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Sansa Would Not Have Left Tyrion
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Tywin Lannister Would Rule Through Joffrey
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Cersei Would Be Forced To Marry Loras Tyrell
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Arya Would Ultimately Kill Joffrey
Arguably one of Game of Thrones fans’ favorite scenes in the series is the Purple Wedding when Joffrey Baratheon, one of the show’s most hated characters, met his inevitable doom. While seeing a character die is never an enjoyable moment, the relief felt for so many characters, especially for Sansa Stark, was a welcome sight. Not to mention, it’s hard to imagine that any king or queen could be worse for Westeros compared to Joffrey.
But with every character death comes the wonder. What would have happened if Robb Stark survived and continued his rebellion? What about if Ned Stark never went looking into Robert Baratheon’s children? Would Westeros have thrived if Tommen Baratheon had survived? There are so many questions, especially wondering what would have happened if certain characters had not died. This leads to the question: how would things have played out if Joffrey never died at his wedding?
It’s a scary thought to think about such a disliked character surviving, especially since it did lead to some good things happening in Game of Thrones, but it does bring up a lot of questions. While there’s no way to say for certain exactly what would have happened if Joffrey survived, here are some events that might have happened if he hadn’t died at the Purple Wedding.
Sansa Would Not Have Left Tyrion
The first and most obvious thing that wouldn’t have happened is Sansa might never have had the chance to escape King’s Landing during the Purple Wedding. It was during the ruckus and confusion of Joffrey’s death at the wedding that Sansa escaped with the help of Dontos Hollard, more commonly known as the drunk knight that Joffrey made a jester. It was this event that truly led Sansa to grow into the Queen in the North that she later became.
Had Sansa never escaped, she would have remained with Tyrion, who would have never been accused of the murder of his nephew. Although, that doesn’t mean Tyrion would be any safer since Joffrey had it out for him. Perhaps the couple would have stayed in King’s Landing under the scrutiny of Joffrey, or, as a more desirable option, they might have made it to Winterfell and the Lannisters would rule it through Tyrion.
Tywin Lannister Would Rule Through Joffrey
Another obvious scenario is that Joffrey would remain king. While Joffrey made many bad decisions during his time as king, a lot of the kingdom’s big decisions and tactics were decided by Tywin Lannister, Joffrey’s grandfather, and Hand of the King. Although Tywin could be cruel in his own way, he truly was doing everything in his power to control Joffrey and clean up the messes he was making in Westeros.
Tywin was a skilled battle strategist. Not only that, but he knew how to rule a kingdom, which made him a great Hand to Joffrey (no wonder Tyrion was also such a good Hand while temporarily appointed). Under his leadership and advice, it’s likely Tywin would have been able to deal with all the other lords trying to claim the Iron Throne, clean up Westeros, and create a more stable kingdom.
Although Tywin would be ruling as Hand of the King, this doesn’t eliminate the ambition that Margaery would have had as queen to Joffrey. She knew how to control Joffrey to some extent, could handle Cersei, and truly wanted to be a good and loved queen. It’s possible that she would have been able to rule harmoniously with Tywin as Hand, or perhaps the two would have conflicted.
Cersei Would Be Forced To Marry Loras Tyrell
Although Tywin would be ruling the seven kingdoms through Joffrey, this doesn’t mean he would be ignoring his family responsibilities. And after Robert Baratheon’s death, Cersei once again became Tywin’s responsibility. In this case, that meant making a marriage arrangement with the Tyrells for Cersei to marry Loras Tyrell, Margaery Tyrell’s brother. This would certainly be a good match, securing their family alliances through both Cersei and Loras and Joffrey and Margaery.
Although Cersei was engaged to Loras before Joffrey’s death, the wedding never saw the light of day. Cersei refused the marriage. However, if Joffrey had survived, there’s a higher chance that Cersei would have continued to obey her father, leading to her marriage to Loras. Once married, the newlywed couple would probably reside in High Garden, away from King’s Landing where Cersei could no longer have an influence.
Arya Would Ultimately Kill Joffrey
Even if Joffrey had survived the Purple Wedding, he still would have died one day, whether through an assassination or by old age. And unfortunately in his case, since he was such a cruel and hated king, Joffrey’s chances of reaching old age were minimal.
There were plenty who wanted Joffrey dead, although not all were courageous enough to act on their desire. However, Arya Stark became a trained assassin to specifically kill people who had wronged her and the Starks, and Joffrey was one of the first people added to her kill list. Of course, by the time she became skilled enough to kill those on her list, Joffrey was already dead. But if he had survived, there’s a large chance that Arya would have been the one to ultimately kill Joffrey.
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