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Episode 87: A CLASH OF KINGS, TYRION III: "Never Break the Chain" SHOW NOTES!
🕑 Added 2019-11-11 15:00:05 +0000 UTCHello 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 eighty-seventh episode of the Not A Cast, titled: “Never Break the Chain: An Analysis of ACOK, Tyrion III,” in which His Grace King Stannis Baratheon tells the Lannisters to get the hell off his lawn, and they respond in a multitude of ways, some smart, some...less so.
This episode is brought to you by our Small Council:
- Hand of the King WolfmanZack
- Grand Maester Timbob
- Lord Commander of the Kingsguard Mark N.
- Lord Travis, Master of Ships and Warden of the Waves
- Ser Keith J, Master of Whisperers
- Lord Philip the Merciful, Master of Laws
- Jancy O, Lady Commander of the Night’s Watch
- Lord Gene, Master of Coin
- 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: Warden of the West and the Kraken’s Bane
- Lord James: the Jim that was Promised
- The High Bearded Priest
- The Blue-Ringed Octoling
- Lord Jake, Assistant (to the) Hand of the King
- Lady Xena Valyrian
- Hedrigal, Captain of the Air Ship Arrogance
- His Grace’s High Inquisitor Frank
- Ser Jasper the Cruel, the King’s Justice
- Laurence, Prince of Dorne
- Richard, Sealord of Braavos
- 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 Wryinn
- 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
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 Snark Knight, a Sworn Sword, asks:
Your Graces, Who, in your opinion, is the lousiest, worst, most bad and ugly theater level commander/strategist in ASOI&F? Like, the person above the Anti-Ender Wiggins Ser Imry Florent but obviously not the guy who put Ser Imry in charge, Stannis (Stannis! STANNIS!) Baratheon.
Done in the Damp of the Drowned God
So, thank you to frequent interrogator Ser Snark Knight for this and all your other questions! If you’d like to ask us questions that we’ll answer on the podcast, you are welcome to subscribe to our patreon as a Sworn Sword or higher patron at patreon.com/NotACastASOIAF.
And of course, our next patreon goal is achieve ONE THOUSAND patrons. When we hit that level of patronage, we will release a full analysis of The Forsaken AKA the maybe the kingsmoot was a bad choice in retrospect chapter. And we’ll do it in as many goddamn parts as it’ll take. Airhorn. Airhorn. Airhorn.
But that’s our patreon and our question for this week. Let’s turn now to Tyrion’s third chapter in ACOK. When we last left Tyrion, he had done good in shipping Janos Slynt and Allar Deem off to the Wall but starts to think that he has his own Allar Deem in the form of Bronn. Let’s see what happens when new opportunities for Tyrion to be the good guy present themselves in this synopsis of ACOK, Tyrion III.
Synopsis
Cersei, angry and in no mood to wait up for Varys, gives an oscar-winning performance playing the part of a woman falsely-accused of treason, infidelity and incest.
“Treason is vile enough,” she declared furiously, “but this is barefaced naked villainy, and I do not need that mincing eunuch to tell me what must be done with villains.”
Ah, delicious. The sweet/bitter, metallic taste of irony.
Tyrion reads the two letters that Cersei received, comparing them and realizing that they were exactly the same albeit written with two different hands. Pycelle explains that the first letter hit Castle Stokeworth, and then the next copy arrived at Castle Rosby. Littlefinger fingers his little pube beard, saying that if these small castles received letters, Stannis has likely sent letters to every lord in ever castle and holdfast in Westeros.
“I want these letters burned, every one,” Cersei declared. “No hint of this must reach my son’s ears, or my father’s.”
“I imagine Father’s heard rather more than a hint by now,” Tyrion said dryly. “Doubtless Stannis sent a bird to Casterly Rock, and another to Harrenhal. As for burning the letters, to what point? The song is sung, the wine is spilled, the wench is pregnant. And this is not as dire as it seems in truth.”
