Episode 134: A CLASH OF KINGS, TYRION XII: "Ashes to Ashes" SHOW NOTES! (Patreon)

Hello and welcome to the Not A Cast … podcast: the one true chapter-by-chapter podcast going through A Song of Ice and Fire one chapter a week. I’m one of your hosts Jeff better known as BryndenBFish.

And I’m your other host Emmett, better known as PoorQuentyn.

Welcome to the one hundred and thirty-fourth episode of the Not A Cast, titled: “Ashes to Ashes: An Analysis of ACOK, Tyrion XII,” in which the (Acting) Hand of the King takes on his most frightening challenge yet: dinner with his big sister Cersei.

This episode is brought to you by our NotASmallCouncil:

• Hand of the King WolfmanZack
• Grandmaester Timbob, troubleshooter of systems and designer of circuit boards
• Lord Commander of the Kingsguard Mark N.
• Lord Travis, Master of Ships and Warden of the Waves, Captain of the war galley NIGHT WOLF, the ship that stalks the Seven Seas, and Wielder of the Valyrian Steel trident SUMMONER, the blade that brings the Deep Ones
• Ser Keith J, Master of Whisperers
• Lord Philip the Merciful, Master of Laws
• Archmaester June, Healer of the Lesser Poxes
• Ragged Michael, Warden of the North
• Nelson the Hammer, Prince of Dragonstone
• Scarlett the Other Red Woman and Mistress of Whisperers
• Lord Micah, the Quilled Lion, Warden of the West, Herald of the Golden Tooth, Master of the Banefort and the Kraken’s Bane
• Lord James: the Jim that was Promised
• The High Bearded Priest
• Lord Jake, Assistant (to the) Hand of the King
• Lady Xena Valyrian
• Ser Jack, Lord of Ser Arthur Dayne and Prince Rhaegar Targaryen's Sad Prophecy Boys Club
• His Grace’s High Inquisitor Frank
• Ser Jasper the Cruel, the King’s Justice
• Laurence, Prince of Dorne
• Kelly, Warden of the East and Mistress of (Old) Bay of Crabs
• Steven the Steadfast, Master of Hounds
• The Blue Winter Rose Knight of Highgarden
• Lady Stephanie
• Lord Anonymous
• Lord Carlos
• Lord Andrew the Restless, a Priest of the Drowned God
• The King's Cook, Nolly (No-lee) Olly (Oh-lee), Master of Cannoli
• Ser Sourcedelica
• Low Energy Dent, True Master of the Banefort and True Master of Coin
• Lord Penchant for Nostalgia
• Queer Alex, Beyonce's Favorite Stan and Bastard of Chromatica, Rainbow Commander of the Theydes and Gentlethems
• Haldivar, The Waiter for TWOW
• A-a-ron Damphair Prophet of the Forsaken and High Priest of Euron Crows Eye
• Lieutenant Glenn Lord of H town
• Vanerys of the House Colgaryen, the First of Her Name, Princess of Dragonstone, Mistress of Art, The Overworked, Queen of the Pencils, the Eraser and the First Draft, Queen of Monochrome, Devotee of the Great GOT, Portraitist of the Realm, Lady Realist of the Seven Kingdoms, Blender of Paints and Maker of Drawings who adds “the Michelangelo of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” to her title
• Lord Adam T
• Lady Alexandra of Tarth
• Ser Kristoph Logas, Bloody Scorpion of the Red Field, Defender of the Letter of Kin, and the Wolverine of house Qorgyle
• Lady Elizabeth, Mistress of Horse (Faced Lesbians)
• Ser Josh Snow Bastard Bounty Hunter of the North
• Ser Veyor, Chief of Parties in the Frozen Wastes
• Lord Peter
• Lady Ashley
• The Dead Sheppard Reborn, Preacher of the Poor Fellows
• Marshall Harrison—Absent, shipwrecked in the Jade Sea
• Grave-Robb Stark, the Cadaver King and Horror of Harrenhal
• Olaf, proponent of establishing a feudal, pseudodemocratic system of Great Councils, wherein every count votes
• Ser Tim: The Knight Who Was Guided By Voices
• Lord Nick
• Thucydides, Lord of Plagues
• Ser Jack, Lord of Ser Arthur Dayne and Prince Rhaegar Targaryen’s Sad Prophecy Boys Club
• Lord Gene the Splendid, Master of Coin, Warden of Tampa Bay
• Lady Anna, The Lovely Castellan
• Pat Yronwood, the bloodroyal and guardian of the Boneway
• Lord Charles Tyrell of Highgarden, Lord Paramount of the Mander, Defender of the Marches, High Marshal of the Reach, Warden of the South, and The Heir of House Tyrell
• Luke, Lord of Lone Leaf & The Pillar of Autumn
• Squid Pro Quo
• Master of Zorse
• Joe Snow “King of the Metro North and protector of the Tri-State”
• Hedrigal, Captain of the Airship Arrogance
• Squire Matt S, future Ser Matt S, the one who will bring balance to the Kingdoms
• BWord, Queen Beyond the Wall
• Lord Kyle
• Lord Samuel Seaworth
• Ser Max, Lord Commander of the Constitutional Guard

Spoiler warning: All published books, 5 novels, 3 Dunk and Egg novellas, histories, interviews, TWOW sample chapters, as well as Game of Thrones the TV show. Anything and everything!

Question

Ser Derek, a Sworn Sword patron, asks:

Hello guys, I think you're both awesome and I appreciate the analysis you've done, and I look forward to Feast and Dance especially. I have a question for you, do you think Catelyn broke her vow to  Brienne (I'll ask no service of you that would bring you dishonor) when she ordered her to return Jaimie to King's Landing? And will this have ramifications for Lady Stoneheart?

So, thank you Derek for the question. If you’d like to ask us questions that we’ll answer here on the NotACast pod-cast, you are welcome to become a Sworn Sword or higher level patron over at patreon.com/NotACastASOIAF where you can get show notes, merch, access to the NotASlack and bonus episodes!

And if you haven’t listened to our analysis of the director’s cut of Kingdom of Heaven, it’s available for our Poor Fellow and above patrons. So, check us out! And, we wanted to announce that we are revising our next patreon stretch goal. If you’ll recall from last week, I brought up that our stretch goal was to do a full-out analysis of George RR Martin’s The Hedge Knight if we got up to 1,250 patrons or $7500/month. That may have been a stretch goal too far! So, we’re revising our goal so that if we get to $7000/month, we’ll do a full-out, multi-part analysis of The Hedge Knight.

But enough about patreon. When we last checked in with Tyrion, he had a very busy day getting ready for Stannis. But now he’s hungry and man cannot live by work alone. Let’s find out what’s for dinner in this synopsis of ACOK, Tyrion XII!!

Synopsis

Pod dressed him for his ordeal in a plush velvet tunic of Lannister crimson and brought him his chain of office. Tyrion left it on the bedside table. His sister misliked being reminded that he was the King's Hand, and he did not wish to inflame the relations between them any further.

You know it’s a good start to Tyrion’s day when he’s trying to get a bite to eat, but he has to tactically dress for the ordeal.

As Tyrion moves through the yard in the Red Keep, he runs into Varys who, in truth, is running up to him. He presses a letter into Tyrion’s hand: a report from the north. Good news? Ehhhh. Maybe?

Tyrion unrolled the parchment. He had to squint to read the words in the torchlit yard. "Gods be good," he said softly. "Both of them?"

"I fear so, my lord. It is so sad. So grievous sad. And them so young and innocent."

