A deleted scene of Tywin Lannister from Game of Thrones season 3 perfectly teased the events of the infamous Red Wedding. Along with the Battle of the Bastards, Oberyn and The Mountain’s duel, Ned Stark’s death, and Arya killing the Night King, season 3’s the Red Wedding is one of Game of Thrones’ most unforgettable moments. The event establishes a surprising, momentous shift in power and betrayals for the show’s main characters, all orchestrated by Walder Frey, Tywin Lannister, and Roose Bolton against the Starks and Tullys. However, despite remaining one of the show's most shocking scenes, the events of the Red Wedding were actually hinted at in a previously deleted scene.
Game of Thrones is a master at foreshadowing, with many of the most important moments later on having been hinted at back in the first season. One of the best examples of Game of Thrones’ season 1 foreshadowing deals with Tywin Lannister himself in his very first scene. In a Lannister tent, Tywin is seen skinning a stag, the sigil of House Baratheon. Robert Baratheon would be killed by Cersei Lannister, Renly Baratheon would be killed by Stannis, and Stannis Baratheon would die facing Lannister allies. While this scene would tease one of the Lannisters’ early wins, a deleted season 3 scene would foreshadow the family’s greatest and most shocking victory in The War of the Five Kings.
One such significant Game of Thrones deleted scene from season 3 shows Tywin Lannister fishing outside of King’s Landing, with Maester Pycelle attempting to talk strategy and his loyalty to House Lannister. It’s a seemingly unusual scene for Game of Thrones, in that it shows Tywin leisurely fishing and passively talking politics, but it has far more significance for season 3’s shocking Red Wedding. Tywin is uncharacteristically shown catching fish in the scene – which are featured on the sigil of House Tully, who happen to be the main victims of the Red Wedding. Additionally, before the scene ends, Tywin hands Pycelle the basket of fish and tells him to take them to the kitchen so he can “have them for supper.” When the Starks and Tullys are massacred at the Red Wedding, they’re all sitting down for supper, further signifying the connection between Tywin's seemingly innocent activity and the slayings.
Tywin arguably played the proverbial game of thrones best until his son Tyrion became his greatest match, which raises the question of how differently the betrayals and alliances of Game of Thrones’ series would have played out if Tywin had lived. While the deleted scene is a great example of Game of Thrones’ foreshadowing, it’s a better illustration of how dangerously calm, calculated, and all-knowing Tywin Lannister was. Considering how many layers of plot and character development are included in the short scene, it’s surprising Game of Thrones decided to cut it from the season. This also wouldn’t be the last time that Game of Thrones’s Tywin symbolically celebrated a victory through the sigil of his enemies, with a season 4 scene showing him burn the direwolf pelt that served as the sheath for Ned Stark’s sword Ice.
The deleted scene also gives a perfect demonstration of Pycelle and Tywin’s character tactics in their desires for power - Pycelle acts like a bumbling idiot until Tywin frankly tells him to stop. He immediately does so, knowing that Tywin understands when people are putting on a pathetic performance and there’s no point in trying to pretend. Before his death in season 4, Tywin Lannister was a force that not many could outwit or outplay, while demanding respect and eliciting fear even when nonchalantly reeling in fish. While Tywin may not have been the main mastermind behind the Red Wedding, Game of Thrones’ deleted scene hints he always had a strategic hand in many of the show’s most significant events.