Cersei get those green fury eyes and yells about how dare Stannis accuse her. Why, oh why would he ever allege that Cersei committed incest, adultury and treason? Only because you’re guilty, Tyrion thinks. Tyrion is in some amazed amusement over how huffy Cersei was over the letter given how much of a liar she was. He thinks that Cersei should become a mummer if they lose the war. Still, Tyrion, cynic as he is, says that Stannis wrote the letter to have a pretext to justify his “rebellion.” Don’t like ya right now, Tyrion. Just letting you know!
“I will not suffer to be called a whore!” Cersei shouts
Why, sister, he never claims Jaime paid you, Tyrion thinks
Tyrion reads over the letter again and finds the phrase “Done in the Light of the Lord.” He thinks that strange. Pycelle says that this is a formality in free cities of the east. It doesn’t mean anything more than “done in the sight of gods and men.” Littlefinger reminds everyone that Selyse took up with “red priest” a few years back. Interesting detail not knowing that Melisandre is priestess. But Tyrion isn’t about the trivia piece of it. He thinks they can use Stannis’ newfound faith in R’hllor against him and have the High Septon denounce Stannis as both a traitor and apostate.
But Cersei is still thinking small.
“But first we must stop this filth from spreading further. The council must issue an edict. Any man heard speaking of incest or calling Joff a bastard should lose his tongue for it.”
Grand Maester Pycelle, a fuckin’ toady, says that this is prudent. But Tyrion knows better.
“A folly,” sighed Tyrion. “When you tear out a man’s tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you’re only telling the world that you fear what he might say.”
Ding. There’s a top-50 ASOIAF quote for ya!
Cersei, though, wants to know what they should do. And Tyrion’s like, fuckin’ nothin’, sis. There’s no proof of this incest, and besides, it totally never happened. And then strangely, Littlefinger backs Tyrion’s play, saying that trying to silence the people will only lead the people to spread the tale further. Instead, they should fight fire with fire.
Cersei asks what Littlefinger means, and Petyr, ever so kind, tells her that all they really have to do is just spread a tale that Stannis’ daughter is bastard-born, and that’ll tickle the smallfolk’s pickle. They love to believe that the lords are shit -- especially a “lord” like Stannis who isn’t much loved. Cersei agrees cautiously, but then starts getting excited about who they’re going to frame as Selyse’s lover. She suggests one of the Florents, because she’s got low cunning, people. And Tyrion says what about Ser Axell Florent, Selyse’s uncle, because Tyrion’s of middlin’ cunning.
But Littlefinger has a high degree of cunning:
“Ser Axell might serve for Shireen’s father, but in my experience, the more bizarre and shocking a tale the more apt it is to be repeated. Stannis keeps an especially grotesque fool, a lackwit with a tattooed face.”
Pycelle goes all how could *we* the good people of the small council who totally just did a frame-up job of Ned Stark and allow the massacre of his men possibly do such an unethical thing, but Littlefinger doesn’t care. Littlefinger thinks that it’ll be a fuckin’ hoot if they accuse Selyse of getting freaky with Patchface. Everyone would love to talk about that bizarre tale. But no, they’re not going to spread the tale. Instead, Littlefinger will get the sex workers in his brothel to do the talking for them. They don’t want to seem self-serving, you see.
At that, Cersei asks where Varys is, and Pycelle talks about how he mistrusts Varys, who spoiler-alert, for once isn’t wrong in his life to mistrust the guy who will crossbow the shit out of Pycelle at the end of ADWD. Tyrion, though, knows where Varys is, but ain’t about to let people know about that. So, Tyrion excuses himself and says that he needs to head on out for a simple, don’t-trouble-yourself-Cersei task. He’s off to make a chain for Joffrey. Just a little one! But Cersei isn’t giving up on possessing Tyrion without a fight:
“If you think for a moment you can buy Joff’s love with gifts-”
“Why, surely, I have the king’s love, as he has mine. And this chain I believe he may one day treasure above all others.”
And with that, Tyrion walks out of the small chambers and meets up with Bronn. The sellsword escorts Tyrion back to the Tower of the Hand for a meeting with people, waiting for Tyrion’s pleasure.