Tyrion remembered how the wolves had howled when the Stark boy had fallen. Are they howling now, I wonder? "Have you told anyone else?" he asked.

Varys has not told anyone else. So, Tyrion will tell Cersei the good news. He wanted to see the look on her face! Perfectly normal human behavior over the deaths of children.

Tyrion thinks that Cersei looks fine at dinner, noting her green dress matching her eyes, golden hair, bare shoulders, emerald-encrusted belt Again: perfectly normal human behavior to think that way about your sister. Tyrion hands her the letter, and she reads it silently.

"I trust you're pleased," he said as she read. "You wanted the Stark boy dead, I believe."

Cersei made a sour face. "It was Jaime who threw him from that window, not me. For love, he said, as if that would please me. It was a stupid thing to do, and dangerous besides, but when did our sweet brother ever stop to think?"

"The boy saw you," Tyrion pointed out.

But Cersei thinks they could have frightened Bran into silence. But she’s so very wounded that everyone thinks she’s to blame whenever misfortune befalls the Starks. Theon did this, not Cersei. Tyrion says, let’s fuckin’ hope Catelyn thinks so, or else Jaime is dead.

Her eyes widened. "She wouldn't-"

"-kill Jaime? Why not? What would you do if Joffrey and Tommen were murdered?"

"I still hold Sansa!" the queen declared.

"We still hold Sansa," he corrected her, "and we had best take good care of her. Now where is this supper you've promised me, sweet sister?"

And then we get some food porn which … I really need to stop writing these synopses right before lunch. Needless to say it’s expensive, exquisite food, and Tyrion makes sure to only eat the dishes that Cersei eats from so as not to get his ass poisoned.

During dinner, Cersei asks if there’s news of Littlefinger from Bitterbridge. There is none. Cersei thinks Littlefinger would betray them for Stannis, and Tyrion’s haha, no. Stannis would never purchase men, and Littlefinger would never be comfortable with Stannis. But wait, isn’t Stannis purchasing sellswords and sellsails and didn’t Littlefinger leak the information about Cersei’s incest to Stannis? Alas.

Anyways, back to the good eating. They eat some ham from Lady Tanda Stokeworth who is using the pig as a bribe to get back to her castle, but Tyrion wants her in King’s Landing. If she’s scurred, she can bring her garrison down from Stokeworth.

"If we need men so badly, why did you send away your savages?" A certain testiness crept into Cersei's voice.

"It was the best use I could have made of them," he told her truthfully. "They're fierce warriors, but not soldiers. In formal battle, discipline is more important than courage. They've already done us more good in the kingswood than they would ever have done us on the city walls."

Cersei brings up the Antler Men, and Tyrion notes that she’s more annoyed than scared of them. Cersei wonders what the Lannisters ever did to provoke such treason, which I just love. Tyrion says they’ve done nothing wrong, but the antler men want to be on the winning side. Cersei wonders if all the traitors are found out, and Tyrion says Varys says so ... So, yes?

A line appeared on Cersei's pale white brow, between those lovely eyes. "You put too much trust in that eunuch."

"He serves me well."

"Or so he'd have you believe. You think you're the only one he whispers secrets to? He gives each of us just enough to convince us that we'd be helpless without him. He played the same game with me, when I first wed Robert. For years, I was convinced I had no truer friend at court, but now . . . " She studied his face for a moment. "He says you mean to take the Hound from Joffrey."

Tyrion is frustrated that Varys told Cersei that, but he puts that aside to tell Cersei that he needs Clegane at the front. Cersei counters that Clegane is needed with the king. No, he’s not. He’s needed in battle. And the king needs to be seen by the troops too, and that’s even if he’s thirteen. If there’s real danger, he’ll send Joff back to the Red Keep. Wait, are you implying the city will fall, Cersei asks. Tyrion does not think King’s Landing will fall, but if it does, they need to hold the Red Keep until big daddy Tywin arrives.

Cersei accuses Tyrion of lying to her before, and Tyrion’s all like, “Ya got me there, sis!” But he only lied to her for good reason in the past. Anyways, he wants their relationship restored. So, he’s releasing Gyles Rosby and Boros Blount back to her. Hooray? Nope! Cersei thinks Boros can rot back at Rosby. She wants Tommen back. But Tyrion is not releasing him as he’s safer under Jacelyn’s protection.

The meat gets cleared away, and Cersei beckons for dessert, asking if Tyrion likes blackberry tarts. Tyrion does like all sorts of tarts. And then Cersei goes sinister.

"Oh, I've known that a long while. Do you know why Varys is so dangerous?"

"Are we playing at riddles now? No."

"He doesn't have a cock."

"Neither do you." And don't you just hate that, Cersei?

"Perhaps I'm dangerous too. You, on the other hand, are as big a fool as every other man. That worm between your legs does half your thinking."

Tyrion licked the crumbs off his fingers. He did not like his sister's smile. "Yes, and just now my worm is thinking that perhaps it is time I took my leave."

Cersei asks if Tyrion is feeling sick as he looks flustered while giving her a peek at the tops of his boobs. Again, very normal family dynamics at work here. Tyrion swallows hard and thinks he hears something at the door. He feels like maybe he should have come with company. He asks Cersei why she’s showing interest in his dick, but she’s not interested in that. She’s only interested in who he fucks with it. And she finds out things that people don’t want her to know.

"What are you trying to say?"

"Only this-I have your little whore."

Tyrion reached for his wine cup, buying a moment to gather his thoughts. "I thought men were more to your taste."

"You're such a droll little fellow. Tell me, have you married this one yet?" When he gave her no answer she laughed and said, "Father will be ever so relieved."

Stunned, Tyrion wonders how Cersei found Shae, thinking that maybe Varys betrayed him. Or maybe he had been found out on his journeys. He asks Cersei why she cares so much who his gf is. Cersei responds that she cares, because Tyrion has schemed against her, stealing Myrcella, plotting to kill Joffrey and wanting to put Tommen on the throne.

Well, I can't say the notion isn't tempting. "This is madness, Cersei. Stannis will be here in days. You need me."

But does Cersei really need Tyrion? Tyrion is no battle commander, and the sellswords Tyrion has will fight for gold regardless of who’s paying them. But have no fear, Cersei isn’t going to murder Tyrion. Jaime would not forgive that act.

Tyrion then asks after “the whore”, refusing to say her name, hoping that if he convinces Cersei Shae means nothing, then she might survive. Cersei says the woman will be treated gently so long as Tyrion does not hurt her sons. But if Joffrey is killed or Tommen is captured, then she’ll be brutally murdered.

She truly believes I mean to kill my own nephew. "The boys are safe," he promised her wearily. "Gods be good, Cersei, they're my own blood! What sort of man do you take me for?"

"A small and twisted one."

Tyrion stares into his wine cup, wondering what Jaime would do. He’d probably kill Cersei, damn the consequences. But Tyrion was not Jaime. He would have to be as strong and cold as stone. He would be like Casterly Rock. So, he tells Cersei that she’s probably killed the woman already. But Cersei has anticipated this. She orders the woman brought in.

Ser Osmund's brothers Osney and Osfryd were peas from the same pod, tall men with hooked noses, dark hair, and cruel smiles. She hung between them, eyes wide and white in her dark face. Blood trickled from her broken lip, and he could see bruises through her torn clothing. Her hands were bound with rope, and they'd gagged her so she could not speak.

Outraged, Tyrion demands to know why she was hurt when Cersei promised otherwise. Osney Kettleblack replies that the woman fought, and Cersei says that the woman will live as long as Joffrey does.

