Thanks to its early release on Jan. 30, we knew we’d be seeing Peter Dinklage and Morgan Freeman in the rap battle to end all rap battles in a joint Doritos/Mt. Dew commercial for Super Bowl LII — what we didn’t know was how far people would run with a long-held Game of Thrones fan theory after watching it.
The cherished notion that Tyrion Lannister is a secret Targaryen (thanks to the Mad King taking “liberties” with Tyrion’s mother, Joanna Lannister) has been around for years, but it took off again faster than a speeding dragon after the commercial aired during the game on Feb. 4. In it, Dinklage lip-syncs the words to Busta Rhymes’ famous “Look At Me Now” as the room erupts in fire thanks to spicy Doritos Blaze chips (Freeman’s half has him rapping along to Missy Elliot’s classic “Get Ur Freak On” as the room becomes encased in ice due to his chilly Mt. Dew).
Twitter and other corners of the internet went crazy, with people proclaiming that the commercial was a not-so-subtle hint at Tyrion’s true parentage, but when HuffPost asked Dinklage about the fervor on Monday, his response aimed to bring down the enthusiasm a notch or two.
“I love every single theory the fans of our show have, because they’re so much fun,” he said. “They get to show the dedication and love they have for the show, but you have to understand that it is a Doritos commercial.”
“[Fans] are sort of stretching the limit with that theory when you’re branching out to Frito-Lay commercials,” he added. “But I say that with all love and respect. Please, I love them. I love the fan theories that they have until the show is finally over.”
So there you have it — no major reveals about Tyrion’s heritage via Doritos commercial. Or perhaps this is all an elaborate ruse, and Dinklage and Thrones are secretly working with Frito-Lay to hide a bombshell of a message! We can dream, can’t we?
Well, shit. I was convinced HBO had let Doritos tell us the truth.
If it breathes fire, it’s a dragon. 🔥
“Freeman’s half has him rapping along to Missy Elliot’s classic “Get Ur Freak On” as the room becomes encased in ice due to his chilly Mt. Dew…”
———–
And I thought Morgan Freeman would be revealed to be the Night King. 🤴🏿
What kind of people would think a Doritos Super Bowl commercial would have anything to do with the actual story of GoT/ASoIaF?
””’Or perhaps this is all an elaborate ruse, and Dinklage and Thrones are secretly working with Frito-Lay to hide a bombshell of a message! We can dream, can’t we?”” i had never believed that theory that Tyrion is the MK son for to be honest …He is the real son of Tywin and the only who is his true child …Cercei/Jaime instead are the real bastards of the MK..Cerceis /Jaime passion with the incest and Cerceis passion with madness/wildfire are connected with the MK ..Some bad or good habits are transferred with the DNA from the parents to the kids and could easily to grow up when those kids becomes adults ..Nobody in the Lannister family tree had practiced incest before Cercei/Jaime make it fashion again or had shows signs of madness..as Cercei do now…Thats Targaryen flaw .If Tyrion was the son of the MK and Joanna Lannister ..he may to had inherit some of those things…but he hasnt any of those flaws..Cercei instead has all the MK packet and repeat all his bad habits/flaws ..She killed all those innocents with wildfire in the Cept of Baelor including Margery,Loras and Mace causing her sons death too[and dont shed a tear about him].what the MK have wanted to do in the city ..but Jaime stop him..In S7 she tortured/poisoned a daughter in the front of her mothers eyes..as the MK does with Brandon and Rickard Stark [in other way of course]..and she believes that now all are her enemies and want to burn them all[remember what she said to Tywin in S4 ”if they hurt us i will burn their cities to the ground ”]..including her own brothers ..Tyrion has some dark points on his character but he is more a miniature of Tywin now ..cunning,smart,ruthless and strategic[Tyrion books especially is very smart still ..Tyrion show has disappointed me heavy in S7]..Thats proves that he is not the MK son ..clearly..but the real son that Tywin have ever had..This is a tinfoil theory…but also a possibility ..We will see..
Not sure about these Doritos- but he likes his bacon black!
Ten Bears,
That would be amazing if Morgan Freeman was the true NK. XD
It was foreshadowed when he narrated March of the Penguins. In season 8 he will arrive with an army of the Coca Cola polar bears
Some of the “leaks” involving Tyrion’s S8 plot are equally outrageous.
Dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. So some tinfoilies think the Doritos people know secrets about season 8 of GoT and are teasing people with it in a Doritos commercial? Lordy, do these people actually think about these things before making such ridiculous assumptions?
What would be the point of Tyrion being a secret Targaryen anyway? It would make his entire arc up to this point completely meaningless.
David Nutter is in Dubrovnik.
Cercei-Euron Red Wedding
Ryan,
No Leaks Talk! 🚱 Please!
(Replying to “Ryan”… again)
Reiterating my request ~ 2 months ago:
While you didn’t detail the alleged “leaks”, you did not cover your comment with greyscale spoiler coding either. As I politely asked you once before:
“If you have a compulsion to discuss “leaks”, kindly confine them to the specially dedicated quarantine section in the Forum pages, consistent with WoW’s policy.”
“The problem is that even if spoiler-coded, posting “leaks” stuff in the regular Comments section invariably invites uncovered replies and subthreads by uninformed or careless commenters – or by people who just don’t give a sh*t about those of us who do not want to be contaminated.”
(This lighthearted thread about Dinklage’s Doritos commercial should not be highjacked by interlopers wanting to discuss unsubstantiated alleged “leaks” about “Tyrion’s S8 plot.” There are hundreds of other fan sites and message boards on which to share that swill. Please…not here. 😞)
Thank you for your anticipated cooperation.
🚱🚱🚱🚱🚱🚱🚱❗️
#NoLeaksTalk!
Nooooo!! Morgan Freeman is a god.
Now that would be fun!
Who would be sending them “their regards”?
Yes. Yes he is. (Now what movie was that in? With Jim Carrey?… Oh yeah. “Bruce Almighty”, with Morgan Freeman as God.)
*Melisandre casually pulls out a bag of Doritos*
Nah, the Twitterverse had it wrong. Come on guys, get with it – it’s not a subliminal reveal of Tyrion’s parentage, it’s a reveal of his location. Look carefully. Isn’t that a room in a castle that’s burning? Certainly looks palatial to me. See, Frito-Lay is telling us that some time during Season 8, Tyrion is going to be in a castle that catches fire. Now let’s see, we’ve had several visions of a burned out throne room in Kings Landing. We’ve also been told on this very site of flames decimating Winterfell. So, either Tyrion finds his way back to KL, probably to choke Cersei, or he is at Winterfell when it goes up. Both are plausible events. This is very tounge-in-cheek, but I’m only half kidding. Either thing could happen, and Frito-Lay is really telling us they love GOT.
I never really understood why Tyrion would be the potential Targaryen. If Aerys enacted a prima nocta type situation, wouldn’t the twins Cersei and Jaime (the first borns) be the potential secret Targaryens?
Anyways,
Ten Bears,
Yes, same here. I’m very anti-leak and I never read the script/outline leak last year, but of course, there’s always people talking about plot points from leaks! I’m not sure about
the validity about the leaks this year but even so, I’m staying away just in case. 🚫🚫
Have to laugh did anyone seriously believe a commercial for crisps would reveal anything about Game of Thrones? 😀
Anyway, I seriously doubt Tyrion is a Targ but concede it’s not impossible either.
Hi Ten Bears and Dark Sister I am also avoiding leaks so fully support you here. I have been told though that are no reliable leaks out yet only some filming/set info so if you do read something you can ignore it.
There is a 0% chance that Tyrion will be identified as a Targ in the last season. Now as for the books, that’s a different story… I do think there is a good chance he will be outed as a Targ in the next book or maybe ADOS. Heavily hinted at. Some people need to try a little harder to separate the book theories and the show theories.
Dark Sister,
I can’t remember the exact rumors from the books (and I’m also a dummy who doesn’t know what “prima nocta” is) but did the rumors state that the Mad King raped Joanna on the night of her and Tywin’s wedding? I faintly remember that but I’m not totally positive. If so, I guess it’d make more sense for the twins to be Targs and not Tyrion, but that would make four heads of the dragon instead of three.
If Tyrion is a Targ in the books then I’d be extremely surprised if he isn’t in the show unless it ultimately means nothing. Remember D&D know the arcs and endings for all the main characters and have done since S3.
