needs to be made from scratch in order to reflect the various institutions and noble houses of Westeros.

There have been times when the concept art of Game of Thrones has been ignored by the people in charge. The reasons for this are usually related to the artists, who have grand visions that cannot be realistically made on screen, while other pieces of concept art would simply be too dangerous or too difficult to replicate on the screen.

We are here today to look at the Game of Thrones concept art that paints a more awesome picture than what appeared on the screen - from Jon Snow slipping beneath the depths to Wun Wun's unusual improvised flail.

Here are the 20 Unused Game Of Thrones Concept Art Designs Better Than What We Got!

We Would See Jon Snow Beneath the Ice

In "Beyond the Wall", Jon Snow leads a group of warriors north of the Wall in order to capture a wight. This results in a battle with the White Walkers and Daenerys arriving with her dragons to save the day. Jon Snow taken by wights and dragged beneath the water beneath the icy ground. When Daenerys and her dragons depart, he climbs back out again.

The concept art for this scene shows Jon Snow sinking beneath the waves, giving us a view of the water below the ice.

This scene was likely skipped due to the logistics of filming Kit Harrington underwater while dressed in full winter gear.

The Kingsmoot Would Have Included The Bones Of Nagga's Hill

In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, the kingsmoot ceremony was held on Nagga's Hill, which is named after a set of massive structures that resemble the rib cage of some colossal creature that perished long ago. The kingsmoot is held in sight of these bones.

The bones of Nagga were intended to appear in Game of Thrones, as they appear in concept art for season six. This plan was scrapped and the kingsmoot was held on a generic looking island. Nagga's Hill was likely scrapped due to the fact that the producers would either have had to build a huge set that was used for a single scene or add it in later with CGI. It seems that they decided to use a more generic setting for the kingsmoot in order to save money.

The Children Of The Forest Would Have Been Made Of Wood

The Season Four finale of Game of Thrones was tricky for the costume designers, as they had to come up with a temporary design for the Children of the Forest and the Three-Eyed Raven, as they weren't going to be featured in the next season. When they returned in season six, both the Children and the Raven had different designs.

The Children of the Forest were originally going to have a drastically different design. The original intention for their skin to have a wood-like quality and for them to not wear clothes, making them seem more like a nature spirit. When the Children of the Forest returned in season six, they had a grey tint to their skin and wore clothes that were made from tree roots.

A Boat With A Ram Would Have Been Used During The Battle Of Blackwater Bay

When Stannis Baratheon's army attacked King's Landing, they focused their attack on the Mud Gate in order to gain access to King's Landing. They attempted to breach the Mud Gate using a battering ram, but they were repelled by a combined Lannister/Tyrell force. The Battle of the Blackwater was an incredible accomplishment in terms of putting a large scale battle on the small screen. The producers still had to cheat in order to make things feasible, such as filming large parts of the battle in the dark, which is a common tactic when hiding ropy looking props or CGI.

We were originally going to see the boat that carried the battering ram from the front as it hit the beach.

The show obscured this shot (with many of the beach landings) by filming the boat in the dark.

The White Walkers Would Have Dual-Wielded Swords

The design of the White Walkers changed several different times throughout the production of Game of Thrones. They originally appeared to be roughly hewn from black ice, but this version was only seen in shadows. We were finally given a glimpse of a White Walker during the season two finale and this design was later altered so that they wore black armor into battle.

The original concept art for the White Walker made them look almost as if they were Vikings - they wore scale mail armor and used two swords in combat, which appeared to be made from solid ice and were partially transparent as a result.

Cersei Had A Sorceress Outfit

The outfits worn by Cersei during the first season of Game of Thrones were designed in such a way that they could hide the fact that Lena Headey was pregnant during the production of the show. This is the reason why so many of her outfits had huge sleeves, as she could cross her arms in front of her body and the sleeves would hide her abdomen.One of the costume designs for Cersei that went unused was a blue dress that was wrapped in a long silver cloak.

The purpose of this outfit was to give Cersei an armored look, which suggests that she would have worn it during the later episodes of season one.

The vibrant blue and silver of the outfit would have made look Cersei look like a sorceress, which may be why it was never used.

The Giants Would Have Worn Armor

The giants in the A Song of Ice and Fire novels are similar to apes or yetis in that they are covered in fur. The fur covering their body is so thick that they don't need to wear clothes and their strength is such that they only require a simple club to be able to crush a regular-sized man in battle.