“Waiting my pleasure. I like the ring of that, Bronn. You almost sound a proper courtier. Next you’ll be kneeling.”
“Fuck you, dwarf.”
“That’s Shae’s task.”
Gee, you think George liked writing all of these Tyrion dialogue scenes? Maybe just a little!
Tyrion hears Lady Tanda calling after him, and he doubles his pace to get away from her and her attempts to wed her daughter Lollys to him, all the while pretending not to notice her. Finally, he comes up to the Tower of the Hand, and he winces as he mounts the steps and climbs the long stairs to his chambers. Inside, he finds Podrick Payne, a hero who fuckin’ rules, in there. But for now, he’s a nuisance to Tyrion, and Tyrion thinks that Tywin inflicted him with Podrick.
All mumbly now, Podrick gets Tyrion dressed for his meeting. And who is Tyrion meeting with? Why, every smith, armorer and ironmonger that Bronn was able to sweep together. Tyrion enters the meeting, announced as the Hand of the King. And he loves that shit. Tyrion asks Podrick for the canvas sack, and Pod hands it to him. Tyrion upends the bag.
Its contents spilled onto the rug with a muffled thunk of metal on wood. “I had these made at the castle forge. I want a thousand more just like them.”
A smith by the name of Ironbelly inspects the iron and determines it to be a “mighty chain.” Mighty, yes. Tyrion says. But it’s too short. It needs to be longer. So, Tyrion wants every forge in the city to work on this chain going forward. And he wants someone in charge of overseeing the work. Maybe Ironbelly will do? Mayhaps, but Cersei has ordered swords and armor constructed for all the gold cloaks she’s hiring. And if they don’t make the swords and armor, she’s promised to smash their hands with hammers.
Sweet Cersei, always striving to make the smallfolk love us.
But Tyrion promises that no one’s hands are going to get smashed. Ironbelly asks how they’re going to find enough iron for the chain, and Tyrion says that Littlefinger will pay for it, hoping he can count on the Master of Coin for that much. And the City Watch will assist in getting more iron. They can melt down every horseshoe if it comes to that.
Then some rich asshole master armorer comes forward, saying that this task is beneath his station. He makes beautiful swords and armor, and this is a job for peasants. Tyrion asks this bro’s name, and he says he’s Salloreon. He’ll make a demon’s head helmet for Tyrion.
A demon’s head, Tyrion thought ruefully, now what does that say about me.
Tyrion then says, in what will prove to be yet another ironic early Clash statement, that he plans to fight the rest of his battles from the chair he’s sitting on. He needs the iron links, not a helmet. Again, irony. Regardless, they’re all to make the chain or wear chains. Then he dips out of his chambers.
Outside, it’s Bronn again, and they’re off to a predetermined location. Inside, his litter, Tyrion reflects on how he had carpenters building fishing boats, had opened the kingswood to hunters and sent the gold cloaks to forage (again, steal) food to the west and south. But everyone looks at him accusingly. They make their way down Aegon’s High Hill, and Tyrion thinks that Cersei was short-sighted about the letter Stannis sent.
Without proof, his accusations were nothing; what mattered was that he had named himself a king. And what would Renly make of that? They could not both sit the Iron Throne.
He pushes the curtain back and looks around, seeing his Black Ear escorts and Bronn out front clearing the way. He plays a “game” in trying to guess the informers from the regular ol’ smallfolk. He decides the least suspicious-looking were the informers, the most-suspicious looking innocent. He then takes a nap.
When he wakes, he finds himself at a two-story building that Bronn knows to be a brothel. Bronn asks what they’re doing here, and Tyrion’s like, bro, what do you typically do at brothels? to Bronn’s laughter and question about whether Shae isn’t enough. She isn’t, Tyrion lies. Besides, the sex workers here are fit for a king.
“Is the boy old enough?” Bronn asks
“Not Joffrey. Robert. This house was a great favorite of his.” Although Joffrey may indeed be old enough. An interesting notion, that.
