#at that time in the story she's just an elite dominion ghost

[xasha777]

In the neon haze of Club Neonova, nestled on the edge of the Neo-Swedish Empire, she was a vision that rendered the chattering crowd silent. Codenamed "Freya," she was not just another patron but the epitome of human and machine fusion, a cyborg enigma designed by the Empire’s clandestine science corps.

As she sashayed through the club, the music pulsed like a living thing, reacting to her presence. Her hair was a cascade of honey and gold, a stark contrast to her sun-kissed dress that clung to her as if it were afraid to let go. But it was her eyes that captivated—a shifting sea of blues and greens, embedded with tech only the wealthiest could afford.

The Empire, once a sprawling dominion of Earth, had long since ascended to the stars. They brought with them their rich heritage, their relentless pursuit of technological advancement, and their love for opulent displays of power. In the heart of their spaceborne territories, they cultivated elite agents like Freya. Her mission tonight was not one of espionage or warfare, but a demonstration of superiority. The Neo-Swedish Empire aimed to showcase the pinnacle of their bio-enhancement technology to the gathered dignitaries from rival star nations.

Hidden beneath her skin were nanofibers reinforcing her muscles, processors interfaced with her brain to calculate probabilities in real-time, and her blood—oh, her blood was a cocktail of nanobots and oxygen-boosting compounds. She could outthink, outmaneuver, and outlast any human or android counterpart.

As Freya approached the bar, the bartender, a veteran of the empire's intergalactic escapades, slid her usual—a drink that glittered with stars, a concoction only her engineered body could metabolize without fatal consequences.

A hush fell upon the room as the lights dimmed and Freya took the center stage. The music swelled, a symphony of otherworldly sounds, and she began to dance. It wasn't just a dance but a narrative, a story told through the movement of a being who was both less and more than human. Each spin, each tilt of her head, each extension of her cybernetically enhanced limbs was a testament to the Empire's might.

By the end of the night, with the delegation from the Andromeda colonies looking on in awe, the Neo-Swedish Empire had secured their allegiance, not through threats, not through promises, but through the sheer force of their technological marvels personified in Freya.

But as the patrons of Club Neonova stumbled out into the false dawn of the space station, Freya remained motionless on the dance floor, her eyes fixed on the starscape beyond the viewports. There, in the solitude of her existence, she pondered her reality, somewhere between the ghost of humanity and the cold precision of machines. Was she the harbinger of a new age or the final echo of an empire that would, one day, find itself as lost to time as the ancient realms of Earth?

In the vast silence that followed, only the stars were witness to the quiet struggle within the heart of an empire's greatest creation.

[dapperkobold]

Hypotheticals of the Storm: Tosh

So, recently it was revealed that the next hero in Heroes of the Storm will be a firebat! I’m excited, because I like firebats! Also, because a while back I told a friend I wanted a firebat hero (hellbat, technically, but that’s a minor detail) and now there’s one coming to the game!

So I figure that I should wish for more heroes! Hypotheticals of the Storm: how I would put a given character into HotS.

I have a few I really want, but we’ll start with something topical given the recent stealth re-work: the head spectre and a very dangerous man, Gabriel Tosh.

Who is this?

Tosh is head of the spectres, a kind of secret sister organization to the Ghosts, which are already a secret organization. The spectres could not be controlled like Mengsk wanted, and so he locked them away until Tosh worked with Raynor to free them and other political prisoners.

Unless Raynor worked with Nova to wipe them out. That’s kind of a funny continuity note. However, to my knowledge the canon is that he helped Tosh, but it is true that in some strains of the story he is very dead.

Well, Tychus still managed to get into HotS, I don’t see why Tosh should get left out because of schrodinger’s assassination.

Basic Ideas

Tosh would clearly be a ranged stealth assassin. Yeah, I think that it might be nice to have a stealth support or something, too, but we work with what we have. However, unlike Nova I figure that Tosh should be a sustained damage assassin, focused more on solid damage over time than Nova’s ranged combo burst damage playstyle. Based out of the abilities of Tosh and the spectre unit from Starcraft 2, I think I’ve thought of a good combination of powers.

