Game of Thrones is a show filled with so many unexpected twists and turns that fans are always anxiously guessing what surprises await them in the next episode. Will a main character die? Could a friend suddenly reveal themselves as foe? Just how many times will Hodor say “Hodor'”? (Unfortunately no times in Season 5, since he and Bran will be MIA.)
All of this speculation, of wondering “what’s next,” has led to some pretty crazy Game of Thrones theories. However, I don’t know if I’ve ever heard one quite as interesting as this before. In a recent MTV article about the series, writer Josh Wigler discusses the “R+L=J” theory briefly before jumping into a new one: A+J=T. What does that mean? Simply put, it says that Tyrion is not the son of Tywin Lannister, and that his real father is actually Mad King Aerys Targaryen, which would also mean that Daenerys (and technically Viserys Targaryen, as well, but he’s dead, plus no one likes him) is Tyrion’s sibling.
Now, the actual explanation for this theory and how it all came about does involve some book spoilers, which I won’t post here (and that I would appreciate if people didn’t post in the comments), but I do want to talk about what this would mean for Game of Thrones as TV show. If this actually does turn out to be true (which is unlikely, in my opinion), it would really undercut some of Tyrion’s best moments from the series, particularly his killing of Tywin in the Season 4 finale. So much of Tyrion’s story is about how he feels likes an unwanted outsider in his own family, despite being their blood, and to actually make a him a real outsider, to have Tywin not actually be his birth father, takes away from how rawness and realness of Tyrion’s pain.
As cool as it would be to have two of my favorite Game of Thrones characters related, ones that would hopefully survive till the end of the series and take over Westeros for themselves, I wouldn’t want it at the expense of what has made Tyrion such a compelling character.
What do you think?
Photo via HBO
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