Tyrion says Bronn and the boys can have some fun, but it’s expensive. He just needs one man who knows where to grab up everyone when Tyrion is done.
Inside, Tyrion is introduced to a Summer Islands woman by the name of Chataya, the madame of this establishment. She asks for his name, but Tyrion’s like “No names, please. Thanks.” They pass into the building, and Tyrion asks if any of the girls are available. Chataya ushers him on, and they pass through the usual goings on -- an old man playing happy music on pipes, a Tyroshi bouncing a buxom young girl on his lap, two sex workers playing tiles. Chataya suggests the dark-skinned girl, saying that she’s sixteen.
This causes Tyrion to think of his first time with Tysha and how she was younger than sixteen.
What a wretched fool you are, dwarf?
Chataya then goes on to say that the dark-skinned girl was her own daughter, and stop looking at me that way, Tyrion. This is a no judgement zone. In the Summer Islands, there is no shame in the pillow house. Many girls are sent to the pillow houses for a few years after their flowering to honor the gods. When Tyrion, the skeptic, asks what the gods have to do with any of this, Chataya replies that the gods made bodies and souls. They also gave sexual desire. So, the Summer Islanders worship the gods in that fashion.
Tyrion, sarcastic, says that he would be more religious if he could “pray with his cock.” All the same, he’ll take Chataya’s daughter. They meet at the foot of the stairs, and the girl introduces herself as Alayaya. She takes Tyrion’s hand and guides him up the stairs and then down a hall where the sounds of sex emanate from every room. This causes Tyrion’s trouser shark to start swimming if you know what I mean.
They reach a room, enter it and Tyrion looks at the erotic carvings on the wall. He says that Alayaya is beautiful, but he’s most interested in her tongue. Alayaya says her tongue will please him as she’s been trained from an early age. So, Tyrion asks what to do now.
“If my lord will open the wardrobe, he will find what he seeks.”
Tyrion kisses Alayaya’s hand and heads in. Alayaya closes the door behind him, and Tyrion grabs a panel and pushes it aside. He finds hollow space behind the walls and then reaches out to grasp a metal rung. He starts climbing down into the tunnel and comes out of the bottom to find a man holding a candle It’s … Varys! And boy does Varys look odd.
A scarred face and a stubble of dark beard showed under his spiked steel cap, and he wore mail over boiled leather, dirk and shortsword at his belt.
Varys asks if Tyrion found Chataya’s establishment to his liking. Tyrion did. Almost too much to his liking. Tyrion asks if Chataya can be trusted, and Varys says he doesn’t trust anyone. But Chataya is grateful to Tyrion for ridding her of Allar Deem. So, she probably won’t betray them.
They make their way down the tunnel, and Tyrion notices that Varys, master of disguise, smells different and even walks differently in his guise. Tyrion says he’s a big fan of Varys’ costume, and Varys is all like, can’t go out on my own with a column of knights around me. He has to go out of the Red Keep in disguise. Tyrion comments that he didn’t see any of Cersei’s spies following him, and Varys says, I sure hope not. Some of those spies are his spies, and he’d hate to think they got sloppy.
Still, Tyrion hopes that his frustrated sexual yearnings will have been worth the climb down. And Varys says, well, maybe one of Cersei’s spies comes into the brothel. But probably not. And then Tyrion has a question:
“How is it a brothel happens to have a secret entrance?”
“The tunnel was dug for another’s King’s Hand, whose honor would not allow him to enter such a house openly. Chataya has closely guarded the knowledge of its existence.”
“And yet you knew of it?”
“Little birds fly through many a dark tunnel.”
They come out a trap at the back of a stable under Rhaenys’ Hill. Tyrion mounts a piebald gelding, commenting on how old this horse is. Yes, it’s an old horse, but it won’t cause notice. Anyways, Tyrion, let’s get this cloak on you to make you look like a child. Varys is very keen on ensuring that they go unnoticed: a boy in an old cloak on his father’s horse going about his father’s business. That being said, Varys tells Tyrion that he should go to Chataya’s by night.
“I plan to … after today. At the moment, though, Shae awaits me.”
