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Why did Tyrion give Myrcella away in marriage?


Iron Hawk

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I understand what Tyrion was doing when he was talking to the small council. I know he told each person a different house he would marry her to, and I also understand that he was trying to figure out who Cersei's spy was.



Here is what I don't understand. Why did Tyrion go through with the marriage? Once he figured out that Pycelle was Cersei's spy, why didn't he just say, "Oh I'm not really giving her away, I just had to find out who your spy was."



Did he really want to forge a political alliance as well? I have only seen the series so maybe someone who has read the books can help me understand this scene.


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Tyrion really did want a political alliance with Dorne: they had little love Lannisters, but they were no fans of Baratheons either. Also, in order to deceive Pycelle he needed to send the raven, so it was too late to call it back.



He might have also jumped at a chance to piss off Cersei, put thats my personal reading of the character.


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Well that's what I assumed; that even though he just using this secret to find the spy, he was serious about what he was doing. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something since I haven't read the book.

Nope, that's it. It also put Myrcella in a place of relative safety with a likely siege coming. In the books, Tyrion also had Tommen sent to an outlying castle as well.

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I think it's rather hard for someone who lives in the year 2014 to understand, but women really were seen as cattle that were to be bought and sold. Myrcella like Sansa and like pretty much every other girl was used to forge alliances.

That's a bit simplified..

Boys are also sent away "like cattle" to forge alliances. Be it for marriage or being a squire or cupbearer. Ned for example was simply taken to marry Catelyn.

To a certain age, and for boys not being firstborns, they are equally miserable.

Theon was sent away like cattle to be a hostage. He did not have much love in this experience. Quentyn was sent away... also to be married to some stranger he never met. And on and on.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Tyrion really did want a political alliance with Dorne: they had little love Lannisters, but they were no fans of Baratheons either. Also, in order to deceive Pycelle he needed to send the raven, so it was too late to call it back.

He might have also jumped at a chance to piss off Cersei, put thats my personal reading of the character.

I agree with you. For me, the raven is the principal reason. Tyrion needed to be realistic. So he sent that raven and couldn't call it back.

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One thing I was always wondering: Was Dorne always the plan and it was just a coincidence that this was indeed the story that "leaked" or was Tyrion already pretty much sure it would be Pycelle so it was also sort of a "lucky guess"?


Or would he have gone through e.g. with the Theon marriage instead if that would have been the plan that leaked to Cersei? Or would it then have still been Dorne?


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One thing I was always wondering: Was Dorne always the plan and it was just a coincidence that this was indeed the story that "leaked" or was Tyrion already pretty much sure it would be Pycelle so it was also sort of a "lucky guess"?

Or would he have gone through e.g. with the Theon marriage instead if that would have been the plan that leaked to Cersei? Or would it then have still been Dorne?

Dorne was always the plan. That's why a raven was send. That raven could not be called back, and telling the Martells "o sorry, it was just a ploy to figure out who was spying on me, ignore my last raven" would only have insulted the Martells, something which Tyrion wanted to prevent.

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One thing I was always wondering: Was Dorne always the plan and it was just a coincidence that this was indeed the story that "leaked" or was Tyrion already pretty much sure it would be Pycelle so it was also sort of a "lucky guess"?

Or would he have gone through e.g. with the Theon marriage instead if that would have been the plan that leaked to Cersei? Or would it then have still been Dorne?

Dorne was always the plan. That's why a raven was send. That raven could not be called back, and telling the Martells "o sorry, it was just a ploy to figure out who was spying on me, ignore my last raven" would only have insulted the Martells, something which Tyrion wanted to prevent.

Yup. If either Varys or LF had tattled, Tyrion could have easily proven that their story was so much BS and ensured that Cersei would never trust them again. Pycelle turning out to be a spy was probably the most uncomfortable (yet least surprising) outcome.

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  • 1 month later...

He most certainly knows of the "dispute" between his father and Dorne.



Sending Myrcella to Dorne gives him an opportunity to appease Dorne, to tie Dorne to the Realm as a whole. And of course, to have a powerful marriage alliance.

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