Considering Tyrion’s Season 8 Episode 4 speech to Cersei in context
*Spoiler Alert*
Most of the last several seasons of Game of Thrones has been occupied by Benioff and Weiss turning Tyrion Lannister from an incredibly strategic and entertaining drunk into an incredibly stupid and annoying teetotaler.
Let’s face it, since he joined forces with Daenerys, he has come up with or supported some of the most absurd and doomed plans in the history of Westeros (does anyone else, for instance, remember that time when Tyrion insisted that they split their forces so they could take Casterly Rock back from Cersei?).
During episode 4, many lovers of Tyrion were given new hope when the self-proclaimed imp uttered the following words to Cersei:
“You’ve always loved your children more than yourself. More than Jaime. More than anything. I beg you if not for yourself then for your child. Your reign is over, but that doesn’t mean your life has to end. It doesn’t mean your baby has to die.”
In particular, people noticed these words:
“It doesn’t mean your baby has to die”
The theory goes something like this, Tyrion, by mentioning that he knew about the child, was signaling to Euron that Cersei’s baby wasn’t his.
Only one small problem with that theory…Tyrion had no way of knowing that Cersei had literally just told Euron that she was with child (as in like five minutes before this scene happened). In fact, as far as we know, Cersei has never admitted to anyone that she and Euron are an item at all.
It is 100% likely that Cersei is trying to finally legitimize her offspring through “joining forces” with Euron (especially given that her line was often openly questioned during the pre and post-Robert Baratheon period) but she hasn’t announced it yet.
*** for anyone fact-checking, I wrote about how this would go down a few weeks ago ***
It is very possible that Tyrion may have queered things between Cersei and Euron but very unlikely that Tyrion KNEW that was what he was doing. It is theoretically possible that Tyrion magically inferred that Cersei was plying Euron with promises of royal offspring (giving him a claim to the crown of all of Westeros) but he had ZERO way of knowing either that Cersei had already consummated the relationship or that she had informed Euron that the child was his.
Plus, as I noted in my recap this week, this entire scenario was ludicrous in the first place. Why?
- Euron had already proven, through the naval battle, that the large Scorpions could kill Daenerys’ dragons and Daenerys has ONE left (Drogon). Notice the castle has gigantic scorpions on every battlement and Drogon was placed out of range of them during this scene?
- Cersei has spent her entire life trying to kill Tyrion. She only chose to let him live after their meeting in Kings Landing because she needed him to go back and convince Daenerys that she had a reason to want the White Walkers destroyed (the reason was her pregnancy). Tyron’s gullibility was the central element in her plot. And by the way, she just sent Bron to kill Tyrion too.
- Tyrion marches up to the fully manned walls of Kings Landing representing a force of what looks like it is less than 1000 unsullied strong.
So, why in the world did Cersei not just kill Tyrion, kill Missendei, and then proceed to kill the unsullied and Daenerys? If Drogon wanted to get involved, who cares, they had at least 20 Scorpions protecting themselves from Drogon?
I was frankly shocked that Qyburn didn’t just fall on the ground laughing when Tyrion ordered Cersei’s surrender.
- Cersei probably has more gold cloaks than Daenerys had forces standing outside of King’s Landing in that last scene.
- Cersei probably has more archers than Daenerys had forces standing outside of King’s Landing in that last scene.
- Cersei certainly has more Golden Company members than Daenerys had forces standing outside of King’s Landing in that last scene.
Do Benioff and Weiss truly not understand that they would need like 100,000 troops to lay siege to a city of that size with that kind of protection?
Anyway, the idea that Tyrion would walk up to Cersei and survive, much less threaten her future before she ordered her archers to cut him down where he stood is insane. ALL SHE CARES ABOUT IS THE CONTINUATION AND LEGITIMACY OF HERSELF AND HER LINE.
Even if you fully believe that Tyrion fully intended to destroy the alliance between Cersei and Euron please explain why in the world Cersei would stand there and let him do it? If anyone in the world understands the trouble that Tyrion can cause using only his words it is Cersei Lannister.
One other problem with this theory, why in the world would Euron care?
Does he seem like a particularly principled character or someone who would die from the shame of being lied to?
What he wants is what she wants, legitimacy for his claim to the throne of Westeros. Knowing that the child is yours is not as important as knowing that Cersei is equally invested in representing that the child is yours. Yes, in the past these questions haunted Cersei, but Tommen and Joffrey were still crowned kings.
Look, Tyrion has always been my favorite character, nobody would love to see him start being smart again more than me. But, at the end of the day, while it might very well be true that Tyrion unwittingly tipped Euron off it would be pretty hard to conclude that he did it on purpose.
Oh, also, it is really hard to hit a moving target from the deck of a ship without computer guidance. In Game of Thrones lore a few Dragons have died from being shot in the eye but Dragon scales are “stronger than steel” in the books.
I never put anything beyond Benioff and Weiss, but this seems like a stretch to me.
Josh is a 100% reader-funded blogger and freelance writer. Please consider following him on Twitter, throwing a tip into his hat on Patreon, or adding his blog OnPirateSatellite to your feeds. He is also the host of the Decarceration Nation Podcast.