Ah, the ol’ go to the brothel to feign having sex with a sex worker so you can go see your other sex worker trick. Works every time.
Shae had been put up at a walled manse to the northeast corner of King’s Landing -- as far away from the Red Keep as possible seemingly. And due to the danger, Tyrion hadn’t visited her. As Varys saddles his horse, he talks about the council meeting and how Stannis has crowned himself. Varys know this. Stannis also accuses Cersei of incest. How’d he find that out, Tyrion wonders.
“Perhaps he read a book and looked at the color of a bastard’s hair, as Ned Stark did, and Jon Arryn before him. Or perhaps someone whispered it in his ear.”
Varys laughs, and he isn’t giggling for once. It’s a deep-throated chuckle. Man, Varys really goes full method actor, doesn’t he?
Tyrion asks if Varys told Stannis, and Varys/Shaggy says it wasn’t me. Tyrion asks if he would admit it if he had told Stannis, and Varys says, lol, no. But he’s not likely to betray such a secret. He’s kept it for a long time. And the timing isn’t right. Regardless, the truth wasn’t all that difficult to suss out. Robert had eight bastards, and regardless of the mother’s hair color, every child had raven-black hair. Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen did not.
Tyrion shook his head. If she had borne only one child for her husband, it would have been enough to disarm suspicion … but then she would not have been Cersei.
So, if Varys wasn’t the one who told, who snitched? A traitor, Varys says. Littlefinger? Varys didn’t say that. He implied it.
Tyrion let the eunuch help him mount. “Lord Varys, sometimes I feel as though you are the best friend I have in King’s Landing, and sometimes I feel you are my worst enemy.”
“How odd. I think quite the same of you.”
And that is ACOK, Tyrion III: a fun as heck chapter after the slaughter chapter from last week! What did you think, Emmett?
Depth
If Tyrion I and II were about Tyrion dealing with internal threats to his power within the Lannister coalition, Tyrion III offers the first taste of how he’ll deal with external threats to that coalition’s existence. Most of the Lannister fury and industry we’ve seen expended so far has been aimed at the Starks, Tullys, and the people of the Riverlands. In other words, we’ve mostly seen in it a military context as opposed to a political one, because in political terms, the Lannisters have been on their heels since Ned’s execution, reacting rather than setting the terms.
Stannis’ threat is the inverse: a political one, not a military one. Not yet, anyway, but it could become one if left unchecked. As such, Tyrion is operating on a different stage in Tyrion III, even as he’s still hampered from within by Cersei, as their dysfunctional relationship constantly works to upend Tyrion’s preparation and push him in darker directions emotionally.
ACOK, Tyrion III reads like as one-part comedy and one-part conspiracy-thriller. The small council scene has Tyrion at some of his wittiest in the narrative, speaking lies, thinking the truth, making Cersei very mad online but then regarding Littlefinger as much more dangerous than he suspected before. I like to think of the first half of the chapter as plot-oriented, showing Lannister political counter-maneuvers to events from ACOK, Davos I.
Then in the second part of the chapter, we get leveled up to engage the endgame plot of ACOK with Tyrion speaking with the metalworkers of King’s Landing to “make a chain.” Why a chain? Well, Tyrion’s not going to let his inner monologue betray a pivotal plot twist!
But the third part of the chapter reads as GRRM pouring one out to the fans. We get all sorts of evidence for various theories: Littlefinger is a traitor who leaked information to Stannis about Cersei’s incest while setting up another mystery which we’ll discuss at the end: who was the Hand of the King who built the tunnel to Chataya’s.
But also in the latter part of this chapter, we’re starting to see the true shape of the game of thrones. And this unveiling of the real game becomes a feature of Tyrion and Varys’ conversations in ACOK into ASOS. That begs the question of why. Why is Varys willing to reveal parts of his true self to Tyrion? As I’ll argue in a bit, I suspect GRRM is seeding the groundwork for Varys’ attempt to turn Tyrion’s against his family in favor of Aegon/Daenerys. Varys’ weapon is information, and my read is that he hopes the drip-drip-drip of information to Tyrion can win the dwarf to his side.
