Game of Thrones seemed to end with an unsatisfying thud. Could the creative team have really had such a unskilled grip on the narrative? It's as if the HBO GoT series is an unresolved puzzle, with unsatisfying pieces that don't seem to fit together, now that we've reached the end.
But what if the GoT puzzle actually has a solution, one not considered before? A story solution that is hiding in plain sight, not yet revealed by the GoT creative team. Consider this solution to the story: a classic "puzzle movie style" solution where the smartest character has been hiding his true motivations for a very long time.
I am offering up this solution to the end of Game of Thrones, and calling it "Ruthless Tyrion".
By the finale of "Game of Thrones", Ruthless Tyrion Lannister has successfully executed his master plan for power over Westeros.
Ruthless Tyrion is not physically powerful, nor does he have alignment with any magic powers. His strengths are intelligence and subterfuge, he can allow people to underestimate him. Ruthless Tyrion's strengths allow him to make a play for the throne, but it would be crucial that no one know his true motivations throughout.
Lets break GoT endgame down, with respect to the "Ruthless Tyrion" solution:
- Ruthless Tyrion Lannister has been a shrewd and stealthy player of the Game of Thrones all along, his every move was dedicated to achieving the Throne, and even his apparent mistakes have been purposeful in pursuit of the ultimate goal.
- At the end of Season 8, Ruthless Tyrion has achieved his goal, as principal advisor and Hand of King Bran (a King who seems happy to delegate everything). Ruthless Tyrion achieved total power over Westeros with the benefit of his actual position deftly hidden from view.
- To achieve his goal of power, Ruthless Tyrion carefully and intentionally goaded Daenerys (the nominal leader in the race to the Throne), with intentional "bad" and inept advice, to a place where, cornered and in rage, she would make decisions that would cause her to lose her kingdom.
- Once Daenerys had gone to the brink of madness, Ruthless Tyrion artfully played on the moral sympathies of Jon Snow, the other most credible candidate for the throne, convincing him to kill Daenerys.
- Jon's fateful action, which happened immediately after his convincing discussion with Ruthless Tyrion, eliminated Daenerys from the Game, and by side effect, removed Jon Snow from contention for the Throne as well. Jon might likely have been killed from his actions, and was lucky to be banished).
- So in one mighty stroke Ruthless Tyrion eliminated the two top candidates for the Throne. With Cercei gone as well, all that was left for Ruthless Tyrion to position the power-indifferent Bran as King, and achieve his personal triumph as King of Westeros in every way except for name.
Could a Ruthless Tyrion have possibly planned this? One has to assume Tyrion is playing the Game first, and that he wants to have the power over Westeros.
We know Tyrion is said to be the most intelligent man in Westeros. G RR Martin has also said that Tyrion is a complex character, perhaps one to make moral compromises to achieve a goal: "Tyrion's also a very gray character. All my characters are gray to a greater or lesser extent, but Tyrion is perhaps the deepest shade of gray, with the black and white in him most thoroughly mixed, and I find that very appealing."
We have to accept for Ruthless Tyrion to play a successfully win-or-die game, he will be willing to sacrifice the lives of people close to him, if necessary. Ruthless Tyrion may not want unnecessary bloodshed, but he would have to be willing to make the hard moves required as needed.
Lets review a few other key events in Season 8, in this light:
Consider Varys in Season 8. Varys was a low probability dark horse for winning the Throne, but not to be underestimated as a power player. Tyrion fed Varys' fears that Dany was going to be a dangerous ruler. Once Varys acted on his beliefs with a poisoning scheme, Tyrion turned Varys in to Dany, a death sentence by proxy. This outcome had the benefit of Tyrion gaining some much needed favor with Dany, as well as knocking out a potential end-game competitor for the Throne endgame. Another benefit would be feeding Dany's growing paranoia. Ruthless Tyrion has every reason to manipulate Varys to betray Dany, and then betray Varys right after.
Consider the Season 8 Dany/Cersei Kings Landing City Gates parley, by consensus a terrible idea, and entirely Ruthless Tyrion's idea: have Daenerys approach Kings Landing gates and ask for Cersei submit an unconditional surrender. Tyrion had to know that his own sister Cersei was not one for unconditional surrender, and that in fact she would likely do something that would enrage Dany (and if Greyworm was also enraged, so much the better).
Viewers watching this encounter were puzzled by an apparent stupid move by Tyrion. Did Tyrion really think this peace parley would work? Ruthless Tyrion knew it would not achieve peace, but was confident it would feed Dany's rage, and he was right. A peaceful outcome at Kings Landing would be of no use to Ruthless Tyrion's ascent to power, and he had no intention of working for a true peaceful outcome.
Consider in the final episodes, a risky move for Ruthless Tyrion. How to convince Jon to kill Dany? Ruthless Tyrion had to betray Dany but mildly so, by releasing Jamie. Then Ruthless Tyrion regained moral standing with Jon Snow by resigning as Hand, (due to civilian deaths, reason that Jon Snow agreed with), in public at the moment of Dany's triumph. This move, which was likely going to end in Tyrion's death, but not bad enough to be executed right away, cleared Ruthless Tyrion from agency for the final play: to eliminate Dany. Since Tyrion was safely under guard, there was only one candidate left to eliminate Dany, and "save the people". Enter Jon Snow, who, already mortally offended by the carnage in the Battle of Kings landing, was convinced by Ruthless Tyrion he was the only one left to kill the Queen.
If we don't accept that Tyrion was ruthless, we have to answer: How would the most intelligent man in Westeros become so poor at statecraft towards the endgame? All his life, Tyrion has been happy to let people underestimate him. There was no clear reason why his planning became so bad as Dany got near her endgame. But Ruthless Tyrion had every reason to let his planning abilities slip at just the right time.
But Tyrion spoke often of his concern for the common people of Westeros. How concerned as Tyrion, really, with the fate and fortunes of the people. If he truly was convinced that Dany was a danger to the common folk of Westeros, he could have let Varys continue with his poisoning scheme. But that would have either stabilized Cersei's position, or cleared the way for Jon Snow to rule after a battle for Kings Landing. No, either outcome did not lead to power for Ruthless Tyrion.
In order for Ruthless Tyrion to rule thru Bran, he needed Circe, Dany, and Jon all out of the game, one way or the other. This made a catastrophic battle in Kinds Landing absolutely necessary, to force Dany to cross the moral line. A catastrophic attack was nearly sure to eliminate Cersei with overwhelming violence. Dany's violent overreach would provoke Jon to sacrifice his own position as next in line to the throne, by killing Dany.
With the Throne game board now nearly empty, Ruthless Tyrion need only make a clever speech of the merits of letting whoever had the best story, rule the Throne. And here we are, achievement unlocked by Ruthless Tyrion. Indeed, Ruthless Tyrion does have the best story, a story hiding in plain sight until this very moment.
Thank you for reading,
Dan Miley
5/21/19
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