Tyrion wanted to laugh at her. It would have been so sweet, so very very sweet, but it would have given the game away. You've lost, Cersei, and the Kettleblacks are even bigger fools than Bronn claimed. All he needed to do was say the words.

Instead, he looks at the girl and asks if Cersei will release her after the battle. She will, so long as Tommen is released.

He pushed himself to his feet. "Keep her then, but keep her safe. If these animals think they can use her . . . well, sweet sister, let me point out that a scale tips two ways." His tone was calm, flat, uncaring; he'd reached for his father's voice, and found it. "Whatever happens to her happens to Tommen as well, and that includes the beatings and rapes." If she thinks me such a monster, I'll play the part for her.

Cersei had not expected that. "You would not dare."

Tyrion made himself smile, slow and cold. Green and black, his eyes laughed at her. "Dare? I'll do it myself."

Obligatory: BUT TYRION IS GOOD! Cersei tries to slap Tyrion, but he catches her wrist, bending it back. Osfryd Kettleblack moves in to rescue her, but Tyrion threatens to break Cersei’s wrist if he takes another step. Tyrion then orders the girl untied and the gag undone.

The woman cries out in pain as Tyrion massages her fingers. He tells her to be brave, and that he’s sorry they hurt her.

"I know you'll free me, my lord."

"I will," he promised, and Alayaya bent over and kissed him on the brow. Her broken lips left a smear of blood on his forehead. A bloody kiss is more than I deserve, Tyrion thought. She would never have been hurt but for me.

Her blood still marked him as he looked down at the queen. "I have never liked you, Cersei, but you were my own sister, so I never did you harm. You've ended that. I will hurt you for this. I don't know how yet, but give me time. A day will come when you think yourself safe and happy, and suddenly your joy will turn to ashes in your mouth, and you'll know the debt is paid." In war, his father had told him once, the battle is over in the instant one army breaks and flees. No matter that they're as numerous as they were a moment before, still armed and armored; once they had run before you they would not turn to fight again. So it was with Cersei. "Get out!" was all the answer she could summon. "Get out of my sight!"

Tyrion bows and says good night, heading back to the Tower of the Hand. He realizes he should have seen all of this coming. Maybe it was a blindspot to have not realized Cersei would have men following him to Chataya’s.

Inside the Tower of the Hand, Tyrion finds Podrick Payne and orders a flagon of wine. He enters his chambers and finds Shae waiting for him, naked save for the gold Hand of the King chain atop her breasts that Tyrion left before coming to Cersei’s chambers. Setup and payoff. Tyrion was not expecting her and asks what she’s doing here. She’s here because she wanted some hands on her “titties”, but she thinks the hands from the chain necklace are cold. Gulp.

For a moment he did know what to say. How could he tell her that another woman had taken the beating meant for her, and might well die in her place should some mischance of battle fell Joffrey? He wiped Alayaya's blood from his brow with the heel of his hand. "The Lady Lollys-"

"She's asleep. Sleep's all she ever wants to do, the great cow. She sleeps and she eats. Sometimes she falls asleep while she's eating. The food falls under the blankets and she rolls in it, and I have to clean her." She made a disgusted face. "All they did was fuck her."

"Her mother says she's sick."

"She has a baby in her belly, that's all."

Okay. Shae is a gigantic asshole in this scene. My god. I forgot about this. No, it doesn’t justify what happens to her, but wow. What a jerk!

Tyrion looks around his room and asks how she got into his room. Shae’s not really sure as Varys made her wear a hood. She did get a quick glance at one point of a giant mosaic that looked like a red and black dragon. She went down ladders, walked a while, went through a gate, up another ladder.

Perturbed, Tyrion starts searching around his room to find the secret passageway, and he finds nothing. He even resists sexing Shae to search his wardrobe. Still nothing. He returns to bed frustrated and annoyed.

Shae undid his laces and threw her arms around his neck. "Your shoulders feel as hard as rocks," she murmured. "Hurry, I want to feel you inside me." Yet as her legs locked around his waist, his manhood left him. When she felt him go soft, Shae slid down under the sheets and took him in her mouth, but even that could not rouse him.

After a few moments he stopped her. "What's wrong?" she asked. All the sweet innocence of the world was written there in the lines of her young face.

Innocence? Fool, she's a whore, Cersei was right, you think with your cock, fool, fool.

"Just go to sleep, sweetling," he urged, stroking her hair. Yet long after Shae had taken his advice, Tyrion himself still lay awake, his fingers cupped over one small breast as he listened to her breathing.

And that is ACOK, Tyrion XII! It’s hard to call this chapter fun, because it’s utterly fucking skin-crawling, but this chapter slaps hard. What did you think, ser?

Depth

In terms of the big-picture politics, Tyrion’s arc in ACOK builds to the Battle of Blackwater. But in terms of his own personal struggles, his arc in this book builds to this chapter, his final confrontations with Cersei and Shae. His chapters have kept coming back to these two women: the sister who stands in for the world’s hatred of him, and the lover with whom he hopes to banish that hatred. In between them is Alayaya, a victim of this triangle of manipulations and projections. Tyrion is forced to stare down who he is and who his family is; these revelations will haunt him long after the battle is done. Before Tyrion fights the threat outside the walls, he has to deal with the threats inside. Like Sansa IV a couple weeks ago, Tyrion XII is a perfect breath before the plunge.

George is fond of condensing Tolstoy’s famous quote All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way into Happy families are boring. Case in point: the Lannisters. Every Lannister is unhappy. Every Lannister has their unique trauma stemming mostly from Tywin. And as a result, every Lannister is uniquely shitty. But goddam, at least they aren’t boring! Here, in this chapter, the unique unhappiness of Tyrion and Cersei are on full display as they cloak and dagger against each other, all while gorging themselves on the finest food as the city starves and the forest burns beneath them.This is an incredible gonzo scene, and yet, ain’t it realistic for these characters to be where they are and doing what they do. Tyrion and Cersei think with their hearts, and here, they play Stannis and set their hearts ablaze