- The letter and the council
- Right away, we see the political impact of Stannis’ letter exposing the hidden secret throughout book one
- It’s not even so much that it wins people to Stannis’ side (though it does for a few), but that it forces the Lannisters to respond, and they don’t all respond well
- Cersei goes full Cersei here, her rage somehow completely genuine even as every word out of her mouth is a lie
- She declares Stannis a villain out of one side of her mouth while demanding a harvest of traitorous tongues out the other
- She’s hypocritical, short-sighted, and painfully obvious; that her response to Littlefinger’s idea of spreading their own rumor is to bring up incest again exemplifies how poorly she’s been keeping this secret
- Tyrion, meanwhile, is watching with outright amusement as the chapter starts.
- He can’t even be mad, he’s just stunned by the extent of her performance
- It perfectly captures the intimacy to the Tyrion-Cersei relationship I’ve talked about before, where he knows her inner life so well that he can’t help but enjoy the disconnect between that and the face she’s putting on
- But it also captures Tyrion’s core cynicism, because his family’s dirty laundry has just been publicly aired in a way that could bring them all down, and he shrugs
- You could say this is Tyrion the pragmatist, and we do see that when he pushes back on Cersei’s violent edict of silence (unlike the toady Pycelle, who sucks)
- But we still see his blind spots at work, because his plan is to do nothing about it
- Littlefinger is the one who has to step in and say they need a counter-narrative, a way to muddy the waters so it just seems like nobles trading insults rather than Stannis offering the cold clear water of truth
- Tyrion wouldn’t have bothered, because Tyrion is convinced he cannot be loved due to his disability and his experiences with Tywin, Tysha, etc.
- In Cersei and Tyrion, we see people who have learned very different reactions to the world insulting them
- Cersei overreacts, and Tyrion underreacts, both of them hiding behind armor, and both of them cracking by the time we reach ADWD
- Cersei’s main concern is that this “lie” doesn’t reach the eyes of Tywin and Joffrey
- Is this a psychological reaction by Cersei, attempting to prevent this information from reaching men who could physically hurt her?
- Cersei’s upbringing as Tywin’s daughter couldn’t have been a happy one.
- In AFFC, Cersei will recall what happened to Tytos’ mistress after Lord Tytos Lannister died -- getting marched naked through the streets of Lannisport while calling herself a “whore”.
- So, too, will Kevan try to emulate Tywin in punishing Cersei for her sexual crimes -- ostensibly to politically neuter her, but the honor of House Lannister is always at stake
- And Joffrey has proven far too unwieldly for Cersei to manage as she admitted to Tyrion back in ACOK, Tyrion I, becoming more physically violent and psychopathic.
- All of that background is showing us that Cersei fears of Tywin or Joffrey finding out about her relationship to Jaime and the parentage of her children aren’t baseless.
- Worth noting while we’re praising Stannis’ truth-telling that we’re already seeing the Lord of Light as a political albatross for his cause, a chain weighing him down
- Building a chain
- This chapter shows us Tyrion’s response to Stannis’ letter, although George can’t tell us that’s what it is without giving the game away
- For the rest of ACOK, George has to have Tyrion working on this chain without ever thinking about it, lest the audience be spoiled for the Battle of Blackwater
- It’s not strictly realistic, but a) there are clearly time gaps in between the chapters and b) Tyrion’s mind is so busy and clever that he’s always ahead of us anyway
- That’s one of the prime pleasures of his POV; look no further than his next chapter, in which he holds back how he’s manipulating the counselors so we pick up on it in real time
- Even within this scene, George gives us more to focus on than the chain itself, so we’re not inclined to spoil the mystery--we’re seeing Tyrion work as a leader
- Again Tyrion comes off better than Cersei, the outright tyrant who would have hands hammered if the armorers don’t do as she says
- Tyrion notes internally that the Lannister regime is hanging by a thread as far as public opinion are concerned, yet Cersei keeps on alienating everyone
- But, also again, when his image comes into play, his own lion claws come out
- As I’ve said before, I’m just so impressed with how George layers Tyrion’s downfall into the corners of scenes here early on in his rise to power in ACOK
- Transition point/question: I think I’ve finally figured out what George is doing with Ned and Tyrion!
