https://iceandfire.fandom.com/wiki/Shae
Doing a rewatch of game of thrones, first time, and I’m thinking about Shae’s arc.
She starts as a camp follower for a Lannister knight, gets poached into the service of Tyrion, follows him into the capital. Becomes a persistent force in his life, wont leave the city despite multiple threats on her life… Eventually Tyrion forces her onto a boat to flee the capital… and she “somehow” returns for Tyrion’s regicide trial, only to end up in the bed of Tyrion’s father… When Tyrian finds her there, she attempts to kill him.
This is my understanding of her Arc, and I’m confused by her motivations.
- Why did she come back to the capital despite being safely away?
- Why try to kill Tyrion when discovered in his father’s bed?
- If her motivation was just money, why not take the nice retirement offered to her three times?
- If she loved Tyrion, why try to kill him at all, why come back to the capital and appear in his trial?
It is a great question my head canon of events is since Cersei knew about her (shae) she found Shae before she ever left or on the way out basically she never got away and she was instead squirled away and kept for “leverage”. I have absolutely no evidence to back this up since Bron definitely said he saw her get on the ship and sail (it could have been stopped or something who knows) but it’s what I’ve been going with since what I can remember. Even during the scene at a feast Cersei shows her dad Shae and says something close to “see that’s the whore”.
Edit: as for trying to kill Tyrion… I have no idea. I am currently rewatching game of thrones aswell and I just watched that about a week ago and that still does not make much sense. She could have just been quiet.