Warning: You Won’t Believe How Many Game of Thrones Spoilers Appear in This Article!
HBOThe season 7 finale of Game Of Thrones gave us many long-awaited reunions and encounters, one of the climactic scenes involved siblings Cersei and Tyrion Lannister.
They say you can choose your friends but you can’t choose your family and in the case of warring siblings Tyrion and Cersei, it’s really true. Honestly, with relatives like them who needs enemies?
Tyrion for his part never actively hated Cersei, any ill done towards her was because she inflicted it upon him.
HBOCersei blamed Tyrion for the death of their mother, tried to have him killed twice (at least that he’s aware of anyway), she’s constantly mocked him because of his deformities (which is far worse in the books) and she’s wrongly accused him for the murder of her first born Joffrey Baratheon – and for his part in Myrcella’s demise.
So you can’t blame Tyrion for siding with foreign invaders to bring an end to her rule.
But as viewers, book readers and Tyrion have noted, for all of Cersei’s cruelty and unpleasantness her one redeeming quality (other than her cheek bones) was her love for her children.
HBOThat’s why in their tense one-on-one meeting (with zombie Ser Gregor present) you can’t help but feel Cersei ‘played’ Tyrion. Despite what many of the people of Westeros think of Tyrion (in the books they think he’s an absolute monster) all he wants to do is help them.
It’s why Daenerys chose him to be her Hand – for the most part she trusts him.
But maybe that’s what will lead to her and Jon’s downfall at the hands of Cersei. The initial meeting with Dany, Cersei and the other houses of Westeros went as about as well as a balloon travelling through a tunnel of sharp spikes.
HBOThe warring houses could’ve put their differences aside for the sake of fighting a greater, darker enemy if not for Jon Snow’s inability to bend the knee to Cersei – or tell a lie.
In fact Tyrion chastises Jon for his reluctance to just lie – it’s that type of foolish sense of honour that got Ned Stark killed. Lying for Tyrion on the other hand comes much easier for him, if it serves a purpose. That’s why after their botch meeting, his private audience with his sister is interesting.
With Cersei strangely reluctant to give Ser Gregor the order to kill him, and her little brother looking rather relieved and surprised that his head is still on his shoulders, Tyrion figures out that she is pregnant. Or could this be another trick that the scheming queen is playing?
HBOTyrion knows that Cersei will not back down, she will not willingly abdicate the Iron Throne to Dany. But he also knows that she can no longer deny the oncoming threat making its way from the other side of the wall. This is her chance at becoming a mother again and ensuring the Lannister dynasty doesn’t die. But what good is a kingdom if it’s infested by the dead?
Which is why it’s surprising to see Cersei change her mind yet again, offering a temporary truce and to send the Lannister army to the North to repel the forces of the Night King. Which as we know from her tense stand off with Jaime was all a ruse so she could strike when her enemies are weakened.
To Tyrion’s credit, he’s not stupid, he knows she isn’t the type to let things go. One can only assume he went with her lie. We don’t see their conversation before they emerge out of the Dragon Pit to confirm this ‘false alliance’. But it seems off-camera Cersei told Tyrion to tell Jon and Dany whatever they wanted to hear so they can get out of King’s Landing alive. Or could it be Tyrion told Cersei to just say she will ‘agree’ to helping Jon and Dany – knowing full well she won’t honour her word.
HBOAll possibilities point to Tyrion doing the latter. He’s just told a huge lie to buy Jon and Dany time to do what they need to do to continue their fight against the greater threat. But in the back of his mind he knows that Cersei is waiting in the shadows with her army, plus The Golden Company – an army of highly trained mercenaries.
When we see Tyrion again, it’s when he spies on Jon and Dany finally spending the night together (OMG they’re related and people are okay with this?!?) and he has a very brooding look on his face.
You would be forgiven for mistaking this for jealousy, à la Jorah Mormont friend zone status, but we’ve been with Tyrion for seven seasons now and being petty and jealous over a women isn’t his thing – unless you happen to be Shae and the ‘thing’ belongs to Tywin, but that’s more to do with betrayal.
HBOIf you know Tyrion, for all his tactical screw ups this season, he’s always been good at reading people. He knew that Cersei was lying when she promised her help and he most likely feels guilty in the knowledge that his sister won’t keep her word, but he doesn’t have the heart to tell his queen.
HBOIt’s also worth noting what Jon said to him in the dragon pit that, ‘When enough people make false promises, words stop meaning anything.’ What is his word to the queen if it’s a lie?
For now he’s letting both Dany and Jon bask in the lie, not knowing that once one potential threat has been seen off, another one is ready to pounce.
