Tyrion, Littlefinger, and Tysha's Revenge?

[HollowayDivision]

Where did Tysha go? The question seems important, beyond its ramifications for Tyrion’s character.

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“Shall we find out? It’s a short word, and it seems to come so easily to your lips.” Tyrion gestured impatiently with the bow. “Tysha. What did you do with her, after my little lesson?”

“I don’t recall.”

“Try harder. Did you have her killed?”

His father pursed his lips. “There was no reason for that, she’d learned her place . . . and had been well paid for her day’s work, I seem to recall. I suppose the steward sent her on her way. I never thought to inquire.”

“On her way where?”

“Wherever whores go.”

I suspect that we may have been given the answer already. It would be interesting to hear some thoughts.

Although Tyrion hasn’t yet realized it, Petyr Baelish had him marked for death since the beginning of the story - before the two of them had even met.

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“When Loras Tyrell unhorsed him, many of us became a trifle poorer. Ser Jaime lost a hundred golden dragons, the queen lost an emerald pendant, and I lost my knife. Her Grace got the emerald back, but the winner kept the rest.”

“Who?” Catelyn demanded, her mouth dry with fear. Her fingers ached with remembered pain.

“The Imp,” said Littlefinger as Lord Varys watched her face. “Tyrion Lannister.”

Tyrion escapes this predicament, but later Littlefinger frames him for regicide and escapes with his wife, Sansa Stark. During the voyage, it occurs to her to ask why Littlefinger pinned the murder on her husband. Littlefinger's justification for his actions toward Tyrion is very interesting:

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“He did nothing,” she told Littlefinger once, when he paid a visit to her cabin to see if she were feeling any better.

“He did not kill Joffrey, true, but the dwarf’s hands are far from clean. He had a wife before you, did you know that?”

“He told me.”

“And did he tell you that when he grew bored with her, he made a gift of her to his father’s guardsmen? He might have done the same to you, in time. Shed no tears for the Imp, my lady.”

At first, it might seem like Littlefinger is twisting the truth so Sansa will think badly of Tyrion. But what if someone asked him the same question in AGOT - "Why are you framing Tyrion Lannister of all people for attacking Bran?"

I wonder whether Littlefinger's answer would have been the same. "He did not send a catspaw for Bran, true, but the dwarf's hands are far from clean."

Let's compare this version of the story to Tyrion’s version, later told to Bronn and Shae.

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“After Jaime had made his confession, to drive home the lesson, Lord Tywin brought my wife in and gave her to his guards. They paid her fair enough. A silver for each man, how many whores command that high a price? He sat me down in the corner of the barracks and bade me watch, and at the end she had so many silvers the coins were slipping through her fingers and rolling on the floor, she…” The smoke was stinging his eyes. Tyrion cleared his throat and turned away from the fire, to gaze out into darkness. “Lord Tywin had me go last,” he said in a quiet voice. “And he gave me a gold coin to pay her, because I was a Lannister, and worth more.”

I think there are two important things to note about Littlefinger's version of the story:

First, Tyrion and Tysha’s marriage is not public knowledge. It happened at Casterly Rock, over a decade ago, and all the guardsmen and the septon were sworn to secrecy. Only Tywin, Jaime, Tyrion, Bronn, and Shae know the full truth of what happened.

Second, Littlefinger’s version is how Tysha, and only Tysha, would tell the story of Tyrion’s first marriage. She alone of that group would see Tyrion as fully responsible, as Tyrion, her husband, watched and then participated in her gang-rape. She was not present for Jaime and Tywin’s lie about her, and likely believes Tyrion raped her willingly.

And we are given an answer to the question of “wherever whores go” rather quickly.

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"Where do whores go?” he heard himself ask.

“Whores are found in brothels here, as in Westeros. You will have no need of such, my little friend.

One might imagine Tysha, all other prospects ruined after her gang-rape, becoming out of desperation the whore that Tywin decided she was. Whores go to brothels... and brothels have brothel-keepers.

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Once more Littlefinger supplied the answer. “Whores love to gossip, and as it happens I own a brothel or three.

All of this is circumstantial, though. Littlefinger’s hatred of Tyrion — framing him for the attack on Bran, framing him for killing Joffrey, even possibly hiring Mandon Moore to kill him — could simply be because Tyrion is smart enough to threaten his plans.

But there is one other clue — dark, ironic, and somewhat tragic. There is a song called “Seasons of My Love” which is very important to Tyrion — Tysha used to sing it.

