We can all agree on one thing: Tyrion‘s face when he was lurking outside Daenerys‘ chamber in that Game of Thrones finale was odd. Like, super freaking odd. 100% weirder than the incest sex going on in Dany’s chamber, that’s for sure.\
Just why he was looking so troubled at Jon (er, Aegon) and Dany getting it on is currently dividing the Game of Thrones fandom. There’s three main theories and we’re going to dive into all of them. Strap in.
THEORY #1: Tyrion’s in love with Dany.
This is the most cliché of the lot, but it needs to be said: Tyrion could simply be in love with Dany. Earlier in the episode, Cersei made a pointed comparison between Dany and Tyrion’s dead lover Shae, telling her brother that Dany is “a foreign whore who doesn’t know her place.”
In ‘Beyond the Wall‘, we got a scene with Tyrion and Dany, where he jokes about Jon being into the Mother of Dragons. She counters with “He’s too short for me,” and then quickly apologises after realising what she’s said. This interaction sets Jon and Tyrion up as love rivals, which if you recall, was also in George R.R. Martin‘s 1993 pitch for ‘Game of Thrones’. (The love interest in question, though, was Arya. Psycho.)
And then last season offered us the biggest evidence of all: Tyrion’s longing gaze when he tells Dany that she’ll find love again, after she sent her lover Daario away.
“He wasn’t the first to love you,” Tyrion says. “And he won’t be the last.”
And *LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOK*.
Could…. someone else possibly love Dany? Why doesn’t HBO just hit me over the head with a brick with it.
Moving on.
THEORY #2: Tyrion is worried he’s losing control of Dany.
Again, going back to that conversation between Tyrion and Cersei, he tells his sister that Dany has chosen a Hand (a.k.a. him) who checks her worst impulses, and that is the key difference between them as Queens.
And then last episode, Tyrion practically begged Dany not to fly north and rescue Jon and friends from their little pickle north of the wall. She did anyway, and as a result lost one of her scaly dragon babies.
Tyrion could simply be worried that by Jon and Dany getting together, he’ll lose his influence over her. This obviously worries Tyrion because he’s so wrapped up in his own cleverness that he’s always sure his decision is the right one, even if hindsight later proves otherwise.
THEORY #3: He’s betrayed Daenerys to Cersei.
This is my favourite. The big’n. It’s the sort of twist we’ve come to expect from Game of Thrones, where no character is divided into simply ‘good’ and ‘evil’ but crosses the line as their own values guide them.
So if we go back AGAIN to that Tyrion / Cersei convo (hmmmm, sure seems pivotal), we know that the conversation continued after Tyrion figured out that Cersei was pregnant. We know that whatever was said prompted Cersei to change her tactics, and at least pretend to help fight the army of the dead.
We already wrote that it was possible Tyrion has told Cersei about Dany’s supposed infertility. He might have led Cersei to believe that her child could one day rule Westeros (and he might well have been lying about it).
But this theory posited by Redditor ndotny points to full-on betrayal by Tyrion. At first it seems way too far-fetched; Tyrion hates his sister, and has been repeating Dany’s promise to “make the world a better place” often enough that I have no doubt he believes it.
But he also loves his family. Some of them, at any rate. As the Redditor points out, Tyrion’s betrayal would lead him to a redemption for the greater crime of his actions that inadvertently lead to the deaths of Myrcella and Tommen, by protecting his unborn niece or nephew.
The evidence is pretty convincing.
Theory Evidence: Tyrion is Now Working with Cercei. (Spoilers Extended)
by u/ndotny in asoiaf
Fans have been wondering if Tyrion would betray Dany for some time. In the House of the Undying, Dany was told she would be betrayed three times: once for blood, once for gold and once for love.
The ‘blood’ bit was satisfied by Mirri Maz Duuh, who betrayed Dany with blood magic. The ‘gold’ bit was satisfied by Jorah spying on her for King Robert.
Will she be betrayed by Tyrion out of love for his unborn niece / nephew? Fans have been wondering if Tyrion would betray her out of love for his brother, Jaime, but now that Jaime’s abandoned Cersei and is riding north, this seems less likely.
Of course, knowing Game of Thrones, this will only end tragically. And we’ve got a long, long, long time to muse on just how fucked everyone is next season.
