This 'Game Of Thrones' Theory Reveals How Tyrion Was Actually The True Winner

Game of Thrones may have ended a week ago, but fans are still picking up new details from the show's dense final season and series finale episode. The latest fan theory to take the fandom by storm argues that Tyrion Lannister was secretly revealed to be the true winner of the game of thrones. Spoiler alert: This post contains spoilers from the series finale of Game of Thrones. Although Bran Stark wound up on the Iron Throne (figuratively speaking, since it's more of the Iron Puddle now), this Game of Thrones theory about Tyrion on Reddit makes the case that Westeros actually remained under Lannister rule in the end.

The Reddit theory basically lays out the chain of events from Season 8 that would legally make Tyrion Lannister the only true successor to the Iron Throne under the laws of Westeros. The first moment in Tyrion's favor is clear: His sister Cersei was queen, but both she and his brother Jaime were killed together, making Tyrion the last remaining Lannister and thereby the heir to Cersei's throne. However, that gets a bit more complicated by Daenerys Targaryen usurping the throne. But it still all comes down to Tyrion in the end, since Jon Snow kills Dany before she can even sit on the throne. And although the kingship would then fall to Jon both as a usurper and the only living relative of Daenerys, he has made it very clear that he does not want the throne.

With Cersei, Jaime, Daenerys, and Jon Snow all out of the picture, the only remaining character with an actual claim for the Iron Throne is Tyrion Lannister, who is Cersei's sole heir and may even be argued to possibly be next in line to inherit the throne from Daenerys since he served as her Hand.

The only other character who somewhat complicates Tyrion's final claim to the Iron Throne is Gendry Baratheon, the bastard son of former king Robert Baratheon whom Daenerys legitimized prior to her attack on King's Landing. Although he is the son of a former king, Gendry never held claim on the Iron Throne before because he was born a bastard. And while Daenerys did legitimize him as a Baratheon after the Battle of Winterfell, that was technically before she took the Iron Throne, which leaves his status in question.

So, yeah — Tyrion is, for all intents and purposes, the true king of Westeros after Dany's death... up until he gives the position to Bran Stark, that is. But even after Tyrion gets Bran elected, it still feels like Tyrion secretly became the true king after all. In the first small council meeting under Bran's new kingship, Tyrion effectively runs the show as the Hand of the King while Bran seems more interested in tracking down Drogon, and leaves the matters of actually ruling Westeros to Tyrion. It even left some fans wondering whether Tyrion knew all along that he would get to subtly rule Westeros as Bran's second in command by getting him elected.

Either way, it seems clear that Tyrion did end up being one of the big winners (if not the true winner) of the Game of Thrones.