• The “death” of Bran and Rickon
  • Before the lions tear into each other, we get word of dead wolves. Varys’ little birds in the North are saying that Theon killed Bran and Rickon
  • In retrospect, it’s an interesting choice for George to plant this fake payoff in a Tyrion chapter, literally and figuratively distant from the event itself
  • It’s a way for him to obscure the reality. Theon IV ended without confirming what Ramsay’s new plan was; now all we have is the report, the image
  • To us, now, it seems clear that George would never kill off one of the major characters of the story this way. Balon Greyjoy, sure. But Bran?
  • The first time reader, however, is unlikely to pick up on that. We don’t have all the gruesome in-person deaths of ASOS in our mind’s eye yet, and within this chapter, we quickly move on to the Tyrion v. Cersei showdown
  • Structuring the reveal this way also defers the emotional fallout from the boys’ apparent deaths. That will wait for Catelyn VII next week
  • Instead, we are learning about this via characters without direct investment in that theater of the war. As Varys says, it is not his place to judge whether this is good or bad news. That seems inhumane, yet he also mourns for the boys as young innocents who died unjustly
  • Is Varys crying crocodile tears again? Perhaps. But in his mind, I think he distinguishes the deaths themselves from whether or not it’s “good news”
  • The event itself is objectively sad, but it might turn out to benefit Tyrion...or Varys, with his own plans. Such is the price of political manipulations
  • Varys famous quote to Ned of: “Why is it always the innocents who suffer most, when you high lords play your game of thrones?” reads as Varys’ true reaction to Bran and Rickon’s “death.”
  • Divorced from his political machinations in King’s Landing, however, Varys is probably genuine in feeling a sadness over the death of children.
  • As George told actor Conleth Hill about Varys: he’s ultimately a good person.
  • I have some disagreements over the author’s assessment (death of the author!) Varys is more than willing to endanger children he brings into the Red Keep as his little birds, especially with their tongues cut out.
  • Moreover, this doesn’t stop Varys from endangering more children by bringing more warfare to Westeros in the form of Young Grift and his invasion of Westeros.
  • Tyrion also has a complex reaction, as he did to the news that Winterfell had fallen. First, he is struck by the breadth of the tragedy: both of them?
  • Then, he recalls the wolves howling for Bran after his fall. This is how we were introduced to Tyrion as a POV: he was listening to Summer howl
  • As with Alliser Thorne’s warning about the zombies, Tyrion is briefly transported back to his time in the North, which had an impact on him
  • Are the wolves howling now, he wonders? The wolves will come up again in Catelyn VII, and again when Jon encounters Summer in ASOS
  • The wolves are a constant clue that Theon’s story is a lie--he might have fake boys, but he doesn’t have fake direwolves, and everyone knows how devoted those wolves are to the boys. They would live or die together
  • How ironic that Tyrion invokes that sacred bond of the pack, right before he and his sibling demonstrate they feel no such affections for each other
  • All Tyrion ultimately takes away from this news is that he can use it against Cersei. He thrusts the letter at her without a word, as if a weapon against the beauty she is displaying, the Lannister beauty he alone lacks
  • Tyrion reminds Cersei that she is complicit in Bran’s fall, and suggests that Catelyn might blame Cersei and take revenge on Jaime
  • Generally speaking, Tyrion has the upper hand on Cersei. We saw that at the start of this book; we saw that when he poisoned and manipulated her in the middle of the book; we will see that at the end of this scene
  • But it’s worth noting in this little interaction before the scene really gets going that Tyrion is totally inventing the idea that this puts Jaime at risk
  • There’s no reason for Catelyn to make a connection between Theon and the Lannisters--she was apprehensive about Theon on his own terms
  • Moreover, Cersei is right that they hold Sansa hostage against anything happening to Jaime. Tyrion is just trying to spook her, rattle her somehow
  • That sets the tone for the scene. Neither Lannister is capable of viewing anything in strategic terms, not first and foremost. Every element at play, every tool they have at hand, is reduced to ammunition against each other
  • Tyrion attempts to “own the libs” in this scene with Cersei and ends up on the losing side of the argument. The dunker has been dunked upon.
  • And this is microcosm to Tyrion’s specific failure as Hand of the King.
  • With Ned, he failed to utilize the institutional power of Hand of the King to win short-term advantage for Robert and the Stark cause, failing to bring the full force of the office to bear against Cersei.
  • With Tyrion, he’s more interested in winning today’s in-fighting with whoever he’s jousting with.
  • As Dontos said in the last Sansa chapter:
    • Queen Cersei and the Imp and Lord Varys and their like, they all watch each other keen as hawks, and pay this one and that one to spy out what the others are doing
  • #TeamLannister is infighting and intriguing against each other, rather
  • That’s not to say that there’s no place for court intrigue. Tyrion has to deal with bad or corrupt people holding power — Cersei, Littlefinger, Varys, Joffrey, etc.
  • But notice here that even if Tyrion really believes that Jaime is endangered, Tyrion doesn’t propose any substantive policy or ideas to mitigate the potential harm.
  • Perhaps Tyrion could have sent a bird to Riverrun expressing his thoughts and prayers for Bran, Rickon and Catelyn.
  • It’s a paper shield for Jaime, but as Samwell tells Jon in AFFC/ADWD, a paper shield is better than no shield at all.
  • That’s Tyrion’s role as Hand of the King: to suggest policy positions that would keep Jaime alive and work to mollify the bad relationship he and his sister have.
  • But he can’t. The emotional damage between the two has already been done, and there can be no healing, no alliance.
  • So, Tyrion owns Cersei. And Cersei will then respond by owning Tyrion, but speaking from personal experience, you can’t own the libs on an empty stomach.
• Food porn and politics
  • As you’ve said before, while George takes shit for his food porn, it’s (almost) always there to serve some larger purpose in the scene
  • In this case, right after we get a loving description of all the food Cersei has served, Tyrion tells us that the courtesy is a cover. He’s feeding Cersei all the choice portions first to be sure she doesn’t poison him
  • As Tyrion thinks, she probably wouldn’t do so right before the battle...but he can’t be sure, because there is no trust here. He poisoned her, after all
  • Tyrion must always wonder whether she’s figured that out, whether she’s decided that he’s become more a liability to her than a useful asset
  • Now, Cersei is unquestionably the one who made this relationship what it is. Treating her with trust would amount to unilateral disarmament. Tyrion’s paranoia about her is logical, but it still contributes to the family’s downfall
  • In the moment, it corrupts the delicious food. This ought to be a moment of security and strength, restoring one another before the war arrives at last
  • Instead, Tyrion describes it as an “ordeal” in the opening words of the chapter, a gauntlet he is dreading almost as much as the battle itself
  • The contrast for this dinner is the Stark Harvest Feast whereby northern lords and smallfolk alike share in a days-long feast to renew the bonds between the Starks and their vassals.
  • As we talked about back in Bran II and III, there is plenty of politicking at work in that feast as the Manderlys, Umbers, Glovers, etc all attempt to gain political advantage and argue over such things as hunting rights, redrawing political boundaries, the right to hold the mint, etc.
  • But in the end, the Umbers and Manderlys work together to build the northern navy, and the political unity of the North remains Stark-centric.
  • The bonds between the Starks and their vassals are strengthened, and trust is renewed.
  • This feast, though, is nothing like that. It’s the two most powerful people in King’s Landing eating alone as the city starves.
  • Moreover, as you were pointing out, Tyrion finds this an ordeal and where he is on-guard and suspicious of Cersei.
  • As you said, Tyrion did poison Cersei in order to send Cleos Frey back to Riverrun on his own terms.
  • You know, taking it another direction. This whole Tyrion is poisoning Cersei. Tyrion suspects that Cersei would poison him. Tyrion is framed for poisoning Joffrey. This family can’t stop poisoning each other.
  • It’s a metaphor made flesh of the Lannisters and how their family relationship is poisoned and continues to fester in poison.
  • The Starks don’t have food tasters. Bran doesn’t suspect that Rickon is poisoning his food. Or even that the Manderlys or Umbers want to murder him.
  • Maybe it’s just that the Boltons aren’t present at the Winterfell Harvest Feast; thus, no one is actively wondering whether Ramsay will poison someone anew (like he totally did Domeric) but I think there’s a #point to be made about how the northmen treat each other like one big, cantankerous family and the immediate Lannister family relationship is poisoned.
