Game Of Thrones: Jaime Could Save Tyrion And Oberyn With Just One Word

Summary:

• Tyrion’s trial by combat was a death trap for his champion since they’d have to fight against the Mountain.
• Jaime was Lord Tywin’s heir, and the Lannister patriarch would have done anything to get him back in the fold.
• If Jaime became Tyrion’s champion, Tywin would have released his younger son to save his rebellious heir.

After Joffrey Baratheon’s death, Tyrion Lannister was falsely accused of this murder. Tyrion’s father, Lord Tywin, was eager to end his son’s career in the world of the living, and only Prince Oberyn Martell came to the poor man’s rescue after Tyrion demanded trial by combat. This, of course, led to Red Viper’s death — but what if we told you it wouldn’t have been necessary if Tyrion’s brother Jaime spoke up?

Tyrion’s Trial By Combat Was Hopeless

Having already avoided death by requesting trial by combat once, Tyrion Lannister knew it was his only chance of staying alive thanks to his father’s immaculate court practices. However, Tyrion was not a warrior, and no one he knew was good enough to take down Gregor Clegane — Tywin Lannister’s strongest weapon of destruction.

Even Prince Oberyn Martell aka the Red Viper, though a phenomenal fighter, went down in an unfortunate turn of events. The Mountain was an undefeatable force and that seemingly sealed Tyrion’s fate… But if you think about it, one person could have easily used Clegane’s reputation to save Tyrion while avoiding combat altogether.

Jaime Could Easily Save His Brother

Whether or not Lord Tywin actually wanted his younger son dead, another fact was obvious: he wanted his older son back in the fold. After the trial by combat doomed Tyrion, the Lannister patriarch used his life as a bargaining chip to make Jaime promise to behave like a proper heir and inherit Casterly Rock and all its titles.

Tyrion’s life was irrelevant to Tywin at that point, but Jaime’s was everything to him.

Jaime Lannister was in the perfect position to prevent the trial by combat and save his brother by agreeing to be his champion. Even though Jaime used to be among the best swordsmen in Westeros, Lord Tywin would have never risked letting him fight the Mountain, the undefeatable beast in heavy armor. He’d be checkmated.

The only way for Tywin to save his heir would be to release Tyrion. Even Cersei would not have been able to stop that, and thus, Jaime would have helped his younger brother and prevented the Red Viper’s death… Which would have had an interesting effect on the further development of the plot, for sure.