The giants in Game of Thrones are similar to the wildlings in that they were furs made from the skin of animals which are sewn together to form clothes. In the concept art for the wildling siege of Castle Black shows the giants wearing split mail armor and carrying shields in battle. It seems that these giants would have been better prepared for the battle ahead.

Harrenhal Looked Totally Different

Harrenhal was once the biggest castle in Westeros. It didn't hold that title for long, as Aegon Targaryen melted the castle and its rulers with dragon fire. Harrenhal is visited a few times in the A Song of Ice and Fire novels and in Game of Thrones, but the description of the castle is vague enough to have given the producers some legroom when it came to designing it.

The version of Harrenhal from the books is almost impossibly large, so there was no pressure to accurately recreate it on the screen.

The original design for Harrenhal was a single huge castle with a top floor that had been melted away. The version of Harrenhal that appeared in the show consisted of several towers that were in various stages of decline, which were placed over a much wider area.

Dragonstone Would Have Had Statues Of Dragons

Dragonstone is the name of both an island and a castle. It was first used by the original three Targaryens who invaded Westeros as a landing point. When the Targaryen conquest was successful, the seat of power moved to King's Landing, though Dragonstone still remained the seat of the heir of the kingdom. In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, it's said that Dragonstone was built using Valyrian sorcery, which is why it is adorned with ornate statues of dragons.

We were originally meant to see the entrance to Dragonstone castle during the second season of Game of Thrones. This never showed up in the show, as there wasn't any real need to include a scene showing the entrance to Dragonstone at that point in time. A lot more care was given to the Dragonstone sets in season seven, as Daenerys uses the castle as her entry point to Westeros. The gateway to the castle now had two statues of giant dragon heads in front of the gates.

The Dragonpit Would Have Been More Impressive

The dragons that were once owned by the Targaryens were kept in a huge structure known as the Dragonpit. The Dragonpit (and several of the remaining dragons) were destroyed during the Dance of the Dragons. The fact that the dragons were soon gone from the world meant that there was no reason to rebuild it. The final of season seven of Game of Thrones involves a huge meeting between the leaders of all of the remaining factions in Westeros, which takes place in the ruins of the Dragonpit.

The Dragonpit was originally meant to be in a more complete state, with much of the structure giving us a glimpse of how it looked in the past.

The version of the Dragonpit that appeared in the show was far less impressive and in a more ruined state.

The Throne Room Of Pyke Would Have Been Far More Impressive

The various noble houses on the Iron Islands are far more fleshed out in the A Song of Ice and Fire novels. We learn more about their customs and how they managed to keep on reaving even though it had been outlawed for so long. The Ironborn storyline is far less important in Game of Thrones and has reached a point where it no longer resembles the storyline from the books.

The original seat of the King of the Iron Islands was the castle of Pyke. Theon meets his father in a rather drab looking chamber that only has a single icon of a Kraken built above the fireplace to associate it with the Ironborn. The room in which Theon met his father was originally going to be far more regal, with decorated columns and tapestries on the wall, and a long table before the throne.

Dragonstone Would Have Had A Colossal Statue Of A Dragon

Dragonstone castle is adorned with small statues of dragons, which are meant to give the place a foreboding atmosphere. There are those who spent many years on Dragonstone who still feel uneasy when walking beneath the shadows of the many draconic gargoyles that live there.

It seems that there was going to be an even bigger shadow cast over the castle of Dragonstone, as some of the early concept art depicts a giant statue of a dragon that towers over the fortress, one that is so huge that a waterfall ran down its snout and into the Blackwater Bay.

This design was likely scrapped due to the cost of trying to recreate it and the fact that it made the castle of Dragonstone look like a heavy metal album cover.

The Eyrie Was Going To Have A Cable Car

The Eyrie might be the most difficult castle to lay siege to in Westeros, due to the fact that any invader would have to pass through narrow mountain trails while leaving themselves open to attacks from those within the castle.

We see the treacherous path up to the Eyrie during one of Catelyn Stark's chapters in A Game of Thrones, where even experienced guides need to be careful when ascending up the mountain. These measures would be defenceless against someone riding a dragon, but a regular army would suffer countless losses trying to take the Eyrie. Game of Thrones was going to introduce an easier method for reaching the Eyire and that's a cable car. A huge armored carriage would be pulled over to the top of the Eyrie, allowing guests to bypass the defences.

