[Book Spoilers] "I won't ever hurt you."

[Newstar]

Yeah, so this line from Tyrion to Sansa raised my book reader hackles a little.

I've noticed that whenever a character in this series makes a big show of promising that he or she will never do something, or stating confidently that another character would never do something, events have a way of proving them wrong (Catelyn's vow never to ask Brienne any service that would bring her dishonour, ahem). So what should we make of TV Tyrion's promise to Sansa never to hurt her?

The line kind of seemed like a tweaked-for-TV version of Tyrion's line to Sansa in ACOK "I vow I shall not savage you" (complete with reassuring hand/arm squeeze), but the writers didn't need to include it in 3x08, so why is it in there? Also, it seems like a little thing, but Book Tyrion promised he wouldn't hurt (well, savage) Sansa, not that he would never hurt her. That "never" bugs me. It could be something innocuous, like setting up Tyrion's decision later in Season 4 (presumably) not to implicate Sansa in Joffrey's murder, or it could be something less innocuous.

Now, going off the books, as of ADWD, Tyrion hasn't done anything to hurt Sansa and hasn't "savaged" her, either, so maybe this will be a promise that Tyrion (both in the books and the show) winds up keeping; heck, Tyrion and Sansa may never even meet again in the books. On the other hand, if Tyrion continues to spiral into straight-up villainy, even though he doesn't have any specific revenge plans against Sansa at the moment (as opposed, to, say, Cersei), that could change in a hurry if he returns to Westeros and decides to cross the Vale off his revenge list. There's been a lot of speculation that Tyrion is in fact the "savage giant" Sansa is prophesied to slay as per the Ghost of High Heart's prophecy. While I have my doubts about that, personally, I can see a conflict in the Vale with Sansa on the Vale's side and Tyrion on the other.

So, what do you think? Foreshadowing of Tyrion hurting (or trying to hurt) Sansa down the line? Or just a tweaked version of book dialogue?

[Woman of War]

Didn't you, Newstar, post yourself that Tyrion simply does not have enough emotion towards Sansa in him to commit a crime of hate against her but that he hardly thinks of her?

It was in the Shae thread of E08

May I quote you about the question if Tyrion might strangle Sansa:

I dunno. He's not "always" thinking she betrayed him. He lumps her in with Shae and with other "false" women the one time in ADWD, but his reaction to Sansa fleeing her marriage in ASOS is "What did you expect?" In ADWD, he seems pretty unconcerned about her. He calls her "false" the one time, as I said, but he also compares Penny "with all her pretty dreams" to Sansa late in ADWD, whom he describes as "the child bride he wed and lost" and not, say, as "that conniving, heartless bitch who framed me for murder." Whatever negative or resentful feelings he does hold towards Sansa as of ADWD--and he really doesn't seem to think much about her one way or the other--seem pretty mild for someone who has every reason to believe she murdered Joffrey and left him to take the blame for it. Honestly, he seems more pissed off in ASOS about her refusal to kneel at the wedding than anything else, and in ADWD, he can't even be bothered to think about that.

Considering how much foreshadowing is allegedly hidden in every word ever written and said about Sansa there might though be a lot of it in " astonishingly long neck" :D . CAREFUL! JOKE!

[Newstar]

Yeah, Woman of War, I've flipflopped on this a few times (I wrote this post last week, I guess it got eaten by the boards in the interim). But I've learned to be wary of characters promising "never" to do something in this series.

[Woman of War]

Of course this phrase can be a strong indicator. Though I do not think that Tyrion would harm Sansa intentionally it is still possible that she might be a tragic victim of some attack, e.g. on The Eyrie with dragons, as collateral damage, driving Tyrion even deeper into a guilt and madness spiral because he failed all his women.

A propos: "and if I never want you to.....", seriously, this is the sentence pending that might easily be proven wrong, so much "never" in it.