Saturday, April 16, 2016

ASOIAF: Will Tyrion eventually win the Game of Thrones?









"Remember this, boy. All dwarfs may be bastards, yet not all bastards need be dwarfs." And with that he turned and sauntered back into the feast, whistling a tune. When he opened the door, the light from within threw his shadow clear across the yard, and for just a moment Tyrion Lannister stood tall as a king.

Despite this quote, which does feel like foreshadowing(at a point in the series that is chock-full of foreshadowing) I don't really see it in his future. For the following reasons:
  1. He has no claim. Even if he's a Targaryen bastard (or half-bastard, as I like to believe), bastards have no claim.
  2. He has no charisma. A few people see his value but without charisma, he's never going to be more than a competant technocrat: the people and the Lords want a leader as a king. Oh, viewers of the show and quite a few readers love him to death; the people of Westeros do not.
  3. Badasses elicit support in Westeros and Tyrion is not seen as a bad-ass. Even if he gains a Dragon, thus upping both his badass quotient and respectability, I think he's more likely to be viewed as a murderous monster to be feared than a royal presence--no matter what his intentions might be..
  4. Player, not piece. In A Clash of Kings, Tyrion had his time as a political figure being subtly played by the real masters(Varys and Littlefinger) and now he's realized how much bigger the game is.

    Everything in his story leads me to believe that he's best utilized as a power behind a throne, not on the throne itself.  ADWD, as he is learning to play the game, really learning, manipulating Aegon VI, and pondering the best way to manipulate Daenerys when he meets her, only reinforces this notion for me.
Now, some people believe that the Seven Kingdoms will dissolve into actual autonomous kingdoms by the end of the series, rendering the whole Iron Throne question moot. (I disagree that that will be what's best for Westeros, but I do agree that it is a possibility.) If so, he may end up as King of the Rock, i.e. the King of the WEsterlands(as were his forebears before the dragons came.)
And indeed, Lordship of Casterly Rock and the Westerlands seems to be his primary political goal at this point.

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