Tywin's corpse?

[AmberEmpress]

When Tywin is laying in the Sept of Baelor multiple characters notice how bad his corpse stinks. The fact that we kept being reminded of this makes it seem important. However over a book later it's just been forgotten about by all of the characters. I think that all will be revealed in either TWOW or ADOS.

I think that Tywin was slowly being poisoned by something nasty (no idea which poison though) through the meddling of Varys as part of his plot to put Aegon on the throne. In his years as Hand Tywin was quite effective and was very good at controlling Kings. In addition to this  he was also an excellent and ruthless military strategist. If Varys wants Aegon on the throne then Tywin would need to be out the picture as he could squash an invasion better than any other character. With Tywin dead and an unstable Cersei acting as regent, Varys would know that the realm would plunge into chaos, the perfect time for Aegon to successfully invade and take the crown. 

I know this theory isn't perfect. Why Varys would choose such a slow method is difficult to answer - especially when he killed Pycelle and Kevan differently, but it makes the most sense imo.

What do you guys think of Tywin's stinky corpse? 

[Howlin' Howland]

There's a popular theory that Oberyn Martell poisoned Tywin. 

 

[Lady Char]

I'm a big theory person so I'm opening to anything. BUT, my personal interpretation is that the corpse is just a corpse...that wasn't prepared properly. I think its purpose here is more subtextual. It shows that, in the end, Tywin was just a regular person doomed to an embarrassing death.

[Angel Eyes]

This seems to be the case, that it’s natural decomposition. Tywin’s corpse is on display for a week; by then, gases caused by decomposition build up inside the abdomen, producing a noxious odor in a week’s time. The peak gas pressure is reached in two weeks and by three weeks, what’s left of the organs burst.

[Light a wight tonight]

13 minutes ago, Howlin' Howland said:

There's a popular theory that Oberyn Martell poisoned Tywin. 

 

I think that with Obery's reputation as a poisoner Tywin would have been too much on guard for Oberyn to get an opportunity to do it. On the other hand Varys had pretty much unlimited access to all parts of the Red Keep through the secret passages so he would have be enable to raid Maester Pycelle's closet of drugs for whatever poison was needed and to creep into Tywin's rooms and put it in whatever wine was there as a nightcap. (Or in any other consumables there.)

Varys's agenda includes destabilizing the Baratheon/Lannister rule so he had as much motive as Oberyn did

[zandru]

I think Varys is extremely unlikely. I vote for Oberon, who had motive and opportunity, and knew how to make poisons work slowly and painfully. Plus, the indignity of spending long stretches on "the throne". Tywin was probably lucky that Tyrion put him away when he did. He could have had a painful and prolonged death like Gregor Clegane.

[The Sunland Lord]

Corpses stink.

[Stormking902]

I'm on board with Oberyn Martell poisoning Tywin he was in KL for revenge and NOTHING more, who deserves the greatest dose of vengeance? TYWIN since he ordered the deaths of Eli children. The mountain would never have dared to harm the prince and princess without explicit orders from Tywin, the mountain is a brute but he isnt bat shit crazy. 

[zandru]

49 minutes ago, The Sunland Lord said:

Corpses stink.

Sure, but those present observed that Lord Tywin's reek was worse than anything they'd ever smelled before. And it exponentially worsened. Could be something metaphysical, definitely metaphorical - and possibly something that another character did to him.

[Dorian Martell's son]

in convoluted forum theory land, Varys poisoned tywin to frame Oberyn at the behest of either Oberyn or Doran
In less convoluted forum theory land, Oberyn poisoned Tywin at their fast breaking, knowing that when chief gold pooper died, he would be blamed, demand trial by combat knowing Cersei, would fight Gregor.
This is based on the epic corpse stink, despite all the measures taken by Pycelle to embalm the body and that Tywin was on the privy in his chambers for so long his whore had fallen asleep waiting for him. 

[Faera]

I never saw it as anything other than subtext for how rotten Tywin had been in life. He was a proud man who put pride before anything else - yet he died on the crapper, murdered by the son he wronged and mistreated the most, and then was put on glorious display only for his corpse to rot and stick like his soul did.

Never even occurred to me that he was poisoned.

[Therae]

30 minutes ago, Faera said:

I never saw it as anything other than subtext for how rotten Tywin had been in life. He was a proud man who put pride before anything else - yet he died on the crapper, murdered by the son he wronged and mistreated the most, and then was put on glorious display only for his corpse to rot and stick like his soul did.

Never even occurred to me that he was poisoned.