  • Moreover, as he says, the news about the Starks has “soured” Cersei, reawakening her to how the war can change and claim your life in a heartbeat. No doubt she’s thinking of her own children, which (as we’ll see) makes her paranoid not only about Stannis, but also Tyrion
  • We get one final run down the checklist of converging plot points before the battle takes place, Cersei running desperately through their options
  • Still no word from Littlefinger with Renly’s former army in the Reach--the eventual source of their deliverance. Cersei wonders if he has sold them out. Momentum is all-important, as we see with the Antler Men. Everyone wants to be on the winning side, which has a cascading effect
  • But Stannis’ temperament limits his ability to win that way. As Tyrion says, he and Littlefinger despise each other. Which makes me like Stannis!
  • It also, however, makes it harder for Stannis to win. The Tyrells may not like Littlefinger any more than they like the Lannisters, but their worst case scenario is the guy they starved at Storm’s End taking the Iron Throne
  • All true, and yet it feels like Tyrion hasn’t been paying much attention to Varys’ intelligence reports about Stannis and how he’s purchased sellswords and sellsails.
  • Additionally, the Lannisters have misjudged Littlefinger’s motivations entirely.
  • They seem to assume that because Littlefinger is Master of Coin and because he descends from minor nobility, that he’s driven by money to do what he does.
  • The reality is that Littlefinger is motivated primarily by his desire to garner power to himself due to his resentment towards the Starks. He also wants to win back Catelyn or Catelyn writ small in the form of Sansa.
  • For her part, Cersei should have some inkling of this as she thinks just prior to her Walk of Shame in ADWD:
    • Petyr Baelish had offered to wed [Sansa Stark] himself, she recalled, but of course that was impossible; he was much too lowborn.
  • This may be a factor of George’s gardening that he hadn’t come up with this particular subplot for Ned’s downfall when he wrote AGOT/ACOK.
  • On the power part, the Lannisters keep granting Littlefinger more and more power. Recall that when he departs King’s Landing that they just shrug off giving him some reward.
  • Moreover, Tyrion knows that Littlefinger wants Harrenhal as it was part of the One. Two. Three plots from earlier in ACOK.
  • But because these are Lannisters, they assume that all near-peer politicos want gold as their ownership of the mines of Casterly are the primary source of their power.
  • Next, the food itself enters into the discussion: the pig comes from Tanda Stokeworth, a bribe attempt. She wants to return to her castle
  • As the Lannister position disintegrates and Stannis’ burning banners approach, those propping up the current regime want out, rats off a sinking ship. Tyrion has already told us that Rosby and Stokeworth are the main sources of food for castle and garrison. Yet now Lord Rosby is a prisoner and Lady Stokeworth is trying to escape. Not good signs!
  • Tyrion points out that he had reason to arrest Gyles, unlike Tanda--he was making off with Tommen. That, of course, is a very delicate topic with Cersei, one they are only now broaching. She was the one who sent Tommen off with Gyles, but Tyrion is framing it as Gyles’ solo treason
  • It was a power play, Tyrion got away with it, and his polite evasion only makes her angrier. When Tyrion says that he’d rather have the Stokeworth men in the city, she snaps that he shouldn’t have sent off the clansmen
  • Tyrion is truthful, as George writes it, when he responds that it was the best use he could’ve made of them. They are fierce fighters, but lack discipline; this parallels what Qhorin said last week in Jon VII
  • Just as Qhorin was overlooking the larger political picture to keep Jon in line, however, Tyrion has made himself vulnerable in the process
  • For all that he told himself he was doing better than Ned Stark, he made the same mistake of sending away his most loyal men
  • Their stories have in fact been running in parallel. In Ned’s twelfth chapter in book one, he had his confrontation with Cersei in the godswood
  • In Tyrion’s twelfth chapter in book two, he has his own confrontation with Cersei--less obviously iconic, but more gonzo as you say in its emotions
  • Ned’s challenge brought Cersei’s most deep-seated emotions to the forefront, but he himself was not the source of those emotions
  • In this case, Cersei is building up a head of steam focused 100% on Tyrion. She is about to vent poison that pays off their lifelong relationship
  • That’s why she brings the conversation around once more to her children, who have increasingly become the battlefield of their sibling rivalry
  • We’ve already brought up Tommen; now she shifts to Joffrey. Varys has reported that Tyrion means to take Sandor from Joffrey’s side
  • Again, Tyrion has sound logic behind his decisions. He lacks strong individual fighters to lead sorties; Sandor may not exactly be popular, but the Hound is a fearsome figure that men will follow into battle
  • We’ll see it in action at the Blackwater, when he literally rides up onto the deck of one of Stannis’ ships to cut his men apart
  • Tyrion needs to keep Stannis from even securing a strong foothold, because his men can’t and won’t sustain an extended straight fight
  • Other than the wildfire, this is arguably the most important task in the Lannister battle plan...but Cersei, naturally, insists otherwise
  • Keeping Joffrey safe is the most important task! There is a rudimentary logic to that, in that Joffrey’s place on the throne is what’s at stake
  • But Cersei’s execution of that logic is cartoonishly ineffective; she winds up sabotaging the Lannister position both before and during the battle
  • First of all, as Tyrion says, Joffrey will still be very well guarded. Secondly, it’s important to have him present on the scene to keep morale high
  • He’s never going to be close enough to the fighting to prevent him from retreating to the Red Keep, which was always the backup plan
  • Cersei is not processing this debate through the lens of what is best for the Lannister position. Just as Tyrion weaponized the apparent deaths of the Stark boys against her, she is seeing his battle plans through the lens of her certainty that he, Tyrion, not Stannis, is her ultimate enemy
  • That’s why she taunts him about Jaime leading the sorties himself. Tyrion snarks back that he can’t exactly do that from his jail cell in Riverrun
  • Jaime’s absence has rubbed Cersei raw. As she says, the only thing keeping her from killing Tyrion is the knowledge that he’d be angry
  • Even his reassurances don’t help his position in her eyes. As Tyrion will think in his next chapter, a stray arrow could still claim Joffrey’s life. You can never control everything on the battlefield
  • She notes that he’s lied to her before, which makes everything he’s saying now suspect. He tries to sidestep that by offering her Gyles and Boros Blount; he’s been holding them back to assuage her when he needs to
  • It doesn’t work. She wants Tommen, she’s worried about him in Tyrion’s hands, and Tyrion won’t let him go. The civility starts to wear thin
  • The subtext underlying Cersei’s objections to Tyrion being in the battle can be read in two ways.
  • The first is that Cersei is overvaluing Joffrey’s immediate safety, believing that Tyrion is placing Joffrey in danger and possibly intentionally.
  • Cersei will openly state in the next bit of dialogue form this chapter that she thinks Tyrion means to kill Joffrey.
  • The second is that Cersei sees her children not as individuals but as extensions of herself and weapons by which she wields power.
  • In other words, Cersei sees Tyrion as stealing away another one of her children, thus disempowering her as Joffrey is the key to Cersei’s hold on power.
  • This has already happened with Tyrion stealing Tommen on the Rosby Road. She interprets this as Tyrion cutting into her hold of power by abducting the heir to the throne.
  • She’s not wrong on this point! This was a clear power play on Tyrion’s part, and as much as Tyrion attempts to frame this as keeping the heir to the throne safe, isn’t that what Cersei was doing by sending Tommen to Rosby?
  • Again, the complete lack of trust between these Lannisters has poisoned their ruling philosophy. The Queen Regent and the Hand of the King are bitter enemies. They can’t trust that either party is operating in good faith.
  • Thus, they scheme against each other instead of working together with Stannis at fucking gates.
  • This dynamic then gets immediately turned to “11” as Cersei plays her poison card against Tyrion.
• Cersei springs the trap
  • Cersei has been slowly increasing the pressure on Tyrion throughout this scene, testing him to see if she’s right that he means harm to her sons
  • She waits for dessert to spring the trap, as if this is the true sweet treat she’s been waiting for. George uses the tart wordplay to steer us into sex
  • Varys popped in earlier in the chapter, and Cersei brings him up as an example of how sex works in the political arena
  • As far as Cersei is concerned, Varys is dangerous because he’s a eunuch. Sexual desire makes men do stupid things; Varys avoids those mistakes
  • Varys himself makes that argument RE Tyrion and Shae at one point. Tyrion deliberately ignores his own intelligence where she’s concerned
  • It’s no wonder that Cersei believes this. She’s borne the bruises of Robert’s desire; she’s seen that Jaime’s desire for her makes him subordinate to her. She admires Tywin because she believes he’s an exception; that’s why she freaks out at Shae’s body next to his
