Tyrion’s Mistake on Last Night’s ‘Game of Thrones’ May Actually Help Daenerys Win the Last War

*Warning: Spoilers ahead*

Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) is known for his wit and penchant for wine on Game of Thrones. We saw both facets of his character shine in last night’s episode, but there was one moment where Tyrion’s intellect seemed to fail him—or did it?

When Tyrion arrived at King’s Landing’s gate with Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) et al., he and Cersei’s hand Qyburn (Anton Lesser) came together to chat privately. Tyrion communicated Dany’s terms—that if Cersei (Lena Headey) cedes her right to rule, she can remain alive. Qyburn, in turn, pushed Cersei’s agenda, which was essentially the opposite of Dany’s. Then, frustrated with Qyburn’s unwillingness to compromise, Tyrion stepped forward to talk to his sister directly.

Using an appeal to emotion, he pointed out that Cersei has a chance to save her and her child’s lives by bending the knee to Daenerys. He reasoned that she loves her children even more than herself and Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), so it’s the logical choice for her to make. When he said that, her face clouded over, leading this editor to wonder if he’d struck a chord or if she was mad he alluded to the fact that the baby is Jaime’s. The question remains: Did Tyrion mention Jaime and the baby in the same sentence in order to make Euron suspicious or was it just a slip of the tongue? 

One Reddit user, U/GrantVoyager, argued that Tyrion mentioning Jaime and the baby could have been a ploy on his part to throw a wrench into Euron (Pilou Asbaek) and Cersei’s relationship. Sure, he may not know that Cersei told Euron the baby is his, but if we anticipated it, Tyrion probably did too. As U/GrantVoyager points out, from Euron’s perspective, Tyrion shouldn’t know about the baby. So, he could put two-and-two together, recognize that Cersei lied to him and maybe kill her. Or he could round up the Golden Company and leave her high and dry. It’s statistically unlikely that Euron would kill Cersei, not to mention kind of unfulfilling, but it could happen. And if that’s the case, Tyrion’s monologue (which led to Missandei being beheaded) could have been a cleverly disguised checkmate to take his sister out of the equation while saving innocent lives. 

To borrow the words of Reddit user TannedCroissant, “Euron to something here.”