He hated being laughed at more than anything. Imagine the indignity of stinking up the Sept of Baelor after dying on the privy.

[Tagganaro]

4 hours ago, Howlin' Howland said:

There's a popular theory that Oberyn Martell poisoned Tywin. 

 

 

36 minutes ago, Faera said:

I never saw it as anything other than subtext for how rotten Tywin had been in life. He was a proud man who put pride before anything else - yet he died on the crapper, murdered by the son he wronged and mistreated the most, and then was put on glorious display only for his corpse to rot and stick like his soul did.

Never even occurred to me that he was poisoned.

I think both of these can be correct.  I would never have even guessed upon reading that Oberyn may have poisoned Tywin, but the evidence presented in that thread is pretty compelling.

Having said that, I do think there's definite subtext here as well.  Not only does Tywin have this stinking corpse, but his lips stretch back to give him this ridiculous smile which Cersei makes note of numerous times.  Definitely think that is further subtext for a guy who famously hated to laugh and did not trust smiles or jokes to be dead like that.  

[Alexis-something-Rose]

45 minutes ago, Faera said:

I never saw it as anything other than subtext for how rotten Tywin had been in life. He was a proud man who put pride before anything else - yet he died on the crapper, murdered by the son he wronged and mistreated the most, and then was put on glorious display only for his corpse to rot and stick like his soul did.

Never even occurred to me that he was poisoned.

It never occurred to me that he had been poisoned either. I never even stopped to think of Tyrion's thoughts about his father looking like he'd been poisoned. I thought it was one giant metaphor for the kind of man Tywin really was. Tywin's hubris in life, turned around in death. Tywin was rotten to the core. His corpse stinking up the place seems very fitting.

[Kandrax]

Didn't Elio called the theory bullshit?

I wonder, if the theory was created to absolve Tyrion of kinslaying.

[Lollygag]

I agree with the symbolism idea, but symbols must still make sense within the story. I'm open to a number of things factoring into Tywin's corpse stinking so badly. 

Perhaps Ellyn Reyne Tarbeck's daughters got hold of him. 

Trusting in her walls, Lady Tarbeck no doubt anticipated a long siege, but Ser Tywin sent his men-at-arms surging forward with ladders and grappling hooks and battering rams instead.  The fighting lasted less than an hour, accounts agree.  As the ram smashed through the castle’s main gates, two other gates were opened from within, and the Lannisters came swarming through.  Those who fled were spared; those who fought were put to the sword.  Ellyn Tarbeck herself was taken with her children, and thrown from the window of the castle’s tallest tower, to strangle kicking at the end of a noose.  Her son Tion the Red preceded her in death, cut down in the fighting at the main gates.  He was nineteen years of age when he died, the same age as Tywin Lannister.  Her daughters Rohanne and Cyrelle, whose husbands had been beheaded with Lord Walderan, were taken alive, and spent the remainder of their lives with the silent sisters (accounts differ as to whether Ser Tywin first had their tongues removed).

 

http://www.georgerrmartin.com/world-of-ice-and-fire-sample/

[Comrade Yurika]

It's symbolism. Tywin was one of the most rotten people to ever live in Westeros, so his corpse is way stinkier and more rotten than usual. Thematically this is relevant because all of the people who were willfully blind to Tywiin's rottenness in life can no longer ignore how rotten he is in death.

[Eiko Dragonhorn]

Tywin was poisoned a long time ago to cause his constipation. Varys is a fine candidate but nothing in particular points to him.

- Tyrion knew where to find his father, in the toilet where he always was.

- Tywin Lannister shits gold.

- Why does Tywin spend so much time in the bathroom?

- Why do the Lannisters have so much gold?

- Tywin Lannister shits gold.

[Angel Eyes]

43 minutes ago, Eiko Dragonhorn said:

Tywin was poisoned a long time ago to cause his constipation. Varys is a fine candidate but nothing in particular points to him.

- Tyrion knew where to find his father, in the toilet where he always was.

- Tywin Lannister shits gold.

- Why does Tywin spend so much time in the bathroom?

- Why do the Lannisters have so much gold?

- Tywin Lannister shits gold.

So when he died, he ran out of gold to shit?

[Rufus Snow]

He was killed by a crossbow bolt in the guts - this would have released the contents into his body cavity, giving a headstart on the usual decomposition process. Anyone who's ever eaten game should know how important it is to get the guts out quickly to avoid tainting the meat....

I agree on the symbolism, though. High and mighty as he was, his shit stinks like everyone else's and he was finally humiliated when he could no longer hit back.