  • And now, Tyrion’s sexual desire has made him vulnerable, handing Cersei a weapon to strike back against the Imp who threatens her children
  • Tyrion thinks sarcastically that while Cersei might mock the cock, she still wants one. I don’t think Cersei was intended as a trans character, but I do think George wound up with a character that speaks to the trans experience, judging from what many trans readers have said
  • For me, Cersei comes off less as someone with gender dysphoria than someone who hates that she has been excluded from power due to her gender. This is the contradiction for her: you need a cock to have power, but cocks make you do such stupid things with your power
  • I should have power because I don’t have that problem. But Cersei’s all-consuming lust for power gets in her own way. Even though she doesn’t literally have a penis, she suffers her own ego-blindness
  • She enjoys playing with Tyrion like he enjoyed playing with her RE the deaths of the Stark boys. She shows him the top of her breasts as she’s talking about how sexual desire makes men easy to control
  • Cersei is showing as well as telling, but this also gets at the incestuous Lannister family dynamic, one that extends beyond Cersei and Jaime
  • George implies that the Lannisters all want to fuck each other as an expression of narcissism--they just want to make love to mirror images
  • On one hand, they’re not close enough emotionally to nourish and support each other as family members ideally should. On the other hand, they’re too intimate, crossing each other’s borders recklessly with no respect
  • Cersei has reached into Tyrion’s sex life and taken a hostage, weaponizing his lust in order to keep her children safe from their uncle
  • That’s how she thinks about it, anyway. The bleak humor of this scene is how Cersei has misread and overreacted, causing the very family strife she feared. Tyrion has no intention of killing her children…
  • ...yet. In the grand tradition of tragedy and dramatic irony, it is only because of how Cersei (and Tywin) treat him that Tyrion decides he will turn on his family. I shall be the monster you have all decided I am
  • At this point, though, he’s just weary with her foolishness and heartsick at the thought of what he has done to Shae. Did he give himself away with that moonlit romantic ride in Tyrion X? Love is a poison after all!
  • The bonds of blood have not stopped Cersei from tormenting him, so naturally, she believes those bonds wouldn’t stop Tyrion from hurting her children. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy rooted in her own lack of empathy
  • Tyrion can’t rely on love, so he has to fall back on force: Bronn’s sellswords won’t fight without me! But that’s a lie, precisely because of the lack of love at work. They love his gold, the true source of Lannister power
  • This is another spot where George hammers home how the Lannisters have been blinded by the glitter of their gold.
  • Because the sellswords Tyrion has had Bronn purchase are not his only value. In fact, they’re rather minor in the grand scheme of things.
  • Because it’s Tyrion’s brain, his mind that’s his greatest weapon in the coming battle.
  • The entire defense of King’s Landing rests on Tyrion’s battle plan. He’s a goddamn theater commander for the Lannister side.
  • That Tyrion doesn’t bring this up can be read either as a blindspot for Tyrion in valuing gold over wits. It could also be read as Tyrion’s lack of confidence in himself or his ability to plan a successful defense.
  • (The other part, of course, is that George won’t have Tyrion vocalize his wildfire/chain plan here so as to preserve the surprise of when this happens just four chapters hence.)
  • Still, the Lannister playbook rests entirely in Tyrion’s brain. He’s using Sandor Clegane and Ser Balon Swann to run sorties against Baratheon toeholds on the north bank of the Blackwater. His ships are firing arrows at the south bank of the Blackwater. His clansmen are running a forest war against Stannis’ vanguard.
  • That’s all Tyrion, but he can’t say that’s why he’s valuable. He’s held captive by his low self-esteem and falls back on gold as his only value.
  • How sad!
  • Throughout this book, Tyrion has acted as the center of power, even as part of him realizes how fragile it all is. Now that has come to the fore: as he told Shae, even as Hand of the King, he is powerless within his family
  • Yet his family is all he has, the only reference points he knows. Even has his sister betrays him, Tyrion thinks only of his father and brother
  • What would Jaime do? Kill his enemy and think about the consequences later. But look where that got him: rotting in a cell beneath Riverrun
  • Moreover, Tyrion lacks the physical strength to be like Jaime. He’s never fulfilled that golden-sword image, which is why Cersei hates him so much
  • So instead, Tyrion calls upon the image of their father. He must be hard stone like Casterly Rock; Tywin is his castle on a figurative level
  • Jaime is like fire, Tywin is like ice, at least as far as Tyrion is concerned. The two poles of masculinity, the two ways to be a lion of House Lannister
  • Tyrion reaches for his father’s icy ruthless voice and finds it. He refers to Shae as “the whore” so Cersei won’t think her too valuable to him. He demands to see her, lest Cersei think to kill her and lie to him about it
  • Cersei summons in the other Kettleblack brothers, Osney and Osfryd. Again, George focuses on family dynamics. These two are alike as peas in a pod, a united family taking advantage of Lannister division by playing both sides against the other, selling out Tyrion to Cersei and vice versa
  • Only now, Osney looks different. He bears fresh scars--the fallout of the violent relationship between the Lannister siblings, borne by their lower-class pawns. The lions give orders; the lesser beasts fight. Like the Baratheon bros, Tyrion and Cersei externalize their feud onto others
  • Osney, of course, isn’t the only one hurt. The woman caught helpless between the Kettleblack bros has suffered far more
  • George pulls off quite the gambit in terms of tone. He contrasts the horror of the woman’s situation with the sneaky reveal of who she is; her skin described as “dark” is a hint that it’s Alayaya, but not to a first time reader
  • So when Tyrion suddenly wants to laugh in Cersei’s face, it’s disconcerting. In retrospect, we get why! Cersei is acting like she’s defeated Tyrion, and she’s mishandled the situation entirely
  • But for the first time reader, it’s as though Tyrion is laughing at the sight of a woman beaten and kidnapped due to his own family squabbles
  • It would be so sweet to rub Cersei’s nose in it, he thinks. Indeed it would! But it’s revealing that this is his first reaction. Again: everything is ammo. Cersei can’t even pretend to care about the violence inflicted on Alayaya
  • Instead, Tyrion sticks with Tywin’s voice, threatening to respond to any assaults on Alayaya with similar assaults upon Tommen
  • I love the way George describes it. His tone was calm, flat, uncaring; he’d reached for his father’s voice and found it.
  • That Tyrion has to reach for the voice means that at this point in Tyrion’s character arc, he’s not Tywin writ small. He’s still Tyrion at some level.
  • This will not always be the case as seen in ADWD when he quite casually says that if Yunkai wanted to win against Meereen, just poison the wells. That’s what his father would have done.
  • But he reaches and brings his father’s voice here, speaking as he imagines Tywin would if confronted with this situation.
  • Because Tywin would and has used the threat of beatings and rapes to enforce his will. And he uses brutality and rape in his War on the Riverlands and in the Reyne-Tarbeck Rebellion and the Sack of King’s Landing.
  • But it’s only in the imagining. When Tyrion tries to explain himself to Tywin in ASOS, it does not go the way he thought it would.
    • "To save a whore's virtue, you threatened your own House, your own kin? Is that the way of it?"
  • Notice that Tywin doesn’t say “threatened your own nephew.” It’s threatened your own house. It’s not about family. It’s political legacy, and this is something that Tyrion does not quite get … yet.
  • But that’s ASOS. Here, Tyrion reaches not just for his father’s voice but his specific actions with him.
  • Tywin had Tysha gang-raped by his guards as warning to Tyrion never to dishonor the house by marrying someone below the Lannister name.
  • Here’s the kicker: Cersei, herself, is trying to play Tywin with this gambit with Alayaya. You hurt someone I love, I’ll hurt someone you love.
  • Cersei utilizes the history of Tywin in marching his father’s mistress naked through the streets of Lannisport and references Tyrion marrying Tysha
  • The implicit threat here is that if Tommen, Joffrey or Myrcella are harmed in any way, Cersei is going to go tell dad, and that horror that Tyrion witnessed will be revisited in the current day and age.
  • The toxicity of Tywin Lannister is bleeding into his children and how they interact with each other.
  • They only understand love as poison. Cersei believes that her only weapon is to use fear and violence to win her power.
  • It’s why she surrounds herself with Kettleblacks and Sandor Cleganes. It’s why she doesn’t really restrain Joffrey. In that one sense of violence and fear thereof, Joffrey is an extension of Cersei.
  • And that entire mentality is borne of their father who only smiled twice according to Pycelle from TWOIAF and who rules his lands, his lords through fear and prosecutes his political will through brutal, ugly, immoral violence.
  • It’s a family legacy of shit.
