Did Shae love Tyrion?

[DavosSeaworthy]

She was a whore looking out for herself. Nothing more, nothing less.

[Naathi Prince]

Shae is a whore.

That's your answer.

[Ingelheim]

She enjoyed to be with him, to be the Hand's whore, but nothing more. She didn't love him.

[Waylin Stark]

I'd hate it if in the TV series they make Shae a Pretty Woman style prostitute, with a heart of gold and everything.

Because then they might skip her death, which I don't want.

Her death, while seemingly unnecessary, is instrumental in Tyrion becoming a darker person.

I don't hate Shae, I'm neutral. But I'm annoyed at Tyrion, he knew she only loved him for his money, and still fell for her.

[TheGreyKraken]

She was a whore looking out for herself. Nothing more, nothing less.

Basically this is all that has to be said, Tyrion is the one who made the mistake of trusting a whore.

[Theda Baratheon]

I'd hate it if in the TV series they make Shae a Pretty Woman style prostitute, with a heart of gold and everything.

Because then they might skip her death, which I don't want.

Her death, while seemingly unnecessary, is instrumental in Tyrion becoming a darker person.

I don't hate Shae, I'm neutral. But I'm annoyed at Tyrion, he knew she only loved him for his money, and still fell for her.

Nah, they're gonna kill her off, it's just her death is gonna be more of a HOLY SHIT moment.

[Evil Jay]

No, she never loved him. She was just good at her job as a whore.....which sometimes entails making their clients feel loved.

Agree. That sums it up.

[DavosSeaworthy]

Basically this is all that has to be said, Tyrion is the one who made the mistake of trusting a whore.

Thank you! The Shae/Tyrion dynamic is not some complex relationship. He gives her gold, she has sex with him. The interesting aspect of this relationship resides within Tyrion. I'm sure if we had a Shae POV it would be like "I wonder how much more gold or jewels I can get from this rich dwarf?"

[Lyanna Stark]

I don't hate Shae, I'm neutral. But I'm annoyed at Tyrion, he knew she only loved him for his money, and still fell for her.

It all makes sense if you look at it in the context of Tysha and the "harsh lesson", where Tywin through Jaime convinced Tyrion that Tysha never loved him, that it was just a transaction and she was "just a whore". Since then, Tyrion has had deep issues with love, and employs a strict transactional nature, even though that does not address his yearning for real love. Hence is back and forth with Shae, and deceiving himself, and also why he felt so intensely betrayed by her, even if she owed him no loyalty.

I ACOK he says that Gods help him, he loves having the power, the girl, everything. But the fact of the matter is, Shae *pretends* that he "has" the girl, because she pays him to. She doesn't really feel anything for Tyrion. He pays her to play an act for him, and then when he realises it was all lies, that Tysha was in fact real and that he raped her and violated her; and that Shae isn't loyal to him in late ASOS, he strangles her. She becomes a symbol for a bundled up Tysha/harsh lesson/false love. Then he moves on to murder Tywin after that.

And yes, those two murders are extremely important for Tyrion's descent into his own proverbial hell.

[Frey family reunion]

Shae's not a whore ( at least in the traditional sense) I think she was Varys' agent the entire time. He arranged for Tyrion's meeting with her in the camp, and then Varys arranged for Shae's introduction into the Red Keep as a servant. Varys obtained information regarding Tyrion during his time as the Hand, and Varys had Shae provide the evidence against Tyrion and probably had her poison Tywin as well. Tyrion would also have been blamed for Tywin's death even if he had never shot him with the crossbow. Hating Shae for "betraying" Tyrion is a waste of time. She was never Tyrion's to begin with.

[Feralwolfchild]

Thank you! The Shae/Tyrion dynamic is not some complex relationship. He gives her gold, she has sex with him. The interesting aspect of this relationship resides within Tyrion. I'm sure if we had a Shae POV it would be like "I wonder how much more gold or jewels I can get from this rich dwarf?"

I think it would have been interesting to have at least one Shae POV. Like most people, I don't really hate her, but I like TV Shae a lot better.

[flidderman]

It all makes sense if you look at it in the context of Tysha and the "harsh lesson", where Tywin through Jaime convinced Tyrion that Tysha never loved him, that it was just a transaction and she was "just a whore". Since then, Tyrion has had deep issues with love, and employs a strict transactional nature, even though that does not address his yearning for real love. Hence is back and forth with Shae, and deceiving himself, and also why he felt so intensely betrayed by her, even if she owed him no loyalty.

