What Happened to Tyrion Lannister in the 'Game of Thrones' Finale?

He's not happy about it, that's for sure.

Human, Screenshot,
(Image credit: HBO)
  • After eight seasons and 73 episodes, Game of Thrones came to an end Sunday night.
  • We finally learned the fates of our favorite characters in the show's long-awaited finale.
  • Here's what happened to Tyrion Lannister, who betrayed Daenerys Targaryen and committed treason in the penultimate episode.

This post contains spoilers for Game of Thronesseries finale.

Well, it's happened. Game of Thrones is officially over and we now know the fates of all of our favorite characters. Some are dead (RIP, Daenerys). Some are monarchs (congrats, Bran and Sansa!). Some are exiled (bye forever, Jon Snow). And most of the rest of them are on Bran the Broken's small council—including Tyrion Lannister, who is now the Hand of yet another ruler of Westeros. Here's what you need to know what happened to the imp, Tyrion Lannister.

How did Tyrion react to Daenerys' whole Mad Queen rampage?

Not well, that's for sure. After Daenerys and Drogon finish destroying most of King's Landing, Tyrion walks through the rubble with Jon Snow and the Northern men who are loyal to him and not, you know, running around killing people who have already surrendered. Then, he announces that he's going off on his own, even though everyone agrees that's a dangerous idea, considering how very murder-y Dany has become.

Tyrion goes off on his own anyway and makes his way down to the dungeons below the Red Keep, where he finds Jaime and Cersei's crushed (but still surprisingly attractive) dead bodies. The loss of his siblings, coupled with the mass murder in King's Landing, is too much for Tyrion, who decides to go very publicly quit as Hand of the Queen, just as Dany is addressing her troops and promising to keep conquering liberating cities and people all around the world.

For her part, Dany is none too pleased with Tyrion for committing treason by freeing Jaime and trying to help him and Cersei escape and sentences him to death by dragon fire.

Does Tyrion die in the Game of Thrones finale?

In spite of his death sentence, Tyrion does not die in the Game of Thrones finale. Instead, he manages to talk Jon Snow into assassinating Daenerys and is eventually pardoned by Westeros' new king, Bran Stark (who is now called Bran the Broken, as if that's a complimentary title).

What happens to Tyrion at the end of the series?

After he's pardoned, Tyrion is named Hand of the King, a title he is really not happy to be taking for a third time. Bran insists that it's part of his punishment—he made a lot of mistakes and now he's going to spend the rest of his life serving the realm and fixing them.

Speaking of all those mistakes, why was Tyrion such a bad Hand of the Queen to Daenerys?

For all of his wit and supposed intelligence, Tyrion isn't actually a great Hand of the Queen to Dany. This is explained in an offhand kind of way during his exchange with Jon Snow, in which he confesses to loving Daenerys too, though "not as successfully" as Jon. So basically, Tyrion was in love with Dany (or at least in love with the idea of her as Queen? It's not totally clear if Tyrion is copping to romantic feelings or not) and that clouded his usually better judgment.

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Kayleigh Roberts
Weekend Editor

Kayleigh Roberts is a freelance writer and editor with more than 10 years of professional experience. Her byline has appeared in Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, The Atlantic, Allure, Entertainment Weekly, MTV, Bustle, Refinery29, Girls’ Life Magazine, Just Jared, and Tiger Beat, among other publications. She's a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.