  • Once more, we see the ironic structure of tragedy at work, filtered through the harsh realities of abusive families. Tyrion and Cersei are both anticipating the worst possible reaction from the other, and in doing so, they inspire those reactions. Their fears bring themselves to life
  • Cersei assumes the worst about Tyrion regarding his intentions to her children, leading her to kidnap the woman she thinks Tyrion cares for. Tyrion, in order to appear strong enough to keep that woman safe, threatens to rape his own nephew. They’ve chased each other down the drain. Neither can ever possibly trust the other again; both are now convinced that they were right all along to despise the other
  • Tyrion declares that their family bonds are sundered. He will hurt Cersei for this; he will turn her joy into ashes. Lannisters pay their debts, as they both say, and they owe each other pain. It is epic Shakespearian stuff
  • I thrill for Tyrion when he reminds Cersei that she will never hit him again. But as he himself knows, he bears responsibility for Alayaya’s bloody kiss
  • She leaves as she entered, borne between the Kettleblack siblings. That stands in for how she is suspended between the Lannister siblings, suffering as the fallout from their endless strife, filtered through power
  • Tyrion compares his confrontation with Cersei to a battle, remembering how his father once said that battle is over when one side breaks
  • Doesn’t matter how numerous they are--the material signifiers of power fail when no one believes in the shadow on the wall any more
  • So Tyrion declares victory when all Cersei can do in response to his “joy into ashes” monologue is to tell him to get out. Tyrion has won the battle
  • But has he? The Lannisters are about to face battle against a famously merciless foe wielding fire and blood. Yet the battle in Tyrion’s mind at this moment, the armored feet marching through his skull as he puts it, is with his sister. His own family, inside the walls. Is that not defeat?
  • The personal is political throughout this chapter, so the same logic applies to the larger coalition emerging victorious from the Battle of Blackwater. This house is divided against itself; come ASOS, it will not stand
  • It is a defeat for Tyrion, and his subconscious recognizes it as you are pointing out.
  • I want to shift direction for just a moment here and talk about this scene as it was adapted for Game of Thrones, Season 2.
  • By and large, Tyrion Lannister’s story from S02 receives a ton of deserved praise with Peter Dinglage just nailing Tyrion as a character.
  • At the same time, the whitewashing of Tyrion (as we discussed in our patreon bonus episode Whitwashed: Dany, Tyrion and Jon in Game of Thrones) was in evidence even back in S02.
  • The adaptation of this scene is a case-in-point. It’s a microcosm for how the showrunners did so many right things with Tyrion: having him threaten Cersei, the joy turning to ashes in her mouth lines -- all ripped straight from ACOK.
  • And Peter Dinklage does a great line delivery of those threats to Cersei. It’s all wonderful acting stuff from both Dinklage and Lena Headey.
  • But this was a foretaste of problems with adapting Tyrion Lannister down the road.
  • There was only the threat that Tyrion would hurt Cersei and that her joy would turn to ashes.
  • There was no threat to have Tommen beaten and raped if Ros (because Alayaya was not in GoT) was harmed or raped.
  • This whole scene with Tyrion in ACOK is dark, man. And it’s that darkness from which Tyrion springs to nihilistic life in ADWD.
  • You might be a little confused about the plot-points, but you could read this scene in ACOK and then flip over to ADWD, Tyrion I and pick-up Tyrion’s character arc from there.
  • But the show went a different route of having Tyrion play the good guy to Cersei and Stannis’ bad guy. And Tyrion continues to play the good guy throughout the Thrones Show.
  • Opinions differ, but in my correct opinion, Tyrion’s dark moments that never made it into S02 contributed to a lesser character in Tyrion Lannister in the show.
  • Shae is yet another example of a character that was changed from the books to show, and wouldn’t you know it, but that’s who Tyrion runs into at chapter’s end.
• Facing Shae
  • As we’ve said before, for all that Tyrion is worried about Shae’s safety in the city, he has been putting her in danger from his family all along
  • Now another woman has paid the price. Tyrion can’t ignore that like he can ignore all the other factors threatening his lil bubble with Shae
  • George does a good job of capturing Tyrion’s relief that it’s not Shae while also communicating to the reader that it’s still horrible
  • It’s similar to what’s happening at Winterfell. Bran and Rickon aren’t actually dead, which is a relief, but two boys still died in their place
  • This is not an incidental error on Cersei’s part. Tyrion used Chataya’s brothel and Alayaya specifically as a shield to keep Shae safe
  • Why else play that game except for this scenario, so that when Cersei came down on Tyrion, she chose the wrong woman?
  • This is what Tyrion was prepared to have happen, but it’s not something that he ever wanted to think about consciously. Now he has no choice
  • Now, when he looks at Shae’s naked body and laughing smile, all he can see is Alayaya’s bruises; he can feel her bloody kiss, like the telltale heart
  • As he says, he should’ve seen this coming all along. He didn’t want to see. That’s more familiar to most people then directly committing evil
  • This is the deal Tyrion made to hold onto the scrap of humanity Tywin left him, the heart he hadn’t yet set on fire...and look at the cost
  • Tyrion had mused about doing justice during foreplay with Shae. But now, foreplay fails him as he realizes just how far from doing justice he is
  • Shae’s body is where he finds relief from the demands of the game of thrones. Now Tyrion understands at last that sex is not separate from the game of thrones; the political and personal worlds are always intertwined
  • That connection is woven through the whole chapter, and ties into the subjects of conversation between Tyrion and Shae. He brings up Lollys
  • As you say, Shae has nothing but scorn and contempt for her mistress: “All they did was fuck her.” I think there are several factors at work here
  • First of all, Shae is just tired of literally cleaning up after Lollys. We can point out that Lollys is deeply traumatized from gangrape. This is easy for us to say, because we don’t have to spend our days washing shit off her
  • There are different power dynamics at play. In gender terms, Lollys is a victim of a hideous crime; why does Shae have no empathy for her fellow woman? Because in class terms, Shae literally takes the shit for it all
  • Shae may seem naive about what actually happened to Lollys, who could easily have been mutilated or murdered at any moment during the rape
  • Then again, Shae herself claims to have been molested by her father. As with Cersei, suffering doesn’t always breed empathy for your fellow victims
  • Sometimes, it breeds a competitive instinct to outrun your fellow victims and seize the prizes by which you can protect yourself (and only yourself)
  • Shae’s callousness isn’t so far removed from Sandor’s belief that strong arms and steel swords rule this world--on the other side of the gender line
  • Tyrion can’t help but flinch from that after what happened to Alayaya. That same contrast applies regarding the other topic of conversation: how she got into his chambers in the first place. Varys snuck her in
  • Just as Tyrion used a secret passage to reach Shae--giving Alayaya away in the process--Shae used a secret passage to reach him. Her presence in his bed speaks to the world of espionage and deceit that trapped Alayaya
  • Tyrion searches for the passage into his rooms. He can’t find it. This speaks to his powerlessness despite his position--his inability to discover this secret tunnel stands in for his inability to keep Alayaya safe from the consequences of being on the wrong side of the other secret tunnel
  • All Shae remembers seeing is a dragon mosaic on the floor--a glimpse of a glimpse, an image made up of fragments. Cersei only saw part of Tyrion’s movements; Tyrion only sees part of the truth here
  • Tyrion lies awake, knowing that the dragon--the fire--is already inside the walls. Paranoia is taking hold of him like so many Targaryens in the past
  • By his next chapter, he will have unleashed the wildfire to hold onto power. But at the end of this chapter, he feels as powerless as he ever has
  • Remember back in Tyrion VII at chapter’s end when Tyrion crows about how awesome everything is?
    • "This is no dream," he promised her. It is real, all of it, he thought, the wars, the intrigues, the great bloody game, and me in the center of it . . . me, the dwarf, the monster, the one they scorned and laughed at, but now I hold it all, the power, the city, the girl. This was what I was made for, and gods forgive me, but I do love it . . .
  • This chapter’s end feels like comeuppance for that whole line of thought.
  • Tyrion doesn’t hold any power, his city is in serious danger of falling to Stannis and while he holds the girl quite literally in his arms, he knows that she’s in serious danger.
  • Does Tyrion love the great bloody game now? I think not. He wipes Alayaya’s blood off his forehead, knowing that she was hurt because of him, because of the game he and sister play.
  • The game of thrones feels much less like a fun board game and the guilt over being the cause of an innocent’s pain and possible murder.