Core Mechanic Ideas

Trait: Permanent Cloak a lot like Nova’s. Increased move speed while cloaked (for what it’s worth, given that I’m not sure if the cloak move speed boost stacks with being mounted and a lot of the time spent cloaked you also spend mounted). A nice twist on it might be to give bonus damage if you use a basic attack to break the cloak.

Health will likely be higher than most of the other stealth heroes, but not by too much. The core damage of the basic attack should be pretty good. The basic attack will likely be the basis of his damage, with abilities acting as some bonus damage, control, and survivability.

Tosh’s main limiting factor should be Mana, as even without being a burst assassin he’ll be using his abilities fairly commonly. Fine details will need to be refined, of course, but this is the basic idea.

Basic Ability Ideas

Here’s where I pulled pretty strongly from the Tosh hero unit. There’s some solid abilities there and in the spectre unit, and I think I’ve put them together into a nice kit.

Ability 1: Mind Blast A circular AoE skillshot that does some damage (about the same as a basic attack) and stuns enemies in the area. Ideally the AoE size will be about the right size to catch about half a minion wave (the caster and the ranged or melee line), maybe a little smaller. Perhaps the stun would be shorter on Heroes? That would really seal the ability as a waveclear ability, but even a short stun on a enemy hero (or heroes) can be very good if used well.

Ability 2: Shredding Round A click ability, similar to Nova’s Pinning Shot but with a different goal. It does about the same damage as a basic attack (remember, this is not a burst assassin, this is a sustained assassin). More importantly, it decreases armor on impact. -30% or -40% or something fitting. This isn’t a power from Tosh or the spectre, but it is related: while Ghosts in Starcraft 2 gained bonus damage against light units (infantry, fleshy zerg, vehicles plated with tin foil) spectres has bonus damage against armoed units (vehicles, chitinous zerg, buildings, infantry in particularly large amounts of armor). From that point of view, giving Tosh an anti-armor power makes a lot of sense to me.

Ability 3: Psychic Shield A power from Tosh in the campaign, by pressing the button a sizable shield appears around Tosh for a brief time. This would be a fine option to have to avoid burst damage and horrible death. As a shield effect it would be prone to various shield-breaking powers, but that’s the cost. The goal isn’t for this to be a solid stay-in-the-fight power or a solid escape power: It’s flexible. Maybe throw it up to avoid burst damage so Tosh can counter with his own sustained damage, maybe throw it up to buy some survival when fleeing for your life. Of course, if you’re still in a bind when that shield vanishes, or if you’re in a big enough bind that your shield melts, you’re still basically dead. Likely also on a fair-sized cooldown and/or an expensive mana cost to drive home knowing WHEN to use it over just using it.

Heroic Ability Ideas

Heroic 1: Psionic Lash An unlocked power for the spectre in Starcraft 2, an actual burst damage power! I figure I’ll give him one, there’s no need to limit him to only sustained damage. In Starcraft, it’s a simple click power that does straight up damage. I figure it should be a little more interesting for HotS.

What if it is an accurate click power, but it has a kind of homing projectile that moves at a regular rate? This gives the enemy a chance to react and possibly use a protection power. In addition, what if that projectile does the damage to the first enemy hero (and only enemy heroes!) hit? This opens the option for brave tanks to dive in and rescue the target, or humorous accidental collateral damage. It’s a bit more complex than it arguably needs to be, but it would open opportunities for interesting plays while giving Tosh a fairly reliable burst damage option if the need arises.

Heroic 2: Consume Consume is a moderately common power in Starcraft 2, found on a few different psionic units with a dark bent including Tosh. I took it out of his core kit to give him a bit of solid gameplay, but it would by no means be a bad power in HotS.

Suppose that Consume gives Tosh a lot of mana back, but he must target an allied minion, taking half of the minion’s maximum life. It becomes a choice: mana management is always tempting (and often important!), but weakening a minion wave might be the wrong choice. In addition, this wouldn’t be a bad option for a power that he can use and keep stealth, given that every stealth hero seems to have one of them.

