Why Did Shae Betray Tyrion Lannister On Game Of Thrones?

This article contains discussions of sexual assault.

It's an understatement to say that a lot of characters on "Game of Thrones" meet some very, very ugly ends ... and that certainly includes Shae, the character played by Sibel Kekilli who appears in 20 episodes of the hit HBO fantasy series. Shae — who also appears in "A Song of Ice and Fire," the book series by George R.R. Martin that serves as the source material for the series — first shows up in season 1 of the show and sticks around until the end of season 4, where she meets that aforementioned ugly end ... but before that, she spends pretty much all of her time in the orbit of "the Imp," Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage), a man whose family despises him nearly as much as he hates them in return. At first, Shae and Tyrion's relationship is actually really sweet and even romantic, but true love is hard to come by in Westeros — and both Shae and Tyrion learn this the hard way. The strife begins when Tyrion is forbidden to bring Shae with him to the Westerosi capital of King's Landing and everything goes downhill from there.

Naturally, that's exactly where Shae ends up in the narrative, and that's basically when all hell breaks loose (as is usually the case on "Game of Thrones"). She also ultimately betrays Tyrion — her lover whom she fondly, tenderly calls her "lion" when they're in private — during his murder trial in season 4 of the series, breaking his heart completely. So what happens here? Who is Shae, why does she betray Tyrion, and what has Kekilli been doing since?

Shae — who, like Cher, doesn't have a last name — keeps her past pretty close to the vest, but we do know that she comes from the Free City of Lorath and has traveled through Volantis and Dorne. A sex worker by trade, Shae is a "camp-follower" until she meets Tyrion, and after the Lannisters emerge victorious from the Battle of the Green Fork — the battle Tyrion fights after spending his first night with Shae — she sticks with him before the two decamp to King's Landing, where Tyrion is set to serve as Hand of the King to his nephew King Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson) in his father Tywin's (Charles Dance) stead. 

So is Shae at all different in George R.R. Martin's books? In an interview with Jennifer Vineyard in Vulture after the season 4 finale (more on that later), Sibel Kekilli said that she put her on spin on Shae in the show (which is easy to do when you consider that Shae is not a "POV character," meaning that she floats around in Tyrion's point-of-view chapters but never gets a voice of her own in the novels). When Vineyard pointed out that Shae seems to genuinely love Tyrion in the show — whereas in the books, she's much more transactional and "professional" as a sex worker — Kekilli replied, "Yes, that's true. When I met George R.R. Martin for the first time, he said, 'Oh Sibel, your Shae is better than my Shae.' It was a really big honor when he told me that. But even though [showrunners] David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] changed Shae in the show, it had to come to the same end, somehow." Not only that, but Kekilli said she approached the character with an air of mystery: "So I understood her, more than if I were to think like a fan. If I were to think like a fan, I wouldn't understand her."

Shae first meets Tyrion Lannister in season 1 of the show, where she shows up in Tyrion's tent in the Riverlands the night before he's set to ride out with the Lannister army. (It's thanks to Tyrion's buddy and sellsword Bronn, played by Jerome Flynn, that the two meet.) After Tyrion makes a very specific request to Shae — specifically, to act as if it's their last night on earth together, in so many words — the two remain bonded, which is precisely why Tyrion goes against his father's direct orders and sneaks Shae into the Tower of the Hand in King's Landing.

Tyrion's rebellion against Tywin is nothing new, but the consequences could be quite dire if she's discovered, as we learn through a story from Tyrion's troubled past. As Tyrion tells Shae and Bronn the night before battle, he once met a woman named Tysha who, it seemed, had recently been attacked by a group of men; as Tyrion's brother Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) chased the men, Tyrion comforted Tysha, and the two got married in secret shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, Tyrion was then faced with two horrible reveals. First, Jaime, taking pity on his brother, hired Tysha and her "attackers" and staged the entire situation ... and Tywin, upon learning his son married a common girl, forced the union to end and sent his guards to sexually assault Tysha en masse, all while she was paid silver coins. Tyrion carries a significant amount of trauma from this entire experience — understandably — and it makes him extremely cautious with Shae, despite the fact that he puts her in danger by bringing her to King's Landing.

At first, Tyrion simply keeps Shae tucked away in secret in the Tower of the Hand, but eventually, an opportunity arises that gives her a seemingly legitimate reason to be at court. That opportunity centers around Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner), who comes to King's Landing with her father Ned Stark (Sean Bean) when he's Hand of the King to Joffrey's "father" King Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy). When Ned correctly deduces that Joffrey is actually the product of incest between Jaime and Robert's wife (and Jaime's twin) Queen Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), Joffrey has him executed, leaving Sansa as a prisoner in King's Landing.

