Tyrion’s Ending Unfinished? (And how it could link with Jon Snow’s)
I was talking with @esther-dot about what way events are going to play out in TWOW and the show and Jon’s farcical endgame in said show. Tyrion came up, and I expressed thoughts on how his endgame in the show is not his “real” endgame and how his “real” endgame may be linked to what I think may be Jon’s “real” endgame in the books, based on and inspired by speculation from infinitely more brilliant readers than myself. Not that what we saw in the show does not play out in some fashion in the books, it could and probably will. More that it’s not where it actually finishes. There are things to play out after.
Not everyone is going to agree and we will not know until the final books come out (if/when we get them). Heck, I’m not even completely convinced of this, it’s just fun to think about how things might play out while we wait for GRRM to actually finish these books. I think this could work and might be one possible way that it is.
I imagine that initially George will trick the reader, at first it will seem like the wrong person is being rewarded and the wrong person is being punished, only to flip it and put things right again. And this will play out with Tyrion in the position to seemingly being rewarded and Jon being punished, only for it to be put right by the end.
Firstly we have to remember that Tyrion Lannister is a much, much darker character in the books than he was in the show. He was stripped of some (nearly all) of his absolutely reprehensible and irredeemable actions in the show, which it would seem ultimately impacted where he finishes up at the end of the show, at least to a degree. Also being a favourite of D&D shielded him from the worst consequences of his actions. GRRM may acknowledge Tyrion as a favourite character, but he also explicitly refers to him as a villain.
What we do know for absolute certainty about the ending is King Bran. I am confident that Queen Sansa will also be endgame. Arya sailing West is also going to happen but I think she will eventually return. It will just be a few years, or twenty. But Aunt Arya is going to have a lot of stories to tell her nieces.
Something to also bear in mind is we’ve been told that we were given “one ending—not the ending” by GRRM, and that “we're not going to tell people what the differences are. So when those books come out people can experience them fresh." - David Benioff. So it is safe to say that there are and will be differences. The extent and degree to which things differ are yet to be seen. I mean we’ve already seen a large chunk, they basically cut out about 2/3 to 3/4 of the events of AFFC & ADWD. But, there will be things that are the same too. Like King Bran.
With all that being said, this is basically a massive head-canon on how Tyrion’s “real” ending could play out, using the end of the show as a springboard and the books we presently have to figure out how this makes sense.
So, let’s begin:
-We have Bran as King of the Southern Kingdoms (middle kingdoms? I’m really iffy about Dorne remaining under the rule of the “Iron Throne” at the end).
-We have Sansa Stark as the Queen of the North.
-We have Tyrion as Hand of the King.
-And we have Jon in exile in some way, shape, or form.
Based on how time has progressed in the books Bran will be approximately 11, I will even be unreasonably gracious and say at the latest 13, by the time he is crowned. This means that for around 3 to 5 years, Bran is going to be served by a regent or regents. In Fire and Blood this is the case for King Aegon III. Basically, until Bran becomes of age his regents and his Hand can do as they please even if it is not what Bran wants and claim they are acting with ‘the king’s voice’. I certainly think that Bran’s council of regents will, for the most part, act in alignment with what Bran wants and work with him rather than against him. But apparently Tyrion will be Hand, at least for a time. So how do we get rid of him? Propaganda.
We see it throughout the series in varying forms. We have Daeron the Young Dragon writing his own biography that Jon read at some point pre-canon that made him idealise him (thank goodness for Benjen smacking the nonsense down quick). We have songs, like ‘The Rains of Castamere’. We have plays, like ‘The Bloody Hand’ that Arya partakes in during the sample chapter ‘Mercy’. We have stories of Queen Naerys and Aemon the Dragonknight. We have a puppet show in the Dunk and Egg short story ‘The Hedge Knight’ that shows a puppet knight defeating a Dragon and that angers Prince Aerion who then violently beats Tanselle for showing the dragons as being defeated and how people may perceive that. The long and short of it is, plays, stories and music are all propaganda for good or ill.
Now, Tyrion is Hand of the King and by all appearances has been rewarded for being absolutely awful and has gotten away with so much: Regicide, Kin-slaying, rape, murder, etc.
Then, we have Jon Snow who at the same time is definitely guilty of one of those things (Kinslaying) and maybe arguably guilty of another (regicide) if enough people in-universe accept that Daenerys was a legitimate queen at the end (which I doubt). Yet, he appears to be punished, even though his list of crimes is shorter, and his actions will be arguably heroic. (Especially if there were oh, I don’t know, songs and plays and stories telling everyone that Jon’s actions were heroic). After all, he “did it for the good of the realm… The madness had to end.” As Lord Valeryon once said and did. [The Hour of the Wolf, Fire and Blood]
However, who do we know that has a love of stories and music in the series? Who believes that “All the stories can’t be lies.” - [Sansa IV, ACOK]. Why hello Sansa, funny seeing you here. No the stories can’t all be lies, but what’s the harm in embellishing them a little? What if it were “kindly meant” [Sansa I, AFFC]?. Like, say, getting your cousin out of an unjust exile and seeing that a man who has by all accounts be rewarded for being awful brought down a few pegs? Hmm… Didn’t Petyr Baelish spin some propaganda at Bitterbridge? Why, yes, he did “I praised him to the skies, to be sure… whilst my men spread disturbing tales amongst Lord Tyrell’s servants” [Sansa VI, ASOS] He explains to Sansa the power of propaganda and finishes his story with this little bit of advise “A harp can be as dangerous as a sword, in the right hands.” [Sansa VI, ASOS] Now would you not just love to see Sansa use this lesson, in a way that is for good? I would. I would love to see that very much.