Playstyle Ideas

It doesn’t seem all that complicated here: You stealth up to the enemy, appear and start pop pop popping away with your gun. Mind blast is for waveclear, stopping a fleeing enemy, or just to give you some breathing room. Shredding Round will decrease armor on warriors and other high priority targets so you can pop pop pop  more efficiently. Psychic Shield then is a pretty typical survival power, used when things get a little too hot to handle.

The biggest question for his playstyle is ‘why stealth’? Sure, it lines up with the character’s canon, but what does it do to his playstyle? I think it’s still a notable addition, but instead of burst damage appearing out of nowhere it’s a complete alteration of the current fight: sustained damage assassins don’t have that same kind of “Surprise!” element to them, but they instead force the enemy to rapidly re-evaluate the situation. While a burst Assassin can change the flow of the game in a single amazing play, sustained assassins change the flow of the game by supplying steady pressure. A stealth sustained assassin would then get more advantage from stealth hiding the player’s presence on the minimap, as the enemy would know where to expect pressure and the player would have some time before the enemy team can appropriately react to the change in situation.

Talents can include various basic attack Talents (Executioner in particular springs to mind) and Talents to improve Mind Blast’s control effects and Shredding Round’s damage output. There will likely be one level that’s just three Psychic Shield talents, too. I could feasibly build a full tree if people really wanted it, but for this level of pondering I don’t feel a need. Ideally, Auto attack, Mind Blast, and Shredding Round would all be potential focuses for builds (with Psychic Shield talents scattered around fairly modestly). Also possibly viable are talents that improve Stealth’s map usage, such as requiring a certain threshold of health to be lost to lose stealth. As a result, if an enemy uses a fast AoE to try and reveal a passing Tosh and doesn’t score a solid hit, the Tosh isn’t revealed and therefore the greater team doesn’t know his whereabouts or destination. However, that might be flying too close to the sun.

Problems

First of all, both the attack powers proposed are pretty solid powers that are straightforward to use without a lot of actual interaction. In addition, they’re both fairly reliable. While simple, that is boring. Boring will not do. See: Raynor, a perfectly usable hero but not at all fun because he’s just boring to use. Now, the Tosh plan I’ve set up here is certainly more complex than Raynor, but it could still use a wobble to it to add a little challenge.

On a related note, while I do think that a stealthy sustained assassin is possible, I also acknowledge that all the Assassins currently in the game have some way to capitalize on stealth, either with their huge scary high damage combo or some other kind of sudden edge. In short, if you’re playing Nova you come out of stealth and go into pinning shot and snipe, or use Holo Decoy if you want to play mind games. If you’re Valeera you have a whole set of stealth abilities. My Tosh idea doesn’t really have a setup other than “enter combat from stealth! Surprise!”

And while I do feel that the surprise would have an impact, it simply doesn’t have the same impact as “You take a bunch of damage and can’t use abilities! Surprise!”

Possible ways, therefore, to jank up Tosh’s abilities include:

1. Adding a casting time and obvious area warning to Mind Blast. Give enemies a chance to avoid or escape the area, meaning that the Tosh player needs to be intelligent about where it’s placed and who it targets. However, several other caster characters already use this gimmick. Plus, those mobile heroes are who Tosh wants to hit the most.

2. Making the range of Mind Blast very short. Not melee range short but still short enough that it’d be risky to get close enough to use. Unless, of course, you use stealth to get that close.

3. Make Shredding Round into Shredding Ammo, which causes Tosh’s attacks to apply an armor penalty for a short time. If this is usable without breaking stealth it also works with the idea of using a basic attack to break stealth for bonus damage. However, this undermines the idea of using Shredding Round against a single strong target.

4. Make it so that Shredding Round applies a damage boost and anti-armor penalty to only the next basic attack made, similar to Artanis’ Twin Blades or Arthas’ Frostmourne Hungers. The problem with those example abilities, though, is that there’s no reason to avoid casting them off cooldown, they may as well apply their effect automatically. Shredding Round would need a cooldown and mana cost that makes it clear that it is not meant to be spammed: it is meant to be used wisely to apply a steep armor penalty to a single hard target. This would also mesh with the ‘bonus damage from basic attacking from stealth’ idea.

