If you've been bored with Tyrion and Jaime Lannister's scenes in "Game of Thrones" recently, there's a very simple reason why. Back in season four, the show left out a pivotal confrontation between the brothers.
Ever since Jaime helped Tyrion escape to Essos, we've watched as the youngest Lannister child bantered his way to Meereen. Now he is helping to rule, but Tyrion's scenes haven't been the most compelling.
Jaime spent season five and now the first chunk of season six trying his best to get into Cersei's good graces. First he went on a fruitless "Myrcella rescue mission" to Dorne, only to return with her dead body.
Now, he's stuck firmly by Cersei's side, claiming that no one else in the world is as important as them — a slight 180 from the complicated and remorseful Jaime we saw in season three.
We haven't seen this side of Jaime in a long time.
From a book reader's point-of-view, the lack of compelling material from both Jaime and Tyrion's recent storyline stems from the season four finale. Remember, Jaime helped Tyrion escape prison after he lost his trial by combat. Instead of going to find Varys immediately, Tyrion veered off course to murder both Shae (his former lover) and his father Tywin.
An enormous series of revelations was left out of this scene — one that involved Tyrion's first wife and Cersei's unfaithful history with Jaime.
George R.R. Martin's important backstory
In both the show and the books, Tyrion has a tragic history with marriage. When he was a teenager, he met a young girl while traveling with Jaime. She was poor, a lowborn named Tysha. But her and Tyrion fell in love quickly, and got married before Tywin knew they had met.
Tyrion told Bronn and Shae about Tysha in season one.
When he heard the news, Tywin was furious. Jaime revealed to Tyrion that Tysha was actually a prostitute, hired by Jaime because he thought Tyrion could use the confidence boost. For Tywin, having his highborn son marry a prostitute was a great shame. He punished Tyrion by having him watch as each of his soldiers raped Tysha and gave her "payment" for her services. Tyrion had to rape her last.
Throughout the books, while readers are in Tyrion's point-of-view chapters, he thinks of Tysha with a sort of wistful shame. He truly believed their love was real, and it pains him to think back on how young and foolish he was. This is part of what makes his relationship with Shae so complex and tragic in its own way.
And so we come to his escape in the third book, "A Storm of Swords." The chapter is written from Tyrion's perspective, and begins with Jaime unexpectedly coming to his prison cell at 3 a.m. to break him out. But when Tyrion shows gratitude, Jaime admits a terrible truth to him.
Jaime always had a soft-spot for his little brother.
When Tyrion thanks Jaime for his life, his brother only says it was a "debt" he owed. Tyrion presses for more information from Jaime, sensing something is off. Here's how the scene plays out in the books:
Jaime is afraid. "Tell me," Tyrion said again.
His brother looked away. "Tysha," he said softly.
"Tysha?" His stomach tightened. "What of her?"
"She was no whore. I never bought her for you. That was a lie that Father commanded me to tell. Tysha was ... she was what she seemed to be. A crofter's daughter, chance met on the road."
Tyrion could hear the faint sound of his own breath whistling through the scar of his nose. Jaime could not meet his eyes. Tysha. He tried to remember what she had looked like. A girl, she was only a girl, no older than Sansa. "My wife," he croaked. "She wed me."
"For your gold, Father said. She was lowborn, you were a Lannister of Casterly Rock. All she wanted was the gold, which would make her no different from a whore, so ... so it would not be a lie, not truly, and ... he said that you required a sharp lesson. That you would learn from it, and thank me later ..."
"Thank you?" Tyrion's voice was choked. "He gave her to his guards. He made me ... watch." Aye, and more than watch. I took her too ... my wife ...
Tyrion thought he could trust Jaime — until he learned the truth.
Tyrion is rightfully horrified by this news. All along he believed he was unlovable and only good for his money and family name. Now he knows that he was once loved, and by an innocent young woman who he helped gang rape just because his father didn't approve.
Before Jaime gives Tyrion the keys to escape, he asks for a truth of his own. Jaime wants to hear from Tyrion himself whether or not he was responsible for Joffrey's death — the crime of which is was accused. Tyrion's reply is not altogether truthful, but instead aims to emotionally wound Jaime:
You poor stupid blind crippled fool. Must I spell every little thing out for you? Very well. Cersei is a lying whore, she's been fucking Lancel and Osmund Kettleblack and probably Moon Boy for all I know. And I am the monster they all say I am. Yes, I killed your vile son.
No, Tyrion didn't really kill Joffrey. But he takes this opportunity to tell Jaime about Cersei's recent sexual escapades in King's Landing. While Jaime was off at war and being held prisoner, Cersei was not faithful to him. She slept with Lancel Lannister, their cousin, as well as a man named Osmund Kettleblack. Tyrion throws the name of a court jester, Moon Boy, in there just for good measure.
Tyrion's revenge
Then Tyrion leaves Jaime and decides to go find his father. This new information about Tysha has made it impossible for Tyrion to escape without punishing the man who ruined his life. Tyrion finds Shae in his father's bed, kills her, and then sets off with a crossbow to find Tywin.
