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Did Shae ever really love Tyrion?


Lady Snowcat

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There is quite a big difference in the way Tyrion and Shae’s relationship is portrayed in the TV Series compared to the books. To answer the OP, no, I don’t think Shae (in the books) loved Tyrion. However, the Series does seem to portray she does.



Why I don’t think she loved him is because I too suspect Tywin set the Shae relationship up. (Why, I don’t know as I am unable to get inside GRRM’s mind – thank the 7 gods lol.) I remembered (like other posters here), Tyrion met her on the battlefield at Tywin’s camp. Bronn acquired her for Tyrion. Tywin gave strict instructions not to take the whore to Kings Landing. Tywin knows his son very well and knew that Tyrion would take her simply because his father told him not to. Then again, maybe Tywin really didn’t want Shae to go with Tyrion. We know Tywin’s a control freak but with regards to Shae he had no control/authority so had to threaten Tyrion instead.



Tywin’s whole holier than thou appearance could easily have been hiding a secret life. I’m still reading AFfC so don’t know if there’s anything more said about all the Dorne daughters. There were comments in The Captain of the Guards chapter, by Doran Martell referring to Sarella who is not in Dorne …. leaving her to her game. As soon as I read that I immediately thought of Shae i.e. could Shae be Sarella? I hope we do find out who Shae really was and if she wasn’t Sarella then where is Sarella. If Shae was Sarella that could explain why Tywin was sleeping with her – i.e. Shae/Sarella was not a whore but was of semi-noble birth (one of Prince Oberyn’s Sand Snakes) and a nymphomaniac and that was the “game” she was playing. It also falls in with her wanting to go to Joffrey’s wedding and wanting to wear nice clothes and jewels.


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In the book she did not, in the show its kind of ambiguous. I think she ultimately got what she deserved in the book as she really destroyed Tyrion in every way poissble while also knowing fully well what his history with Tysha(?) was. Twisting the knife in his back by shaming him at his trial as well (with the Giant of Lannister comment) was just evil...


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  • 1 month later...

There is quite a big difference in the way Tyrion and Shae’s relationship is portrayed in the TV Series compared to the books. To answer the OP, no, I don’t think Shae (in the books) loved Tyrion. However, the Series does seem to portray she does...

Testify! I'm with you all the way up to this point. However, I can't go along with your theories on Tywin manipulating he Shae/Tyrion relationship from the start and Sarella being Shae. Tywin is indeed a master-level hypocrite and deservedly received his chamber pot execution from the person he fucked over most in his life. And that's saying a lot about what he did to Tyrion because let's not forget Tywin is the one who unleashed the torture-rape-kill machine that was The Mountain loose upon Westeros. But he'd never willingly let Tyrion be manipulate dby a whore. It'd look too bad for the Lannister name in his eyes. He made that quite clear w/ Tyrion's first wife.

I think in the books Shae loved Tyrion in a certain way. To put it crudely, she loved Tyrion in a way a pet loves its master. She was more motivated to betray Tyrion by self-preservation. Tyrion coudln't provide and protect her anymore, so she moved on to the next best available choice or "master" in Tywin.

In the show they seem intent to portray Shae's motivation for betraying Tyrion as more complex. In the show she loved Tyrion truly, in part because he made her feel like an equal and not a whore or servant. And she loved him for that. However, when he married Sansa she never really got over it. She understood why he did it, to a degree, but still felt betrayed by Tyrion. Shae never really forgave him. That look on her face in the trial scene when she said, "I am a whore," basically told the whole story. She was basically saying to Tyrion, "I knew my place in society, and I accepted it. But you made me feel equal to a noble and then took that away from me. You lied to me and this is how I pay back your lies." Yeah, I know, that's a lot for one look, but that's what I got from it. ;)

Now, the TV show hasn't revealed as of S4E8 that fateful scene in the chamber of the Hand of the King, so we'll hopefully see in the final two episodes if my analysis of Shae's motives are accurate or not.