Clearly, any of the complications presented above would need the raw numbers re-balanced from the basic types I first proposed. My bias is to apply the second idea to Mind Blast and the fourth to shredding round: Tosh then has the option to exit stealth while applying a normally tricky to land AoE stun or exit stealth with a sharp damage spike (bonus from Shredding Round and bonus from leaving stealth) and armor penalty. Both are good options that would be used in different situations.

As far as overlap with other heroes goes, there aren’t any big ones that leap to mind. Psionic Lash is similar to a few other heroics (Triple Tap from Nova or Pyroblast from Kael’thas), but I think I’ve well voiced how it would be different. At the same time while there’s a few self protection effects they aren’t the kind of thing which you really lean hard on in terms of redundancy. However, I’m by no means a HotS expert and there’s likely some other hero that does something similar (AoE stun effects in particular are seen on occasion in Heroic abilities, part of why I proposed that Mind Blast have a reduced effect on heroes) but I don’t think there’s as of now any hero that works like this.

[sanrionharbor-blog]

Sansa and Tyrion’s Character Arcs (Part I: Tyrion)

Being a writer, I’ve been pouring through Shawn Coyne’s The Story Grid over the past two weeks. One of the points he makes is that every part of a story–from beat to arc–has the same 5 elements: inciting incident, complication, crisis, climax, resolution.

And being as obsessed as I am with Sansa and Tyrion of GOT in particular, I thought I’d use the hey-day of the series season finale episodes to indulge in some character metas. 

We’re going to (mainly) focus on the inciting incident.

So, not only does GOT have an overarching inciting incident/complication/crisis/climax/resolution that it’s moving towards, but each season has them, each episode/chapter has them, each  subplot has them, and each character has them.

According to Shawn Coyne, an inciting incident promises one thing: “…the ending.”

So let’s dive a little deeper and see what Sansa’s inciting incident and Tyrion’s inciting incident tells us about them. I’m writing separate posts since they’re both long–first up is Tyrion!

Tyrion

To start on a side note that will eventually get to the point:

I really wonder if show-Tyrion and book-Tyrion can come to the same conclusion. 

Book-Tyrion is much more morally grey than show-Tyrion, for one. They make different decisions after the Purple Wedding (in the show Tyrion is notably celibate whereas book-Tyrion hits an all-time low and is not above sleeping with drugged-up, unresponsive prostitutes–though he manages to empathize with them, he still uses them to run from his own darkness). 

Now, I’m equally invested in both versions of the character and believe they have the same arc/themes overall. So on one hand I can see them playing out beat-by-beat, just with different palettes, if you would, but only because of the power of the inciting incident:

So, an inciting incident does more than promise an ending–it sets the character on a path of no return. So, more than a character’s introduction, it’s when their story first goes down an irreversible path.

Furthermore, an inciting incident is called an incident for a reason: it’s not necessarily a decision made by a character, but something that happens to him (but more on that in a minute).

Tyrion’s Introduction

First we’ll note Tyrion’s introduction in the book:

“Jon found it hard to look away from [Jaime]. This is what a king should look like, he thought to himself as the man passed.

Then he saw the other one, waddling along half-hidden by his brother’s side. Tyrion Lannister, the youngest of Lord Twyin’s brood and by far the ugliest. All that the gods had given to Cersei and Jaime, they had denied Tyrion. He was a dwarf, half his brother’s height, struggling to keep pace on stunted legs….one green eye and one black one peered out from under a lanky fall of hair so blond it seemed white. Jon watched him with fascination.”

Later, still in the same chapter:

“The dwarf grinned down at [Jon]. ‘Is that animal a wolf?’

‘A direwolf,’ Jon said. ‘His name is Ghost….what are you doing up there? Why aren’t you at the feast ?’

