Game of Thrones Fan Theory Of The Day: Show Me The Money

Hiiii

I said I was done with these, but surprise! I’m not. There’s too much interesting stuff out there to ignore! Now, I’m not that interested in predicting how the season is going to go, because it’s Thrones and you really never know. But this theory highlights a detail we may have missed, and that might be incredibly important based on the highly political aspect of the show: the Iron Bank.

You already know the drill. The video is 12 minutes long, and I do suggest you watch it if you care about this type of stuff, but if you just don’t have the time, here’s the cliff notes.

1. What is the Iron Bank?

It’s a bank, ya dig? Basically they’re out in Braavos and they lend money to leaders to fight wars. Really messed up to be honest. Anyway, the Crown (Lannisters) were tens of millions in debt to the Iron Bank. That sounds like a bad thing, but consider this…

2. The Iron Bank will never get its money back if the Lannisters lose this war.

Think about it. If Daenerys wins this war, she will not inherit the debt of the crown, because that money was lent to her enemies and she has no reason to pay it back. She can literally just set whoever on fire if they ask for the money back. So, it’s mutually beneficial for the Iron Bank to continue to lend money to the Lannisters even though they’re deeply in debt. They know the Lannisters are their best shot to get their money back, and the Lannisters can’t win the war without gold.

3. In season 7, Cersei pays the Iron Bank back in full.

Cersei was so proud of herself. She felt this proved she was a competent leader who deserved all of her late father’s trust and respect. And I get it, girl power, a feminist icon, buuuut….. as her late father Tywin Lannister once said, she is NOT as smart as she thinks she is.

So long as the Crown was indebted deeply to the Iron Bank, the Iron Bank had to stick with them, because as I mentioned before, Cersei was their best shot at eventually getting that money back. But Cersei just paid them back! Which means…

4. The Iron Bank can now support Daenerys.

(the Iron Bank is Jon in this gif)

As Littlefinger once said, gold wins wars, not soldiers. Obviously, we gotta get rid of the whole Night King, army of the dead BS but once that’s done and she can focus on the throne, she might have the gold to really turn the tide. Cersei hired the Gold Company, who are mercenaries. Mercenaries are loyal to only one thing: gold. And if Daenerys has the gold to sway them, why would they fight for Cersei?

Really makes you think, huh! Now THIS is the political, back stabby shit we all love so much about Thrones.

Plausibility is a 9/10 tbh. I just feel like they’ve mentioned the Iron Bank enough over the last 10 years that it HAS to be important. Spiciness is like 4/10, because money stuff bores me, but it would definitely add to the story line. Overall 6.5/10