Shipping Sanrion In Secret

TYRION APPRECIATION MONTH

Day 13: A Clash of Kings (Late Submission)

Chataya and Alayaya are very interesting characters in Tyrion’s A Clash of Kings arc. Chataya is a Summer Islander who is also a very successful business women, owning one of the most expensive brothels in Kings Landing. Her daughter Alayaya works in the brothel. Tyrion first meets them when Varys arranges for him to use Alayaya as a cover to meet with Shae as there is a secret passage between a small stable and Chataya’s establishment. Just before the Battle of the Blackwater, Alayaya is abducted by the Kettleblack brothers at Cersei’s demand and brought before Tyrion, bloodied, bound and gagged in order to pressure Tyrion. Yet Alayaya never gives away Tyrion’s secret. Instead she protects Shae by continuing on with the ruse:

“Sweetling,” he said, “you must be brave. I am sorry they hurt you.”

“I know you’ll free me, my lord.”

“I will,” he promised, and Alayaya bent over and kissed him on the brow. Her broken lips left a smear of blood on his forehead. A bloody kiss is more than I deserve, Tyrion thought. She would never have been hurt but for me.

Many fans agree with Tyrion, saying that he does not deserve Alayaya’s loyalty. They also wonder why Alayaya is so loyal to Tyrion in the first place. But we actually know why: Tyrion was the one who delivered justice to Slynt and Deem for the murders of the infant Barra and her mother. Allar Deem murdered them both in Chataya’s brothel on Janos Slynt’s orders because Cersei wanted all of Robert’s bastards dead. Tyrion sent both Deem and Slynt to the wall and even told the captain to throw Deem overboard before they reached Eastwatch. There are not many members of the nobility who would care enough about a sex worker and her baby to seek justice for them. And it’s something that Chataya and Alayaya greatly appreciate. Varys says as much when Tyrion asks him if he can trust Chataya:

“I am certain of nothing in this fickle and treacherous world, my lord. Chataya has no cause to love the queen, though, and she knows that she has you to thank for ridding her of Allar Deem.

Just as he sought justice for Barra and her mother, he becomes so enraged over Cerse’s treatment of Alayaya that he promises revenge:

Her blood still marked him as he looked down at the queen. “I have never liked you, Cersei, but you were my own sister, so I never did you harm. You’ve ended that. I will hurt you for this. I don’t know how yet, but give me time. A day will come when you think yourself safe and happy, and suddenly your joy will turn to ashes in your mouth, and you’ll know the debt is paid.”

His threats against his own family to protect Alayaya absolutely appall Tywin:

“To save a whore’s virtue, you threatened your own House, your own kin? Is that the way of it?”

Eddard Stark: capricorn sun, taurus moon, ? rising

Catelyn Tully Stark: cancer sun, cancer moon, scorpio rising

Robb Stark: leo sun, libra moon, aries rising

Sansa Stark: libra sun, pisces moon, cancer rising

Arya Stark: aries sun, scorpio moon, sagittarius rising

Bran Stark: pisces or aquarius sun, aquarius moon, ? rising

Rickon Stark: sagittarius sun, ? moon, cancer rising

Jon Snow: cancer sun, ? moon, capricorn rising

Yes, I agree, I think Tysha herself has become symbolic in Tyrion's mind, which is why he keeps relating her to other women he meets and seems to see her everywhere. I think I've also written before about how this is related to the repetition of the "where do whores go?" line. We'll never really know what happened to Tysha or who she was really, and knowing that she really loved him doesn't give Tyrion any answers because she's gone and he has no idea where she is. He's not really looking for her, even when he fantasizes about meeting her again and what he would say to her. "I'm sorry I let them rape you...I want to go back to our cottage..." Like, this is obviously a fantasy, and spoken in Tyrion's voice with characteristic dryness to emphasize how impossible it would be to say aloud and how awful what happened really was and how Tyrion knows he can never go back to that innocent time when he was thirteen years old.

Hey so I need to make it %100 clear that my post was NOT meant to say that Tyrion "wronged Tysha too" because Tyrion is not in any way the one who wronged Tysha by being forced to participate in her gang rape as a child by his abusive father. Children are not responsible for being forced into sex acts by adults. Ever.

TYRION APPRECIATION MONTH

Day 15: Parallels with other protagonists - Tyrion Lannister & Daenerys Targaryen (in/sp.)

I would be surprised if Sansa and Tyrion did not meet again. Like I've said before, I think just about every surviving PoV is going to reconvene at Winterfell for the pointy end of the conflict. I expect both Sansa and Tyrion to be amongst them.

As for Tyrion's feelings towards Sansa...

"It was sweet," lied Tyrion, "but I am married. She was with me at the feast, you may remember her. Lady Sansa."

"Was she your wife? She … she was very beautiful …"

And false. Sansa, Shae, all my women … Tysha was the only one who ever loved me. Where do whores go? 

Tyrion IX, ADWD

And then later:

Sometimes he envied the girl all her pretty little dreams. She reminded him of Sansa Stark, the child bride he had wed and lost.

Tyrion XI, ADWD

When Tyrion thinks of Sansa as false, I think it's pretty clear it's linked to multiple layers of trauma. Over Tysha, over Shae, and he's thinking of Sansa with that lens. When he thinks of Sansa without the link to Shae and Tysha, he thinks of her as an innocent little girl. The swing between idealised innocence and brazen duplicity is something we see in Jaime's PoV as well - it's the Madonna/whore dichotomy in a different context. Tywin passed on the misogyny very well indeed.