Tyrion subtly won the Game of Thrones

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Warning: spoilers ahead for Game of Thrones’ finale, “The Iron Throne.”

Who’s more important: the person who sits on the throne, or the person who puts him there?

In the Game of Thrones finale, Bran Stark — inarguably the least useful character who managed to survive. If you’re spitting bile right now, that might be because you’ve thought of the Iron Throne as the series’ putative prize .

From inside a jail cell, Tyrion is able to convince Jon Snow to assassinate the queen Tyrion couldn’t control. Later, chained and facing execution yet again, Tyrion delivers a fine speech, and basically picks his own king. If the ufabet winner of Game of Thrones is the person who holds the greatest power at the end, Tyrion Lannister is our reluctant, diminutive victor.

Tyrion subtly won the Game of Thrones

I would argue that this interpretation is the one the Game of Thrones writers want us to come away with. For literal years, they’ve been illustrating the toxicity of the throne, the way it ironically disempowers its occupier until they eventually die. When the young and recklessly vile Joffrey Baratheon sat on the throne, did he rule? Was his successor, Tommen, ever in charge? Conversely, when the elder Tywin Lannister ruled the kingdoms, he never needed to sit on the throne. Nor did the High Sparrow need to be in the throne room to control all of King’s Landing.

Every person who’s sat on the Iron Throne is, at the conclusion of the show, dead. Daenerys Targaryen merely touches the throne, and within minutes, she’s taking her last breath.