I ACOK he says that Gods help him, he loves having the power, the girl, everything. But the fact of the matter is, Shae *pretends* that he "has" the girl, because she pays him to. She doesn't really feel anything for Tyrion. He pays her to play an act for him, and then when he realises it was all lies, that Tysha was in fact real and that he raped her and violated her; and that Shae isn't loyal to him in late ASOS, he strangles her. She becomes a symbol for a bundled up Tysha/harsh lesson/false love. Then he moves on to murder Tywin after that.

And yes, those two murders are extremely important for Tyrion's descent into his own proverbial hell.

I don't see how the fact that she is a prostitute alleviates her of any responsibility for manipulating Tyrion. He paid her for sex and she, spotting a sap, consciously designed to exploit his loneliness for social and material gain. It is at no point explicitly agreed that she will merely play the role of a lover; Tyrion, though he should perhaps know better, apparently genuinely falls for her act. Then she betrays him. His reaction to all this is not particularly excessive by Westerosi standards.

[flidderman]

I think it would have been interesting to have at least one Shae POV. Like most people, I don't really hate her, but I like TV Shae a lot better.

TV Shae is a complete whitewashing of her character, imo.

[flidderman]

Shae's not a whore ( at least in the traditional sense) I think she was Varys' agent the entire time. He arranged for Tyrion's meeting with her in the camp, and then Varys arranged for Shae's introduction into the Red Keep as a servant. Varys obtained information regarding Tyrion during his time as the Hand, and Varys had Shae provide the evidence against Tyrion and probably had her poison Tywin as well. Tyrion would also have been blamed for Tywin's death even if he had never shot him with the crossbow. Hating Shae for "betraying" Tyrion is a waste of time. She was never Tyrion's to begin with.

I know it's tempting to attribute every conspiracy to Varys, but doesn't it seem more likely that Shae was in fact an agent of Tywin, considering where Tyrion met her and where she was when she died?

[Trial]

She loved what he represented- money, power and the name Lannister. She might have respected his wit, however she didn't love him.

[Winds of Winter blow cold]

TV Shae is a complete whitewashing of her character, imo.

Most of the characters have been whitewashed at least a little.

[Kittykatknits]

I don't see how the fact that she is a prostitute alleviates her of any responsibility for manipulating Tyrion. He paid her for sex and she, spotting a sap, consciously designed to exploit his loneliness for social and material gain. It is at no point explicitly agreed that she will merely play the role of a lover; Tyrion, though he should perhaps know better, apparently genuinely falls for her act. Then she betrays him. His reaction to all this is not particularly excessive by Westerosi standards.

Um, what?

Their very first meeting in Game he told her the rules of their arrangement. It wasn't merely paying her for sex, he wanted the total girlfriend package from her. Everything from massaging his legs to taking no one else to her bed.

Edits for spelling on mobile device.

[Naathi Prince]

Yep, especially if al he really wanted was sex. L

As terrible as what Tywin did was, Tyrion should at least have understood "I probably shouldn't trust women who are after my money to actually love me"

[Angmar]

Nope. Shae never loved him. She did as she was told. She was just doing her work to gain money.

I don't like her, but I don't dislike her either. She's kinda...there, I guess, for me. Same with Tyrion.

[Castel]

As terrible as what Tywin did was, Tyrion should at least have understood "I probably shouldn't trust women who are after my money to actually love me"

What he actually took from it was:"I can't trust women to love me, they're probably more worried about my money".Which is not a bad assumption (especially not after the "sharp lesson") given that he's a malformed dwarf in a superstitious society.

The problem is that , he wants to be loved,he simply cannot help himself. So you get this weird routine where he knows better but cannot prevent himself from acting in a way that is clearly wrong even though he started the relationship in the way that he did because he was certain that he couldn't be loved. IT's a loop of insanity.

But all of that is irrelevant. Tyrion didn't trust Shae. Not in any meaningful sense. In fact, when you come right down to it, anyone could have taken Shae's place and no one would have known, except of course, Tyrion. (Granted you'd have a hard time finding someone who was isolated enough to credibly claim that she was being raped for weeks without anyone suspecting a thing). She knew nothing of worth,and in the long run Tyrion could have distanced her from himself with minimal fuss. Circumstances simply went out of his control.