- We’ve both commented on how Tyrion’s plot work is better while his character work isn’t as fulfilling while Ned’s character work is better than his plot work.
- And the reason why is which part of the storyline is in the service to other?
- For Ned, it’s more important for George to set up his character as Ned won’t be around in the long-term, but his legacy in safeguarding Jon lives on. So, all the Jon Arryn murder mystery stuff isn’t going to matter at the end of the story. What will matter is all of Ned’s thoughts of Rhaegar, of Tywin, of Robert of Jon that swirl around the Jon Arryn investigation
- Meanwhile, for Tyrion, the character stuff is in service to his plot.
- He is an endgame character in the story. So, the plot-points bound forward, building one after the other.
- And the character work: the Tysha backstory, the Shae stuff -- all works in service of Tyrion murdering Shae and killing Tywin in ASOS -- vaulting his plot forward to his ADWD dark place -- which again is character work in service to the future plot points from TWOW when Tyrion intersects with Daenerys.
- And that’s what’s going on here for this scene we’re about to talk about. The character dynamic is that Tyrion wants to see Shae and utilizes a tunnel from Chataya’s brothel to become incognito. But you’d honestly be forgiven if you forgot about why Tyrion was even at Chataya’s.
- The plot details are always more important for Tyrion.
- Welcome to Chataya’s
- As Tyrion says, the ones who look the most suspicious are likely innocent (as Oberyn will say of Tyrion in ASOS; it comes from Tolkien’s fair v. foul dynamic)
- As such, he leans into his reputation by visiting a brothel, even as the truth of his assignations with Shae remain secret...for now
- This scene leans heavily into the tropes of noir: the secret identities, the experienced madam, the aura of sex and politics and danger
- And indeed, the politics of sex is what connects it all--Tyrion’s private life becomes public due to his position, and he and Varys are talking about the public ramifications of what Cersei does behind closed doors
- In the middle of all that, you get the Summer Islanders, with a very different view on sex and sex work; hard not to find it healthier than the sexual dynamics between the Lannisters and how those have exploded onto the landscape
- And then we come to another Varys/Tyrion conversation, and we’re forced to ask: what is Varys doing here? What is his goal? What is Tyrion’s?
- As I alluded to in the intro, the key goal of Varys here is to turn Tyrion into an asset.
- How?
- Create the illusion of trust between the two of them with information sharing
- Force Tyrion to think critically, building off the nature of power conversation they had in Tyrion II by hinting at how power is really working at King’s Landing without outright confirming things -- who built the tunnel/who leaked Stannis the information about the incest
- So, what are the lessons that Varys is hoping to impart to Tyrion?
- Kind-of Tywin-esque, but Varys is essentially telling Tyrion to keep his paramour hidden, that Shae’s exposure will both endanger her and weaken Tyrion.
- "The tunnel was dug for another King's Hand, whose honor would not allow him to enter such a house openly. Chataya has closely guarded the knowledge of its existence."
- "Dwarfs are not so common a sight as children, so a child is what they will see. A boy in an old cloak on his father's horse, going about his father's business. Though it would be best if you came most often by night."
- Meanwhile, Varys heavy implication that Littlefinger was the one who told Stannis about what was going on with Cersei is the eunuch urging Tyrion to both be wary of Littlefinger and maybe, possibly, pretty-please dispose of him?
- How would you describe Varys' and Littlefinger's relationship?
GRRM: Adversarial! Both of them know a lot about the other one, including some very damaging things. So, they're in, essentially, a stalemate, because each one knows that if he revealed what he knows about the other one, then the other one would reciprocate and they would both be destroyed. So, they're locked in a certain stalemate. I think Littlefinger has a better idea of what Varys wants than Varys has an idea of what Littlefinger wants. Littlefinger is an agent of chaos who likes to be unpredictable and succeeds in that. - I think it’s possible Varys views Tyrion as a wild card piece in the game that could break the stalemate.
