Arya Is Portraying Shae in The Bloody Hand

[Amris]

4 hours ago, Manderly's Rat Cook said:

You make a very good point here. On top of that this was the first time that Mercy actually had lines in a play, it's indeed unlikely that she would play someone as important as Sansa in her first larger role. Presumably they'd use someone who already had a bit of a name as an actress, and was known for her beauty, given that the Tyrion Sansa mariage was a bit of a beauty and the beast story, which is something that would certainly be emphasized in a play that was meant to ridicule both Tyrion and Sansa. A match like that is comedy gold.

Well she can't play Shae since she says 'I am still a maiden'.

So all you could argue is that she is playing some unimportant third person. That makes zero sense though. So Sansa it is, like it or not.

[Manderly's Rat Cook]

9 hours ago, Amris said:

Well she can't play Shae since she says 'I am still a maiden'.

So all you could argue is that she is playing some unimportant third person. That makes zero sense though. So Sansa it is, like it or not.

Someone else argued before that during the trial Shae claimed that she was still a maiden, and betrothed when Tyrion had her fiance killed and forced her to 'become a whore'. That would be the information about Shae that became public, whatever she claimed to be the truth in her testimony. So it wouldn't be all that surprising if she was portrayed in the play as a maiden, especially since the play was intended to make Tyrion look as horrible as possible, not necessarily to present a truthful account of what happened.

A high lord sleeping with a prostitute wasn't a big deal, but a high lord raping a maiden and forcing her to become a whore would be frowned upon if made public, even if lords wouldn't be prosecuted for it.

Tyrion also never raped or slept with Sansa, there would be as much truth in her being raped as there was in Shae being raped by Tyrion as a maiden. In fact; Shae may have well become a whore after a rape and murder of her betrothed, it just wasn't Tyrion who did that. The story itself may well have been true. The best lies contain at least some truth.

The fact that Tyrion never slept with Sansa, would also be a very good opportunity for ridicule. A man so despised that even his wife won't sleep with him... Leaving out that juicy bit of comedy, would also be a missed opportunity in a play like that.

We can't know for sure, but I'm quite sold on the idea that Mercy is portraying Shae rather than Sansa. Especially since she says "m'lord" in the play, but "my lords" when she's approaching Raff ans the other guard. I see no reason why GRRM would make that distinction of not to emphasise that she's portraying a lowborn character in the play. It's clearly not because Mercy speaks like a lowborn girl, cause them she'd have addressed Raff as "m'lord" as well.

She might still be playing Sansa, bit there are enough hints to seriously consider Shae, and imo enough to make Shae the more likely one.

[Brother Seamus]

just because shae was not a maiden, and regardless of whether or not this was well known in westeros (i don't remember if shae's former status as a hore came out at the trial), and regardless of whether shae's maidenhood or not was known at all in Braavos, that does not mean that the braavosi playwright who wrote the fictional play within a novel didn't make her or the fictional character based on her, a maiden. the playwright was likely to do so regardless, because it would make the villain, Tyrion, even more of a villain. IIRC there are numeorus factual errors in the play as compared to what really happened according to the events in the books.

My money is on shae as the character arya is playing. sansa, as the villain's wife and daughter of another victim of the villain (right? tyrion is also blamed for ned's death in the play, isn't he?) is a more important role and thus more likely to be played by a more prominent and seasoned actress with more status in the troupe. Arya is barely an apprentice actor at this stage, 11-12 years old, iirc. she's not getting a leading role or anything close to it.

[Manderly's Rat Cook]

1 hour ago, Brother Seamus said:

just because shae was not a maiden, and regardless of whether or not this was well known in westeros (i don't remember if shae's former status as a hore came out at the trial), and regardless of whether shae's maidenhood or not was known at all in Braavos, that does not mean that the braavosi playwright who wrote the fictional play within a novel didn't make her or the fictional character based on her, a maiden. the playwright was likely to do so regardless, because it would make the villain, Tyrion, even more of a villain. IIRC there are numeorus factual errors in the play as compared to what really happened according to the events in the books.

My money is on shae as the character arya is playing. sansa, as the villain's wife and daughter of another victim of the villain (right? tyrion is also blamed for ned's death in the play, isn't he?) is a more important role and thus more likely to be played by a more prominent and seasoned actress with more status in the troupe. Arya is barely an apprentice actor at this stage, 11-12 years old, iirc. she's not getting a leading role or anything close to it.

Exactly. Tyrion was severely vilified during the trial, the things Shae said about him during the trial, was the information that would be spread afterwards, because that was "public knowledge", the actual events are hardly known. Gossip would even make the stories more extreme. Tyrion was already known as an evil demon monkey before Joffrey's death, the stories told about him after the trial would only be a 100 times worse.

And Mercy's part in the play seems to be very small. Sansa was thought to have at least played a part in Joffrey's death, there is no way the only thing she'd have to do in the play, was being raped. The girl who would play Sansa would be one of the stars of the play, someone who would attract an audience.