As a result, Tyrion, as Hand, has the power to declare that Shae is only in the capital to serve as a lady-in-waiting for Sansa, though he carries on his relationship with her in secret as she serves Sansa (whom Shae does seem to genuinely love, as she's quite protective of the vulnerable young girl). Shae is still in a lot of danger — in season 2, Cersei has a different sex worker, Ros (Esme Bianco), imprisoned because she believes that Ros and not Shae is Tyrion's secret lover — and even though she begs Tyrion to flee with her to Pentos after the Battle of Blackwater Bay at the end of season 2, he refuses, and they remain in King's Landing.

Season 3 is where things take a truly devastating turn for Tyrion and Shae, who, at this point, seem to really love each other. Joffrey, who's initially engaged to Sansa, dumps her in favor of Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer), at which point Tywin orders Tyrion to wed Sansa. Shae, despite knowing that Tyrion doesn't love Sansa — to the point where he refuses to consummate the marriage due to the fact that Sansa is young and quite obviously terrified at the prospect — becomes extremely jealous, flying into frequent rages at Tyrion over his new marriage. 

It's certainly fair to say that Shae is ... somewhat irrational in season 4 of "Game of Thrones," particularly in the first episode. When she tries to seduce Tyrion, he tells her, while fearing for her life and safety, that it's not a good time, sending Shae into a rage; things only get worse from there. Before the royal wedding — between Joffrey and Margaery — Cersei tells Tyrion she knows that Shae is his lover, at which point Tyrion realizes he has to do something incredibly painful for Shae's safety. In one of the show's most emotionally devastating moments (which is saying something), Tyrion tells Shae that she means almost nothing to him and that their time together is over, offering her a place on a ship to Pentos and quite a lot of money with which to rebuild her life. Shae's heart is clearly broken, and she gets her revenge a little while later.

At the wedding, Joffrey dies from poison and quite literally points the finger at Tyrion during his last moments, at which point Tyrion is arrested for killing his own nephew. During his trial, several people lie (who were likely influenced by a furious, vengeful Cersei), but nothing hurts worse than Shae. When she takes the stand, she says that Tyrion took her prisoner and plotted, along with Sansa, to kill Joffrey ... and includes the deeply hurtful detail that he "forced" Shae to call him her "lion" and forced her into sex in the process. For the audience and Tyrion alike, this moment is gutting, as Tyrion — who did not kill Joffrey and does genuinely love Shae — watches someone he truly trusted utterly betray him.

Tyrion flies into a rage of his own after Shae's devastating testimony against him, saying that though he didn't kill Joffrey, he wished he had ... and that he would happily let every person in King's Landing die (particularly after he saved the entire city in the Battle of Blackwater Bay). He then demands a trial by combat, but after his champion Prince Oberyn Martell (Pedro Pascal) is utterly brutalized by Cersei's champion Ser Gregor Clegane (Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson), it seems certain that Tyrion will be put to death for a murder he didn't commit. Tywin claims that he'll halt the execution at the last minute and send Tyrion to join the Night's Watch (a sort of "island of misfit toys" for criminals and bastards in Westeros) at the Wall, but Jaime, who doesn't believe his dad, springs Tyrion from prison and tells him that Varys (Conleth Hill) is waiting and will safely take him out of King's Landing.

Unbeknownst to Jaime, Tyrion makes a pit stop before meeting Varys — and swings by Tywin's chambers only to discover something truly horrifying. What is it? Shae in Tywin's bed, and as Tyrion enters, Shae, thinking Tywin is returning, calls the Lannister patriarch her "lion." Enraged, Tyrion attacks her, and though Shae tries to fight back with a knife, Tyrion strangles her with an enormous necklace she's wearing (given to her by Tyrion himself). After apologizing to her body, Tyrion heads to the commode where he sees his dad Tywin on the toilet; at this point, it's almost understandable that Tyrion shoots Tywin with a crossbow while the guy's taking a dump. Tyrion leaves King's Landing immediately after, putting an end to Shae's story for good.

To be honest, Sibel Kekilli's biggest international role to date is, without question, Shae on "Game of Thrones" — and since she left the show after Shae's death in the season 4 finale, Kekilli has mostly performed in her home country of Germany. Born in the city of Heilbronn, Kekilli moved to Essen at a young age to work a series of jobs, including bouncer, professional cleaner, and actor (though her initial roles were only in adult films).

In 2002, Kekilli was spotted by a casting director in the city of Cologne and asked to audition for the film "Head-On," which released in 2004 and put Kekilli on the map in Germany. After "Game of Thrones," she returned to German cinema and television in projects like the German version of "Sesame Street" (titled "Sesamstraße") in 2017 and the ensemble anthology film "Berlin, I Love You" in 2019. (Kekilli also worked in Finnish television on the 2018 series "Bullets.")

Shae's four-season run on "Game of Thrones," including her terrible betrayal, is streaming on Max now.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).