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“Myrish. ’The Seasons of My Love.’ Sweet and sad, if you understand the words. The first girl I ever bedded used to sing it, and I’ve never been able to put it out of my head.” Tyrion gazed up at the sky. It was a clear cold night and the stars shone down upon the mountains as bright and merciless as truth.

We hear pieces of the lyrics throughout the series. But the song is only mentioned by name one other time: at Littlefinger’s castle on the Fingers, where Marillion plays the song for Petyr and Lysa’s wedding.

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Afterward trestle tables were set up beneath the small flint tower, and they feasted on quail, venison, and roast boar, washing it down with a fine light mead. Torches were lit as dusk crept in. Lysa’s singer played “The Vow Unspoken” and ”Seasons of My Love” and “Two Hearts That Beat as One.”

Given how personal the song was to Tyrion and Tysha, its presence here is not a coincidence. Perhaps it’s just a dark, ironic coincidence for the reader — “Seasons of my Love” defined Tyrion’s first marriage, which ended in disaster for his wife. Now, the same song is playing as Tyrion’s second marriage ends in disaster for him. In a way, it is fitting — Tyrion got what was coming to him.

To summarize:

— Tysha might be a whore, which would mean she ended up in a brothel. Some brothels are owned by Littlefinger.

— From the catspaw's dagger to the Purple Wedding, Littlefinger has wanted the innocent Tyrion dead since the beginning of the story.

— Littlefinger's justification is that even if Tyrion didn't attack Bran or kill Joffrey, he still deserves to suffer because of what happened to Tysha.

— Littlefinger tells the story of Tyrion and Tysha from Tysha’s perspective.

— “Seasons of my Love”, a somewhat uncommon foreign love song that was intimate and meaningful to Tyrion and Tysha, is played for Sansa at the Fingers after she escapes her marriage to Tyrion.

The point is this: Tyrion dreams of finding Tysha again, and apologizing, and picking up where they left off. But he never considers what Tysha would think of him if he ever does find her. What apology could make up for being gang-raped by him and a barracks full of guardsmen? She likely still hates him, and would jump at any chance for revenge.

And it is curious that in all his imaginings of all the places where he might find Tysha, Tyrion never considered that Tysha might find him first.

[redriver]

Good write up.I can see Tysha ending up in a brothel, and maybe one of Littlefinger's.

Can't think of anyone who fits the bill.The whole Happy Port thing in Braavos, including Merry seems more linked to Gerion Lannister.

But I can't see Baelish using this, if he knows about this.He needs no justification to act against Tyrion.He will just try to use him as needed as a piece in his game.

He is no avenging angel.

Still I think we'll find out about Tysha or even meet her.

ETA I forgot that Merry only lay with men after "marrying" them!And she has a daughter called Lanna.....

[Raebo]

Littlefinger  cares just about  Littlefinger.  He couldn’t care less what Tyrion may have done with Tysha unless he could use it to his advantage.  Also, Tyrion told Bronn and Shae, he probably told others also.  Shae he had just met and he was blabbering about it.  Poor poor Tyrion, I am sure he wanted people to feel sorry for him because of his father.  I am also sure the guardsmen would brag about it after a few drinks, even if they were sworn to secrecy.

[Lyanna<3Rhaegar]

Nice. You bring up some evidence I have not seen before. 

I've always thought it likely Tysha is a whore in some brothel but never really considered it being one of Petyr's. 

I guess my questions would be - how has Tyrion not seen her if she is in a brothel in KL? We know he frequents them. 

Also, assuming Petyr is telling the truth in regards to his motives behind wanting to frame Tyrion - why does he care so much about Tysha? He doesn't seem the type to be angry with someone, let alone angry enough to get them killed, over raping a woman. 

I think it's very interesting that the story Petyr tells would be the story Tysha likely believes & the song is a nice catch! I've never noticed that & definitely think it's significant. 

[John Suburbs]

Not bad. That Tysha becomes LF's whore and that's how he knows her story never really occurred to me before.

But truth be told, LF has ample reason to kill Tyrion even without Tysha. First, LF can instantly recognize the Tyrion is one of only a few people as smart as himself, and is therefore a danger to all his scheming. That danger only increases when he becomes acting Hand and then Master of Coin, where it won't be long before he unravels the extreme scale of embezzlement that LF has perpetrated on the crown's gold.

This is why he tried to get him killed initially with the dagger story, why he tried a second time with Mandon Moore on the Blackwater, and why he tried a third time at the Purple Wedding -- not to frame Tyrion, but to kill him by poisoning his pie.

[R2D]

Interesting, I never gave a thought to where Tysha may end up. What if Tyrion meets her as an aging whore...