Coldhands Would Have Looked Like One Of The Nazgul

Coldhands is one of the most mysterious characters in the A Song of Ice and Fire novel series. Bran and his companions encounter Coldhands when they arrive north of The Wall and he guides them to their destination. Coldhands did not guide Bran and his friends in the show, leading many fans to believe that he had been removed as part of the adaptation process. Coldhands would eventually debut in season six, where it was revealed that he was actually Benjen Stark.

The version of Coldhands that appears in the show looks just like a regular Night's Watch soldier, while the concept art for the character makes him look like one of the Nazgul from The Lord of the Rings.

 This prototype version of Coldhands is armored and his face is more obscured, giving him a more distinct appearance than he has in the show.

Jamie Would Have Seen The Remnants Of His Army Beneath The Water

When Daenerys Targaryen decimates the combined Lannister/Tarly army, Jamie decides to sacrifice his life with a suicidal charge against her. Bronn manages to pull Jamie into a nearby body of water before he is toasted by Drogon, which leaves Jamie sinking to the bottom due to the weight of his armor.

We don't see much of Jamie's descent into the water, as Bronn manages to carry him to a safe place. This led to a lot of fan complaints about how the body of water didn't make sense and how Bronn would have needed to chug the Super Soldier Serum in order to be able to drag a fully grown man wearing a suit of plate mail up from the depths. We were originally going to see Jamie floating past the remains of his army in the water, which mostly consisted of soldiers who had sunk to the bottom due to the weight of their armor and were slowly losing oxygen.

The White Walkers Almost Had Square Faces

The White Walkers were only shown through silhouette during the first season of Game of Thrones, which meant that the concept artists didn't have to worry too much about coming up with a final design, as it would likely be retconned anyway.

One of the most bizarre pieces of White Walker concept shows one of them wearing a strange helmet that makes it look like one of the Titans from Attack on Titan. 

It's also possible that the White Walker isn't wearing a helmet and just has a really square head, or that it's Thanos wearing a really poor disguise. The White Walker's original armor design is also lighter in tone and consists of lots of different plates.

Nagga's Hill Was Almost A Ruined Building

We mentioned earlier that there was an unused design for Nagga's Hill that would show it from a distance while the kingsmoot was being held in the shadow of the massive bones. There is another unused piece of concept art for Nagga's Hill that would have shown the bones being used as the foundation for a building that has long since been destroyed by battle or eroded away by time.

This idea was likely scrapped for the same reason as the other idea for Nagga's Hill - it would have been too expensive to create for a single scene and the budget couldn't stretch far enough to accommodate it.

The Dragons Almost Looked More Like Lizards

It's not fair to judge how realistic the dragons should be in Game of Thrones, as we have no real-life dragons to compare them too. The baby dragons existed at a time when the future of Game of Thrones was still uncertain, which meant that the budget wasn't there to allow them to appear very often. This also meant that the designs were a lot more basic than their adult forms.

The early designs for the three dragons actually bore more of a resemblance to regular lizards than mystical serpents.

It seems that their designs were altered in order to make them cuter and more bankable in terms of selling merchandise, which was why this more realistic design may have been scrapped.

 Wun Wun Would Have Used A Horse Like A Flail

Battle of the Bastards concept art

The Battle of the Bastards contains some of the most violent moments in the history of Game of Thrones. We see Jon Snow rushing from one encounter to the next, in a manner that makes the audience feel as if they are caught up in the chaos of battle.

Jon Snow had a huge asset in Wun Wun, but he's expensive to shoot so we don't see him doing much until the battle is over. The original intention was for Wun Wun to pick up a horse by its leg and swing it around like a flail in order to strike the Bolton army.This scene was likely scrapped due to how violent it would have been to have seen a horse being used to flatten people.

The wildlings refer to themselves as the "Free Folk", yet they have the most uniform look of any group in Westeros. All of the wildlings we see are dressed in the same fur outfits, which is a necessity due to the harsh climate that they normally reside in.

The wildlings the in A Song of Ice and Fire novels are a much more diverse group, which was originally going to be reflected in Ygritte's outfit.Ygritte was originally intended to wear an outfit that had pictures of animals from north of The Wall drawn on them. This would have made her stand out more from the other wildlings on  the show, but she was given the same grey and brown furs as everyone else.

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What do you think of these pieces of unused concept art? Would you have prefered to see any of them on Game of Thrones? Let us know in the comments!