‘Too hot, too noisy, and I’d drunk too much wine,’ the dwarf told him. ‘…might I have a closer look at your wolf?’

…he pushed himself off the ledge into empty air. Jon gasped, then watched with awe as Tyrion Lannister spun around in a tight ball, landed lightly on his hands, then vaulted backward.

Ghost backed away from him uncertainly.

The dwarf dusted himself off and laughed. ‘I believe I’ve frightened your wolf. My apologies.’”

They talk a little more, and it’s interesting to note that Tyrion isn’t threatened by Ghost, merely fascinated, and he correctly deduces that Ghost is more shy than harmful, despite Ghost baring his teeth. This could be foreshadowing that the Lannisters will have dominion over the Starks soon, but Tyrion was never a player in that. Despite his loyalties to his family, he was the one that reached out to Jon when he saw Jon was crying, he was the one who bonded with Jon at the wall and honored Jon’s request to take care of Bran, he was the one who took the time to design a saddle for Bran, and who later treated Sansa with dignity despite every cultural and social protocol having taught him to do the opposite.

No, I think this has more to do with Tyrion’s fascination with direwolves, and perhaps the Wolf, in general. I also believe it’s foreshadowing (not the deliberate kind, but the instinctual kind that most writers aren’t even aware of), to Tyrion’s possible later loyalty/ally status with the Stark’s. More on that when we get to his first POV.

Tyrion’s First POV Chapter

The very first POV that features Tyrion ends on this line (I know most of you have read it before):

“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.”

And then there is Tyrion’s first chapter written in his POV–where certain details stand out to me [all emphases mine]:

“Somewhere in the great stone maze of Winterfell, a wolf howled. The sound hung over the castle like a flag of mourning…something about the howling of a wolf took a man right out of his here and now and left him in a dark forest of the mind, running naked before the pack.”

That’s the opening of Tyrion’s first POV. No lion metaphors here. Instead, Tyrion briefly imagines being part of a wolf pack–is he running in front as a leader, naked and free and accepted, or because he’s being chased down, naked and hunted and vulnerable? 

Regardless, the chapter ends here:

“‘My sweet brother,” [Jaime] said darkly, “there are times you give me cause to wonder whose side you are on,”

Tyrion’s mouth was full of bread and fish. He took a swallow of strong black beer to wash it all down, and grinned up wolfishly at Jaime. ‘Why, Jaime, my sweet brother,’ he said, ‘you wound me. You know how much I love my family.’”

For some reason, Tyrion is metaphorically identifying with wolves. These exchanges also tune us into the hint of whimsy and empathy in his character, which co-exists with his book-smart/world-weary outlook. 

Still, neither of these moments include Tyrion’s inciting incident. No, Tyrion’s inciting incident is a direct result of ASOIAF’s inciting incident: the moment Catelyn Stark receives a letter from her sister Lysa Arryn about the death of Jon Arryn, Lord Paramount of the Vale and Hand to the King.

This is powerful stuff in itself, even if the death had been natural. But we’re about to be lead through a political spiderweb that’s being spun over a dark, fuzzy expanse; and we can only make out what that darkness is when the spiderweb isn’t so clearly in focus: Winter, and not just any Winter, but the Long Night. 

This is all happening at once, and Tyrion is actually an early witness to the complementary foci of ASOIAF:

Myth: He visits the Wall with Jon Snow and, while he doesn’t encounter any wights, he does encounter several people who’re convinced about such things. He’s skeptical, but we learn over time that Tyrion is a closeted romantic. Sure, he’s reading up on the lives of Maesters and pouring through ledgers and history books half the time–but he’s also obsessed with true love and handsome knights and dragons.

Humanity: He’s a casualty of Jon Arryn’s murder and Catelyn Stark’s having been deceived (though Catelyn acts heroically based on what she believes to be the truth). He’s kidnapped by Lady Stark and forced to stand trial for two murders he did not commit. This is his inciting incident. It’s what gets Tywin to declare war on the Starks and what inadvertently puts Tyrion in the pathway of both Bronn and Shae. It leads him to his newfound confidence as a military strategist, even as a pseudo-knight, in subsequent battles–including the one that costs him his nose, and any illusion that his looks could be improved or his stature increased by acting like a knight. Acting like a knight (like Jaime, like the son his father wanted, like the heroes Tyrion grew up reading about) did not win him the approval of Tywin, the adoration of the people, the reality of knighthood, or the true affection of any lady. And we know how his story goes from here.