- And recall the mandate that Tywin gave to Tyrion at the end of AGOT
- I blame those jackanapes on the council—our friend Petyr, the venerable Grand Maester, and that cockless wonder Lord Varys. What sort of counsel are they giving Joffrey when he lurches from one folly to the next?
He pointed a finger at Tyrion's face. "If Cersei cannot curb the boy, you must. And if these councillors are playing us false …"
Tyrion knew. "Spikes," he sighed. "Heads. Walls." - Sadly for Varys, Tyrion, Sansa, every living human being and domesticated animal in Westeros, Tyrion will make the calculation that Littlefinger is too important a piece to remove.
- A view which Littlefinger ironically will not share about Tyrion as we’ll see at the end of ACOK and the frame-up job of Tyrion for the murder of Joffrey
- Meanwhile, Tyrion thinks he’s playing the same game, making Varys his asset.
- The problem is that Varys keeps Tyrion in the dark as to what his real game is until book five.
- Sure, he’ll help Tyrion here to prevent Renly or Stannis from taking the throne, all the while knowing the truth behind Joffrey’s parentage.
- And when the time is ripe, he, like Littlefinger before him, will reveal the truth about Joffrey Tommen’s parentage.
- So, they’re not playing the same game. Tyrion is cynically propping up his own family, because he bears the last name of Lannister.
- Varys will keep Joffrey in power now so that “the good of the realm” will be served by preventing Stannis from taking the Iron Throne.
- ‘Cause Varys, idealist as he is, doesn’t want his prepared prince: Aegon VI Targaryen/Blackfyre to face the one true king.
Foreshadowing/Groundwork
The repeat-beat of Pycelle’s mistrust of Varys works as foreshadowing for Varys crossbow’ing Pycelle in the ADWD Epilogue
Tyrion’s refusal of the demon helmet will mean that come the Battle of the Blackwater, he’ll be wearing a Lannister half-helm, leading to the loss of his nose when Mandon Moore attempts to kill him.
And on Salloreon himself, maybe he was being a shit about making the chain for Tyrion, because he has ulterior, noble motives? Because as we find out later in ACOK, Tyrion XI, he was allegedly part of something else:
It was no matter for jests, though; it appeared that these Antler Men had armed several hundred followers, to seize the Old Gate once battle was joined, and admit the enemy to the city. Among the names on the list was the master armorer Salloreon. "I suppose this means I won't be getting that terrifying helm with the demon horns," Tyrion complained as he scrawled the order for the man's arrest.
(Bring up the point about the “traitor” from the Shadows Over Camelot game)
Sadly for Tyrion and especially Alayaya, Cersei’s spies were following Tyrion, and at least one of them entered the brothel and found out that Tyrion and Alayaya were spending time together. So, Cersei sends the Kettleblack Brothers to capture and beat Alayaya. She’s imprisoned to ensure that Tyrion doesn’t harm Tommen.
Theory/Discussion
So, which mysterious hand of the king by the name of Tywin Lannister built that tunnel to Chataya’s brothel, and why is it Tywin Lannister?
- As we learn at the end of Tyrion’s storyline in ASOS, Tywin was sleeping with Shae; he shared in private the predilection for sex workers he publicly scorned in Tyrion
- It fits perfectly, therefore, that his “honor” would lead him to build this private access tunnel into Chataya’s
- We even see a girl Marei with gold hair and green eyes in the brothel, and the building’s dominant color scheme is Lannister red and yellow
- Moreover, it doesn’t particularly suit any of the other Hands within the time period (the only other plausible candidate is Jon Arryn, which...I doubt it).
- Just in general, this suits the Tyrion and Tywin relationship so well that it has to be true! Both Lannister men go down the same tunnel, symbolizing their mutual sex with Shae
- Everything Tyrion touches Tywin touches, and vice versa, gold forever turning to shit
Conclusion
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