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Chapter 41: Jon
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in A Game of Thrones, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Politics and Power
Climate Change and Collective Action
Gender and Power
Honor and Integrity
Identity
Summary
Analysis
Tyrion and Bronn make their way through the mountains. Bronn proposes that they travel at night and hide during the day to avoid attracting the attention of the mountain clans. Tyrion thinks traveling at night would be a good way for him to break a leg, and he says that if he’s going to die, he would prefer to die in comfort. At Tyrion’s suggestion, Bronn starts a fire. Tyrion promises as much gold as Bronn could want if they both survive. “A Lannister always pays his debts,” Tyrion says.
Tyrion’s statement that a Lannister always pays his debts refers to the literal promise that Tyrion has made to Bronn and reiterates that Tyrion will pay Bronn what he owes him. One can also interpret the statement as a warning or a threat. In that sense, “A Lannister always pays his debts” could signal that the Lannisters always give back what’s given to them, whether that means gold, violence, or underhanded political dealings.
Themes
Tyrion tells Bronn the story of the first woman who he had sex with. He says that he and his brother Jaime had been traveling when they came across two men chasing a woman down the road. Jaime chased the men away, and Tyrion brought the woman to an inn, where they ate dinner together. They had sex that night, and within a week, Tyrion married her. Ultimately though, Tyrion’s father, Tywin, heard that Tyrion had married a lowborn woman. He made Jaime confess that the woman was a sex worker and that he (Jaime) had arranged the whole scene, including the two men chasing the woman. Jaime said he also paid the woman to have sex with Tyrion. Tywin then made Tyrion watch as other men paid to have sex with the woman he married before making Tyrion pay her to have sex with her.
Tyrion explains some of the trauma that turned him into the person he is today. That trauma provides one explanation for why Tyrion always has a witty retort at the ready, no matter what the situation is. He seems to use humor as a kind of armor and to preemptively diffuse possible insults or attacks aimed at him. Tyrion’s story of being grossly mistreated by his father is also reminiscent of Sam’s story of his father threatening to kill him. Jon forms friendships with both Sam and Tyrion, and the three seem to bond over their shared experiences of being mistreated by their fathers.
Themes
Bronn says he would kill any man if he did something like what Tywin did to Tyrion. As Tyrion and Bronn sit by the fire, two men appear out of the shadows. They tell Tyrion and Bronn that they’re going to kill them and take their horses and their valuables. Tyrion attempts to negotiate with them. He says that if they see him to safety and usher him through the mountains, he’ll ensure they’re rewarded with gold. When the men seem hesitant, Tyrion says he’ll give them anything they want, including the Eyrie, the castle in the Vale. The men seem more receptive after that.
Tyrion shows that he uses money to get what he wants where some might use force and others might try other means of persuasion. In that sense, Tyrion's money becomes one source of Tyrion’s power, as he uses it to buy peace with the mountain clans just as he used it to get his prison guard to do his bidding and to get Bronn to fight in his stead to free him from Catelyn and Lysa.
Themes