But none of it would have happened without Tyrion’s Inciting Incident. And he had no choice in the matter either. This was his point of no return.

So, what are the themes established here?

Themes from his introduction:

-Even though he’s compared unfavorably to his brother Jaime, who is described as “what kings should look like,” the POV ends with Tyrion standing “tall as a king.” So, in a word, kingliness. 

-His intro through Jon’s eyes establishes him as larger than life, despite his size. He’s breezy, irreverent, whip-smart, aware of his status (as a Lannister and as a pariah), and even surprisingly acrobatic (or at the very least self-sufficient, and possessing the element of surprise). He’s also empathetic–he gives Jon advice on how to navigate the world and finds common place between them. Remember, he’s a noble and Jon is a bastard. He’s under no obligation to treat him kindly. It’s simply his character; one of Tyrion’s better qualities. 

-In short, Tyrion fulfills a role as: outcast (dwarf) and elite (Lannister noble), adviser (or Hand), jester (“Generations of capering fools in motley…’), and, at least inwardly, a king. And all of these are mythical archetypes and play well into the fantasy tropes that GRRM is exploring, deconstructing, and reconstructing.

-I also highlighted the part about Tyrion’s one black eye and one green, and his hair so pale it was almost white. This has less bearing in the TV show, obviously, but many of these clues not only point out his physical otherness, but can symbolically point to:

Looking at the world from two perspectives

Divided loyalties (the green eyes of the Lannister’s, and that one dark eye–dark like the Stark’s?)

Or does it represent a divided lineage?

B/C, though I’m not sold on the theory, one wonders if the “Tyrion as the third head of the dragon” isn’t hinted through his white-blond hair? Yet another secret Targaryen?

Themes from his first POV chapter:

-Tyrion finds it easy to identify with the Wolf (and yes, with a capital ‘W,’ encompassing the Starks, the direwolves, the archetype). And throughout the story he easily empathizes with the Starks, despite the Shakespearean-level rift between his family and theirs.

-He loves his family. But he is also separate from his family. 

-Tyrion’s strength (and weakness) will be his mind

Themes from his inciting incident:

-I see themes of justice/injustice, truth/deception, and acceptance/prejudice.

-In fact, Catelyn Stark seizes him with these words: “…I call upon you to seize him and help me return him to Winterfell to await the king’s justice.”

-To return to Winterfell. 

-To await the king’s justice.

Tyrion: The Ending Is In The Beginning

So this essay has been largely book-focused. The biggest differences between book-Tyrion and show-Tyrion, in the first arc anyway, are simply Tyrion’s sex appeal. Let’s be honest. In the show, his introduction comes by way of brothel (and it’s also a way to introduce the show-only character, Roz), whereas in the books it comes by way of unfavorable comparison with his brother. Peter Dinklage is also very handsome, and I’m not complaining AT ALL about his casting (because I love him), and D&D had a limited range to pick from anyway, but Tyrion in the show is more attractive and that colors several scenes–especially the ones with Shae and Sansa.

But it doesn’t matter that much in the end. Because the point is that Tyrion’s arc isn’t about his overall attractiveness (but physicality, yes). Tyrion is still playing roles that are traditionally given to conventionally handsome characters, not just to outsiders or “monstrous” archetypes. 

So the interesting part is that his looks play a tangential role, but not a main one. His physicality is always at play, but not so much his attractiveness. For example, both show and book Tywin hate that their son is a dwarf; the ugliness of book-Tyrion is just the T.P. at the bottom of Tywin’s ill-fitting shoe. Again, tangential. It changes the palettes of book and show Tyrion’s overall story visual, but not the actual shape of their story.