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I think Tywin had a weakness for whores and that is why he was so horrid to his son about that particular issue. I think Tywin hated that of all his children, Tyrion was the most like him--intelligent, cunning, well-read, and with the same weakness. As to why he chose Shae in particular for his bed that night, I can't say. Maybe he took a devilish delight in betraying his son just that much more.

Definitely, in A Feast For Crows, His sister, Genna Lannister, tells Jaime that the one time she told Tywin that Tyrion took the most from him, and was "his true son", Tywin gets really mad, and Genna says that he never forgave her for this. Everyone (Except for Cersei :p ) Agrees to the fact that Tyrion, with his wits, is most like Tywin, even Jaime agrees. Tywin hated that, he wanted Jaime to be like him, not Tyrion.

As per Shae, I do not believe she loved Tyrion. It's easy to see in the book, where truly she only talks about sex. Just before Tyrion kills her, she tries to win him again, and calls him "My giant of Lannister", after the trial scene, this was obviously a mistake which sealed her fate, Especially when you consider she was naked in Tywin's bed.

I like the idea of Tywin being a whore-hunter like Tyrion, and hating him for that, but does anything ever hint to his whore-loving nature?

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  • 2 weeks later...

I don't watch the show because I do not want their appearances and actions to affect what I read in the books. Maybe later.

I think Bronn went looking for a bedwarmer for Tyrion. Tywin heard of it, and dispatched Shae. Bronn says he took Shae from a Lannister, but not which Lannister. So Shae at least was paid by Tywin to snuggle up to Tyrion and pass on what he was doing/thinking in KL while Tywin was out fighting.

Bronn may have been paid off as well. I cannot parse that out. Interesting that he named his "son of a thousand fathers" Tywin.

In short, no, Shae never loved Tyrion. She was well-paid to play the part and then make a fool of him in the trial (allusions to Shay). Tywin was her giant (and sugar daddy) of a Lannister.

Great thread......I googled "did shae ever love tyrion" and voila!

I quote you Beathag, becasue this is what I was wondering and only remembered it while rewatching the shows recently. Shae came to Tyrion through Bronn, who pulled her away from another Lannister tent. That's all we ever knew. I think the show garbled what my interpretation of the relationships actually meant in the book. I wanted Tyrion to be in love. You feel bad for him throughout the entire story except at the very beginning in Winterfell. In fact, you only begin to realize how miserable his life was and is, in this very scene, after escaping from the Eyre with his life due to Bronn saving him. Gosh, when you think about it, this it what amazes me about incredible storyteling. The levels and layers of relationships that have to always be considered while writing......blows my mind.

I hope for wonderful things for Tyrion too. He is my favorite character in the books and in the show. I look forward to him continuing to being featured prominently in the series. I'm dying to se what GRRM has in store, and in the end, who will reign supreme. I don't much care for Dany.......dunno why.

Thanks for the comments and the thoughts on the relationship. I guess I'm not the onlly one wondering. But after rewatching the show and being reminded of how Shae was brought in, and then again seeing her murdered at the habds of Tyrion, I couldn't stop thinkning about it.

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I personally don't like Shae in the book, she is a 'prostitute' in the soul. Whereas in the series she may have been a prostitute but she had a pure heart, and in the series you could tell she was in love with Tyrion and she only accepted to betray him in the trial not because she was offered a rich life but because she wanted to get back to him for pushing her away.



Opinion:



In the series her accent was adding more on her character making her this simple person who came to Westeros from far away but fell in the lifestyle of prostitution as she didn't have a choice, whereas in the book she is appearing as this prostitute who is only with Tyrion for what she can earn from him and she betrays him in the trial purely because of what she was offered (given that in the book the scene where he pushes her away is not in it)


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Nah, she never loved him. I think she got on well enough with Tyrion, but never loved him.



I think the scenario of a prostitute loving one of their clients seems unlikely to me anyway. Could they ever love or respect someone who's willing to pay for the use of their body? I dunno.





is there a single shred of evidence of shae having sex for money?





Shae was a prostitute. 'Camp follower' was a euphemism for 'prostitute'.


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