I did see it as hush money at all. Tyrion has a gigantic soft spot for whores. The least he could have done was pay for her services. And then he took a look at that old, wizened man and gave her another coin-- for compensation.
That’s what it looked like to me. He even gave her a “poor you” look.
I would also refer you to Varys’ riddle.
King or not, Tyrion is there as acting Hand and the behest of his father, Tywin, an extremely wealthy and powerfull man and head of the Lannister family. But that’s a lot of thinking for a spoiled little brat. Joffrey is shown to be a coward and he probably remebers being slapped around by the Imp. Not to mention he also has Bronn (now head of the city watch) and a small host of ax weilding tribesmen.
I think something else that works in Tyrion’s favor with regard to Joffrey is that Joffrey isn’t paying much attention to the business of being king. So far, anyway. We saw him take a bard’s tongue and redecorate the throne room. He’s like a kid with new toys. I’m surprised someone hasn’t put a bell on the little shit, so people would know when he’s coming. Littlefinger, Varys, all of them should be worried about what he’ll do next.
Cersei knows Joffrey’s a loose cannon so she’s going to be careful about what gets brought to his attention. Cersei still fears and respects her father, so I think she’ll also be careful with Tyrion, as Tywin’s agent.
I don’t think we’ve seen how Joffrey and Tywin feel about each other, but I imagine if Joffrey turned against his mother and uncle, Tywin would be looking to put a different Lannister in charge.
Joffrey said that Tywin’s stupidity in battle is losing them the war.
Yeah, we’ve only seen Tywin with Jaime and Tyrion, and it seemed like he had more respect for Tyrion than for Jaime. I wonder if he suspected Cersei and Jaime’s relationship. He must know by now. His reaction will be interesting.
Well that is true, Bronn is smart enough to see that if Tyrion is killed, instead of a sane and reasonable man to deal with, one who feels gratitude toward him, he’ll have Joffrey to deal with, and no smart man wants to deal with Joffrey.
Just noticed on the repeat that Tyrion gave the whore the second coin only after he saw poor feeble Pycelle putting up a pretty good struggle with those guards.
I doubt that it matters, Tyrion realizing that Pycelle’s not so feeble after all.
Littlefinger’s voice is still sounding different from S1. His words aren’t so clipped. Something’s different.
It wasn’t a “poor you” look. It was a wink. And then the whore nodded, as if understanding what Tyrion was getting at by returning to give her a second coin. Tyrion does, indeed, have a soft spot for whores, which is why he silenced her with payment and kindness rather than threats. But it was still silencing.
It’s no mistake that the scene immediately following it was the one with Varys and the riddle about power. The Lannister power derives solely from Joffrey’s legitimacy. If that secret falls into the hands of the wrong people, they will now have the upper hand. The whore needed to be quieted somehow. Other characters might have had her killed–Tyrion paid her.
So Tyrion is protecting the pillar of the Lannister power by winking at a country bumpkin that is not used to intrigue, hoping that, in her frazzled state, she understands exactly what he meant and that his money is more important to her than Littlefinger’s threats of “I’ll sell you to someone that’s going to mutilate you if you don’t tell me?”
Hmm.
I think he was just showing sympathy. Anything more than that would have required a conversation of some kind.
And the Lannister power comes mainly from being a rich and powerful family. Joffrey might be king but the Lannisters are still basically fighting the war on their own.
I agree. That whore didn’t hear anything she could use (even if she understood), and if Tyrion thought people needed silencing, he would have had to pay the guards too.
Hmm. I don’t remember that there was an “easy road.” I thought anyone who bought into the Drowned God’s faith had to be drowned. Theon had to know he was only reinforcing his father’s poor opinion of him otherwise.
oops
I don’t remember any of this drowning stuff in the show. Did I miss it or is this knowledge being imported from the books?
After Tyrion had Pycelle locked up I was wondering what kind of political clout do Maesters have if any?
Surely they must be a bit ticked off that the Grand Maester was summarily arrested?
It’s a reference to scene where we see the Ironborn priest pouring seawater over Theon’s face and speaking a blessing.
There is nothing about drowning on the show though, that is one of those things that against the rules.