Foreshadowing/Groundwork

Tyrion hopes Tywin will march to relieve them. He’s more right than he knows!

Tyrion wonders whether Cersei would kill hostages if both Joffrey and Tommen were dead. Given that Joffrey is very dead, and Tommen and Myrcella are doomed, what will Cersei do?

Jaime as valonqar foreshadowing here with Tyrion thinking that Jaime would kill Cersei if she threatened to murder a woman that he loved.

After Alayaya is whipped by Tywin, Tyrion tells Bronn he’ll need to fulfill his threat to Cersei. Thank goodness that Tommen was rescued before this.

This will not be the last time that Shae wears the gold Hand of the King chain as she’ll be wearing the chain when Tyrion drops into his old chambers in ASOS. She’ll then be horrifically strangled by Tyrion with the very chain.

The mosaic that Shae makes out on the floor is one and the same with the one Tyrion sees when Varys leads him through the tunnels in ASOS.

Tyrion looks for the secret entrance in every place but the correct one: the hearth as he’ll find out in ASOS.

Theory/Discussion

Why did Varys make nice with Cersei when she arrived at court?

• Looking for a temporary ally, as with Tyrion in this book?
• Trying to avoid execution by Robert, who never liked him?
• Did he have a plan involving her or her children before he learned about the twincest?
• Or was it because of the twincest that Varys was nice to her, knowing that she had handed him a weakness in the new regime he could exploit later?
• Why did Varys stop being nice to Cersei? Maybe his Young Grift plans were coming to fruition, or he had realized Robert was never going to execute him?
• Varys’ MO with his friends is to use and discard them when they don’t have much use anymore. E.G. As soon as Tyrion accomplishes his use in staving off the city’s capture by Stannis, Varys ghosts Tyrion.
• With Cersei, it seems that Varys was running an earlier version of this protocol where he had been pardoned by Robert, but he was still suspect. So, he needed to keep his head.
• It’s also possible that Varys knew about the twincest already as Jaime and Cersei slept together in 281 AC (the time that Jaime recounts in ASOS when Cersei convinced him to take the white cloak) and played at friendship with Cersei to learn how she operates and thinks so he can exploit it later on.
• But I’ll present another possibility: Varys was aware that Tywin really wanted to betroth Cersei to Rhaegar and perhaps was even made aware that Cersei considered Rhaegar the most beautiful man in the realm.
• Varys likely saw this as a division point between Cersei and Robert and was using this as a route to sow chaos ahead of Young Grift’s arrival in Westeros.
• Crazy to think but what if the Lannisters and Baratheons had a grand war against each other, and Young Grift shows up to save the day?
• Jon Arryn, at least, believed that a marriage between Robert and Cersei was vital to solidify the new regime. Unmortaring that marriage alliance on Varys’ part would potentially drive the realm back into civil war again.

Conclusion

• Thanks for listening!
• Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Soundcloud, Podbean etc.
• Check out our Patreon at patreon.com/notacastasoiaf
• Follow us on Twitter @NotACastASOIAF, email us at NotACastASOIAF@gmail.com
• Emmett’s social media, Jeff’s social media
• Thank you to our High Lords and Ladies on patreon!
  • Red Rahloo Himself who has renounced his allegiance to the Squishers
  • Lady of a Thousand Words
  • Septon Eastwood of Introvert Isle
  • Septon Merrybald, the Shoeless Sage
  • Sister Winter - Lady of the Wolfswood
  • Nessie the Elusive, warden of the Neck, Defender of the North and Keeper of Secrets
  • Sandie the Dragon, Blood of Queen Daenerys & Lady of Jameson
  • Lady Britt, Bastard Mistress of Harrenhal
  • Ser Thomas the Raven Knight, Lord of Blackwood
  • Lady Dilsdale, the StarSpear of Crescent Hill
  • Ser Way of Course
  • Matt, Warden of the Sanguine Shore
  • Lord Sam K
  • Ser Michael Mertyns
  • Wisdom Benjicot, Alchemist of Sets and Quanta, Mage of the Arts of Boole and DeMorgan
  • Tibs the Great of House Catnapping
  • Lord J Manderly, Baker of the Frey Pies
  • Septon Merifullheadofhair
  • Lady Silverwing
  • Joe Snow “King of the Metro North and protector of the Tri-State”
  • Kaboth the Unfrozen, Lord of the Bricks and Castle Crimson Light
  • Ser Keith of House Corbray, wielder of Lady Forlorn
  • Lord Andrew - Warden of the Dubai Sands
  • Ryan Noye forger of the mighty hammer and keeper of the kings anvil
  • Lord Young of the Ghost Woods
  • Lady Meera Reed, Wielder of Dark Sister, slayer of tinfoil
  • Lady of Rainy Afternoons
  • Ser Will of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune
  • Lord Clay
  • Ser Small Paul, Guardian of the Stone Haven, Defender of Dunnottar Castle
  • Septon T-Bone
  • Refined Wrangler of Icy Arachnids
  • Lady Veronica, Caretaker at the Inn at the Crossroads
  • Lady Danielle of House Lannister
  • Titanium Pirate
  • Lady Carly
  • And our newest high lord/lady: Starlight Glimmer Did Nothing Wrong
• Join us next week for ACOK Catelyn VII, in which Catelyn hits rock bottom and confronts the final boss of her arc in this book: Jaime Lannister.