Tyrion definitely had an ulterior motive. It's not about Dany or Aegon or Dragons or advice. It's about TYRION. And his quest to take back control of his life.
SPOILERS from A Dance with Dragons and A STorm of Swords:
Is Tyrion a player or a piece?
Let's think about what Tyrion's going through.
- He's gone from a position of great power, to a bureaucratic job he can't make sense of, to a prisoner on death row to a refugee with a price on his head.
- He's had an few weeks of INCREDIBLE stress: he's been in a ridiculous sham trial, framed by his own sister;
- he's witnessed a bloody trial by battle with his life in the balance;
- he's been told about a lie told him that literally changes the reality he's lived in for a decade and a half;
- he's caught his girlfriend in bed with his father;
- he's murdered his girlfriend;
- he's murdered his father, the most powerful figure in his life ;
- he's been drinking too much;
- he's been stuck in a barrel;
- he's been taken on a journey he doesn't particularly want to go on with a bunch of strangers;
- and he's been dragged into a river by a Stone Man with the most terrifying communicable disease anybody knows about. He may be dying.
- He has finally realized that, far from being the player he thought he had been, he himself has been a piece being played on a board much bigger than he'd realized; in a game much more long-term than he'd realized. AND HE HATES THAT.
- Lord Connington has deprived him of alcohol and treated him like crap for weeks. Which means he's feeling the pain he's been trying to drown.
Tyrion's dip in the grey death infected water was a kind of baptism for him. When he comes out of it, he knows he may be dying; he has a sense of urgency to achieve his goals. What are his goals? Simple:
- he wants to kill and rape Cersei, or at least make her life completely miserable and then kill her.
- He wants revenge on Jaime.
- He wants to (pardon my Valyrian) FUCK SHIT UP on the continent that rejected him.
- He wants Casterly Rock.
He's done with being the Holy Fool shuffled along by players bigger than him.
He wants more. And he's done with being played by Illyrio and Varys. He harbors a deep resentment towards them, in fact. Why? Because suddenly he's become their piece.
"I trust[Connington] as much as if he were my own blood."[says Aegon]."....Trust no one, my prince. Not your chainless maester, not your false father, not the gallant Duck nor the lovely Lemore, nor these other fine friends who grew you from a bean. Above all, trust not the cheesemonger, nor the Spider, nor this little dragon queen you mean to marry. All that mistrust will sour your stomach and keep you awake by night, 'tis true, but better that the long sleep that does not end....but what do I know? Your false father is a great lord, and I am just somse twisted little monkey man."
--A Dance with Dragons
Tyrion does NOT like being played. And he's ready to throw a spanner(or a wrench, depending on what side your on) in their works.
GO WEST
Later, of couse, Aegon does invade Westeros and lands in the Stormlands.
But that's not what Tyrion advised him to do.
He didn't just suggest going to WESTEROS.
He was more specific than that.
"If I were you? I would go west instead of East. Land in Dorne and raise my banners.
Why Dorne?
Tyrion has an idea.
It's not even his idea.
It's been suggested--by the Red Viper of Dorne, Oberyn Martell, himself.
And it's all about Myrcella.
Oberyn says"To be sure, i have much to thank your sister for. If not for her accusation at the feast, it might well be you judging me instead of me judging you....Who knows more of poison than the Red Viper of Dorne, after all? Who has better reason to want to keep the Tyrells far from the crown? And with Joffrey in his grave, by Dornish law, the Iron Throneshould pass next to his sister Myrcella, who as it happens is betrothed to mine own nephew, thanks to you.""Dornish Law does not apply."[said Tyrion.]...'My father will crow Tomme,, count on that.""He may inded crown Tommen, here in King's Landing. Which is not to say that my brother may not crown Myrcella, down in Sunspear. Will your father make war on your neice on behalf of your nephew? Will your sister?...."If Dornish law applied in the West, [Cersei] would be heir to Casterly Rock in her own right. ..."My father will never give her that choice.""Your father, said Prince Oberyn, "may not live forever.
--A Storm of Swords
Of course in the dark confines of his cell, Tyrion doesn't really think about it again.
But once he's out, in the vicious, raging mood he's in, with his strong desire to rape and kill his sister, kill his brother and generally wreck the Realm that's treated him so shabbily he begins to consider it.
"It is warmer down in Dorne. Perhaps [Stannis] should have sailed that way. [said Illyrio.]"My neice Myrcella is in Dorne, as it happens. And I have half a mind to make her a queen....""What has this poor child don to you that you would wish her dead....?""Queen her, I said. NOt kill her.""To queen her is to kill her. Dorne might rise for Myrcella, but Dorne alone is not enough. If you are as clever as our friend insists, you know this."Tyrion looked at the fat man with new interest. He is right on both counts. To queen her is to kill her. And I knew that. "Futile gestures are all that remain to me. This one would make my sister weep bitter tears, at least."
Tyrion is smart. He wants to play his own game.
The game Oberyn suggested to him. The same game Arianne was playing when Darkstar atacked Mycella.
Even if it is futile. Because when he was with Illyrio it was futile. With Aegon and his army...a little less futile. It starts to look a little more interesting.
ANyway, futile or not, heeded by Aegon or ignored by Aegon...it's Tyrion's own move.
A2A, thank you!
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