This is where a LOT of supposition comes in:
- What if Queen Sansa has a few bards and a theatre troupe or two or several perform at Winterfell?
- What if Queen Sansa talked to them?
-What if Queen Sansa sang a song or two or several?
- What if Queen Sansa told them a story or two or several?
-What if there was the story of the Jon ‘the White Wolf’ Snow?
A man “brave and gentle and strong”. A man who worked and fought to guard the realms of men. A man who succeeded by ending the greatest threat to Westeros, after all, look what the threat reduced Kings Landing to. She would not stop there, “the madness had to end”. And the White Wolf ended it.
Yet, he was punished. The Hand of the King saw to that (I wonder why?), for the King can do nothing until he is of age, though he desperately wishes to. The Queen of the North wishes to, but she cannot. The Evil Hand has made sure of it. If she were to bring him back it would be ‘an act of war’, and so for the sake of peace she cannot act. See? It is not the Queen’s fault, and nor is it the King’s fault. It is a sad tale. It is unjust. The White Wolf saved everyone and was exiled for it. The Hand brought the threat to Westeros’ shores, brought more death and more destruction to their doorstep and gets away with it. Why, it would anger anyone. How can this go unanswered? But the tale does not have to end there.
-What if those bards and theatre troupes set out from Winterfell with a new story to tell? The Tale of The White Wolf.
-What if over the subsequent months/years those songs and plays were performed all across, not just the North, but Westeros? From White Harbour to Barrowtown, Gulltown to Lannisport, Oldtown to Stormsend. Perhaps around Harrenhal where the King and his Council reside, including the Hand.
-What if the Hand of the King tries to suppress the songs and plays? Censor them. Why would he wish to do that? It’s only a few songs, it’s only a few plays.
-What if the Hand tries to impose fines on any and all who perform these songs and plays?
-What if that does not work? The songs are still sung. The plays still performed. They are simply paying a fee to do so now.
-What if he began trying to lock up the bards who performed the songs?
-What if he began trying to lock up the actors?
-What if, as the year(s) passed, this angered the people? Why is he doing this? It must be because what is being said is true.
-What if King Bran saw the plays?
-What if King Bran heard the songs?
-What if King Bran made it known that he likes them?
-What if, with a few choice words to the right people, this information made it out of the walls of Harrenal and among the small-folk?
-What if the King was able to make it commonly known that he did not want Tyrion Lannister as his Hand, but because of his age (he is not yet 16) could not remove him? Remember Aegon III? That’s some Catch-22 you have there Bran. Lucky for you, you’re not the only one that wants Tyrion out.
- What if the people started growing agitated? There is mounting pressure to get rid of the Hand and it’s not just the small-folk. It’s the merchants, it is the nobles. Increasingly what ever miniscule support Tyrion may have had to hold on is disappearing and rapidly.
-What if the dam finally breaks, the pressure is too much, and Tyrion finally resigns and flees to Casterly Rock?
-What if that’s not enough? Tyrion may no longer be the Hand of the King, but Jon is still exiled. He must be brought home, and he must be rewarded. But with what?
-What if there was a Gift?
-What if it was Brandon’s Gift? The gift to the White Wolf, no longer Jon Snow, but Jon Stark, Lord of the Gift, whose seat is Queen’s Crown. (Credit to @agentrouka-blog on the thoughts of Brandon’s Gift going to Jon)
-What if the Gift was formally returned to the dominion of the North?
Now, onto Tyrion’s true end. He dies. I haven’t got much in the way of the how exactly, but I imagine that “In my own bed, with a belly full of wine and a maiden's mouth around my cock, at the age of eighty,” [Tyrion VI, AGOT] will be involved and that it is linked to how the Lannister’s “always pay their debts”. Yet, we have seen them, courtesy of Cersei in AFFC, most definitely not paying their debts. I’d hazard a guess that he’s going to have problems down the line with the Second Sons when it becomes apparent that he is not going to be paying them with the wealth of Casterly Rock, because there isn’t any. So I’d be willing to guess that he, like Cersei and Jaime, will die in Casterly Rock. It is going to be an absolute ruin. Be careful what you wish for Tyrion, you wanted The Rock, you didn’t clarify what state you should get it in. The gods have decided it’s a ruin. Enjoy. Until you die, at last.
If any of the things I have said sound like something you or some you know have speculated on please let me know and I will credit.