So regardless of the differences between the show and the book, Tyrion’s ending can still be found in the book A Game of Thrones’. And not only because that’s a universal law of storytelling (the inciting incident promises the ending) but it’s exactly what George R.R. Martin has confirmed. 

So what can we infer about Tyrion’s ending from his beginning?

Here is where we find Tyrion at the end of season 1 of GOT and in his last POV in the first book of ASOIAF [all emphases mine]:

In the wake of Jaime’s kidnapping, Tywin has just told Tyrion he’s sending him to King’s Landing. 

“It was the last thing Tyrion Lannister would ever have anticipated. He reached for his wine, and considered for a moment as he sipped. ‘And what am I to do there?’

‘Rule,’ his father said curtly.

Tyrion hooted with laughter. ‘My sweet sister might have a word or two to say about that!’

That part about Cersei seems more pertinent now that we’re heading into Season 8 of Game of Thrones and she’s a prominent villain. She’s at least a major obstacle in Tyrion’s current story line (and, in fact, always has been). 

But more importantly is his father’s command to rule. Tyrion Lannister is groomed for rulership throughout his story, and this will probably be his destiny: whether that come in the capacity of being king or some other kind of leader. Perhaps there won’t even be an Iron Throne at the end of all of this, but Tyrion, worldly and well-traveled and ruthless and empathetic as he is, could be a spearhead for a new political system. Perhaps the Magna Carta of Westeros is coming? 

Let’s hark back to Tyrion’s inciting incident. He was going to await the king’s justice. What if the king’s justice turns out to be Tyrion’s justice? And Tyrion, after being held accountable all his life for things he had not done wrong (though not being punished for the things he has done wrong–after all, he’s no saint), will find his justice by a king, someway-somehow. Either with Tyrion as said King, or by being Hand to just such a King, or even, tragically, by finally facing a justice he cannot escape–at the hands of a king. (Or Queen). 

Tyrion’s arc will end when he is finally taken off trial. He thought he’d finally made it when he was free of his father’s (physical) shadow and when he found full acceptance (he thought) with Daenerys. But here’s where Tyrion’s theme of divided loyalties comes into play. He’s been struggling with finding where he stands throughout his storyline. Even when he was advising for Dany, he was still hoping that Cersei had the capacity for change. I think what he loved most about Cersei was her motherly instincts, her children (sans Joffrey). And he probably does feel guilt over Myrcella’s death. So Tyrion is seeking justice; he wants Cersei’s baby to live because he loves him/her instinctually, because it “atones” for the other children, because blood runs thicker than water, because he won’t be the reason the Lannister name is snuffed out. 

“…To return to Winterfell and await the king’s justice.”

In Season 8, Tyrion does return to Winterfell. If there were a third trial (orchestrated perhaps by Daenerys or by Cersei), it would probably take place at King’s Landing or the Dragon Pit, but there’s still the fact that Tyrion’s story is inextricably linked with Winterfell. 

He is particularly bound up in the stories of Bran, Sansa, and Jon. And in a series inspired by the War of the Roses, he could be the link that brings the Lannisters (Lancasters) and Starks (Yorks) to true peace. To finally establish justice and resolve the conflict that started this whole saga. 

Tyrion has been denounced in two trials and made to suffer consequences to his agency and reputation, despite the deception at play. His agency and reputation still need restoring. He still has neither of these things with Daenerys. 

He needs to emerge victorious from a third trial. Whether that third trial is literal or metaphorical.  It’s very possible that Tyrion will finally stand trial for a murder he is guilty of: Cersei could put him on trial for the murder of Tywin Lannister, and Tyrion will have to face the spiritual shadow of his father and the reality of his guilt once and for all. 

This third trial will establish Tyrion’s character; it will close his arc. Whether he dies physically or not, he will be spiritually enlightened/restored. 

And I’d have to agree with Peter Dinklage–that would be a really beautiful end for Tyrion Lannister, however it plays out. 

(Please share your thoughts as I am OBSESSED with Tyrion theories). 

(Next Up: Sansa Stark).