Jon Snowed,
The endings can still be generally the same even if they switch this detail. For the show, they haven’t foreshadowed this enough at all, so it isn’t really a gun that’s been hung. It would really come out of nowhere. But in the books they reeeeally elude to it as Tyrion often dreams of dragons. They also reference the prophecy of “The dragon has three heads” a ton in the books, leading readers to believe there will be three Targs: Jon, Dany, and an unknown (they only reference this once in the show I think? During Dany’s travels in the House of the Undying). But maybe GRRM is just throwing everyone off so the Jon Snow reveal will have more meaning.
Prima Nocta means first night. It is an ancient concept, believed to have existed in medieval Europe – essentially, when a woman married it was not her husband, but her liege lord who had a right to her on her wedding night. It is mentioned in The World of Ice and Fire and The Sworn Sword (Dunk and Egg) that Queen Alysanne persuaded her husband King Jaehaerys I to end the practice in the Seven Kingdoms.
The World of Ice and Fire says Aerys took unwonten liberties with Lady Joanna’s person during the bedding following her marriage to Tywin (I’ve always interpreted that to mean groping) and that Tywin was displeased. The same book also suggests there were rumors – which Pycelle denied – that something happened between Joanna and Aerys on the night of King Jaehaerys II’s coronation.
The timeline put forward in the World book also suggests it is unlikely Aerys fathered the twins. Things are a little looser around the time of Tyrion’s conception, though, leaving open the possibility that he was actually the son of Aerys. It would be interesting for a number of reasons, and would mean that Jaime and Tyrion had killed each other’s father.
Hope that helps!
Alba Stark,
This helps immensely! New vocab word of the day. I thought I was getting things mixed up, but it makes much more sense that Aerys was just getting touchy with her at her wedding and the rumors of them having sex were later around the time that Tyrion was conceived. This timeline was certainly confusing. I’ve read the Dunk and Egg tales and the World of Ice and Fire but there’s so much information between that and all the books that I often forget things.
Which is a prime example of me forgetting that prima nocta was a thing in the Seven Kingdoms at one point. I can say I don’t remember this at all (but again, sooooo much information on the Targ dynasty that it’s nearly impossible to remember everything). Makes since that Jaehaerys I abolished it though, he was thought to be the best king!
Alba Stark,
Also, you did a pretty good job of very quickly convincing me that the theory is true.
Did you ever see Braveheart? Longshanks and his men covered it pretty well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25SnB9SmyGE
Mr Derp,
Yeah, I agree entirely. Some people have ‘really lost the plot’ when it comes to seeing if there are subtle hints or hidden messages regarding GoT if an actor from the show appears in a commercial!
I recently saw an ad on UK TV with Kit Harington (can’t remember what it was for), but nothing GoT’ish in that 🙂
Jaehaerys,
Further to Alba Stark‘s explanation.
Joanna Lannister came to court in 259 to be a lady in waiting to princess Rhaella (Aerys’s sister-wife). Aerys ascended the throne in 262, and there were rumours about him and Joanna from that time. Tywin and Joanna married in 263 and soon after Joanna left the capital and seldom came to there. The twins were born in 266 – so for them to be Aerys’s bastards from some prima nocte shenanigans, Joanna would have had to have an unusually long pregnancy.
The Night King send his regards
talvikorppi,
Alright so she wasn’t around Aerys before the twins were born, but she must’ve been in King’s Landing before Tyrion was born, right? Or maybe Aerys had visited the Rock. I know these rumors of Aerys raping Joanna must’ve been around the same time as Tyrion would’ve been conceived for this theory to have any substantial merit, and I feel like a lot of people have looked into this theory (obviously not me since I have so many damn questions).
Do you have any sort of timeline depicting where these characters were around the time that Tyrion would’ve been conceived? I guess I could just look it up in The World of Ice and Fire but I’m too lazy.
Jaehaerys,
Problem is, if you try to reconcile books! timeline with show! timeline, your head will explode.
Jaehaerys,
Yes.
Tywin brought Johanna and the twins to KL for a celebration (anniversary of some kind) during the year before Tyrion was born. During that visit Aerys made humiliating public statements referring to Johannas breasts and basically acted gross. Tywin was obviously furious.
We don’t know what, if anything might have happened but I think it’s possible Aerys could have raped her. He was a Total douche And not only was he jealous of Tywin for marrying a girl he fancied but also for being more respected in the kingdom. He might have thought this would be the perfect revenge.