GOT Communicator of the Week - Episode 6: The Iron Throne
Each week our team will select a GoT Communicator of the Week, highlighting the character who understood their audience, stayed on brand, and most effectively communicated their message.
After getting so many things wrong over the course of the season, the man who “drinks and knows things” returns to true form. Tyrion now recognizes that Varys was right all along and that his faith in Daenerys was tragically misplaced. While a stroll through the burnt shell of King’s Landing - and a few hours back in prison - have brought him to this realization, one thing he knows for certain is that it is Jon Snow he needs to convince.
He starts by trying to appeal to Jon’s sense of morality, knowing Jon has always tried to do the right thing for the good of the people. He unloads a laundry list of all the facts - that Dany is hell-bent on fulfilling her destiny no matter the cost, that everywhere she goes people die, and even arguing that his own evil Lannister family had not slaughtered half as many innocents as the Mad Queen did in a single day. Tyrion tries to force Jon to say out loud what he would have done in the same situation - though they both know the answer.
When Jon tries to counter by arguing that his opinion doesn’t matter and that his loyalty is to Daenerys, Tyrion pivots his approach. If a fact-based argument won’t work, he must turn to emotion. He empathizes with Jon, explaining how he too loved Dany, that sometimes “love is more powerful than reason” and sometimes how love isn’t enough. Just as Jon is about to walk away, Tyrion pulls out one last emotional message, piercing Jon’s undead heart with an entreaty he knows is even stronger than Jon’s love and loyalty to Dany: his love for his sisters.