Tyrion killed his father with a crossbow in the privy.
In the books, Tyrion just wants one thing from Tywin — he wants to know what happened to Tysha.
"What did you do with Tysha?"
"Tysha?"
He does not even remember her name. "The girl I married."
"Oh, yes. Your first whore."
Tyrion took aim at his father's chest. "The next time you say that word, I'll kill you."
"You do not have the courage."
"Shall we find out? It's a short word, and it seems to come so easily to your lips." Tyrion gestured impatiently with the bow. "Tysha. What did you do with her, after my little lesson?"
"I don't recall."
"Try harder. Did you have her killed?"
His father pursed his lips. "There was no reason for that, she'd learned her place ... and had been well paid for her day's work, I seem to recall. I suppose the steward sent her on her way. I never thought to inquire."
"On her way where?"
"Wherever whores go."
Tyrion's finger clenched. The crossbow whanged just as Lord Tywin started to rise. The bolt slammed into him above the groin and he sat back down with a grunt. The quarrel had sunk deep, right to the fletching.
Tywin was brought down by the one he never loved.
With Tywin dead, Tyrion leaves to find Varys and the sets off for Essos. The glory of his escape is marred by the knowledge of Tysha's true identity, and the vindictive murders Tyrion committed in the wake of his shock.
For the next two published books, both Tyrion and Jaime's character arcs are set on a new course. Jaime dwells frequently on their final conversation, often thinking about what Tyrion told him: "She's been f---ing Lancel and Osmund Kettleblack and probably Moon Boy for all I know."
Jaime's relationship with Cersei begins to fray. He has loved his twin sister all his life, and never slept with another woman. Jaime believed Cersei had the same level of devotion to him, only to learn that while he suffered and fought his way back to King's Landing, she was sleeping with other men. In the subsequent books, he leaves King's Landing and travels in the Riverlands. When he learns about Cersei's imprisonment by the Faith, he ignores her pleas for help.
For Tyrion, the quote that haunts him are his father's last words: "Wherever whores go." During his travels in Essos, he thinks it to himself and asks random strangers "Where do whores go?" Tyrion is tormented and pained and thrown into a deep depression and alcoholic state. So far in the books, he hasn't recovered entirely.
"Where do whores go?"
The show's version of events
In "Game of Thrones," viewers watched as Jaime entered Tyrion's cell, and led him toward Varys — just as it happens in the books. But when Tyrion thanks him for saving his life, Jaime simply hugs his little brother and says, "Quickly now."
No Tysha admission, no catastrophic reveal, no reason for Tyrion to lash back with the truth about Cersei. Jaime goes on his way none the wiser about Cersei's unfaithfulness, and Tyrion leaves for Essos with his brotherly love intact.
Yes, season five's Tyrion was relatively nihilistic and drunk. But he seems to sober up (relatively speaking) when he meets Daenerys. The show's version of Tyrion's journey is much faster, and he evolves past a state of depression within a few episodes. Now in season six, he is the confident and witty Tyrion we've grown used to. While that's not necessarily a bad thing, it is a little on the uninteresting side.
Jaime — on the other hand — has become a very one-note character on the show.
This isn't the complex and redemptive Jaime book readers hoped to see.
Osmund Kettleblack is not a show character, but Lancel Lannister definitely is. Yet, as far as the audience can tell, Jaime has no idea that Cersei slept with him. Instead — Jaime has been throwing himself at Cersei since the end of season four, trying to get back into her good graces.
Cersei sends him to Dorne to rescue Myrcella — a plotline completely invented for the show. And now Jaime returned to King's Landing and learned about Cersei's imprisonment but doesn't know all the details. One of the crimes Cersei was charged with was adultery and incest — with her cousin Lancel. But Jaime has no idea.
Instead of having Jaime disillusioned and separating himself from the disaster Cersei created in King's Landing, the show-version of his character is sticking by her side.
Now what?
Again and again, book readers have waited to see Jaime break away from Cersei on the show. Will it happen? Only showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss know for certain. Right now in season six, Jaime is helping Cersei plot against the High Sparrow, the one man who knows about Cersei's fornication.
Cersei has the full support of Jaime. For now, we hope.
Will the High Sparrow clue Jaime in on the truth? Will Cersei admit it herself? With the show establishing its own canon again and again, book readers are left in the dark. There's still a chance we'll see Jaime go through another character transformation and leave his twin sister's side.
As for Tyrion, the show seems set on not revisiting Tysha. He's settled into a life in Meereen, and is ruling over the city while Daenerys is off winning the hearts of the Dothraki. His murder of Shae and Tywin isn't visibly haunting him, and neither is the memory of his first wife.
Though many book readers have given up on seeing Tyrion learn about Tysha, hopes are still hung on Jaime. The next episode, "The Door," has no mention of Cersei or Jaime in the description, so we may have to wait several weeks before seeing the fallout of their planned attack on the High Sparrow. Tune in Sunday at 9 p.m. on HBO to see if we ever get the Jaime storyline fans have been hoping for.
